Educators

Lesson 4: Speed Reporting with the Wall Street Journal Method

Prepared by Max Utsler, University of Kansas

 

Objectives
The demands of a modern day newsroom require reporters to turn relatively simple stories in a very short amount of time. Pity the reporter with limited time in the field who comes back to the station with either the wrong video or not enough video. Using a template such as the Wall Street Journal Method will help ensure the reporter comes back with the right kind and the right amount of video to make a TV package.

This lesson includes two main objectives.

1. The student should be able to recognize a Wall Street Journal Method print story and convert it to a TV story.
2. The student shall cover a simple reporting assignment and spend no longer than 60 minutes on location.

Teaching Materials

• Wall Street Journal Method Handout
• WSJ Method PowerPoint
• 4-H story example (Reported and shot in 30 minutes to keep photographer from being held on overtime. Reporter was working from a three sentence news release about a new building and the name of the executive director)

 

Instructor’s Guide
(Lecture/discussion can last from 30-60 minutes depending on instructor’s and students’ personal experience)

Speed Reporting
No doubt about it – speed is important to journalists working in today’s multimedia world. You have to be able to report more quickly and accurately than ever before. So, why is that? (Elicit student responses.)

• More news shows equals more versions of your story
• Source delays – can’t get interview when you need it
• Photog availability
• Digital delays— capturing, exporting
• Jammed in the editing room
• Must feed the Web
• Must feed the radio partner
• Must feed the duopoly

 

Since we agree on the need to work fast, you must figure out how to do that. First, you need to prepare yourself well in advance. For example, your liberal arts education can be a big help – what reporting experiences of yours have drawn on your previous knowledge and education? (Elicit student responses – trying to get the benefit of having a broad range of knowledge when you never know what story you’ll need to report next.)

It’s also critically important that you know what’s going on in the world – understanding current events. That means reading newspapers, magazines, watching newscasts, going on line to read news sites and blogs – staying on top of what’s happening in the community you cover.

Your educational background and previous experience will also help you decide which stories are worth reporting and how to pitch them to your bosses. Remember, if you don’t show up with excellent story ideas every day, the assignment editor will provide one for you. Those stories are seldom stories you really want to cover.

The next step is deciding which stories need more than one day to execute. If you can do a “good” version in one day, can you make it “great” in two days? If not, do it in one. If you need two days, keep a file of stories that would be easy to turn in a couple of hours. These are the kinds of stories that usually require little reporting, readily available sources and accessible video. Follow-ups of stories you’ve done before often fit in this category. By offering to do one of those “quickies” you are in a better position to bargain for more time for your “great” story.

It’s also incredibly valuable to learn strategies for organizing your stories in the field. One approach is called the Wall St. Journal Method. (Distribute handout/PowerPoint available – find examples from the WSJ in most any major daily to share in class.)
This approach works for TV as well as print. First, you have to find the story’s focus – ask yourself, “What is the news here?” Newspapers talk about writing a “nut graf” – the one paragraph in the story that really tells you what it’s all about. The nut graf should answer two questions. Why am I writing the story? Why not? (Ask students to find the nut graf in the WSJ stories you have provided). For TV that paragraph becomes the anchor introduction.

Nut Graf Exercise
(These paragraphs are also included on the PowerPoint that accompanies this lesson plan.)
Students should convert the following nut grafs to anchor lead-ins.

Example 1:
“Over the past three years, Tulare County has paid more than 750 welfare recipients like Gedert an average of $1600 per family to move elsewhere. For Tulare, one of the poorest counties in the country, giving welfare recipients a one-way ticket out is one solution to an unemployment rate that wavers between 15 percent and 20 percent.”

Example 2:
“The complaint is common among longtime eBay users. Many say eBay, which is committed to growth, is giving big companies an unfair advantage by prominently featuring their brand-name wares, creating tough competition for the millions of regular folks who made the company huge.”
These nut grafs have a clear focus, and with that in mind, your story becomes easy to write. That’s why it’s so helpful to write the anchor introduction first. The rest of the story flows logically from that focused starting point.
But you must also organize the rest of the story around that focus as well. Using the WSJ method for a TV story, you need to use the 15-10-15-10-15 rule. You write (3) 15-second tracks, use (2) ten-second bites and write a 15-second stand up to bridge between the narrative open to the big picture ending:

Story Example
Let’s look at a TV story the reporter produced using the Wall Street Journal approach. While you’re watching, consider that this package was reported and shot in 30 minutes to keep the photographer from being held on overtime. The reporter was working from a three-sentence news release about a new building and the name of the executive director.

Show and Tell—4-H Fair video story
Break the story down – did the anchor intro serve the same function as a nut graf? Where was the anecdotal lead? Did the stand up act as a bridge in this story? What other elements of the WSJ approach did you see there?
In the interest of speed, it’s also important to think out in the field about the pictures you have and how you’ll write to them. Plus, it’s important to keep your interviews brief by remembering these tips:

• The camcorder is not a notebook – use one to jot down facts & figures
• Don’t turn on video until you are looking for a bite
• Use a tape recorder – it can help you pick out bites in the car (or better yet, pick them out during the taping)

Wrap Up
Certainly you would not want every story in every newscast to use the WSJ approach, but when you’re learning to report or when you’re under extreme time pressure, this formula is easy to execute. Beyond the method itself, many of the strategies discussed here are just good reporting techniques.

Assignment
(Note to instructor: there are several ways for you to build an assignment from this lecture – two suggestions are provided for you.)

• Ask students to write a TV script from a Wall Street Journal print story - provide notes on available video.
• Require students to cover a story in one hour, using the WSJ method. (Events such as Bloodmobiles, art exhibits, workshops, fundraisers, etc. work well for this assignment.)
  

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