This is the final post in a four-part series on applying basic methods of beat journalism to your blogging niche.
Yesterday’s post looked at methods for cultivating sources. Today I’ll focus on ways to pull you off the computer and into the field to do some actual reporting.
Most reporting techniques take time and practice, but a few basic approaches can go a long way toward getting you started as a blog reporter. In fact, many old school journalists believe that these skills can be taught only through experience. And that’s good news for you.
A story is an event, not an idea
Everything you’ve read so far will help you to identify stories worth covering. Now you have to find one. You may begin by saying: “I think a story about XYZ is important.” That in itself is not a story. But it gives you an idea of where to look for an event that can become a story.
How do you find an event rather than an idea? You can break the process down into two choices:
- - Look for breaking news.
- - Look for a feature or human interest story.
Breaking news
Unless your blog’s readers are limited to your geographic area or you live in a place that just happens to be the center of the universe for your niche, breaking news will be hard to cover in person. You can still pick up the phone and call the media contact listed on a press release. You can email one of your established sources to get comments and perspective, but you’ll almost always be behind the curve.
So, where else might you find breaking news stories?
1. Ask your readers.
Encourage your readers to submit story ideas. You’re looking here for stories with a strong news hook, something timely that grabs your readers’ attention. For example, a reader may give you a tip about something she’s involved in. This may very well lead to a post that starts something like this: “The Saltwater Fishing Association today sent a letter to three government agencies urging that they … etc. ”
This sort of news probably isn’t big enough to be picked up by regular media sources but could loom large in the world of your readers.
2. Check organizations you identified as key players on a regular basis.
If an organization has an RSS feed for its news page, by all means use it. If not, make sure you’re on its email list. Even if you delete 95 percent of the communications, you’re only spending the time it takes to scan each headline. The payoff comes when you’re the first to report on events that others haven’t heard about.
3. Make a point of checking back at regular intervals with established sources.
A brief note with a nice little nugget of information works well here. For example: “Your interview is still getting hits and five other blogs have linked to it” or “A number of readers say they’re having the same kind of algae problem that you told me about.” Then ask the person whether he or she knows of any other news that might be of interest to your readers.
4. Go to meetings, talks and conferences.
Keep up to date on meetings and conferences held in your area. Scan the speaker’s schedule for interesting topics. Check with the media contact to see whether you can get a press pass as a blogger or try to cover it for a print publication and get a press pass that way.
Seminars at local universities are also a good bet if they overlap with your niche. Seminars are usually free and open to the public. They will expose you to local experts as well as nationally and internationally known speakers.
Features and human interest stories
A human interest story may be linked to current news events, but your main objective is to report on something unique, unusual or extraordinary. Sometimes breaking news leads directly to features. In other cases, you might find that an emerging trend or an insider’s view into a particular activity makes for a compelling story.
It bears repeating here that to get the story, you need to find it. And if you look in the right places, you will find plenty of them.
Background and sources are key
Let’s go back to the saltwater-fishing blog example used in Part 3. Having collecting plenty of background information, you hear of a deep-sea fishing tournament nearby. Based on what you know about your niche and your readers, you decide it would make a compelling series to cover the tournament and give your subscribers an insider’s glimpse into the culture surrounding it. Or maybe you find the opportunity to watch a shrimp trawler unload its catch and talk to the crew about its work. The idea here would be to look for stories that interest your readers and are fun to report.
Think small
Not all stories have to be that big. Let’s say that one of the people you talk to at the boat expo mentions that he also likes to go saltwater fishing in his kayak. This grabs your attention because you know your readers are concerned about higher fuel prices. What’s it like to leave the outboard at home and go kayak fishing instead? You express interest and get invited to try it yourself. You now have the makings of another blog post, maybe eventually a category of posts if readers express enough interest.
Ultimately, it boils down to curiosity, research and networking. A little work can go a long way toward making your blog an information source rather than part of an echo chamber.
That’s it for now. I hope this has been helpful. I’ve provided a few links here as well that you may want to investigate. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them here.
** LINKS OF INTEREST **
No Train, No Gain newsroom training site
Writing for Blogs, at wellbeingandhealth.net
*****
** This post originally appeared at my old blog, BillyProBlogger **
on Jul 11th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Thanks for the mention.
Evans last blog post..Staying Angry