Hey Scholars,
Please share an experience you had pitching a story idea to your editor this summer. Did you get the green light? Get shot down? Something in between?
And please tell us if, in retrospect, you would have done anything differently.
For our page designer 
please tell us about a risk you wanted to take and how your editor reacted.
Thanks — Coach Col
Andrea Vasquez
07.23.09
I’ve had a little of both experiences.
Sometimes I had a solid story idea, fleshed out an all, and got the go-ahead.
With my first project idea, I had a complete idea AND enthusiasm, but my editor was less than enthused. The project was centered around a report that came out basically saying that everything was worse in the Delta (higher unemployment, lower wages, etc.), so I was going to explore why. After I went through my spiel she said she wasn’t against it, but that the poor-Delta thing has been done many times over. I guess that one wasn’t entirely on me, but could have been avoided with some more research in our and other news sources’ archives.
And I have been shot down a few times.
Looking back, I think there are a couple big determinants:
1. Have a complete, feasible (I’ve had to return to the drawing board once for an idea that would have taken me months to complete, full of vague, far-reaching topics) and new idea.
2. Be enthusiastic and supportive of your own idea - sell it and paint a picture of the story to your editor. Sometimes I get nervous and end up flustered and timid about my stories, so my pitch falls flat. But I’m working on it.
Charles Davis
07.23.09
2 balls, no strikes.
I pitched a story about teen moms and federal funded-housing. They both got approved.
I took advice and pre-reported, told her what people were saying and she smiled and said OK.
Both stories were sliders, meaning they slid under my expectations but got done.
Now I want to pitch a really good story before I leave.
Andrea
07.23.09
I find myself in the “something in between” stage at the moment. For my self-assigned big project, I wanted to do a video piece on Rochester’s LGBT youth community and pitched it to my editor. She liked the idea, but since I didn’t have any foresight as to how the final piece would be packaged, she remained hesitant.
Now I’m three weeks deep into all the gathering for this. It’s still pretty fuzzy. They’ve been giving me time for it and supporting me, but I think that because I still haven’t shown up with tangible, publishable product, that they’re rightfully hesitant.
In retrospect, I wish I had gone in with more planning on this one. I thought that by having a concept and winging it, things would have materialized like they always have in the past, but after many a cross-eyed evening in front of my computer, I’m now having to pull my head out of my unproductive slump and scramble before my editor looses interest.
Coach Col
07.29.09
Hey Scholars,
What I’m picking up from these comments is the need to distinguish between a story “topic” or “concept” and a story “idea.”
Saying “I’d like to do a story about water resources in Mytown, Penn.,” is a story topic/concept/issue. It is NOT a story idea. A story idea involves being able to tell your editor the following three things, convincingly:
— What you want to say about water resources in Mytown. What is THE POINT of the story (and be prepared to explain how your point (idea) is different from all the other stories your editor has had to read on the topic and your paper has published.
— Why this story needs to be told NOW. If it could just as easily be told a year from now, you need to go back and do more reporting to refine your idea in a way that adds urgency to the telling of the story.
— Why people — readers/viewers — would care about this story idea. What’s the IMPACT. The greater the impact, of course, the more likely your idea is to be approved.
So — In other words, a story idea must be focused and it must be news and it must have impact. And in pitching the story idea, you must be able to convince your editor of all three to the point where she can actually envision the story in her mind and on the page or Website of the paper.
Coach Col
Emma Carew
07.29.09
I’ve had good luck and bad luck with this.
I’m not a very confident story pitcher either — I have a hard time articulating my thoughts sometimes. I pitched the story about virtual assistants, simply based on the fact that I had seen a lot of ads on Craigslist for them, and wanted to look into it. My editor seemed on board, and basically said, look into it, and if there’s something there, let me know.
I’m also trying to get a story about minority owned-businesses moving, and my editor (this is a different editor than I pitched the virtual asst story to), is lukewarm to the idea. She’s less convinced that there’s something there to write on, even though I’ve been encouraged by many other reporters to pursue this as a story. This is frustrating, but its one of my goals to get something put together in the remaining 4 weeks of my internship.
Carolyn Chin
08.01.09
When I try to do something different, it’s always good to first ask the other designers around me. They’re all very good at what they do and know the what our editors like, love and hate. These are small style things that you can’t know without having spent time working one on one with the editors. So first, it’s important for me to ask the other designers. Then if they agree with what I’m trying to do, I’ll make a mock up or sketch out what I have in my mind. That always helps because sometimes it’s hard to describe with words how it will turn out visually. And it shows that you have taken the time to actually make a mock up and that you have put time and effort into it.
Aaron Montoya
10.06.09
This is a point of shame for me.
I didn’t successfully pitch any stories during my time at the Post.
It was failure on my part and it was due to fear, lack of confidence and laziness.
I had story ideas — I’d even done some reporting and photographing. There was one story in particular that I worked on several times that focused on various street performers in downtown Denver. I envisioned the final piece as a collage of character sketches with some sort of underlying theme connecting them (which I didn’t end up fleshing out).
I never felt that I had enough to bring to my editor and I was scared that I would get shot down. I’m not sure why — getting turned down doesn’t usually bother me, especially not to the point where I won’t try.
So, I’m a bit sad with my performance in this area, but I’m trying very hard to learn from it. Be less scared, more confident, more brave and put in more hard work.
One successful pitch came in the form of a feature photo (or “wild art” as some like to call them). As I was wandering around downtown one day, I noticed this bridge that spanned a river and a walking/running path. I knew if I could time it just right, I could place a runner in one corner of my frame and someone walking over the bridge in the other. This was much more difficult than it sounds. I ended up visiting this spot more than a few times on separate occasions for a couple hours at a time. I had shown my editor the first time out what I was trying to do and when I finally brought back the shot he was pleased. That I am proud of.