Four questions for reporters
By Doug Fisher
The first Common Sense Journalism column four years ago proposed six
questions for editors: Who cares? So what? What does it mean? How do
we know that? Do I understand what is being said? Does this make sense?
Those are good questions for all journalists, but four others can
help reporters focus their efforts still further at a time when increasing
deadlines too often can make such things an afterthought.
Why do I care about this story?
If you don't have passion about the story, how can your readers? A
little of you goes into every word you write. As Ring Lardner once
said: "How can you write if you can't cry?" And as Red Smith
observed: "There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down
at a typewriter and open a vein."
It's hard to get passionate about that three-hour county council meeting
discussing the intricacies of some arcane budget line, and it's OK
to say, "I care about this because my boss told me to care about
it." But acknowledge that and then fight against letting that
boredom creep into your writing. Find something to care about.
Why should the readers care about this story?
One of the most important things you can do is invest a moment to
reflect on this before you begin writing. If you can't answer this – and
then tell readers that answer in your story – why should they
invest the time in you? Stories change based on reporting, so the answer
may change, too. But by the time it comes to writing, the answer should
be clear.
If your answer to the first question is "the boss is making me
do it," then it's even more critical to ask this question going
into the reporting. Failing to engage yourself and the readers unfailingly
produces copy that sends people fleeing to the other myriad things
competing for their time. Even worse, that copy too often tends to
shade to cynicism instead of skeptical observation.
The answer may be as simple as "The council is spending your
money" or "I think you'd like to know about this so you can
go." Or it may be as weighty as "This could change the face
of our town forever."
The answer may also be different for different audiences, an important
consideration in these fragmented times.
But if you can't answer this at all, what usually comes out of the
keyboard is a string of loosely related facts, not a story, and the
results are uniformly unsatisfying.
What is the key source I must have to make this a story?
This sounds like one of those "special project" questions.
But while it's critical as you embark on a major endeavor, I've also
seen too many great ideas at 10 a.m. turn into mush and recriminations
by 3 p.m. because everyone, not just the reporter, failed to ask this.
Our "constantly connected" society actually can make a reporter's
job more difficult. While I always knew the mayor would be in his office
from 9-10 a.m. and right after lunch (and probably around 4 p.m. as
well), now that everyone is "mobile," and as security at
public buildings is tighter, you can't always track people down just
by showing up if they won't take your calls.
As much as our electronic world helps us do our jobs, I've found it
risky to assume that means you'll be able to get people or documents
on a moment's notice.
If I can't get that key source, what is my fallback position?
What can we write, or what other sources can we get, if we can't get
that key source? Or are we going to end up with a hole we have to fill
with something else?
When an editor is badgering you for the story is no time to ask this
question. Prevent hard feelings and Maalox moments and settle on the
answer early in the process.
Four deceptively simple questions and four potentially complex answers,
but all are important to our success in an increasingly competitive
and fragmented world.
