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2004 NFPW Conference
Speaker offers tips for getting people into community journalism
A Wal-Mart superstore is coming to town.
The business has approval from city officials to clear several acres of trees that have stood for decades. So reporters ask residents what they think. But are they asking the right questions?
Depending on the story they want, maybe not, according to Cathie Shaffer, executive editor of Kentucky’s Greenup County News-Times and NFPW secretary. She shared some tips for doing a better job of covering community news during the recent NFPW conference in Lexington, Ky. “Community” isn’t just a city; it can be a business or organization, she said.
In the case of Wal-Mart, reporters can be pretty sure people living near the new store site will be outraged over the loss of trees, and if that’s the story they want, fine, she said. But if they want something more, perhaps they should be asking people how they think having the store nearby will affect their property values, or whether they think having a store in their neighborhood is convenient.
Shaffer said community journalism comes down to three principles: To get the right story, ask the right questions; to get the right story, ask the right people; and to get the right response, write the right story.
She also suggested that writers consider whether they are leading their interviewees by asking questions too quickly and they have decided on a direction for the story before they talk to people.
Here are some other tips:
• Most people aren’t used to answering questions and putting their thoughts into quotable sound bites, so ask short, uncomplicated questions and let people answer at their own pace. Follow up by asking what they mean by what they said.
• Talk less, listen more. Let people answer the question but don’t jump right in with the next question. People don’t like silence, so they often will expand on their response.
• Use anecdotes to illustrate the point of the story.
• Most stories have more than two sides. Don’t just talk to the most vocal opponents and proponents of an issue. Find out what people in the middle think.
• To get fresh voices into stories, go to cafes, churches, community centers or parks and talk to ordinary citizens for their perspective on what’s happening in their neighborhood, community, state and world. Don’t just talk to public officials or other usual sources.
- Ellen Crawford
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