FUNDAMENTALS OF REPORTING

September 1, 2014
WHAT IS NEWS?
It is obvious that anyone who is aspiring to be a reporter is going to be asked to
write news stories. Equally obvious is that to do so successfully, (s)he will need to
know what news is. Well, trying to define news adequately is a challenge. Here,
for instance, is what one dictionary says news is:
(1) a report of recent events (2) (a) material reported in a
newspaper
or news periodical or in a newscast (b)matter that is
newsworthy.
I am sure we all agree that those definitions are accurate; the question, however, is
are they helpful? Do they help you to determine how to go about the business of
writing a news story? The answer, I think, is emphatically no.
So what is news? How can we define the term in a way that enables the would-be
reporter to determine for him/herself whether or not the story in which (s)he is
interested is in fact newsworthy? The best place to start is, as the dictionary
suggests, with the daily newspapers. If you read them regularly, you will be able to
come up with your own idea of what makes news news although you will probably
still be hard-pressed to offer a more satisfactory definition than the dictionary. My
advice is to settle for understanding what newsworthiness is, being able to judge
unerringly whether a particular item deserves to have a news story written about it.
In the real world of the newsroom, the quality that drives that activity is called
news judgement. Because news judgement is not an exact science, it is not the
simple matching of an event with a list of elements to determine whether the event
constitutes news. It is akin to the sixth sense that a customs officer uses to decide
to ask a traveller in the green line to open his/her bags. But let us see if we cant do
a little better than that.
Who cares?
Essentially, what leads editors to give the green light to a story is the answer to the
question Who cares? When an editor feels that there are large numbers of
ordinary people or a sizeable group of people (for example, boat owners or people
who plant kitchen gardens) who are interested in the subject matter of a story, then
that story stands a good chance of being given space in the paper. Of course, there
are concerns of taste that are relevant here as well because it is not everything that
large numbers of people care about that will be given space in a self-respecting
newspaper. To illustrate, I am sure you have heard the saying Sex sells.But there

are many, many sex stories that are out there but not in the newspapers. I dont
think we need say any more about that.
Sex, children and animals are three elements that are virtual automatic
newsmakers. And I am sure you have yourself been irresistibly drawn to a story on a
newspaper page which involves a child or an animal. All three of these elements are
easily recognized; you dont have to define them. And a fourth automatic
newsmaker that needs no definition is, of course, sport, which gets its own section
in most newspapers.
Here, then, in alphabetical order, are some more elements that are rather more
difficult to pin down because they are much more elusive to grasp.
Ten key elements of news
Conflict
When the Russian leader decided that Crimea and later Ukraine really belonged to
Russia and should therefore be occupied by her troops, newspapers the world over including in countries that were not likely to be affected in any way - reported the
news. Similarly, when last month James Foley was beheaded and President Obama
began to give active consideration to declaring war on ISIS, that too was big news
the world over. Why? Because people are interested in conflict, not just the kind that
can cost many lives but anything that generates tension, surprise, suspense.
Elections, a court case for custody of the children, a lawsuit to prevent the erection
of a brothel on a particular street, a lockout at a factory are all examples of conflict.
When a trade union leader recently announced that he proposes to shut the country
down unless Government did something about bringing all its buildings up to OSHA
standards, readers were surely interested in that. And for as long as the threat
holds, the issue will continue to be in the news.
And if tomorrow morning COSTAATT lecturers decide to take to the streets with
placards because they are still operating on 2009 salaries, expect to see that
conflict in the newspapers as well.
Consequence
If, in his Budget Speech last week, the Minister of Finance had announced that
Government was putting an immediate end to all GATE funding, that would certainly
have been the lead story in ClearCut today. Why? Because of the implications of any
such action for the College. That is what Consequence means; it refers to the
overarching importance of an event, the way it is likely to affect the people
concerned. If, for instance, Peter Minshall decided to come out of retirement
tomorrow and bring a Carnival band next year, because so many people are likely to
be affected by that news, there is a very good chance that it would be somewhere
on the front page of the local papers, at the very least, as a blurb. It is because of

Consequence that the Constitution Amendment Bill has hardly disappeared off the
local news pages since the Prime Ministers announcement in July that the
government proposed to bring it to Parliament.
Disaster
Hurricane Cristbal threatens the eastern seaboard in the USA. A Malaysian Airlines
flight is shot down over Ukraine. An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale
devastates Haiti one quiet Tuesday afternoon. On an otherwise unmemorable day,
Flight MH 17 disappears without a trace very, very far from home. A tsunami hits
Sri Lanka. A village disappears under a landslide in Chile. What are the chances that
someone you know would be directly affected by any one of these events? What are
the chances that large numbers of people here in T&T would be directly affected?
Very small in some cases. Infinitesimal, even. But would you read a report on any on
these events if the headline caught your eye? Not surprising that your answer is
yes. Why? Its because people have an almost compulsive interest in disaster. Thats
why huge crowds gather at the scene of a fire or why theres a traffic jam on the
north-bound lanes of the Solomon Hochoy Highway too when theres a serious road
accident on the south-bound carriageway. That is the same phenomenon that
explains why editors include Disaster in their list of must cover stories.
Drama
A mental patient stands on the top of the POSGH Main Building and threatens to
jump off. Fire officers eventually persuade him to come down instead of jumping.
Nothing happens so no story appears in the paper the next day. Right? Wrong! The
story is big news; the drama is Page One news. Similarly, a passenger aboard the
T&T Express announces that he has a bomb strapped to his body and he will
detonate it if the captain refuses to take him to Grenada. Coast Guard officials are
summoned and manage to subdue the passenger only to discover that his bomb
was two empty Bop spray cans stuck together with masking tape. What is the
editorial decision? No story? Right? Wrong again! Depending on what the other
contenders are on the day, that story could also be the front page lead. In the end,
nothing happened but something serious could have occurred. A skillful reporter is
easily able to exploit the news value of that distinction, keeping the focus on the
way in which disaster was averted. That in a nutshell is what Drama is, the
potential, one might say, for Disaster.
Human Interest
If so-called Human Interest stories meant simply stories that interest humans, this
would not be a helpful category. Fortunately, that is not what the rubric means. It
refers to those stories which cause us to feel strong emotion like sorrow, pity or
amazement or which simply tickle the funny bone. These are the stories that make
us want to sympathise or empathise, laugh or cry, suck our teeth in anger or turn
up our noses in disgust.

Does the name James Foley ring a bell? It should. His story only began to interest
most of us after he was shown being beheaded on the Internet. However, for the
two years he spent in captivity, American and British newspapers were consistently
reporting on efforts to locate him.
The story of Caster Semenya, the South African athlete who was required to
undergo a sex test after she won the 800m at the World Championships in Berlin a
few years ago, is a fine example of a sports story that quickly became a human
interest story.
A little closer home, when Express reporter Louis B Homer collapsed and died at the
San Fernando General Hospital, that got reported on the Express front page, of
course, and the story was also carried in the other two dailies. Had he died quietly
in his bed, that would probably not have been front page news but it would probably
still have made the papers. Another example is the story about the two cousins
from Central Trinidad who jumped into the Guayamare River to save an unknown
mans life. Or the woman from the deep South who got lost in the forest and
eventually found her way back out unassisted more than a week later.
And when an unharmed baby was pulled out of the Port-au-Prince rubble one full
week after the devastating January 12 tremor a couple of years ago, what fascinates
us about that story is what journalism calls Human Interest. It is also Human
Interest that draws us as readers to the story when a reporter interviews a
scholarship winner or the top SEA pupil or a girl who was born with no hands and
has learned how to write with her toes.
Novelty
A new device that enables a driver to get his car sideways into a parking spot? An
electric car that really works? A bicycle that has a reverse gear? A book that does
not have to be read sequentially to make sense of the story? A building that has to
be entered from the top floor? Anything that is out of the ordinary has the potential
to attract and interest readers. And the more unusual the phenomenon, the greater
reader fascination with the material is likely to be. Most of us now take Velcro for
granted but think back to how much more trouble people had to seal things before
Velcro and youll understand why its discovery was big news.
Progress
Similar to Novelty is Progress; the difference is that the former may be diverting
or interesting but may not move the world forward in any way, an element which is
implied by Progress. If some scientist were to discover a cure for AIDS or Microsoft
were to develop some kind of voice recognition software that does not simply
transcribe what is said but also does its own corrections, that would be a significant
advance for us all. A good example of Progress is the cell phone which many of us
take for granted but which has really literally transformed person-to-person

communication. I think it might even be true to say that many smart phone owners
probably could not survive without that relatively recently invented piece of
equipment.
Another example of particular importance in todays fuel-guzzling, environmentallyconscious world is a solar-powered car. Were someone to develop one that works
really efficiently in all climates, it would be big news all over the world.
Prominence
For almost two years now, I have had my eye on Mr Nantons job; that hasnt made
the papers. But when Pennelope Beckles decided that she had had enough of Keith
Rowleys leadership and was going to try for his job as PNM Political Leader, if you
were Trinidadian, you would have had to be on Mars not to hear about it. And if you
dropped dead in the next few minutes because this class is so boring, you might get
a little mention on Page 17 because its not every day that a student is literally
bored to death. But when a cultural icon like Jit Samaroo or the Mighty Sparrow dies
or a complete incompetent whom everybody knows to be an empty-headed
loudmouth gets named to a high-profile ministry in a government reshuffle, both
events make Page One. Why? The answer is Prominence.
President Obama wore a light-coloured suit when he addressed the nation about the
Russian invasion of UIkraine. Did you notice? Many of the American newspapers did.
Why? Prominence. Nobody but you and your boyfriend cares what you wear but
what the American President wears is big, big news. Many people, angry at
something Government has done or not done, say that they are going to take the
government to court; precious few of those stories make the front page. When,
however, former government minister Jack Warner announced his decision to take
legal action against the PP for passing the Constitution Amendment Bill (which, by
the way, is foolish since a bill is not yet law, its the lead in all three newspapers the
next morning. The Chaguanas West MP, you see, is not just some peewat who
happens to sit beside you in class but he is a highly visible personality who has the
public ear and is in the public eye. Much more importance is attached to what he
does and says because of the position he occupies in society.
Similarly, Karen Nunez-Tesheira was not the only person to break her fixed deposit
when she discovered in December 2009 that Clico was in trouble. Do you know of
any others? Probably not. It is Prominence that explains why the media informed
us about what the then Finance Minister had done and never bothered to name the
scores of others who had done the exact same thing.
Proximity
Because newspapers operate in a particular society and cater necessarily to a
particular clientele, you might say that news, like charity, begins at home. People in
T&T may be interested in what happens in Manhattan but they are certain to take

an active interest in the goings-on in Morvant, Maloney and Marabella. But it is

easy to overestimate the importance of Proximity. Something truly extraordinary
would have had to have taken place in Port of Spain, for example, on September 11,
2001 to knock the destruction of the New York Twin Towers off the front page of the
editions of September 12 that year. And what event within T&T had any serious
chance of superseding the shocking June death of Michael Jackson, the 51-year-old
King of Pop, in June five years ago?
Even before the emergence of the global village, Proximity was a category that
needed very careful handling.
Timeliness
Time is what defines news. In one of his memorable Express columns, the late
Keith Smith wrote about an editor who used to say that there is nothing more
irrelevant than yesterdays newspaper. That makes the point that what is new
today may very well not be so new tomorrow. News (refer again to the dictionary
definition above) is a report of a recent event (my emphasis) but some events
that occurred as recently as yesterday sometimes no longer constitute news. And
as new information about old events comes to hand, stuff which had stopped being
news may once more qualify for the tag. Timeliness, then, is not a synonym of
recency but, as far as news is concerned, recency is very often a necessary part of
timeliness.
Timeliness also explains why Newsday sometimes reports court stories as if the
events had just taken place. Its bad journalism (the best practice of which
ultimately involves both truth and accuracy) but it helps us to understand what
timeliness really means.
emcdbest
140901
NB: The idea for the foregoing as well as for the additional feature that
follows did not come originally from me; it was borrowed wholesale from a
Journalism text which I read many years ago, so long ago that I do not now
recall its name nor do I have any idea where to find it.

NEWS ARITHMETIC
1 pitbull + 1 man + 1 bite

NO NEWS

1 man + 1 pitbull + 1 bite

NEWS

1 ordinary man + 1 ordinary life

NO NEWS

1 ordinary man + 1 extraordinary adventure NEWS

1 man + 1 ordinary achievement

NO NEWS

1 man + 1 extraordinary achievement

NEWS

1 ordinary man + 1 ordinary life of 73 years NO NEWS

1 ordinary man + 1 ordinary life of 100 years

NEWS

1 ordinary husband + 1 ordinary wife

NO NEWS

1 Muslim husband + three wives

NO NEWS

1 Catholic husband + three wives

NEWS

1 bank cashier + 1 wife + $20,000

1 bank cashier $20,000

NO NEWS
NEWS

1 man + 1 dead wife + 1 unused gun

NO NEWS

1 man + 1 dead wife + 1 huge insurance policy

NEWS

1 master batsman + 45 good innings

NO NEWS

1 batsman + 1 great innings

NEWS

1 footballer + 10 goals in one season

NO NEWS

1 footballer + 10 goals in one match

NEWS

1 firetruck over a cliff

SMALL NEWS

1 firetruck over a cliff + 1 $6m bill

BIG NEWS

1 man smoking bush in a hotel room

NO NEWS

1 minister smoking bush in a hotel room

20 ministers fired in four years

BIG NEWS
BIG NEWS