Where does the news come from?
It may seem like a basic question, especially for people in the news business, but I’ve encountered many people over the years who are legitimately curious about how newsrooms find out what’s happening.
It’s a question even people working in newsrooms should ask themselves from time to time. We can get so busy trying to meet the next deadline that we can forget how to generate better coverage.
From best to worst, here is where news comes from:
BEST: Enterprise reporting
A curious reporter follows developments in their area and asks questions, finding news that hasn’t been reported. Maybe it’s something a reporter notices on their way to work or hears people talking about in the grocery store. Perhaps it’s a massive spreadsheet that reveals a trend when you spend some time analyzing the numbers. It could be a data request that turns up some revealing emails. Sometimes it’s just something you’re curious about. You will hit some dead ends, but when you break a story, it’s worth the effort.
NEXT BEST: Beat reporting
A reporter develops relationships with good sources and keeps in close touch so that they know when news is coming. These could be officials, but they could also be everyday people who are in the know. The only shortfall is that if your sources don’t know it (or don’t want it to be reported), you’ll never hear about it. Tips from your audience can even count as “beat reporting” because you’ve developed a relationship with the audience.
IN THE MIDDLE: Spot news, press releases, government meetings, the wire, the network feed
This ends up being the bread and butter of most news operations. The audience expects you to be on top of these things — keep tabs on your email (use filtering rules), follow official social media accounts (create a list on Twitter), learn how to efficiently monitor your feeds from the AP and the network, and keep tabs on the agendas for your major local city councils, school boards, and county boards (there could be all of the information you need for a big story right there in the agenda packet).
But you shouldn’t rely on these things solely. All too often, newsrooms end up reporting the same stories as their competitors, forcing them to try to distinguish themselves with very small differences in coverage. In smaller communities, especially, newsrooms cannot merely wait for news to break out because big news doesn’t happen every day. (It’s a strange irony that more spot news happens in larger cities where the newsrooms have more resources for beat and enterprise reporting.)
SECOND WORST: Localizing a national story
Sure, you’re offering some unique content here, but not much. Usually you just end up repeating a lot of content already included in the national report. The “could it happen here” story is a journalistic cliché. Avoid doing this kind of coverage as one of your main stories of the day unless it’s a major national event. (There are legitimate local angles that aren’t really “localizing,” such as a local fundraiser for a natural disaster or a local resident who was part of the big event — that is really a local story.)
THE WORST: Chasing the competition
You’re not finding the news, you’re waiting for someone else to find it and then confirming what they’ve already reported. Sure, you have to do this if your competitor beats you on a really big story. But if you’re doing this every day, you’re not doing your job. You might as well shut down the organization because there’s no reason for you to exist. You’re only repeating what someone else already said and the audience will notice.
So where does this leave us? Don’t be discouraged that you sometimes have to cover press releases and confirm a big story your competitor broke. But journalists must remember to set aside time to develop sources and chase their curiosities to break the next big story.
Jon Ellis has worked in small-market TV news for 20 years in assistant news director and producer positions.
LINK: More Newsroom Notes