covering events

Event coverage

Steve ButtryMedia WritingSept. 27, 2016

Electionland• Available most of Election Day, Tuesday,

Nov. 8, training in October• Email to me and lporter@lsu.edu• Tell us of Election Day conflict(s)• Tell us in tweet length why you should be

on our Electionland team• Write extra-credit account of Electionland

Moment or Movement• Next Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 3-4• Story will be mid-term, not 3rd assignment• Story due by 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5• Say in email what your writing role is

(news, PR, poli-comm, native advertising)• “3rd” writing assignment due by Nov. 17 • Can do advance (by Sunday, Oct. 2) for 3rd

What’s an event?• Scheduled occurrence that you can plan to

cover• Not breaking news (fires, crimes, weather,

disasters, accidents, etc.)• Breaking news can happen at events (riot,

illness, coach fired)• Usually public access (secret or private

events are covered differently)

• Prep• Pay attention• Notes & recording• 360 view• Watch for surprise• Interview(s)• Write

Follow-up• Fact-check• Answer questions• Impact• ReactionSeparate story or part of event story

Event coverage

Some types of events• Meeting• Trial• Press conference• Sports event• Concert• Festival• Debate

• Speaker(s)• Conference• Convention• Symposium• Awards• Funeral/Wedding• What else?

Different approachesJournalism: News story, live coverage, fact-checking, enterprise follow-upPublic relations: Press release promoting event, press release/news story afterwardPolitical communication: Story for website, fact-check opponent, document claimsAdvertising: Promote event, clips for political ads, native advertising news story

Preparing for event• Check program or agenda online• Research issue(s) to be covered• Check spellings of names• Check titles• Can you find speakers’ bios?• Dig beneath the surface

Live coverage• Livetweet (using hashtag)• Feed tweets into site (widget, ScribbleLive,

Live Blog, etc.)• Liveblog• Livestream (Periscope, FB Live, Livestream,

Ustream, etc.)

Visual coverage• Photos (zoom with your feet, if possible)• Crowd shots as well as speaker (sometimes

more important)• Video (live and/or edited)• Interactive tools

Multi-taskingSome events have multiple events (Moment or Movement, for instance, and conferences). Make choices but check out what’s happening elsewhere (social media, other media coverage).

Interviews may be better than speeches, panels.

Notes & recording• Organize notes (label events within events,

identify speakers clearly, etc.)• Take more notes than you’ll need• Liveblog or tweets can become notes• Consider audio or video recording

360 view• Speaker and/or scheduled action may

not be the story• Are protesters or crowd action important

(Trump rallies)?• Is someone in the crowd special in some

way?

Watch for surprise

Interviews• Can you interview speaker, panelists

(before or after)?• Get reaction from crowd• Does interview with speaker or person in

crowd become more important than what happened at the event?

Write• Write while it’s fresh (between mini-

events if time permits)• Is this one story or multiple stories?• What’s your lead (answer: What’s the

story about?)• Bullets can help summarize multiple

points

Types of eventsMeeting: If it should be public, make them cite reason to close. Get packet of documents the board or council members get.Trial: Does judge or state allow computers or phones in courtroom? Read case file. Documents, exhibits can be helpful.Press conference: Not a performance.

Types of eventsSporting event: Might be covering solo or part of a team. Know your role. Which team are you covering? Watch for surprise developments (injuries, malfunctions, post-game developments). Take notes. Story isn’t play-by-play, but importance & outcome. Think beyond “game story.” Some sports (track & field, wrestling, gymnastics) require multi-tasking.

Types of eventsConcert or festival: Are you reviewing or reporting? How much a part of the story is the crowd? Festival requires choosing among several events (and checking on overall event).

Types of eventsDebate: Journalists should be careful of “spin” (everyone claims they won). Political communicators need to get good at spin: Why did you win. Fact-checking important for journalists and political communicators (document your own claims & debunk opponent’s).

Types of eventsSpeaker: Can be solo or in other formats.Convention: Votes and other action may be most important, but also speeches.Conference: Different if writing for general audience, niche publication or PR. Informal stuff may be as important as program.Symposium: Collection of speakers and panels. May not have to cover them all.

Types of eventsAwards: Who’s your audience? What do they care about?Funeral: Situation & family’s wishes may dictate how you cover.Wedding: Rare news event where what people wear is newsworthy (but few weddings merit coverage beyond announcement).

Follow upFact-check: Don’t just parrot the speaker(s). Check facts and correct the speaker’s errors (or note you’ve confirmed the speaker was right.Impact, reaction: If a board or council took action, explain the impact, gather reaction.Answer questions raised in the event.Use events as enterprise story starters.

Social mediaCurate: See what people have said about the event. Might be quotes or embeds in story or separate story.PR or poli-comm: RT or share posts praising your client/company/candidate. Answer questions. Engage critics?