Cultivating story ideas

1. Cultivating story ideas Prof. Vaccaro JRNL 13 Hofstra University

2. Today’s class roadmap • Professor rating sheet • News quiz • Turn in Assignment No. 3 • Beat Notes/1,000-word story pitch • Lecture: Cultivating story ideas • Reference Notes: David Randall’s “The Universal Journalist”

3. Cultivating story ideas • We know how to write • We know how to apply multimedia • We know how to interview and report • One key issue that has popped up in this class and for many young journos is how to find stories. • You have one idea that doesn’t pan out and then what? You should always be able to go to a well. Sometimes it’s a well you creative, that gets deeper and more full overtime.

4. Where do good stories come from? • The habits of successful reporters • The best reporters get the best stories because they have sharp news instincts and know where to look, who to talk to and what to ask: sources, researching and questioning. Those are improved over time with experience. • While those are most obvious, there are less obvious ways to find stories. Sometimes you can just be in the right place at the right time, sometimes you just need to be good at observing. Stories come in various ways.

5. Where do good stories come from? • Exploring all avenues • Determination is the difference between ordinary and good reporter • Hanging around for sources/quotes will always win compared to just leaving and giving up • Making the extra call, sending the extra email, going the extra mile ALWAYS wins in the long run • Getting out and about • People are more forthcoming in person then on the phone or email • Experiencing life at first half, as opposed to second, produces good stories

6. Where do good stories come from? • Keeping your eyes open for stories • Good reporters filter everything outside of their personal lives for story ideas. • Making your own luck • Put yourself in a position to succeed with a story. • Research, persistence, questioning. You can make things happen for yourself. • Building trust with sources • You want them to call back! Email back! • They could be the lifeline of your beat • Allow them to trust you with fair and objective reporting • Attend meetings, functions, show your face

7. Where do good stories come from? • Have an interest in the subject • You’ll always be more passionate if you enjoy the topic. Sportswriters generally like sports. Chris Vaccaro loves Sachem. Political writers are generally political junkies. It helps with finding stories when you care. • Look at things in another way • Alter the perspective in your head to find a better story • Look at it from someone else’s view point • i.e. NY Times reporter goes to do story about women in self defense class, ends up writing about the model who played the mugger in the class

8. Where do good stories come from? • Making connections • If X happens, then Y must happen and what about Z. • Finding correlations in data, in quotes, in time/history, in proximity. Connections are great for storytelling: alums connected to a community, businessmen connected to corporation, which is connected to a city, which is connected to an economy, etc. It can go on and on. • Not relying on summaries from releases or reports • Yawn! • Don’t just paraphrase the same press releases everyone receives. Those are not good enough stories. Sometimes they work, but that’s never going to set you apart from the masses.

9. Where do good stories come from? • Keep an ideas file • Write things down • Research what you write down • Don’t assume the connection is possible. Even a small, often odd and bizarre angle of a story could turn out to be the best story of the bunch • This is commonly overlooked. It works for those who are organized, can think ahead, can keep track of thoughts on a file, as opposed to just remembering in your head • OBVIOUS ONE: BRAINSTORMING! Overlooked and underrated!

10. Where do good stories come from? • Some non-obvious sources • Universities and research institutes • Specialist and underground press • Books, magazines, websites • Classified advertisements • Anniversaries/historical relation

11. In-class exercise! • Using brainstorming as a method of collaborative team reporting, we’re going to use our newsroom to think of story ideas for coverage of a school board meeting this week. • The school board and superintendent will propose a school budget for the 2014-2015 school year. • What happens when you turn on your story radar about the budget, its content, its creation and its relevance? The relation to folks attending, not attending?

12. In-class exercise! • As a class let’s discuss potential story ideas based on what we just read about the school board meeting … • Use your class blog to list a few on your own first. Take 5-10 minutes to think individually, then we’ll come together to chat and throw things on the board.

13. Next class • NO CLASS on November 26 • Next class will be December 3 • Last class will be December 10 • 1,000 word story is due this day • One shot, no revision efforts allowed