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Making News Personal all, there’s no point in working on a story exposing trafficking networks or detailing why schools are not receiving all the money they are supposed to if no one pays attention. Advance planning and coordination with others in the newsroom is critical to effective presentation. Stories about social issues concern people and factors that affect their quality of life. It is good to enhance such stories with images—and sounds —that explain or give life to the concepts and ideas they describe. And because statistics are often included—budget numbers, demographic figures, polling results— it is critical to think about displaying those details on the page or screen in a way that makes them clear and attractive. All too often, however, newspaper reporters develop a story having given no thought to how it will look on the page. At times they haven’t even informed their editor, much less other departments, about their work. While this may enhance the reporter’s feeling of independence, it undermines the possibility that the story will receive attention it deserves, both within the newsroom and among the general public. While TV journalists are often more aware of the importance of the visual element, they, too, should think carefully about how to present stories in the most arresting ways, and they should involve producers and camera operators early in decisions on how to report a story. Radio stories, of course, don’t use visuals, but reporters should try to use natural sound in their stories to make the listener feel he or she is actually there. This means capturing the sounds of a busy street in a story about homeless people, the chattering of children in the classroom in an education story, or the background sounds of a forest in a story about preserving natural habitats. Here are some tips to ensure that material is presented in the most effective and eye-catching—or earcatching—manner: • As soon as you begin working on a story, start thinking about the visual or aural possibilities. Discuss what you are exploring with your editor or producer. If possible, meet with the staff photographer or camera operator, the graphics person and anyone else who will be involved in the process of preparing the story for publication or broadcast. Even if you have no definite ideas about visual and aural possibilities, including colleagues in the process gives you the chance to hear their ideas or suggestions about what might work best. • While you gather material, keep an eye out for the possibilities. If you receive a statistical report, decide early which figures are the most important or the easiest to present in a chart. Pass the information to the graphics department so someone can start on the design. If you’re producing a radio piece, it’s best to keep statistical information to a minimum. • As you interview people, think about photo, video and sound possibilities. A portrait or film of someone sitting in a chair or behind a desk is usually International Center for Journalists
Moving Beyond Words static and boring. Are any of your sources engaged in some sort of dynamic activity, such as teaching, exercising, treating patients? Do some sources have particularly expressive or animated faces or voices? Tell them that you’d like to take their picture, film or record them. Then make the arrangements with your appropriate colleagues so that the details can be arranged well before deadline. • If you’re working in radio, keep your ear open for aural possibilities. Listen for sounds that augment and illustrate your story—an illegal immigrant washing dishes, for example, or machinery noises for a story about plants that generate pollution. Pay attention, too, to the quality of people’s voices. If you have to choose between including tape of one person or another, make your decision based not just on what they say but on whether their intonation or the timbre of their voice is interesting. • Every photo or graphic should have a caption explaining who or what it is. It is very frustrating to readers to see a beautiful photo or wonderfully designed chart without any explanation of what it means or how it relates to the story. The journalist should write or at least approve of the captions to ensure accuracy. • Every photo should indicate who took it, and every graphic should include the source of the information or statistics, whether it’s the government, an NGO, a hospital, a school or whatever. That offers readers guidance for interpreting the material. • It is a major principle of journalistic ethics that photos and video should not be manipulated or electronically altered, even if doing so makes the image more startling or compelling. Photos of criminal suspects should not be darkened, for example, because that could influence people to believe more strongly in their guilt. And it is wrong to combine two photographs to make it appear that people who never met are actually talking to each other. One exception to this principle is protecting people’s confidentiality by obscuring their faces. But make it clear to the reader or viewer that the image has been manipulated. • Because images can have such a powerful impact, it is critical that they accurately convey the essence of the story. Sometimes a photo or video image is what people will remember most; it may be the only thing they remember. So when selecting the visual elements, you want to be sure that they reflect what is actually being reported. • Just as you should avoid stereotypes in your portrayals of people from different demographic groups, it is important to follow the same principle when it comes to the visual aspect of your story. Use photographs, video and sound to challenge or surprise readers, not to reinforce biases and prejudices. If the piece is about the Roma, for example, include images of one of them at work rather than begging. Consider less common forms of graphic presentation of your material. Look through other publications for ideas. A map of some sort is often an effective way of showing exactly where something 46
Page 1 and 2: Making News Personal Covering Human
Page 3 and 4: Contents 1 Preface 4 Introduction 6
Page 5 and 6: Preface Why are our schools turning
Page 7 and 8: Introduction Introduction Don’t P
Page 9 and 10: Getting Started Getting Started Whe
Page 11 and 12: Getting Started some of the key iss
Page 13 and 14: On the Beat On the beat A social is
Page 15 and 16: Cultivating Sources Cultivating Sou
Page 17 and 18: Cultivating Sources • Maintain th
Page 19 and 20: Exercise Exercise You are pursuing
Page 21 and 22: Developing Story Ideas Developing S
Page 23 and 24: Story Ideas: Going Beneath the Surf
Page 25 and 26: Story Ideas: Going Beneath the Surf
Page 27 and 28: Avoiding Stereotypes Avoiding Stere
Page 29 and 30: Avoiding Stereotypes Part of recogn
Page 31 and 32: Case Study: Roma War in Szentpal Th
Page 33 and 34: Conducting Interviews Conducting In
Page 35 and 36: Conducting Interviews most, so it i
Page 37 and 38: Asking the Questions Asking the Que
Page 39 and 40: Choosing a Format for the Story app
Page 41 and 42: Case Study After school, Hester’s
Page 43 and 44: Finding Documents • Consulting wi
Page 45 and 46: Finding Documents Online UNESCO Ins
Page 47 and 48: Using Statistics which level it dec
Page 49: Moving Beyond Words Moving Beyond W
Page 53 and 54: Following Up Following Up Once you
Page 55 and 56: Conclusion Conclusion Social issues

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