In my last post I dealt with how reporters should deal with a death knock. As always there is nothing - or at least very much - revelatory for experienced journalists. But then these tips are aimed at juniors and trainees who may yet have covered one. Again this is not an exhaustive list and all comments, suggestions and observations are welcome.
This latest posting concentrates on how to build up a picture of a person's life in a few questions. Again every circumstance is different so while this tries to cover everything you will still need to think on your feet and listen to the answers given.
You will also need to be aware of any on-going police action and/or the potential to libel. It will be part of your job to explain why you won't be able to include all their quotes. You could not for example quote a claim that a widow that a driver involved in a death crash was not paying attention. That is up to a coroner/court to decide. If at all possible steer them to something that will make a more general point without being unusable.
All of this said you are still looking for a line. This is not about simply writing a formulaic story along the lines of:
A family last night paid tribute to....
We could/do all write this a hundred times over. Sometimes the tragedy in and of itself is simply enough but keep in mind the family details are not revealed straight away in most cases. It could come an edition or two after the original story.
By then the immediate family will be aware, so too many of the extended family and friends as well, possibly even wider still. Or it has been revealed by a rival news organisation. All of which means that sticking to the formula is no good and why you need another line.
So assuming that you have managed to get a chat with the family and have checked relationships of the people you are talking to and double checked the details given to you what should you be asking:
1. Establish all the immediate family members and their relationships. You need names and ages. Don't assume this is all the family. You will also need to establish length of relationship to a partner. If their parents are still alive, any other family. If they are young you want to know about boyfriends or girlfriends has the family spoken to them? You want to get the general reaction from the family. I try to avoid asking "How do you feel?" and try, "I can't imagine how you feel, how would you describe it?".
2. Can you describe their personality? This isn't all about facts, it's about pure emotion. It covers a great deal of very personal information and what you are trying to do is convey their life in a few words. This is a catch-all question it allows the bereaved to talk in an open-ended manner about the deceased.
3. What were their hobbies/interests? Again this is detail that fleshes out a life. It also, as with many of the questions, can provide fresh avenues to chase. Most of the time this will simply not be necessary but never rule it out entirely. It may be worth asking if there is anyone else they think it is worth talking to.
4. What did they do for a living? And previously? Again this is about establishing the person's existence. Not everyone is defined by their work but some are and - for good or for ill - many people will be able to create an image of that person based on their work. Did they go to university? Previous employment etc. It's a sad but usually true that if the deceased is young, public school educated and went to Oxford or Cambridge the story is more likely to be picked up by nationals. For older men (born before 1945) it's worth considering if they conscripted into National Service. For children you will want to be establishing the school and favourite subjects.
5. Were there ever any worries about the situation in which they died? Does the family think they will take any action - legal/civil - in regards to the death? For example, a cyclist may have always been concerned about the particular junction in which the accident happened and had voiced those fears. Or perhaps they had had several near misses over the years or been involved in a non-fatal accident not so long ago.
6. Were they from the area the family home is in? Essentially this is about establishing their deep background. They may have moved there for work, or an immigrant looking for a better life, or to study or any other of thousands of other reasons. If so how long had they lived there for? Or they may simply have lived there all their lives. In the case of children why did their parents move there.
7. What were their hopes and dreams? This is about showing 'a life interrupted' a life that could have been if it had not been struck by tragedy. This is particularly poignant of younger lives that have yet to reach full potential. If not married consider asking if marriage plans had been discussed.
8. Have they ever previously appeared in the news before? We're back to catch all questions but remember the person you are interviewing has been through a great shock. Without knowing anything about the deceased you have to cover as much ground as you can in as few questions as possible.
9. Can I have a photo? Preferably one with the family and ideally one of them looking smart.
10. And finally. Is there anything I have missed that was important to their life that you would like to get across? Personally I also add if they would mind me calling again and always ask for a mobile number. This is where explaining that if you can check back the details with them can be useful.
I think I have covered most of the important elements, as always, I may have missed something crucial and would appreciate any comments adding to this list.
To keep up to date with future tips follow @journalismtips on Twitter.
Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Thursday, 15 March 2012
27. Carry a camera with you, even if it's just on your mobile and remember to take pix. Photographers can't be everywhere.
Sadly, as I've stated before on this blog, local newspaper photographers are an increasingly rare breed.
Given the fact newspapers rely on content - namely words and pictures - to fill in the gaps between the adverts you would have hoped that photographers would have been kept on.
Naturally that is asking a little too much - which is a shame because a really good photographer can make all the difference. So too can a really bad one.
I once watched a photographer at an awards ceremony half lift up his camera a dozen times and never take a shot.
When the proceedings were over he shouted: "All together now." Like sheep they all got together for the great group shot. That evening he took a single picture.
The following day I was sent it in all its blurred glory - looking like a slightly hazy portrait of the Adamms Family...only without the charm.
(We never used that photographer again under my editorship.)
At the same time we lost a great asset to the paper - one whose art and dedication made a difference to the pages.
Indeed I've seen and worked with many photographers on local newspaper I would gladly work with again.
But bit by bit we are losing them. This, in part, is due to the increasingly cheap technology becoming available. That, and the fact there is no need for a dark room any more.
(Reporters have never been trusted with dangerous chemicals - a fact that remains true today but is largely confined to the showbiz circuit. *feeble joke*)
Digital technology has certainly made it a lot easier for any slob to pick up a camera and point it in the direction of an object or person who, in turn, is usually pointing at something themselves.
(This in part, but certainly not entirely, is why local papers believe they can do away with photographers - some are so bad or lazy that managers thought anyone could do what they do...the same, it must be said, of a lot of reporters.)
So the point: If you are a reporter carry a camera with you. The bigger, the better really. It helps too if you learn how to use it.
You never know what's going to happen and with locals to usually one - although quite often no - photographers it is essential you learn the skill.
I am a rotten photographer. I have no "eye"....or for that matter no steady hand either.
As can be demonstrated from one of my own efforts when a photographer was unavailable one Saturday morning.
The man in the picture was the Dean of Truro Cathedral, who had been the subject of a church investigation when he was accused of having an affair.
He denied any wrong doing and was allowed back to work. (Although than put on gardening leave). However despite being cleared rumours persisted that was indeed now living with the woman.
He was, and this shaky shot taken on a Canon D500 (I won't go into lenses it's too tedious but it was pretty basic) was proof enough to go to the church authorities.
The picture was used about the size here in the paper I was working for at the time. It got a slightly bigger show in the Daily Mail.
This is a rather extreme example but think because in theory we are always heading towards the story...or we are if we are doing our job right.
And with mobiles now packing half-decent cameras it's worth remembering to take them out if you are first at the scene.
A crap picture is better than no picture.
Given the fact newspapers rely on content - namely words and pictures - to fill in the gaps between the adverts you would have hoped that photographers would have been kept on.
Naturally that is asking a little too much - which is a shame because a really good photographer can make all the difference. So too can a really bad one.
I once watched a photographer at an awards ceremony half lift up his camera a dozen times and never take a shot.
When the proceedings were over he shouted: "All together now." Like sheep they all got together for the great group shot. That evening he took a single picture.
The following day I was sent it in all its blurred glory - looking like a slightly hazy portrait of the Adamms Family...only without the charm.
(We never used that photographer again under my editorship.)
At the same time we lost a great asset to the paper - one whose art and dedication made a difference to the pages.
Indeed I've seen and worked with many photographers on local newspaper I would gladly work with again.
But bit by bit we are losing them. This, in part, is due to the increasingly cheap technology becoming available. That, and the fact there is no need for a dark room any more.
(Reporters have never been trusted with dangerous chemicals - a fact that remains true today but is largely confined to the showbiz circuit. *feeble joke*)
Digital technology has certainly made it a lot easier for any slob to pick up a camera and point it in the direction of an object or person who, in turn, is usually pointing at something themselves.
(This in part, but certainly not entirely, is why local papers believe they can do away with photographers - some are so bad or lazy that managers thought anyone could do what they do...the same, it must be said, of a lot of reporters.)
So the point: If you are a reporter carry a camera with you. The bigger, the better really. It helps too if you learn how to use it.
You never know what's going to happen and with locals to usually one - although quite often no - photographers it is essential you learn the skill.
I am a rotten photographer. I have no "eye"....or for that matter no steady hand either.
As can be demonstrated from one of my own efforts when a photographer was unavailable one Saturday morning.
The man in the picture was the Dean of Truro Cathedral, who had been the subject of a church investigation when he was accused of having an affair.
He denied any wrong doing and was allowed back to work. (Although than put on gardening leave). However despite being cleared rumours persisted that was indeed now living with the woman.
He was, and this shaky shot taken on a Canon D500 (I won't go into lenses it's too tedious but it was pretty basic) was proof enough to go to the church authorities.
The picture was used about the size here in the paper I was working for at the time. It got a slightly bigger show in the Daily Mail.
This is a rather extreme example but think because in theory we are always heading towards the story...or we are if we are doing our job right.
And with mobiles now packing half-decent cameras it's worth remembering to take them out if you are first at the scene.
A crap picture is better than no picture.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
8. Use a newspaper’s in house library system. It can provide important background information to improve your story
The chances are when you start at a local newspaper - even if you've been very good and been reading it for weeks - you won't be from the area.
And even if you are it doesn't mean you will have a grasp of every planning application, political row or even change in the High Street.
This is why you should familiarise yourself with the in-house library. The system which - on theory at least - all the clippings and photographs are stored...well at least for the past decade or so.
Unfortunately in the rush to save space in the dawn of the computer age many newspapers threw out their clippings libraries - and newspapers have been suffering ever since.
But let's work with what we have. The in-house library helps with giving background which can improve your stories no end.
The obvious and most basic example is the on-going story, looking back gives you important background information.
It can also help with finding taking heads - see the previous blog on quotes - who can assist you.
If you are writing a backgrounder - rare on most locals in this age when a lot of editors seem to have a fear of stories that take more than 10 minutes to write up and are longer than 250 words - the information is invaluable.
It provides a first source.
As I warned you I would use examples of some of my old stories - not because they are particularly good - but easy to find.
Here you can see how using the newspaper's library helps fill in details and provides a starting off point for interviews with his family and friends.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Self-man-thought-law/story-11415826-detail/story.html
Secondly libraries also include photographs which proved essential - see you took them, they may be able to help with your story.
Tomorrow: Making contacts - what to watch out for at meetings.
And even if you are it doesn't mean you will have a grasp of every planning application, political row or even change in the High Street.
This is why you should familiarise yourself with the in-house library. The system which - on theory at least - all the clippings and photographs are stored...well at least for the past decade or so.
Unfortunately in the rush to save space in the dawn of the computer age many newspapers threw out their clippings libraries - and newspapers have been suffering ever since.
But let's work with what we have. The in-house library helps with giving background which can improve your stories no end.
The obvious and most basic example is the on-going story, looking back gives you important background information.
It can also help with finding taking heads - see the previous blog on quotes - who can assist you.
If you are writing a backgrounder - rare on most locals in this age when a lot of editors seem to have a fear of stories that take more than 10 minutes to write up and are longer than 250 words - the information is invaluable.
It provides a first source.
As I warned you I would use examples of some of my old stories - not because they are particularly good - but easy to find.
Here you can see how using the newspaper's library helps fill in details and provides a starting off point for interviews with his family and friends.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Self-man-thought-law/story-11415826-detail/story.html
Secondly libraries also include photographs which proved essential - see you took them, they may be able to help with your story.
Tomorrow: Making contacts - what to watch out for at meetings.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
7. Photographs are very important. Always ask for them, don’t think your job is just words
Photographs (or "art" as it's called in America, at least from what I can figure out from The Wire - reporters call them smudges in the UK reflecting our differences and giving you some idea of how we value our colleagues with cameras) are as important than words.
And don't go believing that if you write 1,000 words you've painted a good enough picture - you haven't.
In theory every page lead should have a photograph to illustrate it - although this isn't always possible.
But don't make the mistake, as many reporters do, that your job is simply words.
These days your job includes everything - including securing the picture. Always ask for them.
Of course social media has helped a lot - the days of banging on lots of doors may not quite be over but it is very close. (This is not necessarily a good thing as we shall see at a later date.)
More importantly don't even take it for granted that your local newspaper even has a photographer any more...or at least one available.
For despite the fact that newspapers are made up of just two things words and pictures - the pictures side seems to being slowly forgotten. Many are working on eradicating the words side too.
Ah yes! but photographs still appear in newspapers. Indeed they do - usually taken by the readers themselves on cheap cameras, with red-eye and no composition, badly lit or slightly out of focus.
Most of the time these pictures are pointless - they get dumped under "community news" the catch-all phrase for putting in any old crap that people submit to the paper.
But once in a while that blurry shot taken half in the dark with the side of someone's head disappearing off the edge is...well, is gold dust.
It could be the perpetrator or the victim of a crime, the local lad who is now a star, the health guru with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth...the local MP on a protest march as a student.
And always be on the look out for potential pictures to use (oddly many local paper editors don't understand their importance but it is good to maintain an eye for these things).
Some years ago as editor of a local newspaper I was sorting through some boxes of old photographs one was a wonderful wide black and white shot of the local hunt meeting outside the town hotel with protesters and supporters.
A few weeks later the hunt announced it would be returning to a town for the first time in years - suddenly this historical photo taken 15 or 20 years before was the perfect illustration...a look back for older readers, a novelty for younger readers and a historical reference to others.
Tomorrow: Using the in-house library
And don't go believing that if you write 1,000 words you've painted a good enough picture - you haven't.
In theory every page lead should have a photograph to illustrate it - although this isn't always possible.
But don't make the mistake, as many reporters do, that your job is simply words.
These days your job includes everything - including securing the picture. Always ask for them.
Of course social media has helped a lot - the days of banging on lots of doors may not quite be over but it is very close. (This is not necessarily a good thing as we shall see at a later date.)
More importantly don't even take it for granted that your local newspaper even has a photographer any more...or at least one available.
For despite the fact that newspapers are made up of just two things words and pictures - the pictures side seems to being slowly forgotten. Many are working on eradicating the words side too.
Ah yes! but photographs still appear in newspapers. Indeed they do - usually taken by the readers themselves on cheap cameras, with red-eye and no composition, badly lit or slightly out of focus.
Most of the time these pictures are pointless - they get dumped under "community news" the catch-all phrase for putting in any old crap that people submit to the paper.
But once in a while that blurry shot taken half in the dark with the side of someone's head disappearing off the edge is...well, is gold dust.
It could be the perpetrator or the victim of a crime, the local lad who is now a star, the health guru with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth...the local MP on a protest march as a student.
And always be on the look out for potential pictures to use (oddly many local paper editors don't understand their importance but it is good to maintain an eye for these things).
Some years ago as editor of a local newspaper I was sorting through some boxes of old photographs one was a wonderful wide black and white shot of the local hunt meeting outside the town hotel with protesters and supporters.
A few weeks later the hunt announced it would be returning to a town for the first time in years - suddenly this historical photo taken 15 or 20 years before was the perfect illustration...a look back for older readers, a novelty for younger readers and a historical reference to others.
Tomorrow: Using the in-house library
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