Planning Coverage Beat Reporting

March 24, 2015JRNL 11

Prof. Vaccaro

Schedule for rest of semester

• March 31: Bill Bleyer guest speaker• April 14: Lecture - feature and profile writing– Assignment No. 4 – profile – 500-750 words

• April 21: TBD– Assignment No. 5 – feature – 750-1,000 words due

next class• April 28: Lecture – Lecture on resume/jobs

Planning Coverage

• Assess proximity of coverage area

• Assess elements of news

• Think bout ALL subject areas for stories

• Research and hunt for ideas

• Develop ideas – story behind a story

Let’s plan coverage …

• Using Garden City as an example, spend 10 minutes creating a list of 15 story ideas that relate to that town and that can be pitched in a local daily and/or weekly paper/website …

The basics

• Police reporters cover vast array of news– Breaking stories– Features– Interpretative articles– Investigative reporting

The police beat

The basics

• Police reporting includes …– Crime– Accidents– Fires– Departmental activity– Departmental integrity– Other law enforcement agencies

The basics• Access

– Police issues office press pass– Police provide access to crime reports

• Names– Generally only used when someone is charged– Police blotters list all people arrested (though not formally charged)

• Wording of stories– *Innocent until proven guilty

• Attribution– Attribute all accusatory sentences and info

Things to think about

• Victims: Get all names, ages, hometowns, info, etc.• Suspects: Names, ages, addresses• Cause of fatalities or injuries• Location of incident• Time of incident• What happened- the details• Arrests and charges filed• Eyewitness accounts• Play detective – think in their shoes

Homicide checklist

• Lots of questions to ask …– Victim, identification– Time, date, place of death– Weapon used, where was it obtained?– Official cause of death or authoritative comment– Who discovered body– Clues; any identification of slayer– Police comments, motivation for crime– Comments from neighbors/friends– Any police record for victim; any connection with criminal activity– Consequences to victim’s family, others

Motor Vehicle Accidents

• Speed, destination, and directions of vehicles and exact location at the time of the accident

• Cause of accident, arrests, citations, damages• Victims’ use of required equipment, such as

seat belts and bicycle or motorcycle helmets• Weather-related info• Alcohol-or-drug info• Rescue attempts• Hospital, end location of victim(s)

Burglaries and robberies

• What was taken and the value of the goods?

• Types of weapons used

• How entry was made

• Similar circumstances, and or odd conditions

Fires• Time fire started, time fire companies arrived, time it took to put out fire

• Number of companies responding

• Deaths, injuries, victims

• Cause of the fire

• Who discovered the fire, extent of the damage, insurance coverage

• Smoke detector condition

• Fire inspective record

Cautions

• Double check everything … you can never be too sure. It’s sensitive material.

• Juvenile records … usually are sealed and generally the press shy away from using this information for young offenders.

• *Innocent until proven guilty

Other coverage notes• Campus crime– Check with university relations– Check with public safety– Remember they’re your peers

• Fires– Find officer/chief/fire marshal in charge for comment– Stand behind fire lines for your safety

• Courts and trials– Follow security protocols– Check if you’re allowed to have a phone or camera

Obituaries• Before interviews: do your homework and background checks

• Make it lively, not dull and boring

• Things to include … – Name – full name, with initials– Identification

• Describe this person’s life in one brief phrase• The lead starts with that brief summary about their life/interests/impact

– Age– Date and place of death– Cause of death (not always required)– Address: Hometown of person when they died

Obituaries

• Background– Accomplishments, organizations, educational background,

military background, major interests• Survivors– Names of immediate family members– Grandchildren mentioned by number– “He was survived by five grandchildren.”

• Services– Specify time, date, location

• Burial– Name of place and memorial info

Beginning a beat

• You need– Story ideas– Trustable sources– Energy and adaptability– Proximity to your beat

Beginning a beat

• Use shoe leather– Get to know your community– Meet its members in person– Take a walking tour of the community– Talk to people– Go where community members socialize, eat, hang

out– Ask people what they want, what they’re interested

in– Get a map, cruise the streets, explore

Beginning a beat

• Check clips– Starting place for every beat writer is the

newspaper, television, online news sources– When you find stories about major issues on your

beat, consider a follow-up, more research, a better story with a new angle.

Beginning a beat• Let your fingers do the walking– Log online and search for every agency, every

office, every key figure, every phone number or email address

– Find out what the key figures in the beat do, find out who their secretaries and PR people are

– Look for as many community directories as possible and make charts of the names/contact info/position so you stay organized

Beginning a beat

• Create a story rolodex– What has been written?– What hasn’t been written?– What interests you, what interests the

users/readers?– Is there a follow-up needed?– Is there a historical date of significance coming

up?– Records and archives for you to find ideas?

Beginning a beat

• Other tidbits to consider– Visit the library– Check bulletin boards– Check with your predecessor– Be a tourist– *Press for news releases– Find out who’s in charge

Specialty beats: Education• The education beat– Check educational journals for trends– When writing about the budget or test scores,

explain what the numbers mean– Translate jargon– Have a strong connection with school board, district

administration and understand the educational policy being set by the state education department

– Be a constant figure at school board meetings and all academic events associated with audits, budgets and teacher’s unions

Specialty beats: Health/Enviro• Challenge source to speak laymen• Cut down on metaphors … no describing

antibodies as “little foot soldiers”• Give story sense of true proportion … was it an

isolated incident. No sense in creating panic.• Be wary of where you are getting your info.

Strong sources are very important in this subject area.

Specialty beats: Business

• Don’t make it boring, tell the story. There is drama, adventure, ups and downs in business.

• Humanize stories by focusing on the impact of business or economic issues on people.

• Avoid using several numbers in the same sentence or paragraph.

• Simplify sentences – more complex, the more change of losing a reader

• Avoid jargon, translate whenever necessary

Specialty beats: Sports

• Keep your eye on the story … you can not look away during a game. It could be a crucial second.

• Write background info ahead of time and plan for likely eventualities.

• Think about a format in telling a story: gamer, box score, brief, blog, q&a, etc.

• Good sports writers have a tone and can develop a theme within each story

Assignment No. 3

• Story of event on or off campus of newsworthiness

• 500 words

• Three different sources for quotes

• Due Tuesday, March 31