1. Chapter 18

2.  Avoid a journalistic dead end  Reporters often ▪ Receive tons of government reports ▪ Attend meetings with strict agenda ▪ Leaving little time for questions ▪ Get little useful or newsworthy information from these  There are several ways to avoid this dead end

3.  Dull but important ▪ What do you think a government meeting is like? ▪ ZZZZZzzzzzzz……. ▪ That’s probably true ▪ As a reporter you have to ▪ Make dull content interesting ▪ Find the story that the public needs to hear ▪ Write it in a way that is informative & interesting

4.  Reporting the meeting ▪ Getting ahead of the curve ▪ Most meeting agendas are available beforehand ▪ Get to the meetings where agendas are developed ▪ Find unelected community leaders  May be aware of problems to be addressed ▪ Taking advantage of these ▪ Helps you get stories out first ▪ Provides diverse source ▪ Allows you to give insight/depth into issues

5.  Sometimes the most important part of a meeting story is  What you cover before and after ▪ Interviews from participants ▪ City leaders ▪ Community members ▪ Off the cuff quotes ▪ Spontaneous reactions

6.  Media Manipulation  Sources at speeches/news conferences ▪ Often use the media ▪ To further their own agenda  To balance your story ▪ Ask good questions after ▪ Add points of view from opposing sources

7.  Preparation  To ask good questions you MUST prepare: ▪ Research the speaker ▪ Research the issue ▪ Check clips, blogs & online databases  Try to get transcription of speech ▪ In case deadline is before speech ends ▪ Be careful with quotes ▪ Especially if they vary from the written speech

8.  Preparation cont. ▪ Jot down reactions from ▪ The speaker ▪ The audience ▪ Write follow up questions for post speech interviews ▪ For speaker ▪ Audience members ▪ Be prepared to get names of people ▪ Speaker ▪ Audience members, etc  An aisle seat will allow you to move quicker

9.  Stories about speeches  Always include basic information ▪ Size of audience ▪ Location of the speech ▪ Reason for the speech ▪ Highlights of the speech  including good quotes ▪ Reaction of the audience  Especially at dramatic points

10.  Don’t clutter your lead with basic info ▪ Unless it is absolutely needed there  Most speakers ▪ Don’t put strongest points first ▪ Don’t speak in chronological order  When you write ▪ Put the most emotional/newsworthy info first ▪ Storytelling techniques can be used

11.  Stories about news conferences  Similar to speeches ▪ Post conference questions often more important than prepared content ▪ Questions usually provide the story ▪ Research issues before the press conference ▪ Politics, crime ▪ Community based ▪ Sports  To help develop questions

12.  Stories about news conferences should include ▪ Person/People who conducted the news conference ▪ Reason for news conference and background ▪ Highlights of news, including responses to questions ▪ Location, if relevant ▪ Reaction from sources with similar/opposing views

13.  Stories about meetings ▪ Try to include the real impact on the reader  States have open-meeting laws ▪ Requiring those who spend public funds to make decisions in public ▪ Most meetings are announced ahead of time

14.  Understanding the system  Understand what kind of authority the board has ▪ Are they final decision makers ▪ Are they advisory boards ▪ You need to make sure your readers know

15.  Writing the advance  This is a pre-meeting story ▪ Alerts the community of the upcoming meeting ▪ What will be discussed ▪ What issues will be covered ▪ Allows people to prepare public comments

16.  Covering the meeting ▪ Arrive early ▪ Get the names of the board members ▪ Try to line up later interviews ▪ With board or audience members ▪ Review the agenda ▪ Might be a hidden item that makes for a GREAT story ▪ Stay until the end ▪ Unless your deadline prevents it

17.  Writing the story ▪ Type of meeting and location ▪ The vote on ANY major issue ▪ The next step ▪ Impact on readers ▪ Quotes ▪ Background of the issues  Many meeting stories use summary leads ▪ But they don’t HAVE to follow that format

18.  The next news story due on Nov. 26  Should be a story covering a speech or a meeting  You MUST attend the meeting or speech in person  Do not report on something you watch on TV  Follow the guidelines from the text