Transcript curriculum.jea.org

Research
News Gathering
How do reporters get the
information they use
in news and feature
articles?
In this presentation you will learn several
methods, which you will practice in class
and for homework.
Observation
Often, reporters witness an event as part of
their story coverage.
This allows reporters to gain a first-hand
perspective on the story.
It’s good to be there and see it with your own
eyes. But you need more …
WHAT ELSE?
Interviewing
Yes, interviewing is a primary tool that you will
use to gather information.
It’s a must for local reporting. But before you
go out interview people, you need to know
what to ask.
How can you learn about a
topic, event, sport or issue
before an interview?
Research!
Some student journalists think they can skip
the research techniques that professionals
use to effectively report the news.
Not so.
Reporters, even beginners, are expected to
get the facts and tell stories that are relevant,
timely and accurate.
Why do research?
• Develop background knowledge on
an assigned story or topic.
• Find reliable, expert sources.
• Discover questions.
• Tell the story thoroughly, honestly,
and objectively.
What research tools do you have available
to use?
Research tools
Interviews
Observation
Internet searches
Books and journals
Scholarly articles
Transcripts and other documents
Crowdsourcing and open-source journalism
Panel discussions
Press conferences
Doing research
Technology has changed the way that
journalists perform research.
It also presents challenges regarding
verification and validity of information.
Do you believe everything you
read on the Internet?
Why not?
Consider the source:
Books and journals
Yep, they’re old-fashioned. But for in-depth
reporting and topical coverage, books and
journals contain solid, reliable information.
Often, new material is created by researchers
and scholars in a timely fashion, allowing
journalists to gain up-to-date background
information on topics of current interest – in
online journals.
Computer-assisted reporting
This is simply using computers to report on
stories.
CAR includes the use of databases, public
records, social media and Internet searches
to develop background and gather
information.
The key: Consider the source.
Computer-assisted reporting:
Internet Searches
Wikipedia isn’t bad as a place to start your
Internet research, but it shouldn’t end there.
What’s better?
• Websites devoted to your topic
• Links to articles about your topic
• Articles that tell you where the information
comes from
• Articles that have dates indicating when the
information was posted
Is it valid?
Always ask this question when you are
researching on the Internet. How do you know?
• Sources of information are cited.
• The website is created by a well-known
organization, such as news media, a U.S.
government site or a large organization
devoted to your topic, such as the American
Cancer Society or WebMD.
• Articles include dates when the information
was posted.
Is it valid?
How do you know?
• The author is identified and credentials are
cited.
• The site provides a way for you to contact the
author.
• You can verify the information elsewhere.
• The site has no errors in spelling, grammar or
facts.
• The site is updated regularly.
Is it valid?
Is the information presented in a fair and
balanced way?
• What point of view does the sponsor of the
site have? If this organization has a slanted
agenda, can you trust it to be fair?
• Facts are presented as facts and opinions are
clearly labeled.
• Feedback from readers is encouraged or at
least allowed.
• Do you think this might be a hoax?
Is it valid?
Is this a hoax?
• If it’s too good or to weird to be true, it
probably is.
• Even if you’d love it to be true, check it out.
Sites such as The Onion, The Daily Current
and the National Report present fake news as
satire.
• Use snopes.com or urbanlegends.com to
check it out if you’re not sure.
The Eleventh Commandment
DO NOT
PLAGIARIZE!
This is easy to avoid. You just have to CITE
YOUR SOURCES!
Cite your sources
Quote the source and credit it. If you quote
directly from any source – even a web site –
put the words inside quotation marks and
attribute the quote.
Even if you paraphrase, you still need to tell
readers where the information came from.
Better to cite the source and be safe, even if
you rework and reword it so that it’s more
your writing than the source’s.
ACTIVITY
How would you research this?
Each student will be given a scenario. You will
research this scenario and decide how and
where to get more information if you were
writing about it for your student news media.
You will correctly cite one related Internet
source as if you were using it in a news
story, and explain why it is a valid source.
Research:
Internet and Beyond
An overview of other research techniques
Computer-assisted reporting:
Documents
These are often recorded evidence of events,
transcripts of speeches, copies of
transactions and research-based writings.
Documents can provide first-hand or official
accounts of news-related events. They are
often primary sources.
Computer-assisted reporting:
Articles databases
Your school library and public library have
databases, such as Gale’s, Jstor
(www.jstor.org) and others, where you can
search journals, magazines, newspapers and
other publications by topic.
Other useful articles databases include:
http://journalistsresource.org
http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/
http://www.ipl.org/
Computer-assisted reporting:
Databases of data
Many government agencies have databases
of public records available to all citizens.
Professional journalists have access to
journalistic databases such as IRE and
LexisNexis to perform extensive.
These databases offer statistical data, public
records, and spreadsheets to help with the
reporting process.
Computer-Assisted Reporting:
Crowdsourcing
Using social media and other Internet-based
tools, reporters can quickly gather information
from a large group of people at once.
Even more than other sources, crowd-sourced
information should be thoroughly factchecked prior to publication.
Computer-Assisted reporting:
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing may be as simple as reporting
what people are posting on social media sites
about a given topic or event.
Or it might be posing a question on Twitter
and having followers respond.
Computer-assisted reporting:
Crowdsourcing
Storify – a social outlet that strings together
Twitter and Facebook responses to a single
topic.
HootSuite – a social media dashboard that lets
you monitor multiple social media accounts
and search for keywords in various apps
Google Forms – Found in the Google Drive,
these forms let you use your social contacts to
conduct polls or surveys.
Computer-assisted reporting:
Open source journalism
Similar to crowdsourcing, but with a little more
control.
Through blogs, social media and websites
such as DocumentCloud, journalists work
with concerned citizens and others to gather
information and data for a specific story or
topic.
Can scholastic journalists do the same?
Consider the possibilities.
Computer-assisted reporting:
Open source journalism
Scholastic journalists, regionally or even
nationally, might collaborate on topical
coverage. Sports coverage may be
enhanced, especially objectively, with
reporters from competing schools working
together to cover sport events. Social media
allows this to happen easily.
Computer-assisted reporting:
Twitter feed
Use a Twitter account to follow media sites,
journalists, prominent individuals,
entertainment industry, nonprofits,
businesses, government organizations,
school groups or whatever makes news in
your community.
Profnet
http://www.prnewswire.com/profnet/profnetjournalists/
When you need an expert source, you can
use this service to locate one. You can target
your query by geographic location to get a
local expert, as well as someone who
understands your topic.
Make sure you prepare for this interview
ahead of time!
Documentaries
Especially with topical coverage,
documentaries provide an excellent way to
gain background. News programs such as 60
Minutes and Frontline provide investigative
journalism on many current topics.
Can you name other recent documentaries
that brought issues into the news?
Panel discussions
As a research tool, panel discussions provide
a chance to gain expert insight on an issue.
Panel discussions best suit team reporting or
extensive coverage on a timely issue. This is
a great format for special issue coverage.
You can sponsor a panel discussion or attend
one organized by someone else.
Polls and surveys
Often used as part of a story package, polls and
surveys can also be used alone in yearbooks
and as special features in newspapers, web
sites and broadcasts.
You can use polls to compare to others taken at
different times, locales, or with other population
samples.
Polls and surveys
Scientific polling is a process that should be
planned well and executed properly.
Straw polls are the most commonly used by
scholastic journalists. They are the least
reliable and often invalid. To conduct more
valid polls, you must survey a large enough
random sample of your population and pretest
your questions.
Press conferences
Often, with breaking news stories, press
conferences are set up to provide group
access to key individuals involved in the
event or incident.
While journalists often use this as a way to
gather quotes, press conferences also
provide background information for future
stories.
Press conferences
Within a scholastic journalism class, press
conferences may be set up to develop story
ideas, provide background on topical
coverage, and gather information for stories
already in progress. Press conferences may
be set up for a whole class or for smaller
groups.
Press releases
Information is provided to media organizations
for public relations or promotion, often as a
means to gain coverage.
Journalists must understand that they provide
only one point of view and may be selfserving.
Reporters use this information as a starting
point in reporting a story if newsworthy, not
as the only information published.
Press releases
Take note: Press releases often are used to
get one side of the story out to the public.
Be skeptical with press releases. Often, press
releases offer a great start in reporting a
story, but do research beyond the release
itself.
Public records
Examples of public records: police reports,
marriage and divorce records, health
inspections, business licenses, property
ownership, court proceedings, census data,
campaign donations and consumer protection
documents.
Public records
Within high schools, access to public records
is based on local and state regulations.
FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy
Act) relates only to specific education records
held by the school.
Other records, such as overall test scores and
police reports, should be available for public
access.
ACTIVITY
Complete the scenarios handout.