{"id":54,"date":"2023-12-06T19:16:06","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T19:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/introtojournalism\/chapter\/chapter-5-basic-reporting-developing-sources\/"},"modified":"2024-09-30T15:05:26","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T15:05:26","slug":"chapter-5-basic-reporting-developing-sources","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/introtojournalism\/chapter\/chapter-5-basic-reporting-developing-sources\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 5: Basic Reporting\/Developing Sources\u00a0","rendered":"Chapter 5: Basic Reporting\/Developing Sources\u00a0"},"content":{"raw":"
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Basic Reporting\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_52\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]\"A Podcasts are a convenient way to consume news.[\/caption]\n\nIn the fall of 2023, a podcast dropped called \u201cThe Kids of Rutherford County.\u201d It's a four-part investigative journalism project from Serial Productions and the New York Times. Reporter Meribah Knight describes how a Tennessee county and its people arrested and illegally jailed hundreds \u2013 possibly thousands \u2013 of children as young as 7 years old for petty crimes, such as pulling hair and not stopping other kids from fighting.\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nShe covered this story through vigorous reporting and finding sources to talk to her about their experiences. Let us start with the first episode, titled \"The Egregious Video.\"\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nIt begins like this: \u201cIt was a March afternoon in Rutherford County, Tennessee, a growing community about 30 miles southeast of Nashville. School was out for the day, and a dozen or so little kids were playing a game of pickup basketball in someone\u2019s backyard. And then, as kids do, one said something about another kid\u2019s mom. This insult led to some shoving. And then, as kids also do, one of them pulled out a cellphone and started filming.\u201d\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nThe 28-minute podcast describes what happened next, from a police investigation to the arrest of 11 children who were not fighting. How did Knight get that story?\n\nAnswer: Sources.\n\nA source<\/strong> is a person, organization or document that provides information for a news story.\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nIn the first episode, Knight uses the video as one source and interviews one of the children who witnessed the fight and her mother, who was approached by police.\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nKnight tells the listener that she tried to interview the police officers who arrested the children, but they refused to talk to her. Instead, she legally obtained copies of interviews of those officers conducted by the department\u2019s internal affairs division to get the police side of the story.\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nIn the second episode, she speaks to two attorneys whose job was to represent the children who were jailed. She also interviews the county attorney whose job is to prosecute them. In episode three, Knight goes even further, interviewing 25 people who were illegally jailed as children and asking them to recount those experiences and the impacts on their lives.\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nNotice how Knight is trying to present all sides of the story? This is basic reporting.\n\n<\/div>\n
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General Assignment Versus Beat Reporting<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nThere are two kinds of reporters in most news organizations. A general assignment reporter<\/strong> writes a variety of news or feature stories on a wide range of issues. They do not specialize in one kind of news and must be ready to quickly learn about a subject before they write about it. Examples are reporters who cover a street fair one day and write a feature on a school principal the next day.\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_153\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"169\"]\"A Many reporters use notebooks like this on their beats.[\/caption]\n\nA beat reporter<\/strong> covers the same geographic or subject area consistently and specializes in the subject matter. These reporters become experts in their beat and enjoy the ability to dig deeper into a subject because they are familiar with the players and ways to get information. Examples of this are police reporters, sports reporters who cover one team or sport, city or education reporters.\n\n<\/div>\n
\n\nThough different, both general assignment and beat reporters must do something that is difficult for many students. Reporters need to talk to people, in person, on the phone, online every day. Journalists must put themselves out there to reach different kinds of sources. They need to show up at offices and houses and coffee shops to find the best people to interview.\n\nWhen I was a reporter, I wanted to talk to a source who owned a car dealership but would never return my calls. I finally took my laptop and sat in his Mercedes car showroom for six hours while he hid in his office. But eventually he came out and agreed to an interview. Persistence gave me a story that beat my competition.\n\nReporters should get in the habit of routinely leaving their desks and physically following a story. Invite a source to lunch, chat up a city official at a park opening or a school board member after the meeting. In this technology-heavy society, it's easy to rely on digital sources, but the best reporters are still physically going to report a story whenever possible. The effort of in-person interviewing often pays off with better information, anecdotes and news stories.\n

Steps to Reporting<\/h3>\n