1 / 21

Reporting

Learn about the three layers of reporting, from surface facts to investigative journalism. Get tips on uncovering the truth and questioning authority in news reporting.

christinethomas
Download Presentation

Reporting

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Reporting

  2. Digging for info • Reporter’s job is to gather info that helps people understand events that affect them • Reporters keep digging until they get to the bottom of things – the truth of the event • Nose for news – helps reveal info for stories

  3. Reporting • The process of gathering important material through a variety of means – observation, interviews, examination of documents, use of databases and Internet sources – and subjecting the material to verification and analysis

  4. Three layers of reporting: • Surface facts – press releases, handouts, speeches • Reporting enterprise – verification, investigative reporting, coverage of spontaneous events, background • Interpretation and analysis – significance, causes, consequences

  5. Surface facts • Layer I story: • The careful and accurate transcription of material from a source – the record, the speech, the news conference • The source for the facts used in most news stories. • Info comes from material that begins with and is controlled by the source • Story relies almost completely on info a source has supplied

  6. Layer I reporting • The reporter • Tries to observe events • Is alert to the media event, an action staged to attract media attention • Relays info from a source • Sorts out and rearranges the delivered facts, verifies addresses and dates and checks spelling of names • Most stories are based on source-originated material

  7. More Layer I reporting • Journalists report on: • City council meetings • Legislative hearings • United Way fundraising drives • Street closings • Traffic accidents • Basketball games • Appointments of new college presidents • Verdicts at trial

  8. More on Layer I • Coverage is essential • Provides reporting of public affairs • Provides public with access to the statements and activities of its officials • Helps make for responsive government • Material is easily and quickly available, but reporter can be manipulated

  9. Fake events • TV’s need for pictures helped create staged media events • Sources learned to stage events for the press • Events look spontaneous, but actually controlled by the source • Source plans, plants or incites event to be reported

  10. Media manipulation • Sources in government and politics routinely orchestrate media events • Info increasingly is generated by people who wish to promote something – a product, a cause, a candidate • The press becomes a conduit for junk mail

  11. Trial balloons • A way to manipulate the media • Here’s how it works: • Give reporters inside info • Material to be used without attribution • Info is published • Public reaction is gauged • If public rejects idea, no one is blamed because there was no source

  12. Dangers of Layer I • Often hard to distinguish between journalism and PR • Media events • To combat dangers, double check all info

  13. Internet as source • When using the Web, journalist is operating with unverified, source-originated material – that may be correct or may be downright wrong or have ulterior motives • Layer I reporting – be careful

  14. Reportorial enterprise • Verification, background checking, direct observation and enterprise reporting amplify and correct material from sources

  15. Layer II • Reporters initiate the gathering of info • Dig for more info than what a source hands them • When story moves beyond control of those trying to manage it, the reporter has gone to Layer II • News conference: • Announced statement – Layer I • Q and A later – Layer II

  16. Layer II • Reporter digs deeper to ask probing questions • Seek out truth for people who can’t see or understand the events that affect them

  17. Investigative reporting • IRs dig the deepest in Layer II • IR work falls into two categories: • Checking on illegal activities • Looking into systematic abuses

  18. Finding sources • Two basic types: • Physical • Examples: databases of political campaign donations • Minutes of city council meetings • Human

  19. Layer III reporting • Competent reporters encouraged to tell readers how and why something happened • Describe the causes and consequences • Analyze and interpret • Tells people how things work, why they work or why they don’t work

  20. Advice • Be ready for a breaking news story by being up-to-date on what’s going on in your community • Look for stories everywhere • Always check all names in the phone book, a city directory or the library • Follow the money. Where does it come from, where is it going and who’s handling it

  21. More advice • Do what you don’t want to do or are afraid to do or you’ll never be able to dig into a story • Question assumptions • Above all else: QUESTION AUTHORITY • Just because someone has a title or a degree doesn’t mean the person can’t err

More Related