Lesson 9: Incremental reporting online
Prepared by Deb Halpern Wenger , Virginia Commonwealth University
Objectives
The goal of this lesson is to help students understand that the old model of producing your TV or print story first and only then creating content for the Web is becoming woefully outdated. More and more newsrooms see their online sites as central to their success. To be successful, they realize they must take advantage of one of the Web’s key strengths: immediacy. This lesson plan includes two main objectives:
- To help students understand the expectations of the online user.
- To help students develop strategies for providing frequent Web updates on their stories.
Teaching Materials
Materials include:
Instructor’s Guide
PART 1 – BACKGROUND DISCUSSION
Begin with an open-ended question, “Why do you go online for news?
The goal is to tease out answers until you get some comments regarding the fact that online news sources often provide “the latest information” or “updates on important stories” or “breaking news.”
Ask if anyone has an example of a story for which he or she returned to the same Web site several times to get the latest information. Or, if anyone has ever gone to a Web site for information on a breaking story, failed to find it and then moved on to another site.
News organizations all across the country are trying to become true 24/7 operations online. That means getting news posted as quickly as it can be confirmed and updating stories as frequently as possible.
This new approach requires a change in the journalist’s mindset. The traditional practice of completing a TV story first and only then starting to produce content for the Web is no longer an option in many newsrooms.
Stations like WCNC-TV in Charlotte, NC have instituted Web deadlines throughout the day; reporters are expected to file online updates before their TV stories ever air. In fact, the VP News for Media General Broadcast Group, Dan Bradley, says he’d like to see stations re-think the whole process. “At one of our stations, Web producers will soon be assigning reporters and the stories will be posted online before the content airs in any newscast.”
In breaking or developing news situations, more news organizations than ever before are relying on their Web sites to handle continuous updates - for journalists that means getting used to the idea of “incremental reporting.” Anyone who has ever used the Associated Press wire service has seen great examples of incremental reporting in action. Incremental reporting can be defined as reporting a story as a series of developments.
For example, let’s say the governor of your state put out a press release indicating that she will be making a major announcement regarding the state budget at ten o’clock tomorrow. The first increment in your story would mention the pending announcement as the lead, followed by any background you may have on the state’s budget situation:
In just a few hours, Virginians will get their first look at Governor Pam Sharp’s solutions for the state’s budget crisis. The governor will release her plan at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
The state has been struggling to pay its bills ever since tax revenues fell far short of projections earlier this year….
As you work the story, you may learn some of the details of the announcement. Each new thing you learn may warrant an incremental update in the story, but be sure that each time you report something new, you make that new information stand out in the story – preferably in the lead. Here’s one example:
Governor Pam Sharp will be asking for significant cuts in funding for higher education tomorrow. The governor’s Chief of Staff, Steve Muller, says there’s no other way to get the state’s budget back in balance. Governor Sharp has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. tomorrow to share the rest of her budget plan.
In addition, it’s also important that you provide context and background soon after reporting the new developments. The fact that the news conference is set for tomorrow is still significant and it should appear high in the updated copy.
Of course, your news organization would also report the actual announcement tomorrow and then reaction and impact would likely become part of the next series of incremental reports.
As you work to update stories in this way, it’s important to keep these three things in mind:
- Get new information into the first sentence whenever possible. It should be clear to someone coming back to the story that you’ve updated the copy.
- Time references help give online stories a sense of urgency. If something happened “late this afternoon,” then say that. If you’re posting at 4 p.m. and the court hearing was at 3 p.m. today, mention that in the story. (One word of caution – be sure you or someone else will be checking time references later so the story doesn’t still say “3 p.m. today” when the story is a day old.)
- Be sure to provide enough background for the first time reader. Sometimes the “new” information pushes the context so far down that the story no longer makes sense. (For example, if you report the expected cuts in higher education but don’t mention the next day’s budget announcement, readers may not realize the education cuts are just a part of the story.)
PART 2 – THE EXERCISE
It’s time to put this into practice. Each of you has been given a handout with some limited facts about a story breaking here on campus. It’s not a lot of information, but it should be enough for you to write a brief Web story.
As soon as you’ve finished your first version, walk to the front of the room and take a handout with the new information you’ve just learned from the scene.
Once you’ve completed a second version, you’ll come to the front to pick up one more update that you’ll need to incorporate into your Web story.
Don’t forget to keep in mind the importance of new information in the lead, the use of time references and the need for enough background in the story.
(You may want to consider setting a specific time limit. For example, you may decide to give the students a total of 30 minutes for the entire exercise.)
PART 3 – WRAP-UP AND DISCUSSION
Let’s hear a few samples of how you handled the first version of this story. The first update? The second update?
What was challenging about the second update? (Typically, you will find students struggle with the second update – they’re afraid to leave any information out, but aren’t quite sure how to handle the new information and enough background.)
If you were also reporting this story for a newscast, how might that affect your ability to provide updates for the Web? (On the plus side, you’re organizing the new information in a way that should be helpful when it comes to producing your TV story. On the other hand, the time you spend writing and transmitting the Web story – either via computer or phone – is time taken away from putting that TV story together.)
The TV news industry is trying to figure out these challenges right now. Technology is helping in some situations, making it easier to file stories directly to the Web from the field, but it’s the next generation of journalists who will figure out what and how much is possible in terms of multimedia reporting.
© RTNDF Educator in the Newsroom Lesson Plans
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