Reporting controversy

1
Reporting controversy

• Youre not going to arrest violence on the
  streets by slapping handcuffs on the First
  Amendment. -- executive director of The Freedom
  Forum, Paul McMasters, 1993
• What is history but a fable agreed upon?
• Napoleon Bonaparte

2

• The parson, the geologist and the cowboy were all
  standing together and gazing for the first time
  at the grand Canyon.
• One of the wonders of God, the parson said.
• One of the wonders of science, the geologist
  said.
• What a helluva place to raise a cow, the
  cowboy said.

3

• So much for objectivity.
• With that bit of pointed whimsy, Detroit
  newspaper executive Derick Daniels dismissed a
  bit of hard-core journalistic dogma objective
  reporting is the one path to truth and reality.
  Interpretation and depth reporting have earned a
  place in the pantheon of journalistic gods.
• There are two important reasons for high school
  journalists to engage in reporting controversial
  issues
• To report on issues and events of importance to
  them
• To make a difference in the lives of their peers.

4

• No longer do scholastic publications just focus
  on the trite and banal topics of prom, homecoming
  and school spirit.
• High school reporters today are willing to take a
  risk, to challenge readers to think outside of
  their everyday boxes of cliques, soaps and
  gossip, and to examine ideas and issues
  meaningful to their everyday existence.
• Folksinger Pete Seeger, in Little Boxes sang of
  wooden houses, all made of ticky-tacky, all the
  same, in reference to the lockstep society of
  the late 50s and early 60s. Many of todays
  high school students are also locked into
  standardized, milktoast and robotic thinking and
  of looking alike.

5

• They need journalism that challenges their ideas,
  their self-images, their lack of involvement. In
  short, they need to be led outside the paradigm
  of the ticky-tacky boxes they live in.
• They need journalists willing to make a
  difference, willing to be unique, willing to say
  we neednt be or think all the same.
• These journalists are publishing thoughtful,
  in-depth and meaningful stories on important and
  often controversial subjects.

6

• The challenge is to find a way to report these
  issues that is unique and meets the needs of the
  local readers.
• Another challenge is find a way to make whatever
  topic you choose have a human interest angle. The
  only way to do this is to relate it to real
  people and situations -- anecdotes, description,
  storytelling, narrative -- ways to make a longer,
  statistic- and research-based piece come alive
  and grab the readers.
• A third challenge is to involve multimedia in
  meaningful ways so content is served no matter
  the platform.

7

• Consider these goals for investigative reporting
  from the Center for Investigative Reporting
• Alert the public to emerging issues, crises and
  trends, and to stories that are unreported or
  underreported.
• Provide key information to citizens, the
  public-interest community and public officials in
  as many media outlets and forms as possible.
• Monitor the unfolding story and solutions to
  the problems we uncover and, whenever possible,
  update our stories after they appear.
• In-depth or controversial reporting is not
  superficial, one of the criticisms of media
  today.
• Critics of the media argue, rightly so, that the
  lack of space or time or willingness to be
  thorough, forces the press to only cover the
  surface and to be sensational. Critics claim
  issues laced with subtleties cannot be explored
  properly under the constraints of speed and
  brevity.

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• Emphasizing in-depth reporting implies several
  things
• It means better reporting
• It means the use of multiple sources and
  even reinterviewing them several times
• It means careful research
• It means asking more questions than you answer
• It means the willingness to take the time
  needed to do a thorough job
• It means combining the best of news and feature
  reporting, of using infographics and photography
  and other media to get the message across
• It means being willing to take the risk to do
  something that will leave a mark on your readers.

9

• Evaluating topics and stories
• Is the topic of the story worth in-depth
  treatment because of its seriousness or
  relevance?
• If the story is one long piece, does it have a
  full-fledged introduction leading to an internal
  lead or nutgraph?
• Are scenes, anecdotes and other strong examples
  used to involve the reader in the story?
• If the story is broken into several pieces,
  does each piece deal with a different aspect of
  the story? If shorter pieces, is each coherent?
• Are charts and other infographics used
  appropriately and effectively?
• Is the story free from grammatical errors and
  in accordance with the publication and AP
  stylebooks?