Journalism is about far more than simply gathering information and passing it on. An essential part of the editorial process is to examine everything we are told to make sure it is factual, and then add context so that any facts that are uncovered are considered alongside existing knowledge.

The author skyfishgoo wrote in a piece about critical thinking that “science and journalism both seek to put facts in context so they become useful to others”. He goes on to say that “science dictates that when a claim is made it is subject to critical review”.

Giving content “a bit of a scrub”

Put simply, he says that all of us have a responsibility to give every new piece of information that comes our way “a bit of a scrub” before passing it on to others.

This is particularly important in terms of producing original journalism and then broadcasting or publishing that material and sharing it on social media.

Once a piece of journalism is in the public domain it will be referenced, quoted, and possibly plagiarised as it becomes part of the global conversation. If that piece of journalism is untrue, then lasting damage will have been done.

But let’s first agree what is meant by the word ‘fact’.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a fact is something that is “known or proved to be true”. It is also “information used as evidence or as part of a report or news article”. In legal terms, a fact is “the truth about events as opposed to interpretation”.

And that last definition is interesting, because journalists ‘interpret’ events by adding context – but more on that later. For now, let’s refer to facts that have not yet been fully tested as ‘claims’.

Here are a few tests that should be applied to information that a journalist receives from someone who ‘claims’ that what they are passing on is factual.

The first three tests are about source verification and fact-checking, the fourth is about adding context.

1: Is the source credible?

• What do we know about the source?
• What is their motive for sharing the information?
• Could the source have an agenda about which we are not aware?

To Do: Research the background of the source, their connections, any previous record of sharing information.

2: Has it happened?

• Could there be a simple explanation?
• Has your source been misled? If so, by whom?
• Is there a history of such an event taking place?

To Do: Research the chronology of events. Check your own news organisations archive. Search the web.

3: Where is the evidence?

• Is the information available elsewhere?
• What is the evidence to support the claim?
• Has that evidence been tested?

To Do: Seek out a second, independent and trusted source.

4: What is the context?

• What are the implications if the claims are true?
• How many people are affected and how?
• Gather data and statistics for comparison purposes.

To Do: Paint the bigger picture, understand the importance of the event in relation to other news stories.

Those of you who are new to journalism might want to print out the following checklist and put it on the wall in your newsroom as a reminder.

If the results of your research make you feel uneasy you might want to drop the story. However, even a false claim, presented as fact, but, on investigation, found to be untrue, could still be a story. It could point to a political, commercial, or social conflict that might require investigation.

Never rule out a possible news story because the initial evidence presented proves to be shaky.

Now let’s look at point four ‘the context’ more closely.

Adding context

One dictionary definition of ‘context’ is: “the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood.”

That word, ‘understood’, is important.

The role of a journalist is to enhance understanding. We do that by surrounding proven facts with data, statistics, history, and circumstances that, together, help paint a fuller picture of what has happened.

Think of it this way.

Imagine you are at home watching a series on TV. It’s the final episode of six. Just as the programme is reaching the conclusion there is a knock at the door. It’s a friend you haven’t seen for some time. You welcome them in.

As they walk through the door there is a scream from the lounge. One of the characters in the TV series has discovered the gruesome remains of a body. Your guest is shocked, but fascinated.

You offer to turn the TV off so you can chat, but they are so intrigued by what they saw on the screen that they ask you whether they could watch the programme with you, particularly as it’s reaching its conclusion. They want to know what happens next.

So you pause the programme, put the kettle on, make a cup of tea, and tell your guest about what has happened so far.

You explain who the characters are, what has taken place in previous episodes, how the situation has developed, the relationships between the characters, what clues you have picked up along the way, and how the plot has thickened to reach the point where your guest heard the scream.

And explaining the background proves to be important because your friend thought you must be watching a murder mystery, when, in fact, the series you were watching was a documentary about archeology. The scream was from an archeologist who had unexpectedly found mummified remains. It was not a modern-day crime thriller.

Now your guest has the context, so you can watch the end of the final episode together, with your guest informed about the background to the story and better able to understand events.

The same is true with journalism.

A colleague who was working as an intake editor on a news desk remembers receiving a call from an off-duty reporter who had just passed an overturned red double decker bus on  a London street. People were wandering around with blood pouring from wounds. Two camera crews were mobilised, but before they’d even left the building the reporter discovered that it was a film crew making a movie. The story had changed once the reporter had checked his facts and explored the context.

I made a similar mistake when reporting on a fire at an inner city block of flats in Liverpool. I reported live into the 4pm news bulletin saying that residents were trying to salvage what they could from their burning homes. I was wrong. Had I checked my facts, not made assumptions, and taken time to establish the context of events I would have discovered that I was witnessing rioting and looting. You can read about that experience and the lessons learnt here.

The challenge all journalists face is not just to report the news but to also set out the background to an event as well as all related events in order to help the audience understand the elements of a story which they might otherwise find hard to comprehend – or even reach the wrong conclusion.

Perhaps it involves researching and setting out the chronology of events that have led to the current breaking news story. These can be presented as related stories.

You might need to research the backgrounds of the characters involved as you look for any social connections to anyone else involved. These can be presented as profiles.

Essentially, what you are doing is gathering as much information as possible in order to put together the most detailed, in-depth, and informative account of what has happened.

All this illustrates that journalism helps people make sense of the world – not just what’s happening, but why it’s happening. Stories that raise questions without even attempting to address those questions are weak stories.

• A bridge has collapsed. Why?
• A racing driver stops his car while leading the race. Why?
• A politician resigns. Why?

A news story without context can never be completely understood. A news source that is not verified can never be completely trusted. A claim, left unchecked, might not necessarily be a fact. And a news story without fact-checking and context could add more to the cacophony of confusion than to the enhancement of understanding.

If you found this interesting and, perhaps, helpful, you might want to check our other, related training modules.

Accuracy in journalism
The basics of fact-checking
How to identify and deal with fake news
Dealing with disinformation and misinformation
Unconscious bias and its impact on journalism

The post Fact-checking and adding context first appeared on Media Helping Media.

This is a short training module setting out the basics for creating a news package for TV. It’s been created for those starting out in TV journalism. We have embedded a pdf of our training presentation at the bottom of this module. You have the option to open it in full screen or download and print it. We hope you find it helpful. Let us know if you have any questions by using the contact form.

No pictures, no story

The golden rule for all TV news is “no pictures, no story”; pictures provide the “what” – words provide the “why”.

Storytelling in pictures

• Three skills are necessary: Reporting, camerawork and editing
• You need at least a basic knowledge of all three
• The guiding principle: let the pictures tell the story

First steps – what is the story?

• Who is the subject?
• What are they doing?
• Why, and what is their motive?

Research – the evolution of the story

• Find out what has happened
• Uncover the who, why, when, where, and how of the story
• Ensure you understand fully all the elements

Next steps – plan your news-gathering

• Be sure you know what story you want to tell
• Discuss it with your camera operator
• Decide what shots you are going to need

How the elements work

• The hook – grabs the attention
• The context – gives essential background
• The unfolding – the details of the new story
• The wrap – reiterates the main points or throws the story forward

At the scene – get enough shots

• Anything showing action: arrivals, establishing shots, walking shots, noddies, cutaways, sitting-at-a-desk shots, interesting locations etc
• Film faces, especially those showing emotion
• Avoid getting to the edit suite without the shots you need

Interviews – what are we looking for?

• You will need only one or two short clips
• What will tell the story best? Emotion, analysis, an eye-witness account?
• Be neutral in your tone

Interviews – the skill is in the questions

• Don’t ask questions that can be answered with yes or no
• Don’t ask two questions in one
• Use the old favourites: who, what, when, where, why, and how

The stand-up – a.k.a. piece-to-camera

• Why are you doing it?
• How does it help with the story-telling or the editing?
• If it is really necessary, keep it short

Back at the office – consult and agree

• Make a shot-list
• Show your editor the pictures
• Agree on the treatment of the story

At the edit station – choose the pictures first

• Identify the shots which best tell the story
• Decide their optimum length
• Choose the right sequence (not necessarily in which they were recorded)

Editing dos

• Make sure each shot joins up smoothly with the next
• Keep points which attract the eye in the same area of the screen at changes
• Remove anything that can be cut without damaging the flow of the story
• Make a shot list of the finished edit
• Try to let the pictures tell the story
• Let the images speak and add as few words as possible
• With walking shots, end with them walking out of the picture if you can

Editing don’ts

• Don’t use the same shot twice in a package
• Don’t use jump cuts
• Don’t use the first question from an interview – start with the answer
• Don’t start or end a moving shot with a static shot
• If you cut away from an interview or a press conference, do not go back to it
• Don’t use noddy shots in edits; it could come across as agreement
• Don’t split clips and use them out of sequence

Packaging – putting it all together

• Understand – the story and the pictures you will need to tell it
• Capture – action, emotion, atmosphere, editing shots
• Discuss – agree the treatment with your editor
• Edit – use pictures to tell the story
• Script – add as few words as possible to complement the pictures

The post Constructing a news package for TV first appeared on Media Helping Media.

This is a short training module setting out the basics for creating a news package for radio. It’s been created for those starting out in radio journalism. We have embedded a pdf of our training presentation at the bottom of this module. You have the option to open it in full screen or download and print it. We hope you find it helpful. Let us know if you have any questions by using the contact form.

Technique – using sound to tell a story

• Imagine your voice going into a listener’s ear
• Use your voice expressively – plenty of variation
• The tone should be sympathetic to the story

Actuality – enriches your script

• Find good people to interview
• Look for complementary sounds which are relevant to the story
• If it’s a story about dogs, you need barking

Chronology – the evolution of the story

• Find out what has happened
• Uncover the who, why, when, where, and how of the story
• Ensure you understand fully all the elements

Atmosphere – sound effects

• Record enough wild track at the scene
• Wild track is background noise
• It’s useful because you may need it later in the editing process

Sensing – being there

• At the scene, explain what you are sensing
• Describe what can you see, hear, smell and touch
• Avoid explaining how YOU are feeling

Feeling – emotional impact

• Ask your interviewees what they feel
• Find out if they are afraid, sad, hopeful, happy
• What YOU feel doesn’t matter

Perspectives – what people think

• Seek out multiple perspectives
• Look for diverse voices
• Never ignore conflicting opinions

The so what factor – what happens next

• Find out what are the next steps
• Explain why those steps are important
• Note any future events & meetings for follow up purposes

Putting it together – sounds in harmony

• Use short clips from your wild track and interview
• Use your script to bind them together in a logical way
• Keep your links short

The post Constructing a news package for radio first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Journalists should not waste words. Their writing should be concise and tight. Adjectives and adverbs clutter up news stories and should be avoided wherever possible.

When it comes to writing – not just news writing but any kind of writing – adjectives and adverbs have a bad reputation.

Mark Twain said: “When you catch an adjective, kill it.” Stephen King said: “The road to hell is paved with adverbs”.

For many decades, the conventional wisdom in journalism has been that you do not, usually, need adjectives and adverbs. Your sentences will be better if you cut them out.

But wait! I just used “usually”, an adverb, and “better”, an adjective. If I cut them out, the first sentence will no longer be accurate, since I am trying to say that there will, occasionally, be a need. And the second sentence does not work at all if I remove “better”.

So you cannot ban the use of adjectives and adverbs.

But you should keep them to a minimum. Mark Twain, in fact, modified his advice:

“I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them (adjectives) – then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart.

“An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.”

Instead, make a virtue of economy: use as few words as possible. The newspaper guru, Leslie Sellers, in his 1968 guide, “The simple subs book”, put it this way: “fewer words, better sense”. Apply this across the board, but especially (a permissible use of the adverb in this case) with adjectives and adverbs.

Adjectives and adverbs are words that modify. Adjectives change the meaning of nouns. Adverbs change the meaning of verbs, phrases, clauses or sentences. You should always test whether the modification is necessary.

Here are a few examples of commonly-used but unnecessary modifiers, in which the first word can always be cut:

• completely untrue
• strictly necessary
• broad daylight
• considerable difficulty
• firm decision
• together with
• along with
• grateful thanks
• high-speed car chase

Adjectives to do with size are often too broad to add any useful meaning, like “big”, “huge”, “massive”, “astonishing” . They can be cut or replaced with something that adds to the understanding of the story.

Adjectives like “tragic”, “improved” “sad”, “incredible” “unfortunate” are especially dangerous since they include value judgements. Leave it to your readers or listeners to make their own judgements.

Two of the most objectionable words are “really” and “very”. They seldom add any meaning. Mark Twain suggested that every time you are tempted to write the word “very” in your story, substitute the word “damn” – then, as he put it, “your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be”.

Mark Twain was also down on adverbs. He said they were the tool of the “lazy writer”. In their most common form they end in “ly” and are attached to verbs. Here are some sentences which would be better without their adverbs:

“She tiptoed silently into the room.”
“He glared aggressively at the traffic warden.”
“She knew perfectly well he was lying.”
“He completely rejected the allegation.”

In all these cases, the adverb states the obvious. The verb does the job without needing modification. Always try to let the verb stand alone – if it needs strengthening with an adverb, it is the wrong choice of verb.

Journalists choosing their words are the same as carpenters choosing a piece of wood or tailors choosing a length of cloth. We are all craftspeople and our success depends on using the right raw materials – in our case, words.

So be sparing in your use of adjectives and adverbs. It is one of the qualities that marks a professional.

For further reading on this subject, you might want to read the excellent “A journalist’s guide to the use of English”, by Ted Bottomley and Anthony Loftus. It was written in 1971 and has been updated for this website by Ted’s son John.

The post The use of adjectives and adverbs in journalism first appeared on Media Helping Media.

The number of women and men in the world is roughly equal according to data compiled in 2021. However women make up about a quarter of those heard, read about or seen in news output. And only one in five experts interviewed by journalists are women.

To find out why, and what can be done about it, we first need to consider the difference between gender and sex.

Sex refers to biological differences between men and women. Men produce sperm and women can become pregnant, bear children and breastfeed. These differences are permanent without surgery and medicine.

Gender refers to socially constructed differences between women and men. These differences are not biological and are therefore fluid. They vary between cultures, within cultures, and over time. This affects how we are seen and how we are expected to behave as men and women.

Media can play an important role in either promoting gender equality or perpetuating gender stereotypes.

Women make up half the population and therefore make up half the audience so it doesn’t make sense to pay them less attention. They make decisions on behalf of themselves, their families and their businesses or organisations. They also possess half the potential of the global population.

Women are customers. They buy goods and services for themselves. They are business owners and householders so they are attractive to advertisers and other businesses. It makes no financial sense to underestimate women in any media business plan.

But, despite this, the portrayal of women in the media is often far from accurate. The media needs to ensure it offers proportional and fair coverage of women rather than resorting to using outdated stereotypes.

According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2018) more than half of all scientists in Thailand are women. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects that have traditionally been seen as a male area of expertise and so this is an impressive achievement. However, a 2015 UNESCO study found that women are more likely to be depicted as victims, family members and sex objects in the media throughout Asia.

Journalists who use such stereotypes in their coverage are failing in one of the core values of journalism – accuracy.

Take a look at any mainstream media organisation and consider how women and girls are portrayed. Check how often women are interviewed as experts in their field. Assess how often women are portrayed as victims. In children’s cartoons, films and stories observe how girls and boys are depicted and consider what influence this might have on children and their parents. 

It is possible you will notice gender bias. This is why gender equality is important. Journalists and media organisations can address this.

When a speaker is needed for an opinion on an issue ensure that half those selected are women. To be an expert a person doesn’t necessarily need to have an academic qualification. Traditionally, women have carried out unpaid work but through that work they become experts in that field.

Media managers can ensure that recruitment is gender blind. They can ask someone in the organisation who is not connected with the selection process to present job applicant’s CVs and covering letters without reference to their gender or identities. This prevents candidates being judged unfairly by their names at the early stage. Some names are an indication of ethnicity or social background.

Human resources (HR) managers should ensure that there is a balance of genders in all sections of a media organisation, including technical roles, senior editorial positions, board members and owners. However there isn’t much HR can do about ownership

Women should be paid the same as men for performing similar duties. In some organisations women do similar work as men and yet are paid less. In 2017, the BBC was found to be paying the top rates of pay to twice as many male presenters as they were to their female presenters. The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission did not find any unlawful acts of pay discrimination but the corporation was told to have greater transparency and rebuild trust with women who work there. However, following some high-profile complaints of unfair pay between men and women, 700 female staff received pay rises.

Women can face additional pressures such as online harassment as a result of their media work. This can include threats of violence and sexual insults. Media managers need to be aware of this and work with both female and male staff to introduce safeguarding measures.

Introducing gender equality in a media workplace is not difficult. There are a number of simple questions journalists and media managers need to address.

In programme output, do women appear as knowledgeable and empowered or are they in passive roles as victims? Do they exist only in their relation to a man? Do the concerns and interests of women receive half the attention as those of men?

When the opinions of a business owner or farmer are needed for a story don’t always turn to a man. Similarly, a caregiver can be male.

Are the questions the same? Are female politicians, activists and experts asked different questions to the ones asked of men in these positions? When do you hear male interviewees being asked how they manage to cope with juggling a career with raising children?

Are men and women depicted according to their gender or for the story? Are male interviewees photographed or filmed in the same way as female interviewees?

Consider the language used in scripts and introductions. Use camera operator instead of cameraman or camerawoman. police officer instead of policeman or policewoman. Humankind instead of mankind. This puts the job or role ahead of the gender and prevents the lazy assumption that the job or role is carried out by a man.

Some languages are more gendered than others and often the default is that the masculine is predominant. For example, in Spanish – a male friend is amigo and a female friend is amiga, but a group of friends takes the masculine and is amigos. You might wonder if this difference has an impact on society’s attitude to gender. It is worth noting that languages are always evolving, just like our views of gender.

Summary

Gender equality is important for both men and women. Neither gender benefits from being stereotyped and not being allowed to fulfil its full potential.

• Take steps to ensure that women are represented in all roles and at all levels in your media organisation and that they are paid the same for doing the same work.
• Is the workplace comfortable for both women and men? Find solutions for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace and online.
• Avoid stereotyping when presenting men and women in your content.
• Make your language as gender-inclusive as possible.
• Be aware of and address cases where unconscious bias is affecting your output.

All our communities benefit when individual differences are welcomed and everyone – regardless of their gender – can play a full role in their society and are not expected to fill certain predetermined roles.

Every media organisation needs to provide gender equality training for all staff, regardless of their gender. Such training needs to filter through every level of the organisation from senior managers to interns on work experience. It needs to be part of the core values of the organisation and the policy should be visible in everything that is produced.

The post Gender equality in the media first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Many news stories are about action. You want to capture that in your writing and seize the attention of your audience. One of the ways is by choosing the active voice.

Strong verbs are the best words for suggesting action: run, leap, hit, accuse, rescue, build, explore, kick, ride, catch, etc. And verbs have two “voices”: the active and the passive.

In the active voice: I wrote this module.

In the passive voice: This module was written by me.

In the active voice, somebody is doing something. In the passive voice, something is being done.

They are both perfectly correct, grammatically, but the active voice is shorter, stronger and more direct. It works much better in news stories. There are exceptions, which we will come to later, but in the vast majority of cases, the active voice gives your story impact and vitality.

Here are two ways of writing the same story:

Passive voice: After several months of better trading conditions, the annual bonus to staff at the Fred Smith store group will be paid for the first time in four years.

Active voice: Staff at Fred Smith stores will get their first annual bonus in four years, after the group reported better trading conditions.

The active voice works better – it is less wordy and it puts the human interest angle first.

So the active voice is a basic part of a journalist’s toolkit. It is the default way of writing an interesting story. But the passive voice is not all bad! Sometimes it is the right choice.

“A lion has eaten the president” is much less effective than “The president has been eaten by a lion”.

This is because the overwhelmingly important subject of the story is the president, not the lion, and you want the president mentioned at the beginning of the story. The passive voice serves better in this case.

So the starting point for news writing is to favour the active voice – and to recognise the comparatively rare occasions when it will be better to use the passive.

But there is another reason to understand the use of the active and passive voices. They do not just affect style and impact, they can also affect meaning.

People in the public eye, particularly politicians, sometimes use the passive voice to obfuscate, confuse and mislead.

The classic example is “mistakes were made”.  From the politicians’ point of view that is better than “I made mistakes” because it sets up uncertainty about what happened.

“I made mistakes and I’m sorry” is a very different statement from “mistakes were made and I regret them”.

In the latter case, the politician leaves open the possibility that the mistakes were made by someone else and his regret could easily be about someone else’s error. Because of the way he has phrased his statement, we cannot tell.

It is the skilful use of the passive voice to evade accountability.

Notice that when politicians describe their successes, they say “We took swift action to deal with the situation”. But when they talk about things that have gone wrong, they use words like “it was considered that…”, or “it was felt necessary….”, distancing themselves from the decision-making process through use of the passive voice.

I remember a philandering politician was asked at his latest wedding whether he would now be a faithful husband. He replied: “When a man marries his mistress, a vacancy is created.”

He was saying, in effect, that he would continue to have extra marital affairs – but in his choice of the passive voice, “a vacancy is created”, he was implying that some external force was creating the new opportunities for infidelity that he would no doubt later take up.

Again, the passive voice suggests the politician is an observer of what is happening, rather than the author of it.

So when you are quoting some public figure, make sure to point out any ambiguities created by his use of the passive voice.

You might want also to look at these thoughts on use of  the passive voice by David Poulson at the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

The post The active and passive voices in news first appeared on Media Helping Media.

While delivering a training course at a TV station I noticed that all the packages were made in exactly the same way. The reporters would go out with a camera operator, shoot some footage and get an interview or two. They would come back to the office, decide what interview clips to use in their package and start typing.

The scripts they wrote would have worked fine for radio or newspapers – but they had no connection with the pictures. Apart from the interview clips, all the other pictures they used were just wallpaper behind the reporter’s voice.

This misses the point of television reporting; let the pictures tell the story, wherever possible. Here’s one way of making a TV package by thinking first about the pictures:

Pictures come first

When the pictures have been ingested into the system, make a shot list then show the editor the pictures.

Which are the most interesting shots? What is their optimum lifespan (in seconds)?

What is the right sequence to tell the story? (It is not necessarily the order in which they were recorded)

Do you have a good opening shot? Do you have a good shot for the end?

What is the best place for your stand-up (piece-to-camera) if there is one?

Agree with the editor how the package is to be put together and the key elements of the text

Agree the target length of the package.

Now do your rough cut. Each shot should be as long as it is visually interesting.

Do not use the same shot twice in the package, unless there is a compelling reason to do so (helping with the edit is not a compelling reason).

Does each shot join up smoothly with the next?

The points which attract the eye should ideally be in the same area of the screen at each shot change.

Avoid jump cuts.

If someone is walking, try to end with them walking out of the picture (especially if they are in the next shot in a different place).

With moving shots, only use the moving part, not the static beginning or end.

If you cut away from an interview or a press conference, don’t go back to it unless there is a good reason to do so (helping with the edit is not a good reason).

Don’t use the first question in an interview – start with the first answer.

Watch the finished edit carefully. Does it flow, is there anything that can be cut without damaging the overall package, is there anything missing, is it visually effective?

Now write a shot list with accurate timings.

Now write your script.

You might want to read our training module on ‘How to create a broadcast news package”.

The post Letting the pictures tell the story first appeared on Media Helping Media.

How do we know what is “news”? There are millions of things going on in the world all the time and only some of them become news stories.

A journalist is able to pick out the newsworthy items and turn them into stories that people will want to read and hear and watch. That ability is what we call “news sense”.

It is tricky to define.

It is probably an instinct and our own experience suggests that some people are born with that instinct while others develop it through practice.

We asked a number of experienced journalists to try to explain what news sense is, and how it can be developed. The following is what they said. We have listed the names of the contributors alphabetically.

When you’ve read their definitions, please feel free to suggest your own or offer examples of news sense at work on our Facebook page.

Rahnuma Ahmed, writer, and Shahidul Alam, writer, photojournalist, and social activist, Bangladesh.

“News is information that is of value which was previously unknown. Both criteria need to be met, but the criteria might not apply equally to all. It may well have been known to some and shielded from others, or of great value to some but not of equal value to others. 

“The death of an unknown child in a remote village, may have little news value to people far away, but be major news to the community. If it is symptomatic of a major pandemic that could affect millions, that same death might become news for the world. The treatment of that pandemic might have news value to pharmaceutical companies, to health workers, scientists, insurance companies and even undertakers. If none of these applied it would still have immense news value to the child’s mother.”

Jonathan Baker, formerly Head of the BBC College of Journalism and Professor of Journalism at Essex University.

“Old hands will tell you that what makes a story cannot be defined, but that they know one when they see one.   

“It’s true that instinct and experience are important elements of news sense. But anyone can make a good news judgement by asking a number of simple questions: 

 “Is it new? Is it important? Is it interesting or amusing? Who is affected by it? Is there a human element? 

 “You need to answer all of these questions through the perspective of your readers, listeners or viewers. They should always be foremost in your thoughts. Who are they? Will they want to know about this? Do they need to? Is it relevant to their lives? 

“The answers to these questions should help you decide whether or not a story is newsworthy, as well as helping develop an instinctive news sense over time.”

John Bottomley, former chief sub-editor and Head of Sport at Trinity Mirror Cheshire, England.

“News sense is an important component of a reporter’s skills. It is intuition, being able to recognise instantly what will make ‘a good story.’ A good journalist never loses the feeling of satisfaction at spotting one. And if the subject matter lies beyond the reporter’s ‘patch’ he or she will work hard to unearth a local angle to ensure the story isn’t wasted.

“Good news sense may itself inspire investigative journalism but is at its best when homing in on the makings of a one-off good yarn, one which doesn’t always have to a ‘big’ story, a quirky one is often just as good or even better. When ‘shark bite’ was spotted on the list of operations scheduled at the local hospital it was destined to be ‘a good story’ no matter how serious or frivolous the details.*

“Good new sense can involve identifying current news trends and following them locally. If a serious dog attack makes national headlines then any minor one locally can naturally assume a higher profile.

“News sense may often be intuitive but surely it can be taught. In local journalism this can go alongside getting to know the area so that a flip through the latest planning applications may flag up something of interest eg. plans to build homes on a well-known flood plain etc.

“Good news sense can see a good story revisited. The closure of a long established family-run village butcher’s shop can easily lead to follow-up stories: ‘The end of an era,’ ‘Death of the High Street,’ ‘The village that is dying’ (lack of public transport to the nearest butcher?) and may also inspire a website campaign or two. Plus there is the  bigger picture. Is the shop’s demise just about economics? What about changing eating habits? Does the closure of a butcher’s reflect the growth of vegetarian values nationally? Is the village now home to any new ‘artisan food’ shops or restaurants? And ultimately, you never know, a build-up to perhaps making the claim it is a contender for ‘greenest village in the UK?’”

* A baby shark at the local aquarium had bitten the arm of the keeper feeding him. He needed a bit of patching up, the event hadn’t really been that dramatic but that didn’t stop the story being front page lead in the local paper.

Justin Burke, publisher of eurasianet, a news and analysis website covering Central Asia and the Caucasus.

“News sense is the value added that experienced journalists give to observations of everyday events. It enables journalists to organise stories in ways that make it easier for readers to make sense of the news and understand why events are unfolding the way they are. It helps writers show how the past is shaping the present, placing current affairs in a broader context.  New sense also fosters forward-looking analysis that allows readers to make connections concerning current affairs, identify trends and be more aware of potential outcomes.”

Bob Clifford, formerly of the BBC.

“News sense is a form of involuntary reaction to things going on around you – the ability/gift/curse to be able to spot a potential story in virtually anything you see or hear. 

“It’s a bit like when the doctor taps that spot just below your kneecap and your leg jerks up. 

“Something happens – you react.

“You pass a man who’s smoking a pipe and it strikes you that it’s now a very rare sight – so phone the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers for a story on how they see their future or lack of it.

“You watch a television personality doing a solemn piece to camera while walking among Commonwealth war graves and notice that, as usual, she has her sunglasses perched on top of her head. Isn’t that rather relaxed and disrespectful? Phone a veterans’ group for an angry reaction. 

“The electrician fixing your lights tells you he hasn’t had any Covid jabs because his wife is trying to get pregnant. Are there lots like him? Ask the NHS and others for figures and comment.

“You overhear a fellow bus passenger phoning their dentist to say they are running late. But they don’t say sorry and you realise that this isn’t the first time you have noticed this. Phone social commentators and etiquette experts to help work up a piece for the feature pages on the death of manners..  

“A good test:

“You leave home, get to work and the boss says the diary page is short of one last item, time is running out, and have you seen anything that can be turned into a couple of interesting paragraphs?

“If you have kept your eyes really open, and your news sense fully engaged, you should be able to come up with at least something of interest – which, in the end, is what journalism is all about.” 

Caroline Faraj, CNN VP, CNN Arabic editor-in-chief

“Many in our industry understand the term but find it hard to explain in words, simply because it is encouraging the young journalists to use their senses.

“I usually tell our young members or interns to use their senses and try to answer some questions, like: Is there a story here? Would our audience be interested in it? Is it relevant to them? Am I focusing on reporting the truth? If yes, do I have the story covered from all sides? Then when you have elements that can be considered worth a story, would I feel proud to add my byline on it? If yes, then I would encourage the young journalist to write it and own it too.”

Phil Harding, broadcaster and formerly Director of News for the BBC World Service.

“It’s what’s new, it’s what is interesting, it’s what is important. It’s what you think will interest your audience or readership but not just what they may already be interested in – or what they tell you they are interested in – it’s sometimes about telling them about something that they become interested in once you have told them about it.”

Vincent Kahiya, former group editor-in-chief Alpha Media Holdings Zimbabwe, including The Standard, NewsDay, and The Independent.

“Reporters must cultivate what’s called a “news sense” as an instinctive feel for what constitutes a big story. For an experienced reporter, the news sense often manifests itself as a voice screaming inside their head whenever a big story breaks. “This is important,” the voice shouts. “You need to move fast.”

“The main building blocks to having news sense are reading newspapers, watching/listening to news bulletins, and having an awareness about the relationship between readers and their environments; that is context.

“Now, you can drill the factors that make something newsworthy into young journalists – impact, loss of life, consequences and so on. But at some point the development of a news sense must go beyond routine learning and be absorbed into a reporter’s body and soul. It must be instinctive, part of a journalist’s very being

“But that won’t happen if a student isn’t excited about the news, because a news sense is really all about the adrenaline rush that anyone who’s ever covered a big story knows so well. It’s the feeling one MUST have if he or she is to be even a good reporter, much less a great one.

“You won’t make it as a reporter if you don’t develop a nose for news, if you don’t hear that voice yelling inside your head. And that won’t happen if you’re not excited about the work itself.”

Ivan Kuzmanovski, senior reporter, Sitel Television, North Macedonia.

“News sense is probably the first thing you will hear when you start working as a reporter. It is something more than following the rules of making the story, but establishing a real connection with the audience. You need to know what the public is interested in and give them the information they need at the right time. It does not matter whether it is a political event, accident, crime story, investigative story, natural disasters, health problems, pandemic, always have the needs of your audience at the forefront of your mind.”

TP Mishra, the Executive Editor of the Bhutan News Service, an all-volunteer-run news agency for Bhutanese refugees.

“As a Bhutanese refugee editing news for my community I always ask myself whether the story is of interest to me. If it is, then an intuitive feeling kicks in to help me explore the angles that are of most importance to those I am writing for.

“In 2004 I was the editor leading a small team that set up a newspaper for the exiled Bhutanese living in refugee camps in Nepal. Our newspaper, The Bhutan Reporter, had a clear purpose, to keep Bhutanese refugees informed about news related to the home they had left in Bhutan, and their new home in the camps.

“So we had well-defined areas of interests that we decided to cover on behalf of our readers. And that purpose helped us tune our news sense to meet that need. We just knew what mattered most to those we were writing for. And we could pass that on to new recruits who joined us.” 

Media Helping Media thanks all those who contributed to this piece. Feel free to add your definition of news sense on our Facebook page.

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The six questions are What? Why? When? How? Where? and Who?

And it’s worth asking yourself these questions to ensure you have not missed out anything which ought to be included in your story.

You don’t have to answer all six questions.

There might be times when you choose leave out one or more of them. That’s fine, as long as you have made a conscious decision to do so.

But use the six as a checklist. Run through them as a matter of routine to assure yourself that you have not omitted anything by mistake.

What – happened?
Why – did the event to take place (the cause)?
When – did it happen?
How – did it happen?
Where – did it take place? and
Who – are the people involved?

Usually, the two most important questions are who? and what?.

News is often about people doing things (or sometimes not doing things) so the who and the what are frequently the most crucial parts of your story.

How much other detail you include is down to your news judgement and the time and space available to you.

But never try to answer all six questions in your opening sentence or paragraph.

It will result in a cluttered report and leave you with little else to write about.

Try this example.

“A climate change protester, John Smith, today drove the wrong way down the M6 motorway in Birmingham in a protest against the building of a new runway at Heathrow airport.”

All six questions have been mentioned, but the sentence isn’t elegant or interesting.

Ration your information. Use it sparingly and to good effect. Try to keep your audience interested.

In this case, the what is more interesting than the identity of the who, so something like this would have more impact:

“A climate change protester caused mayhem today by deliberately driving the wrong way down a motorway.”

There are lots of other ways of writing this story, but however you choose to start, the other details can be incorporated into the next two or three sentences.

In the next lesson we look at story construction.

This lesson is based on an article written by John Allen. The image at the top is licensed through Can Stock Photo Inc / PixelsAway in accordance with the End User License Agreement (c) – License # 1397576 and released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.

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News writing is the opposite.

You start with the essence of the story, for example, let’s imagine the following headline which reads: “The price of cotton has fallen by 15 per cent”.

You then add extra information such as the impact on producers, the textile industry, the economy, consumer prices, employment, etc.

Details such as whether it was expected, what is being done about it, whether it is short- or long-term, and how people are reacting to the news are then added..

A reader or listener can stop after the headline and summary knowing the basic facts.

The person who wants to know more can continue for added information.

Some journalists refer to this method as pyramid journalism, as set out in the graphic above, others refer to it as the inverted pyramid. But no matter how you look at it, the headline is at the top, and more information is added according to its relevance and newsworthiness.

Those who need to understand the essential information will be able to access it in the first few lines, while those who are fascinated by the story can continue reading background information that supports the main thrust of the article. And those who are not that interested will have moved on to another news item.

It’s a simple but effective technique that relies entirely on how well focused you are.

You, the journalist, must decide what the top line is, what comes second, third, and so on.

And you must alway keep in mind that you risk losing your audience if you get too bogged down in detail and offer too much of one kind of information at the expense of other aspects of the story.

In the next lesson we look at the six questions that journalists should ask. What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who.

The text for this lesson was written by John Allen a former executive editor of BBC News. The text is from Media Helping Media and is reproduced under the terms of Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. The graphic at the top is by David Brewer released via Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The post Essential elements of a news story first appeared on Media Helping Media.