News-Gathering and Production Practices

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Table of Contents

Finding Stories
Researching Stories
Gathering Evidence
Identifying Treatment
Constructing Narrative
Producing the Journalism
Reference List

Finding Stories

In order to be newsworthy, the information should meet six main principles. According to Stewart, Alexander, and Boyd (2016), they are proximity, relevance, immediacy, interest, drama and entertainment. Proximity is a requirement to consider local events and information as essential because they directly influence the life of the local community. Relevance is a difficult task for journalists because even if the majority of people are interested in the topic, other factors like background, religion or education influence their reactions. The requirement to provide a fresh angle on earlier reports or something new to deliver is called immediacy.

Broadcast journalists often neglect events that took place yesterday. The news writers should adhere to the principle of interest that requires a broad appeal and efforts to deliver to the audience what it needs and wants at the same time (Chapman and Kinsey, 2009). Broadcasting is mainly focused on satisfying mass interests and popular tastes, instead of smaller target groups. The stories such as car crashes, cliff-top rescues and violence strikes attract an audience because conflict, adventure, danger and drama usually thrill people. Currently, tailpieces and kickers are also used in the bulletin just to entertain and make people smile.

Researching Stories

If media specialists strive to find trustworthy information, they should use special tools and techniques to search for information online. Basic and advanced searching can be conducted with the help of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN (Quinn and Lamble, 2008). However, every journalist must be aware of search engine bias meaning that the highest-ranked source is not always the most credible due to its tricky web site design. The Hidden Web also should be examined on the presence of relevant web portals and online search directories, which can be omitted by the search engine. For instance, many corporations and government organizations have their own portal websites. Meta searching tools, such as Meta Eureka and Dogpile, enable simultaneous searches in different search engines to find the needed piece of information. During the research process, electronic journalists must follow the ethical guidelines of their employees and not breach laws prohibiting indecency, libel, invasion of privacy and copyright (Sauls and Stark, 2019). Blogs are also part of newsgathering, so RSS, Bloglines and other feed aggregators should be used to receive summaries of Web content and simplify the research.

Gathering Evidence

Journalists usually gather information utilizing two primary sources: interviews and various documents. Media professionals have to define the reasons for interviewing the subject, handle preliminary research, arrange the place and time for the appointment and create a list of proper questions (Quinn and Lamble, 2008). When the interview takes place, every element is vital, including appropriate clothes, handshaking, eye contact and where involved sides sit. According to Adams and Hicks (2009), interviewers have to master non-questioning techniques of inquiring quotes and information closely. The interviewer should listen to people carefully and, at the same time, encourage them to talk.

The “silence” technique is important to avoid the transformation of interviews into debates or partial answers to the questions. Moreover, it is better to make special statements that require confirmation or denial from the interviewee. Journalists should seek amplification and confirmation instead of just questioning. Another critical tool is summarizing what was already said, restating and continuation with other questions, which helps to make the process more coherent (Chapman and Kinsey, 2009). Despite usually perceived by the audience as relaxed and spontaneous, interviews are highly structured conversations that require the right interviewee, right location, suitable questions and coping with different obstacles.

Identifying Treatment

The best way to curate the story depends on its context, content, budget, preliminary preparations, amount of information and related resources. For example, the article on the website or post in social media will be enough for the news about a minor local event, but the face-to-face interview with a show business star deserves to be broadcasted in prime time. Television and radio usually provide information in a linear sequence, so news presented has limited attention and life span (Quinn and Lamble, 2008). In general, they are the oldest and most proven ways to curate the story.

Nevertheless, TV and radio are the most common and widespread ways to tell the researched story. The bulletin, what is a snap of breaking news, is popular both on radio and TV because it makes it possible to cover a bundle of stories in a short time. In general, radio bulletins broadcast voice reports and parts of previously recorded interviews, while TV news is embellished with videos and animation (Hudson and Rowlands, 2007). If journalists want to reach a local target group with brief news, they should use the radio, but if the news appeals to the majority of the audience, TV is a better choice.

Constructing Narrative

The task of TV scriptwriting is to properly balance pictures and words in order to deliver a part of information via voice and another part with the help of visuals. Every script requires the lead that is designed to catch the viewer’s attention. The script should be written in obedience to available pictures using split-second timing because TV is a visual medium (Stewart, Alexander, and Boyd, 2016). Hence, reporters usually write to the shot list where cumulative time is indicated. When the shots are dramatic, it is better to make some pauses and let visuals to narrate the story.

The sound is also important, and it is better to avoid adjectives that tell about sounds that can be heard on the video. TV is a medium of impression, so the script layout should have a minimum of details. Viewers just need to grasp general impressions from the reporter, while visuals are designed to clarify what was reported. Editors use the collection of images provided by the cameraperson or image library in order to create a particular sequence of shots that contributes to the report.

Producing the Journalism

Taking into consideration that the newsroom produces programs on the TV channel, the platform on which it operates encompasses the usage of video and text. According to Berger (1990), the notion of house style means that media organizations tend to set editing conventions that should be used by scriptwriters and reporters. It is designed to secure stylistic consistency in a series of final products, such as bulletins and documentaries. The newsroom staff should ideally edit video first and only then write words that will accompany the image in order to preserve coherence. Edited images have to be cut and put logically one after another to follow the thought. It is crucial to avoid dissonance that reduces viewers’ understanding. The next step is a content distribution that is delivering and promotion of the final product to audiences through multiple channels as broadcast, print and digital (Hudson and Rowlands, 2007). In this case, the broadcasting of video programs on the TV channel is the leading way of distribution. Moreover, the digital distribution would be used for further news program promotion over the Internet on the official website and popular video hosting.

Reference List

Adams, S. and Hicks, W. (2009) Interviewing for journalists. 2nd edn. London: Routledge.

Berger, A. A. (1990) Scripts: writing for radio and television. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Chapman, J. and Kinsey, M. (2009) Broadcast journalism: a critical introduction. London: Routledge.

Hudson, G. and Rowlands, S. (2007) The broadcast journalism handbook. Harlow: Longman.

Quinn, S. and Lamble, S. (2008) Online newsgathering research and reporting for journalism. Boston: Elsevier Science.

Sauls, S. J. and Stark, C. A. (2019) Audio production worktext: concepts, techniques, and equipment. 9th edn. New York: Routledge.

Stewart, P., Alexander, R. and Boyd, A. (2016) Broadcast journalism techniques of radio and television news. 7th edn. New York: Routledge.

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