Introduction to Television Reporting

9. What is news?

(This is the Ninth article in the Ten part series on 'Introduction to Television Reporting', this series is part of an online course taken by CBA)

What is news?

Many people have tried to come up with a useful definition of news, but few have been successful. Even highly experienced journalists struggle to explain precisely what they do – and how.

But how do journalists learn to spot a news story amid everything that is happening in the world? How do editors decide, from all theevents and stories of the day, what to include in the bulletins and what to leave out?

Remarkably, even though the actual stories vary from place to place and from society to society, there's broad agreement on what makes a strong news story. The most important thing is that it has some meaning to your audience. Why else would you report it?

Generally speaking, we can say news has impact, and immediacy.

Impact

People are clearly more interested in events which affect them. The degree of impact relies on a few factors:

·         Significance:

v  How important is it?

v  Is it causing, or does it have the potential to cause, a great deal of harm (or good) to a number of people?

v  Or perhaps very great harm to a small number of people?

v  Or rather less impact on a larger number of people?

Clearly, a real impact (10,000 dead in an earthquake) is of greater significance than a potential threat (10,000 people are at risk after tremors were felt in an earthquake zone).

·         Proximity:

The impact of a story is greater if the events are happening close to home. The audience will want news from their own country

more than news from elsewhere. But events far away can be relevant if there is a social tie. The audience will be interested to hear

about their countrymen caught up in dramatic events in a far-off country.

·         Immediacy:

..because if it's not new, it isn't news. News is about telling people things they didn't already know.

Forward Planning Diaries

In addition to breaking news (which is by nature unplanned) news programmes benefit greatly from keeping a diary of events which can be planned.

A few examples of events that can be planned in advance are:

§  Scheduled elections

§  national or religious holidays

§  conferences

§  events like International Women's Day

§  sporting events

§  birthdays of national figures

§  ...and so on...

By keeping a diary where as many newsworthy dates as possible are recorded, some feature news can be planned.

Background filming, if useful, can be organised for slow news days and news teams assigned in advance to stories on the diary.

Other dates can be added to the diary which are significant. For example, think about anniversaries. If anew telecoms network or transport system has been launched in your country, try looking at that network one year later, on the anniversary of the launch.

Has it worked well or not? Has it benefited people? Many questions can be asked and explored.

Breaking News Stories

Breaking news is usually easy to recognise; a sudden resignation of a politician, a plane crash, a natural disaster, a coup, a refugee crisis, a sudden rise of petrol prices or a World Cup football victory.

Your skill as a journalist is to determine how to best cover these stories. If they are local stories, then the most appropriate news team must be deployed.

If they are foreign stories, then the news agency footage must be used well and supplemented with local material or interviews if appropriate.

Time is always the big challenge. The editor must assign a news team as soon as possible to give journalists maximum time to cover the story properly and have a well rounded package ready for the next news programme.

Working against a tight deadline is a big part of our jobs.

Qualities of Breaking News and Feature News stories

In many ways journalists look for stories with the same qualities that novelists or screenwriters would use to make an impact.

Ø  Drama – tension, power struggles, suspense, love and hate

Ø  Emotion – is it sad, funny, uplifting, moving?

Ø  Conflict – between individuals, groups or nations

Ø  Strong figures – leaders, heroes, villains, the powerful, rich and famous

Ø  Surprise – the unexpected.

A newspaper editor once said "When a dog bites a man, that's not news, but when a man bites a dog, that's news."

Where to find feature stories

A story typically develops in three stages: idea —> research —> production.

The idea for a story can come from anywhere. A curious and interested reporter will never run out of ideas. He or she will discover interesting issues to pursue while talking to neighbours, people in the market or on the bus, or while walking around with open eyes and ears.

Many ideas will come from discussing with or listening to your audience: valuable ideas can also be suggested by viewers. The closer you are to your audience and the more you understand their needs, the more successful you will be as a journalist.

The successful reporter or editor is constantly thinking about the audience. What do they want to know? What questions would they ask?

Apart from the ideas you get from your audience and your own inspiration, there are of course events such as news conferences, national celebrations, meetings, festivals, sports and cultural events.

There are also news agencies and the internet which will suggest ideas and provide background information. Other local and international media can be monitored too for interesting stories and developments that you may wish to follow up.

Sometimes news stories might come from press releases from governmental departments or other organisations. Examine these and follow up on what look promising. Remember, the real story might not be in the headline of a press release, but buried somewhere further down the page.

Planning and shooting news features

Pre-shooting on a news feature can add much to a package.

For example if you were planning a story about the 80th birthday of an elder statesmen, filming him in advance would give viewers a richer story.

In this case, you might request an interview with the statesman to be filmed some days in advance. Then on the day, after filming the birthday celebrations, you would be able to edit in the interview which you shot earlier.

A Few Tips

With each feature idea or news story you need to ask a number of questions:

·         Is it really a story?

·         What information is still needed to complete the story?

·         Are there other views I need to hear?

·         What is the best way to relate it to my audience?