Job Shadows: The First One!

Here's a sampling of some of the various job shadows done by you all (this will be updated as job shadow reports are turned in, so please check back frequently). Take a look and see what you can learn from everyone's visits. There's a lot of good stuff here to help you decide what you want to do with your lives; what you need to be doing to get there; and what to expect when you do get there.

Please give each one of these a quick read as they come in, will you?

*****

Job shadowing at WLNS gave me a totally different perspective as a journalist. I shadowed reporter Alexis Rosado and got to see the not so glamorous side of being a journalist. When I arrived at the news station, there were news tips already waiting for her. Although Alexis was a one-woman show, she did everything so well. Once she got the news tip, her responsibility was to go to the event and get news worthy information to shoot that she later edited, created voice overs for and made packages for that would later be aired on the 6pm news.

            In her opinion, a really fun day on the job is when she gets to interview children. Alexis loves children and loves being able to interact with them. I noticed that whenever Alexis interviewed a child, she made sure she asked the parents for permission for their children to be aired on the news. Getting the first story of the day was difficult because it was game day, and parking on campus was not easy. Alexis had to carry her equipment from Owen Hall all the way to the stadium to get her story.

            While riding in the news truck, she told me some important things that you needed to know about being a reporter. She said that in order to be successful, you need to know how to write, shoot, and edit. These are important because as a reporter you not only write stories for yourself, but you also write scripts for the anchor. In my opinion, Alexis has the hardest job, and although she does a lot, she is extremely great at what she does. I could also tell she is very passionate about her job and it came across in her stories. Alexis told me that she did not apply for the job at WLNS; the news station contacted her. She did not want the job at first because it was for a part time position and that was not what she was looking for. 

          She came to East Lansing to interview for the position and she still was unsure about working at the station. After thoughtful consideration she decided to work at WLNS and has been a reporter for six months now. Alexis’ job is not always glamorous; having to go place to place to get stories to make sure they are prepared for the news later that night takes a lot of time, however the non stop working keeps her constantly on her toes, and helps her make sure she is always making yourself more marketable because being a reporter is not her end goal.

            After job shadowing Alexis, I know that being a reporter is something I want to do. I liked that Alexis was not sitting at a desk all day. I want to be able to get out and interact with the people of the community. Being a reporter would help me understand not only the concerns of those in the community, but also help voice their concerns on the news.  I would love to work at a news station as a reporter and eventually become a news anchor.

Community Directories: Some Problems

When we do work, we need to make sure we follow directions and take the good reporting habits we learned in 200 and apply them here. Between my two JRN 300 sections we didn't consistently do that in this exercise. To-wit:

* We fataled. In one case, we said the bus service runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A quick phone call to the service confirmed that is not correct. Either we assumed or we got bad information we didn't double-check.

In another case, we spelled the name of a town as Dewitt, with a little w. It's DeWitt, with a capital W and no space between De and Witt.

In yet another case, we referred to someone as the head of a local news bureau. Problem is, that person was fired a while back and now has another job, so it's clear to me you didn't actually talk to a human being, like you were supposed to. Talking to someone at the place you were writing about would have tipped you off that your background info was out-of-date.

(BTW, the posts with fatal fact errors have been unpublished.)

There's no such thing as a little mistake. Why would a reader trust your credibility of the name of the town we're covering isn't exactly right?

* We didn't examine information and fact-test it. One person wrote that rumor was a business wasn't expected to last much longer. As journalists, we should listen for rumors. But our job then is to check it out and detail what we can prove, not simply share the rumor.

We talked about the difference between reporting and repeating; this was the latter. And that's not what we do. Even for directory items.

* We missed deadline. A few people didn't post in time. As we've spoken about, that can't happen in journalism.

* We didn't file three posts, as required. Again, in journalism one of the worst things were can do is not turn in what is expected. On a real-world deadline, that's calamitous to a news operation, when they're counting on you to fill the required space.

* We didn't follow AP Style. Despite the cheat sheet, many people made basic errors with how to use addresses, names, titles, etc.

* We didn't follow directions. Several people posted their work as posts, not pages. (We had a TON of people who filed in the wrong place!) For this assignment it was pages; for all future work it will be posts. Some didn't use hyperlinks. Some left out attribution. Many didn't offer all the info sets they were supposed to, especially range of prices and parking details. A few people never emailed me that their work was done.

Still, many of you are getting a huge break on this assignment: as long as you met deadline, turned in three items and had no fatals, you're getting a 4.0 on this assignment. Fatals can expect a 1.0; there will be a 1.0 deduction for each missed post (or if a post was so inadequate I can't say it filled the basic parameters of the assignment); and missing the deadline will be a 0.0.

If you do not receive a grade email from me by the end of the week, that means you 4.0'd the assignment. Those who get a different grade will have it emailed, along with a brief explanation.

I don't want to forget the people who did well on this assignment, and there were many. That's great. Thank you. But I am very troubled by the lack of attention to detail on what should be a simple assignment for us to do, especially when we're about to start more challenging assignments here.

I urge everyone here to pay careful attention to detail. Double-check your facts by talking to knowledgable people. Don't just report what people say; fact-check their accounts by talking to other people and cross-checking statements against the word of others and examine documents and talk to neutral experts.

Know your deadlines and expectations and meet them, to the letter. Adhere to AP Style rules, especially the most basic ones. If you don't know something, ask somebody. If you don't know who to ask, start with me and we'll go from there.

The tim to figure this out is now. Practice time is over. From here on out, it's the real deal.

Community Directories: What A Good Post Looks Like

AnQi Sushi Express

Anqi Sushi Express got its name from a Japanese work meaning vigor

Found on a side street near the capitol, AnQi Sushi Express offers more than what is in its name. It has its popular AnQi dragon crab salad, which features avocado and chili powder, but many people come for their Taiwanese braised pork rice as well. This Japanese restaurant got the name AnQi from the Japenese word meaning vigor, according to Boris Hsieh, whose family owns the restaurant. Hsieh is an economics senior at MSU and said his family has owned the restaurant since he was a sophomore in high school. He has worked there since the opening in 2010 when he was 15.

“I love working at our restaurant because I get to see my parents everyday and work with my family,” Hsieh said. “It’s also really interesting to see the diversity of downtown Lansing.”

According to Hsieh, AnQi has an array of customers everyday, ranging from businessmen to students to residents.

• Address: 111 E. Allegan St. Lansing, MI 48933
• Phone: 517-485-9688
• Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday
• Prices range from $1 to $10
• Parking is available at meters in the downtown area; range from 30 cents to $1.20 per hour

Story Pitches: What They Should Look Like

Story Pitch Ideas:

Story Idea #1: As we had talked about in class, I would really like to explore the reasoning behind the three statues in front of the capitol building. I wonder if anyone that walks past them everyday even realizes that they are there or if they do notice them, do they know what they mean? I want to talk to people that walk around there everyday, some businesses around there, a neutral expert (maybe an MSU professor of history to explain how these types of things are chosen) and maybe the development and planning committee of the city of Lansing would be good to talk to as well.

Story Idea #2: I really wanted to explore the feature of the Kewpee restaurant downtown. It seems to stand out from the other restaurants and has been there for a lot longer than the other places. I want to research what makes it so successful being in such a metropolitan area when it’s more of a mom and pop restaurant. It’s on its fourth generation owner right now and there are a lot of regulars that come in. It just seems like an odd place for this store and I want to find out what makes it so successful. I will obviously talk to the Kewpee employees and customers but I also want to talk to other business owners in downtown Lansing and a neutral expert could be a business professor, one that has a particular interest in restaurants.

Sources: We Need A Range

Journalism isn't about just getting one side and the other side. That's just enabling an argument. What we're trying to do is get a range of dies and perspectives, in hopes of capturing all the degrees of complexity of a story and discovering a larger truth as a result.

There are various types of sides we should get. For JRN 400, the instructors came up with some category terms to help illustrate a basic range of sides. Those include:

• Affected subjects: These are people affected by whatever action is central to the story. For example, for a story about East Lansing banning alcohol sales to students, an affected person would be a student. Are they ticked by this? Also affected are those who sell alcohol; what does this do to their livelihoods?
• Subject users: These would be people who take advantage or are disadvantaged by the action taking place. In addition to students and East Lansing liquor stores, this could include Lansing liquor stories: do they expect a surge in business as a result of the ban in E.L.?
• Subject drivers: Who is making the action happen? In this case, it would be the people making the decisions (the City Council, which sets city laws) and those enforcing the decisions (the police department).
• Subject experts: This would be a neutral expert, who is expert in the subject area but doesn't have a stake in this particular fight, or any particular interest in the outcome. They help the audience make sense of the various sides and their positions. For example, perhaps a political science prof could talk about local alcohol enforcement, since he or she is an expert on government. Or a history prof could talk about the history of prohibition in America and how well it's worked in general. Or a sociologist could talk about alcohol culture and how this impacts that. Please see the blog posts on neutral experts for more on these subjects.
• Subject observers: People who are part of the environment and not directly affected, but may have an interest in the outcome. Like East Lansing residents in general; are they happy that those damn kids can't get their drink on any longer?
• Subject examples: Could be any of the above, that you think best illustrates the impact of the story.

Your stories should have at least THREE of these categories covered.

Neutral Experts: WTF Is That?

Today, I'm going to introduce a new concept that you'll need for completing your self-reported out-of-class stories. And that concept is that of neutral experts.

Neutral experts are people who have a great deal of knowledge and/or expertise regarding the subject you're writing about, but importantly they don't have an interest in the outcome. It's someone who can offer analysis that helps readers decide which side of an issue is more credible. In a one-sided story, it helps readers evaluate whether the people you're writing about are on the up and up.

Think of it in terms of a game: you normally have one side and the other side, right? How you view the game depends on which side you're on. Unless you have a referee, that is. A neutral expert is sort of a referee, helping point on when one side is telling the truth and the other side is stretching it a bit -- or a lot.

Let's say you're doing a story on a new business coming to East Lansing. You'd certainly talk to the business owner, but he or she has an interest in telling you positive stuff, since they own the biz. You can talk to rival businesses, but they have an interest in making themselves look better than the new guy. You can talk to shoppers who do have a valid viewpoint, but they are not expert at economic development.

That's where a neutral expert like, say, a business school prof  at MSU, can come in handy. That person doesn't have a stake in whether a business succeeds or fails, but they are expert at business, and can comment on the pros and cons not based on self-interest but rather on expertise. And that expertise helps a reader sort out all the competing perspectives, and decide which ones are credible and carry the most weight and relevance.


Most news stories at least attempt to include at least one neutral expert. And you can find a neutral expert about almost anything, no matter how obscure.

Let's look at this example: during the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, a lot was made about how the Obamas would fist-bump each other. The New York Times Sunday Magazine even did a story about it.

Here's how the story started:

Is this the end of high-five? On the night in June that Barack Obamaclinched the Democratic nomination, he and his wife, Michelle, exchanged what was variously described as a “closed-fist high five,” a “fist pound,” a “knuckle buckle” and a “fist jab.” Jonathan Tilove in The New Orleans Times-Picayune called the gesture “the dap heard ’round the world,” which he felt encapsulated “the new cultural trajectory of American politics.”

Believe it or not, they found an expert on fist-bumping. And that expert was right here. Let's continue the story:

Prof. Geneva Smitherman, director of African-American language study at Michigan State University, says: “Pound is when knuckles touch in a horizontal position. That’s the gesture that Michelle and Barack used.Dap is when the knuckles touch in a vertical position. Both gestures can be used as a greeting, to signal respect, agreement, bonding.” 

Dap started among black soldiers during the Vietnam War; to give “some dap” (not usually “a” dap) means “to offer kudos, congratulations”; Prof. James Peterson of Bucknell, a hip-hop historian, says he thinks it is rooted in dapper, “neat, fashionably smart.” Pound came out of hip-hop in the late 1980s. Fist bump came later: a 1996 note in the Sports Network wire service reported that Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles was accepting congratulations from baseball teammates with “high-fives, handshakes or fist bumps.” Peterson says the new phrase robs the gesture of its cultural significance, which includes the Obamas’ “quiet but pronounced in-group affiliation with all of black America.”

Hand signals have a checkered history in politics, from Prime MinisterWinston Churchill’s V-for-victory sign to the famed photo of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller “giving the finger” to hecklers to the clenched-fist salute of “black power” to Lyndon Johnson’s fondness for “pressing the flesh.”

When Michelle Obama visited Barbara Walters on “The View” on ABC, the candidate’s wife sought to soften her image with “I have to be greeted properly. Fist bump, please. It is now my signature bump. . . . I got it from the young staff. That’s the new high-five.” 

Colleges are notorious for being loaded with neutral experts (think of all your profs doing research, and all the TA's working on their thesis papers!) So really, there's no excuse for you NOT to find a neutral expert, especially here or at other schools.

Like many other schools, MSU -- in hopes of getting free publicity -- even makes it easy to find experts. The MSU News Office's Web site has an experts list, which you can link to here: http://news.msu.edu/experts/Results/?

Just looking at the first page, these are just some of the topics for which MSU can find you a neutral expert: wind power, renewable energy, water preservation, breast cancer, breast cancer education, medical education, microfinance, filmmaking, documentary production, sensors and nano-bisensor devices for biodefense, health diagnostics and theraputics, child welfare, biblical references and history, Samartian population, meteorology and climatology, Isreali-Palestinian conflict, Israeli politics, society and culture, international relations, U.S. foreign policy, school funding, school choice, school district building projects, the effects of mass communications, health communications, communications campaigns, international relations, the Middle East, Muslim issues, the early formation of galaxies, tax and expenditure policies, state and local public finance, poverty and income distribution, campus sustainability, Internet governance, new wireless technologies, telecommunications regulation and policy, bone and tissue engineering, labor markets, chaos theory, alternative dispute resolution, primitive stars, galaxy formation, labor unions and collective bargaining, international and domestic labor policy, work and family policy, flexible scheduling policy, tropical diseases, malaria, AIDS/HIV . . .

. . . and those are just a FEW of the subject areas!

You can also search by typing in a topic here: http://news.msu.edu/experts/

I took some general topics and looked for experts. Like Google, sometimes you have to try the same general term in different ways (like if you're searching for an expert in campus safety, you try that term, then campus, then safety, then police, and so on).

Under "campus living" I found one expert. For "transportation" I found two. There were three each for "housing" and "discrimination" and "elections." I found four each for "police" and "campus" and "drug." For "safety" I found 14! And "health" produced 35!

And you can filter by these general topic areas: agriculture and environment; arts and humanities; athletics; board and administration; business, economy, law and communications; education; family and social issues; health, medicine and veterinary medicine; international; science and technology; staff and faculty; students and campus life; tuition, costs and enrollment.Plus, there's always Google, right? And other schools as well. And think tanks. And private research institutions.

Wherever you find a good one, it's critical that you do. Journalism isn't about just getting both sides of the story. Getting one side and the other side and nothing else is just enabling a fight.

We're about trying to arrive at a verifiable version of the truth based on facts and checking out what people have to say, right? That's the role a neutral expert helps accomplish.

To paraphrase legendary baseball announcer and willful drunk Harry Caray -- and this might be the only smart thing he ever said in his life, God rest his soul -- there are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth.

We need to get more than two out of three. We need all of 'em. And we need our out-of-class stories to cite AT LEAST one neutral expert!

So go find some neutral experts!

JRN 300: Our Publication Schedule

So we're about to start our out-of-class story cycles, where you will have about 7-9 days per story to go from approved idea to draft form to final version.

Basically, every Tuesday you will have a draft due for your latest story and the idea for your next story due before class, and in-class we'll review everyone's previous stories. And every Thursday, you'll have at least some lab time (and at times that lab time will be the whole class) to finish your latest story, which will be due by the end of class.

Here's our out-of-class story schedule for the semester:

Story 1:
Idea due: Wed. 9/30, 9 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Wed. 9/30 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 10/6, by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 10/6 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 10/8 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 10/8 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 10/13

Story 2:
Idea due: Wed. 9/30, 9 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Wed. 9/30 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 10/13, by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 10/13 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 10/15 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 10/15 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 10/20

Story 3:
Idea due: Tue. 10/13, 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Tue. 10/13 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 10/20 by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 10/20 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 10/22 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 10/22 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 10/27

Story 4:
Idea due: Tue. 10/20, 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Tue. 10/20 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 10/27 by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 10/27 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 10/29 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 10/29 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 11/3

Story 5:
Idea due: Tue. 10/27, 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Tue. 10/27 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 11/3 by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 11/3 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 11/5 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 11/5 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 11/10

Story 6:
Idea due: Tue. 11/3, 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Tue. 11/3 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 11/10 by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 11/10 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 11/12 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 11/12 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 11/17

Story 7:
Idea due: Tue. 11/10, 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Tue. 11/10 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 11/17 by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 11/17 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 11/19 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 11/19 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 11/24

We also have our final project story, which should be your most elaborate, ambitious trend-and-issue story of the term. Please note the idea is due in late October, even though the draft isn't due until late November. That's to give you a lot of time to work on this. Please don't wait until the last minute.

Final Project:
Idea due: Tue. 10/20, 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Idea OKd: Tue. 10/20 by 6 PM
Draft due: Tue. 11/24 by 8 AM to omars@msu.edu
Draft returned: Tue. 11/24 by 6 PM
Final version due: Thu. 12/3 by end of class to WordPress
Final version posted: Thu. 12/3 by 6 PM
Review as class: Tue. 12/8

Questions? Please ask me. And good luck, everyone!

JRN 300: A Grading Scale Reminder

Here's the grading scale, along with guidelines on what you need to do to get the best grade possible (and what will sink you, too).

4.0: A newsworthy story told clearly and cleanly with four or more varied, knowledgeable sources employing at least three media. These might be text, photos (with original captions and a map or graphic, slideshow, video or audio, depending on what best tells the story. Uses elements like subheads and block quotes to hold readers. Completely accurate, well-organized, solid grammar, punctuation and style and links to relevant resources.

3.5: A clear, well-written story with three good human sources and, in addition to the text, links and visual elements—either your original photos or graphics—high up on the Web page. (You may incorporate handout photos with permission from the owner, but these typically cannot count as your original work Get in the habit of shooting or making a visual element—even a good head shot—with everything you do. Elements like subheads and block quotes are included to good effect. Consistently good mechanics.

3.0: Better-than-average report based on solid reporting with three relevant sources. Story answers questions readers want to know. Writing is accurate, but copy needs rewriting and polishing before it can be published.

2.5: On time and a little above average. Story has some problems with organization, focus and sentence structure. Uses only one medium or has fewer than three named, human sources. Problems with writing mechanics have caused 0.25-point deductions.

2.0: Average. Basic organizational writing and reporting deficiencies. Mechanical difficulties. Story lacks minimum sources or has weak ones; used only one medium. The story is not of the type required in this class. (For example, a story about a game or something that is not from your beat.)

1.5: Weak. The lead does not state the news. Insufficient sourcing. There are problems in news interpretation. Weak mechanics. Story goes off track or is incomplete. Needs substantial rewriting and editing.

1.0: Major fact error. Or, lacks fundamental reporting and writing. Problems might include omission of key facts, several deductions for errors in AP style, spelling or punctuation. Poor news judgment. Weak sourcing. Needs substantial rethinking. Cannot be published.

0.0: Story misses deadline or contains plagiarism or fabrication.

Filing Your Story: A Style Sheet

JRN 300 STYLE SHEET

When you enter your content in WordPress, use the TEXT option, NOT the Visual option. The Visual option adds extraneous coding you do not want. You can toggle over to visual for a look (or use preview) but ENTER the content with the TEXT option.

Headlines and subheads are downstyle. Capitalize only the first word in the headline and proper nouns. Numbers should never be spelled out. Subheads are recommended in long stories. Subheads should be downstyle and bold body type.

Bylines:

By Sam Spartan

Listen Up Lansing staff writer

Place references: Follow AP style

Day references should include the date, as our stories live on, on the web. The day of the week is optional: "The board met at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3." The year is usually not needed, as stories are time-stamped. In dates, AP style is to not use ordinal numbers such as 3^rd.

Paragraphs are not indented. Simply hit return for an extra line between paragraphs.

Put the first photo with your story above the story if it is full width or to the right of the lede for maximum exposure. You’ve gone to the trouble to take a photo – show it!)

Stories continue off the home page after 3-5 paragraphs or a logical break point. Use the –more– button in WordPress. This saves readers from scrolling through long stories and gives us more headlines on the home page.

Hyperlink from names or nouns. Do not simply paste in an email address or hyperlink a phrase like "click here." A link from a noun is called a content link. Google likes them.

Example:
The contest hours are on the Happy Valley website.

Multimedia like a slide show or video needs to have a blurb of at least 150 words to explain it and to give search engines the cues they need to find it. A video posted on YouTube or Vimeo should link to our news website. The blurb goes on both locations.

AP Style: A Cheat Sheet

ADDRESSES

Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd., and St. only with a numbered addressed. Spell them out and capitalize when part of a formal street name without a number. Lowercase and spell out when used alone or with more than one street name.

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Pennsylvania Avenue

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania avenues.

AGES

Always use figures. Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun.

The boy is 5 years old. 

The 5-year-old house.

DIRECTIONS AND REGIONS

Lowercase north, south, northeast, etc. when they indicate compass direction. Capitalize when they designate regions.

He drove west.

Northwestern is in the Midwest.

MONTHS

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Sepll out when using alone, or with a year alone.

January 2012

Feb. 2, 2012

STATE NAMES

Spell out the names of the 50 states when they stand alone. Abbreviate when used with the name of a city, town, villega or military bass. Remember that postal code abbreviations are NOT state abbreviations. The names of eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

TIMES

Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes. Avoid redundancies such as 10 a.m. this morning.

9-11 a.m.

3:30 p.m.

TITLES

In general, confine capitalization to formal titles used directly before an individual’s name.

Professor Roger Boye

The professor gave the lecture.

Journalism: 22 Helpful Rules

I'm always looking for a way to simplify our principles to an easily-understood and effortlessly-followed list. Sometimes I come up with such a formula; other times, I find something that's good to go. 


Below is an example of the latter: a list of 22 rules for journalists. It does a nice job of reminding us of some basic precepts that can easily be forgotten amid the daily hubbub: keep it simple, do the right thing, it's about people, ect. 


Give it a quick read and think about how these rules can apply to your day-to-day routines now and beyond this semester. 


By Robert Mann


Whenever I hear about some press secretary cursing a young reporter, I think, 


“That’s a press secretary who was never a young reporter.”


That’s one reason some politicians have such poor press relations: the people they 

hire to manage their press relations know nothing about the daily life of a 

journalist. They think it’s about intimidation and manipulation when it’s mostly 

about mutual respect and creating and nurturing trusting relationships.


I discussed this in considerable detail earlier this week in this post about politicians 

and their spokespeople.


That post prompted a few friends to offer some additional rules.


It also prompted my friend and former LSU Manship School colleague Jay Perkins 

(a longtime Washington, D.C., Associated Press reporter) to offer some rules for 

journalists that he’s compiled over the years.


Jay is quick to note that most of these aren’t original to him. But it’s a great 

collection of wisdom that he once shared with all his students — and that I now 

share with you:


EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT REPORTING (And most of it I stole)

By Jay Perkins


1. Journalism is an attempt to discern the truth from liars. Don’t expect anyone to 

tell you the truth. They won’t. It’s up to you to find it. Look for contradictions in 

what people say. Three words to live by: compare and contrast.


2. Most lies are those of omission. Most people aren’t going to lie totally. They’re 

just going to tell you the version of the truth that makes them look good.


3. There’s a big difference between repeating and reporting. Repeating what 

someone said is easy. It doesn’t require much judgment or intelligence. Reporting is 

a search for the best version of the truth. It requires intelligence, skepticism, hard 

work and lots of digging. Strive to be a reporter.


4. The last reporter to get the truth from one source was a guy named Moses. Unless 

your source is God, you’re not going to get the truth, the whole truth and nothing 

but the truth from one interview. And if you’re getting interviews with God, you’re 

in the wrong business.


5. Reporting requires common sense – all five of them. It’s not enough to just listen 

to what someone says. God gave humans – even reporters – five senses. Sometimes 

how someone looks is just as important as what he or she says. Sometimes the way 

their voice wavers can tell you a lot. Use your senses.


6. Too many journalists try to climb a mountain from the top down. If you go right 

to the top and interview the big guy first, you’re dependent on what he wants to tell 

you. If you interview the little people first, you’ll know what to ask when you get to 

the big guy. Take it one step at a time. Start at the bottom. Hit the library and find 

out everything you can about the subject. Interview the little people second. You’ll 

get to the top quick enough – and you’ll know what to do when you get there.


7. Most business stories are not news stories. But most news stories are business 

stories. If you don’t understand business, you can’t understand news. Look to see 

how the news affects business – and why.


8. What someone knows is important. But the real question is how do they know it. 

Ask them. Beware the person who knows everything – college professors are a good 

example. They may just be good at talking about nothing.


WRITING


9. Good writing will take you further than good reporting. The reason? Most editors 

can recognize good writing. But few of them can recognize good reporting. Be a 

good reporter. But also be a good writer.


10. Writing is like making love – it’s a lot more fun with a partner. Unfortunately, 

too many journalists think they’re writing for themselves. They’re so interested in 

satisfying their own ego that they forget about satisfying the reader. Keep your focus 

on your readers. Tell them the story. They’ll think better of you in the morning.


11. Good writing starts with a KISS. That’s a maxim political consultants live by – 

Keep It Simple, Stupid. Leave the big words and the complex sentences in your 

English classes. Your job is not to impress the reader with your vocabulary or your 

ability to say nothing in 4,000 words. It’s to eloquently elucidate a communique – 

uh, communicate a message.


12. People are more important than statistics. You tell your reader that 500,000 

people went broke in America last year, he’ll yawn. You tell him the personal story 

of one person who went broke, he’ll listen. Statistics are important and they have to 

go into the story. But your focus is on people.


THE NATURE OF NEWS


13. News is never new. It is simply recycled for a new audience. The only journalists 

who think they’ve found something new are those who are too dumb to read and too 

lazy to research. Read what other reporters in other towns are doing. Read what 

other reporters have done. Here’s betting the story they covered could be covered in 

your community. Do it. And then everybody will think you’ve found something new.


14. Anyone can cover an event. But only the good reporter can put it into 

perspective. Most reporters have an institutional memory of one day. The good ones 

can relate what happened on any one day to the historical trends that created the 

event and the ripple event the event will have across society. Don’t be satisfied with 

covering an event. Stretch the envelope.


15. Reporting and writing are tools that a journalist uses. But what he or she really 

is selling is knowledge. If you think the Mujahadeen sell ice cream in Beijing, that 

Khadaffi is the French word for coffee, that Mekong is what a big gorilla once said, 

you’ve got a problem. Three words to live by: Read. Read. Read.


LAW AND ETHICS


16. Ethics are elastic. It’s easy to be ethical when the story is small. It’s a lot harder 

when the story is huge. Develop an ethical code that you can live by. And live by it. 

The rule one reporter lives by: he never does anything to get a story that he would 

be ashamed to have printed alongside his story.


17. More libel suits are caused by bad manners than by bad reporting. You write 

something. Somebody gets mad. They call you up to complain. You listen to them, 

they feel better. You act like an arrogant jerk, they sue. Be nice. It will save you 

numerous libel suits.


RESPONSIBILITIES


18. Journalists can’t tell people what to think. But they certainly tell people what to 

think about. What you decide to cover and the way you organize your story all 

impact on what the reader is going to think about. That’s an awesome responsibility. 

Think about it.


19. The journalism profession doesn’t need any more bad reporters. It’s got plenty 

of those already. If you’re going to be a journalist, be a good one. If you’re not going 

to be a good one, find another field of work.


20. There’s no such thing as objectivity. But there’s something called fairness. If you 

don’t think your preconceptions influence the questions you ask and the story you 

write, you’re dreaming. Don’t worry about being objective. But try to be fair. Let 

everyone tell their side of the story.


21. So now you’ve been fair and allowed everyone to tell their side. Don’t let fairness 

cause you to miss the target. What’s the point of all this work you’re doing? Finding 

the truth. And the truth is never fair and it’s never balanced and it’s never objective.


CONSISTENCY


22. And finally, remember: most people will remember you not for your best story 

but for your worst.