Hi Scholars,
Great posts, everyone!
For this week’s post, let’s combine Diane’s and one of Kristy’s questions into the following: How do you come up with or get at original story ideas in a new city? How can the process of “settling in” to a new place work in your favor in terms of identifying story ideas?
Thanks,
Colleen
Nicole Norfleet
02.21.10
I joined a bunch of Yahoo groups and mailing lists for locals. Since I’m on the development team, a lot of regular townspeople can see what’s going on on their street before I can so it’s been useful for sure to read their message posts and blogs. It may not seem like a story, but after a little exploration, they can prove to be fruitful. I also check different documents and reports that other people may not have the time to comb through.
I think that coming into a place with fresh eyes is a bonus. For example, most of the people that work at the paper live a lot closer to D.C. than me. I have to commute about four hours each day. I’m one of the transportation reporters so I get insight on some of the issues that others don’t have to deal with such as the VRE (Virginia Railway Express). We just started a new Federal Workers page so because I do the fed worker commute I can think of story ideas from that angle. What’s cool about The Post is that it’s a local paper, but it also does national news because of its prominence. It’s a great place to try different story ideas. It’s hard to try to find things that they haven’t already done, but it’s fun.
colleen
02.24.10
Great tip on joining Yahoo groups and mailing lists and how you make use of them, Nicole. Thanks!
Here area couple of other sources for finding ideas in a new place:
— Legal advertisements, which can be found in your paper or online. These ads inform the public about government happenings, such as probate and custody issues, bids for building or repairing infrastructure and other work, public meetings and agendas, foreclosures, etc. Always check your paper and go to http://www.mypublicnotices.com to find stuff in your state/community.
— Classified and help-wanted ads. See what people are needing — or needing to get rid of. Read them faithfully and you may get the scoop on a new restaurant that’s coming to town, the latest pet rage (Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, snakes come to mind). You may see an overwhelming slew of funeral parlor ads….and wonder what’s going on there….
— Make friends with everyone in the building — librarians, custodians, copyeditors, sports people, etc., and get them talking about the community and story coverage. What stories aren’t getting covered? Ask any beat reporters you’re friendly with (and especially in a beat in which you hope to gain experience and clips) if they have any stories they’d like to move off their plates.
— Pick up all the freebie publications you find around and read them from cover to cover. Anything that raises your curiosity or makes you say, “Hmmm, how about that” or “Really? I never knew that,” or “Wow, that’s odd” is something to pay attention to and follow up on, bouncing it off your newsroom colleagues and your sources.
— Check your notes from orientation for dozens of other sources mentioned by speakers, alums and your coaches.
Who’s got more suggestions — and who else will weigh in on why fresh eyes are an asset?
Coach Col
Kiah Haslett
02.24.10
Most of my ideas are stories I had before I moved to Chicago and then was able to find sources in Chicago for them.
but one way I’ve found stories is by following up with sources who are in PR and marketing about who their clients are and what’s going on with them. And as lame as that sounds, I find the story and what’s cool in a press release and write about that.
Several of the journalism twitter feeds I follow offer national stories and ideas to localize them. @Bizjournalism is a really great one.
Kristy Chu
02.24.10
Hi everyone,
Colleen–thanks for turning this into a blog post!
Since my last post, my editor and I have started a spreadsheet of contacts and people I should know and can go to for questions about stories, or even just to check in and see if they have any ideas for me. We divided the it into 3 layers: the civic layer, the activist layer, and the community layer.
In the civic layer, you’ve got all your city officials (city council, planning commission, economic commission, police and fire), school and district officials, church officials, large businesses, HOAs, etc. This is the layer to start on, and the layer that must be built before you can really get down into the other two. The activist layer includes small business owners, interest groups, grassroots organizations, and things of that nature. The community layer includes people in the community who don’t necessarily hold a public office or lead an organization, but who are representative of the community and community concerns.
Besides getting to know your city officials (though that is crucial; I got to know my city’s mayor over the weekend at a small business ribbon cutting), it’s important to talk to people in that “community” layer. Talk to your servers at restaurants, the people in the booths next to you, the people on your train, the people in line with you at Starbucks, etc. The best stories are often times those unexpected ones.
Lisa Song
02.24.10
Here’s a people-oriented idea: look for hidden talents. The copy editor at High Country News is also a fantastic artist–her paintings are all over the walls, and she often draws cartoons for the magazine. A local restaurant owner also teaches yoga part-time, and is a world-class guitar maker. If your newspaper does profiles of local people, you might be able to write about people’s “double lives,” or how they balance it out. Coming in with fresh eyes means you’ll find good material where other people have always taken it for granted.
It also helps to read the archives and look for trends, then see how a story might be updated. A High Country News story from 8 months ago talked about forest restoration and skepticism over the ARRA stimulus funds being directed at western forests–well, currently a lot of that money’s been handed out, and there are some good results. So that’s worth an update.
Diane S.W. Lee
03.01.10
Most of the story ideas I’ve worked on in the past came through meeting new people and noticing some interesting trends through my observations. I usually try to ask people what’s on their minds and what would they like to see covered. And because I’m in an unfamiliar town, everything seems new to me so I notice things easily. I also like to sift through a lot of calendar events and happenings listed in the newspaper or on the Web to come up with my story ideas. For example, I saw an event in the newspaper about an eagle watch that only happens one weekend per year. It happened to be on Saturday. Although the story had been covered previously in print, I thought it would make a great video story so I pitched it and they went with it! I’m trying not to rely on story assignments or press releases, because I think majority of my best stories have stemmed from my own ideas. But I think the biggest challenge is pitching a well-thought out story idea that has a focus and reason why people should care, instead of just an observational idea.
colleen
03.03.10
Great posts, everyone!
Kiah — yes, take ideas that have been done elsewhere (either by you or another newspaper) and make them your own in your new community. Excellent way to come up with ideas.
Diane — yes, you’re right, it’s a big challenge to pitch a well-thought-out idea. Three key things you must be able to tell your editor when you pitch a story:
What is the point/focus of the story;
Who is affected by the story and in what ways (impact);
Why does this story need to be told now.
Lisa — check the archives, yes!
Kristy — interesting breakdown your editor has given you.
Question to all: Do you feel confident in knowing where to go within municipal government for information? In other words, do you know what public information the town/city clerk has, the registrar of deeds, the probate court, the building inspector, etc.? Would you like a primer on that? Lemme know, I’d be happy to put one together.
Coach Col