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Science Journalism
for Dummies
One Story Can Conceal Another
(October 7, 2004) -
Issues recur, the experts remain the same
With any given issue that ends up becoming fashionable,
you often have to interview the same resource persons. It’s
important to cultivate good relations with them from the initial
approach because it’s highly likely you’ll need them
again.
To recycle an article, you have to start with
an original
The first article about an issue takes time because
you have to become familiar with the material, dig up the experts
and do background research. Consider it a loss leader because
afterwards it’s easy to recycle to story to other media :
television, radio, the Internet.
Look for stories
When interviewing resource persons, don’t just
stick to the subject at hand but also ask questions about their
interests and activities. Those answers can lead to new stories.
Develop contacts
Your interview subjects are familiar with the field
in which they work and have access to resources the general public
and journalists don’t know about. They can also put you in
touch with other experts who otherwise might be inaccessible.
Don’t burn your bridges
Always think about the long term. Just as those
people can be very helpful to you, they can also become a damper
if your relations aren’t friendly.
Specialize or diversify
Exploiting every angle of a story in different articles
and media can also pay off. You might even become the expert on
a given issue. But be careful not to get locked into a story unless
it really turns you on. Otherwise it’s better to diversify.
Export
An issue that’s talked about a lot here is
not necessarily hot somewhere else and vice versa. The same applies
to contacts. Going beyond the circle of best known people in the
field can enrich your story because you’re covering it from
an original angle.
These tips from researcher and journalist Claude Marcil are intended
to complement the ones provided in yesterday’s session on
Doing It Differently: Innovative Practice (208C).
Stéphanie Lalut
and Delphine Naum
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