1. The Foundation: Story Ideas
Editing
Writing
Reporting
Let’s look at this another way. I describe story ideas as “the foundation” in the title of this session. If you don’t start with a strong story idea, everything else along the way suffers.
But I suggest thinking about your audience even before coming up with story ideas.
This really comes down to a mission statement for your news operation – a guiding principle about the community you serve. When you consider your audience, think like a business. What can you offer this audience that other media outlets. What news outlets do you compete with for your audience’s attention? What is your inimitable advantage?
I work with students too. I run Cronkite News Service, which is a real wire service serving more than 30 newspapers, Web sites and broadcast outlets around Arizona and reaching into New Mexico. We distribute
I encourage students to come up with their own story ideas, but because they are inexperienced and because they need to perform at a professional level I’ve chosen to develop guidelines that help develop their efforts.
Here they are …
Story Idea
Audience (Target Market)

2. All audiences want to read about me!
Anyway, as you look at your high school papers and even at the instiute’s online publication, I strongly recommend that you develop a good idea or a reasoned guess as to who you are serving. Here’s a very basic framework you can use.
Then think about what you can provide that audience that is different from what they can get elsewhere or better. Based on what I’ve told you, can you guess whether Cronkite News Service focuses on being different or better? We definitely aim to be different.
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CLICK: Britney Spears
Uh oh. What are you doing here, Britney Spears?
CLICK: All audiences want to read about me, Steve.
A lot of participants last year and several of you this year have mentioned that their reporters just want to cover pop culture, Britney Spears, and the like. I guess I should address whether I think a story idea involving Britney Spears is worthwhile for a high school newspaper. I’ll get back to that.

3. Audience Use your marketing sense: Different or better
What can you provide that a reader can’t get elsewhere?
What can you provide better than something a reader can get elsewhere?
Examples of different or better
Coverage of school events and people.
News from the perspective of people at your school.
Keep in mind diversity of audience
Not just race: gender, viewpoint, socio-economic
So here’s a framework for evaluating the strength of a story idea.
We’ve already discussed relevance to your target audience.
Here’s a simplified look at what I think constitutes a strong story idea:
It has news value. That seems painfully obvious, but it’s too easy to overlook the components of news value. We’ll go through these in a second.
2. It’s focused. This is a big challenge with beginning reporters. They’ll often come in with very general and impossibly broad story ideas. We’ll talk about ways to help yourself and your reporters focus story ideas.
3. Then you should look at whether the idea, even if it’s a good one, is feasible. That is, can the report pull it off and could you carry the article even if you did. I’ll suggest a framework for evaluating that.

4. A Strong Story Idea … Is relevant to your target audience.
Fits with news organization’s mission.
Can follow a past success (not always).
Has news value.
Seems obvious, but be methodical.
Is focused.
“The Election” isn’t a focused idea.
Focused Idea: ‘Students volunteering for a campaign.’
Is feasible: can you do it by the deadline!
So here’s a framework for evaluating the strength of a story idea.
We’ve already discussed relevance to your target audience.
Here’s a simplified look at what I think constitutes a strong story idea:
It has news value. That seems painfully obvious, but it’s too easy to overlook the components of news value. We’ll go through these in a second.
2. It’s focused. This is a big challenge with beginning reporters. They’ll often come in with very general and impossibly broad story ideas. We’ll talk about ways to help yourself and your reporters focus story ideas.
3. Then you should look at whether the idea, even if it’s a good one, is feasible. That is, can the report pull it off and could you carry the article even if you did. I’ll suggest a framework for evaluating that.

5. Elements of News Value Timeliness Proximity Conflict/Tension
Prominence
Human Interest
Impact (Consequence)
Here are what most consider key elements of news value. I’ll go through most of these briefly, but I’m going to spend some extra time on Human Interest and Impact. These elements often are sorely lacking even from stories reported by professional journalists. The sooner you can get your students thinking about these, the better story ideas and your newspapers will be.
You should note that a story idea doesn’t have to have all of these elements, but it usually should have quite a few of them.

6. Elements of News Value Timeliness Proximity Conflict/Tension
Prominence
Human Interest
Impact (Consequence)
Here are what most consider key elements of news value. I’ll go through most of these briefly, but I’m going to spend some extra time on Human Interest and Impact. These elements often are sorely lacking even from stories reported by professional journalists. The sooner you can get your students thinking about these, the better story ideas and your newspapers will be.
You should note that a story idea doesn’t have to have all of these elements, but it usually should have quite a few of them.

7. News Value: Timeliness
Always Ask:
Is this new, or is it old news?
Challenge for High School Print Papers
Deadline often is a ways off
Could be old news by then
Time element can be a problem
Advantage for High School Web News
With every story idea, you should look critically at whether what you want to report is new. If it isn’t a new topic, what new information can you bring to it. If you can’t bring anything new to the discussion, stay away from it.
I heard last year that advisers struggle with the issue of timeliness because a story might not run in print for quite some time. You certainly should consider whether a story will still be timely when it runs.
When we get to the reporting and writing sections, I’ll discuss ways to take a story that might have a timeliness problem and give it a longer shelf life. In fact, I’ll have a good example in a little bit.

8. News Value: Proximity Does news occur close to audience?
Is news relevant to readers?
Proximity is a relatively simple concept, but it’s often overlooked. Beyond physical proximity, you should look at what makes a story idea relevant to your readers.
Here’s a good example of an article that takes a far-away event and makes it relevant to its readership. A resourceful reporter at The Arizona Republic and found Arizonans living in China and gave a local angle to coverage of its earthquake.
The media call this “localizing” – and it’s a practice that can yield good story ideas for your newspapers. I’ll talk more about this in a bit.

9. News Value: Proximity
Proximity is a relatively simple concept, but it’s often overlooked. Beyond physical proximity, you should look at what makes a story idea relevant to your readers.
Here’s a good example of an article that takes a far-away event and makes it relevant to its readership. A resourceful reporter at The Arizona Republic and found Arizonans living in China and gave a local angle to coverage of its earthquake.
The media call this “localizing” – and it’s a practice that can yield good story ideas for your newspapers. I’ll talk more about this in a bit.

10. News Value: Conflict/Tension
Doesn’t necessarily involve a fight…
Examples:
Student struggles to balance demands of her religion and school.
Student has to work to support family, making it difficult to keep up with studies.
Be careful with conflict/tension
Fairness (tell both sides of story)
Reporters sometimes see conflict where there’s none (or exaggerate).
You don’t go out and create conflict or tension, but when it exists it is a powerful component of a story’s news value.
And keep in mind that tension doesn’t necessarily involve a fight. The tension, for example can be a student struggling to balance the demands of her religion or family and school expectations, for example. Or the conflict might be between a student’s financial and academic needs.
I urge you to be very careful with conflict and tension. The media often are accused of creating conflict where there is none, and at least some of the time I think those complaints have merit. There is a temptation to overstate conflict or for a reporter to see conflict when none in fact exists. This is where fairness and thorough reporting are important. Getting all sides into a story will help you evaluate whether conflict or tension exist and properly frame it.

11. News Value: Prominence
Does story involve noteworthy people?
Remember:
“Noteworthy” is relative to audience and your strategy for creating value.
Your principal or a student at your school are more “noteworthy” to your audience than the president.
Prominence is another easy concept, but it needs to be combined with relevance.
Britney Spears is noteworthy, but she might not be as relevant to your readership as a student, your school’s principal or school janitor.

12. News Value: Human Interest
Told through a person or people
Appeal to the emotions of readers
Involve readers in others’ lives
Involve them in subjects of broad concern
Examples: Student’s family loses home in real estate meltdown
Now we get into the fun stuff.
When a story offers the potential to frame it through a person, it has tremendous potential. Readers and viewers respond to people who are like them. And a person drives home the impact of the issue you’re covering. This is an area where TV has completely slaughtered print for a long time now. TV reporters are terrific at looking for the human interest angle.
Human interest is a great way to localize a broader issue. If you’re covering the gas prices story, for example, the best way is to frame the impact through someone dealing with that financial hit.

13. News Value: Impact Strongest stories offer this:
How does issue/event affect me?
How does it affect someone or something I care about or can relate to?
Strongest impact: Specifics, told through people
A great opportunity to connect readers to news
One of the biggest failings of reporters, even seasoned ones
Impact gets us back to that introductory exercise on the car crash.
The most engaging stories tell a reader how an issue affects them. If you can assign a dollar value to something or show some other consequence, it’s a stornger story.
If you are reporting someone’s opinion on an isuse that that person frames it through impact – such as, if we do this, this is the impact – then that’s a strong way to tell the story.
Don’t underestimate a reader’s self-interest. It doesn’t matter whether you find a story interesting. It has to matter to the person you’re asking to invest several minutes to read or view the story.
If you can get your reporters thinking about impact, they’ll be years ahead when they enter the industyr. There are people with years in the busienss who struggle with this.

14. News Value: Impact Strongest stories offer this:
How does issue/event affect me?
How does it affect someone or something I care about or can relate to?
Strongest impact: Specifics, told through people
A great opportunity to connect readers to news
One of the biggest failings of reporters, even seasoned ones
Impact gets us back to that introductory exercise on the car crash.
The most engaging stories tell a reader how an issue affects them. If you can assign a dollar value to something or show some other consequence, it’s a stornger story.
If you are reporting someone’s opinion on an isuse that that person frames it through impact – such as, if we do this, this is the impact – then that’s a strong way to tell the story.
Don’t underestimate a reader’s self-interest. It doesn’t matter whether you find a story interesting. It has to matter to the person you’re asking to invest several minutes to read or view the story.
If you can get your reporters thinking about impact, they’ll be years ahead when they enter the industyr. There are people with years in the busienss who struggle with this.

15. LAWMAKER PUSHES TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR DRUNKEN BOATING
PHOENIX _ A Senate committee on Thursday endorsed a bill that would make fines and sentences for drunken boating on par with drunken driving.
Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, the sponsor of SB 1080, said the legislation would save lives.
“We need for people out there boating to get the message that it’s not appropriate to be out there boating and impaired,” Gray said. “It puts a lot of other people at jeopardy.”
The Senate Committee on Public Safety and Human Services approved it 4-2, forwarding it to the full Senate.
At present, a person convicted of drunken boating faces a civil penalty of $750 and no mandatory jail time.
Under Gray’s bill, a person convicted of operating a watercraft under the influence would serve at least 10 days in jail for a first offense and would have to perform at least 30 hours of community service.
In cases of extreme operating under the influence (blood-alcohol level of 0.20 or more), an offender would serve 45 days in jail for a first offense.
The bill would increases the civil penalty for drunken boating from $750 to $3,000.
LAWMAKER PUSHES TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR DRUNKEN BOATING
PHOENIX _ A Senate committee on Thursday endorsed a bill that would make fines and sentences for drunken boating on par with drunken driving.
Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, the sponsor of SB 1080, said the legislation would save lives.
“We need for people out there boating to get the message that it’s not appropriate to be out there boating and impaired,” Gray said. “It puts a lot of other people at jeopardy.”
The Senate Committee on Public Safety and Human Services approved it 4-2, forwarding it to the full Senate.
At present, a person convicted of drunken boating faces a civil penalty of $750 and no mandatory jail time.
Under Gray’s bill, a person convicted of operating a watercraft under the influence would serve at least 10 days in jail for a first offense and would have to perform at least 30 hours of community service.
In cases of extreme operating under the influence (blood-alcohol level of 0.20 or more), an offender would serve 45 days in jail for a first offense.
The bill would increases the civil penalty for drunken boating from $750 to $3,000.
Let’s spend some time on the notion of IMPACT by looking at a basic news story.
It’s pretty easy to see what the story idea was here: A bill on drunken boating passed through a committee. But if you look at the lead, it’s pretty thin on the impact. That is, what does it mean to have fines and sentences for drunken boating on part with drunken driving.
I’ve highlighted the impact – the lawmaker says it would save lives, specifics on the penalties.
We can make this story stornger if we refine the idea.

16. LAWMAKER PUSHES TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR DRUNKEN BOATING
PHOENIX _ Those who drink to much and then operate boats and other watercraft would face mandatory jail time and stiffer fines under a bill endorsed Thursday by a Senate committee.
SB 1080, sponsored by Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, would make sentences and fines for drunken boating on par with drunken driving.
“We need for people out there boating to get the message that it’s not appropriate to be out there boating and impaired,” Gray said. “It puts a lot of other people at jeopardy.”
The Senate Committee on Public Safety and Human Services approved it 4-2, forwarding it to the full Senate.
At present, a person convicted of drunken boating faces a civil penalty of $750 and no mandatory jail time.
Under Gray’s bill, a person convicted of operating a watercraft under the influence would serve at least 10 days in jail for a first offense and would have to perform at least 30 hours of community service.
In cases of extreme operating under the influence (blood-alcohol level of 0.20 or more), an offender would serve 45 days in jail for a first offense.
The bill would increases the civil penalty for drunken boating from $750 to $3,000.
First, you can be more specific about the consequence by noting the automatic jail time. By highligting this over committee action, you can see how we’ve given this story a longer shelf life. The day the action occurred isn’t as important as the consequence.
But a stronger story idea would make this even better.

17. LAWMAKER PUSHES TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR DRUNKEN BOATING
PHOENIX _ The personal watercraft knocked Emmitt Kersey’s granddaughter 10 feet in the air as she inner-tubed behind her family’s boat on Lake Mohave.
“She moaned one time when they were pulling her out of the water, and that was the last sound she ever made,” Kersey said.
Marissa Armijo, 15, died three days later.
Adding to the family’s agony: The watercraft operator responsible for the 2005 accident was drunk, three times the legal limit.
“They need to change the laws,” Kersey said in a telephone interview from Bullhead City. “I don’t want any other family going through what I went through.”
Saying tougher penalties would save lives, Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, is sponsoring legislation that would make drunken boating in many ways the equivalent of driving under the influence.
“We need for people out there boating to get the message that it’s not appropriate to be out there boating and impaired,” Gray said. “It puts a lot of other people at jeopardy.”
Gray’s bill, SB 1080, would bring fines, assessments and sentencing requirements up to par with laws that punish drunken drivers. It would exclude ignition interlock devices, which aren’t available for boats, and allow judges to suspend portions of jail sentences.
It took its first step Thursday when the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Human Services endorsed it 4-2.
Here’s how a Cronkite News Service reporter attacked the story. Rather than focus ont eh committee action, he focused on the lawmaker’s claim that the legislation would save lives.
It took a lot of work, but the reporter found someone who had lost his granddaughter in an accident caused by a drunken boater. You can see how offering the human interest angle to this story not only gives it a longer shelf life but makes for a very powerful and engaging introduction.

18. News Value: Impact
Board members of the Elliott Unified School District voted unanimously Tuesday night to issue $5 million in bonds to have Britney Spears perform its seven high schools’ graduations in May.
“This is just fabulous,” said Superintendent Marsha Tutweiller. “The impact on taxpayers will be minimal because students will service the debt over the next 30 years through increased book fees.”
Tutweiller said the fee will work out to $112 per student per year on top of the $112 students now pay annually for books.
“This is so, so like totally out there in a super-fabulous way,” said Fred Jones, student body president at Steve Elliott High School. “What’s $112 a year? My parents spend more than that on my weekly yoga lesson. We’re talking about Britney. BRITNEY!!! YEEEEAAAAAHH!!!!”
But Susan Frederickson, who has two sons attending Diana Mitsu Klos High School and another enrolling in next year, told board members she can’t afford it.
“My kids are going to have to work nights and weekends to cover this,” she said. “How can you do this when gas prices are pushing $4 per gallon?”
ONLY IF THERE’S TIME:
As an exercise, let’s look at this fantasy story and identify the impact and discuss possibilities for adding a human dimension to the story.
Do you think the student body president here is representative of the student body?

19. News Value: Impact
When the final bell rings and many Steve Elliott High School students head to football practice, rehearsal for the school play, the mall or home to study, Danny Frederickson is off to work at McDonald’s.
He works the register for four hours, gets home at 10 p.m. and studies for three hours before going to bed. He does this three nights a week, along with an eight-hour shift Saturday nights.
“It’s rough, but I have no choice,” Frederickson said. “It’s the only way I’m going to be able to afford college.”
Frederickson, a junior, said he’ll have to go full-time at McDonald’s next year to cover his share of the $5 million debt the Elliott Unified School District is taking on to have Britney Spears perform at its seven high schools’ graduations.
He and other students in the district will see their book fees double to $224 annually to service the debt. …
Here’s one way you could give the story a human dimension – look for a student who is affected by the change.

20. What about me? I won’t be ignored!
Wait a minute. Hey Britney, I was just about to get to you. Hang on.

21. HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME AND MY WORLD?
Focus:
Story Mapping
How many high school students still watch HM / Disney? Is that still cool?
Teen Star
What do students think about young stars and their images?
Is it OK for 15 year old to pose in a towel?
HANNAH
MONTANA
Risky
Photos
Are parents too pushy? Not pushy enough? How can you handle helicopter parents?
Stage mothers & fathers
Do teen girls still wear HM gear?
Clothes
Product
Line
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME AND MY WORLD?
How much stuff is too much? Find kids who have all the gear of their favorite celerity.
The next element of a strong story idea is focus. You can see a box representing the Britney Spears phenomenon and your reader’s interest. He or she wants to know how this affects them.
Biggest disaster is story idea being too broad. First level is too broad for your reporter and your target audience. Second level too. Third level is a manageable angle.
Goal is to FOCUS the idea and make reporting more efficient.
Story-mapping is a strong technique for getting reporters to refine story ideas so they are relevant to your publication’s audience. Set this goal: What can our publication provide that our readers can’t get elsewhere? A story on Paris Hilton going to jail probably doesn’t fall into this category. But a story on whether Paris Hilton’s experience, as she’s said she hopes, serves an example to help other young people stay out of trouble could be relevant to readers of a high school paper.
It might be controversial, but I propose that Britney Spears has a place in your school’s newspaper if you can focus on an angle that’s relevant to your readers.
Let’s look at some general issues spinning off from the Britney Spears phenomenon. I suspect that some or your reporters will want to stop here. But there really isnt’ anything they can add to these general subjects that isn’t already out there.
Story mapping allows you to visualize drilling down to find a relevant and manageable angle. Here are some exaamples.
Toys, etc.
Disney HM
Do you have HM on your iPod? Is that embarrassing?
Music
More grown
Up songs
How do kids relate to their parents? Does music help?
Reader

22. Is It Feasible? What’s the deadline?
Is there time to complete such a story?
Is the reporter capable of pulling it off?
Look critically at reporter’s (or your) skills.
Is it troublesome politically or legally?
Pick your fights. Is this story worth one?
How much space (or time) do you think it would take to tell the story?
If it’s too big or too long, you’ll waste time on it.
Even if you have a great idea that’s relevant to your readership, has all the elements of news value and a focused angle, you might not necessarily have a good idea for your publication.
This came up when I looked at some of your ideas for the institute’s publciation. Some were very good, but were very aggressive given the time we have the access you’re likely to have to sources. You need to look at how much time you have and whether a reporter can carry off the story idea in the time available.
You also should looka t the reporter’s skills. It could be a great idea – perhaps exposing some kind of malfeseance, but the reporter might not have the skills to pull it off.
A great story idea might in the end be more trouble than it’s worth. If your school has prior review, this is a consideration. You also should look at whether the story involves documents that might involve a lengthy fight to obtain. Pick your fights.
And sometimes a great story idea might require so much space or so many sidebars to do it properly that it doesn’t fit with your time or space needs.

23. A Strong Story Idea … Is relevant to your target audience.
Fits with news org’s mission.
Follows past success (not always).
Has news value.
Seems obvious, but be methodical.
Is focused.
‘The Election’ isn’t a focused idea.
Focused Idea: ‘Students volunteering for candidates.’
Is feasible.
Who handles this?
There’s understandable tension on this subject for you because it’s the students’ newspaper.
But I strongly suggest that you help provide some structure to the generation of story ideas. Students should have a lot of latitude, but they’ll do best if you or the editors of your newspaper set the parameters within which they work.
This comes down to the role of an editor. In professional newsrooms, it’s sometimes a revelation when I suggest that an editor has an important role all the way from idea generation through reporting and then through the actual editing of the story.
Whether it’s you or your editors, someone should engage student reporters on these points.
It’s much like the feedback I gave you on your ideas. I did that so you cold

24. Story Ideas: Where to Look
Talk to people!
Read the newspaper, online news sites
Even classified ads offer ideas
Localize state, national international news, issues and trends
Google News alerts
Observe
Bulletin boards
Meetings, agendas, minutes
Seek interesting people to profile
News releases