THE LEDE

Much has been written about the lede (this is an archaic spelling but it pleases me to use it. Most spell it: lead) of a news story. I hope to not revisit it exhaustively here, working on the premise — the hope — that you have learned the basic construction in your newswriting class and elsewhere.

There is no better teacher of the hard news lede — and make no mistake about it, we will concentrate almost exclusively on the hard news lede, as opposed to the feature or soft lede — than reading an excellent daily newspaper outlet daily.

The lede goes far beyond the high school newspaper who-where-why-when-&-how formula. Academics love to catagorize many types of ledes: Umbrella, summary, delayed, direct, straight, second-day, the list goes on & on. We will discuss these in class as warranted.

There are some simple essentials to keep in mind: timeliness. News is new. Not old. That’s why it’s called NEWS. Keep proper names out unless they are household names, such as Barack Obama, Jennifer Lawrence or Spider-Man.

Leave acronyms out, unless they, too, are immediately recognizable, such as BART, PG&E, and U.S.A.

Remember, news is largely identified by what is important and interesting. Make that clear and compelling in your lede, so the audience knows whether that is something it wants or needs to invest time in.

Ask yourself this: What’s the point of the story? If there could be only one thing the audince could remember from your story, what would it be? Now you may be ready to start writing the lede.

The lede is the single most important element in your story — spending at least half your writing time on it is always justified as long as you don’t shortchange the attention you devote to the rest of the writing.

Here’s one of my favorites from Martin Weil of the Washington Post who was assigned a simple weather story:

The number of consecutive days of rain in Washington grew Saturday to surpass the level where the count could be kept on fingers alone.

Or take this perfectly excellent example from Mark Martin of the San Francisco Chronicle on the November 2005 defeat of four ballot propositions sponsored by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

California voters were rejecting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s special election agenda Tuesday, handing the governor a humbling loss after he gambled on a high-stakes plan to reshape state government.

Compare it to this mini-masterpiece by John Broder of the New York Times:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s carefully honed image as an Olympian above politics, the people’s governor, a man too wealthy to be bought, the invincible independent, all came crashing down on Tuesday as California voters delivered a verdict on his four ballot measures: No, no, no and no.

Here are some classics worth arguing over:

New York Mayor John Mayor Lindsay dropped his broom and picked up the nightstick yesterday, setting law enforcement facilities as the top priority in the city’s construction plans for the coming fiscal year.

Two veteran motion picture industry executives were chosen today by the board of Walt Disney Productions to head the troubled company a mouse built.

In the end, there is this fairly legendary saying, usually attributed to some unnamed Texas newshound. Perhaps no San Francisco city slicker just in from the East Coast would stick his or her politically sanctioned reputation on it, but we native East Bay street reporter types are a sardonic lot. The adage is about the news story itself but has plenty of application to the lede:

A news story should be like a mini skirt on a pretty woman. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting.

Apologies — and good humor — to all.

CARBON-BASED LIFE-FORM & CYBER SOURCES 

Each story will have a source list attached or will receive a failing grade. This will be applicable to first AND final drafts. Source lists will provide name (spelled correctly!) and contact data including daytime phone and email address. If you are using a primary source document, you must cite it in a  fashion that makes it easy to find, such as a link.

In a true news story, we seek the highest and best source of information, which is usually a PRIMARY source. That is, someone or something that has DIRECT knowledge of a situation. The police officer who responded to a crime (or the police report document), the victim of a crime, and of course, the (alleged) criminal are all apt examples. Some secondary sources that are NOT acceptable are other news accounts, hearsay and anything from Wikipedia. These standards, of course, a relevant to matters of fact. In the words of New York Times former Executive Editor Jill Abramson, “We believe the journalism of verification, not assertion.” (Although the Times sometimes strays from this gold standard.) Matters of opinion — an accurate, fair quote from a source providing an interpretaion of an event or fact — are another issue.

This is not to say all sources, even when highest and best, are truthful or even accurate. Far from it. That’s also one of the reasons we note one of the hallmarks of a true news story is MULTIPLE ATTRIBUTION. Multiple attribution refers to the many highest and best sources bringing differing perspectives to your story. The opposite of this mark of quality is a SINGLE SOURCE STORY — a true indicator of inferior work.

We will avoid interviewing or using as sources: Friends, relatives, associates, fellow students, teachers, colleagues, bosses or anyone who may have a conflict of interest with your human ability to stay neutral. Even if you feel certain of the validity the information you are gathering from such sources, it is vital to recall the appearance of a potential conflict of interest must be treated with as much care as a true conflict. Nothing should undermine your integrity or that of your work — credibility is, in the end, all we have to offer. If, in the unusual case someone who fits the above description is an eyewitness or participant in a story you are reporting, you must seek formal, prior approval from your editor (me). In all likelihood, you will be recused from the story altogether.

Although we are taught early in life there are always two sides to a story, this is hardly the case. There are AT LEAST two sides to a story. If 40 people witness an event, one can be certain there may be at least as many as 40 different versions of what happened. Because news reports are expected to tell an accurate story but not necessarily explain every facet we will restrict ourselves to what I call compass points. Think about how you will examine the story not just from pro and con, but from each principal direction, leaving judgment out and perspective in.

As journalist Seymour Hersh once said, “The news is true, it is not The Truth.”

ONLINE SEARCHES

You will, inevitably, want to rely on online searches for information. You do this at your great peril. Easy come/Easy Go has never been more applicable.

First & Foremost: Real reporters NEVER use Wikipedia or other unverifiable, suspect and all-too-often inaccurate sources of information.

Second, if you are going to use the Internet’s World Wide Web to do some reporting you must, at the very least, have some search skills that go beyond checking Yelp for a cool dive bar, Yahoo for movie reviews or Google News for journalism – all of these sites being tainted at best.

Here are a set of links to get started:

• http://www.ire.org/nicar/nicar-net-tour/making-effective-use-internet/
• http://journalistsresource.org/tip-sheets/research/research-strategy-guide
• http://mashable.com/2011/11/24/google-search-infographic/
• http://lectures.princeton.edu/2012/daniel-m-russell
• http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/09/cracking-the-code-to-the-best-google-search/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqxbZkBlhqo

We always look for highest and best source. For example, if we are searching for the population of Santa Rosa, we don’t go to a real estate promotion site such as http://www.bestplaces.net/city/california/santa_rosa, which is a commercial URL that uses data collected by the highest and best source: The U.S. Census Bureau. Instead we go right to http://www.census.gov

STORY IDEAS

The 19th century English writer Walter Bagehot wrote “Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders.”

We will add to this adage another important distinction: Those who are enterprise reporters and those who are not.

Enterprise reporters are the ones who have the original ideas for stories, and although they NEVER kick lousy assignments from editors, enterprise reporters also consistently reach for busting new stories — the true heart of real reporting. These reporters, in general, are regarded as the elite strike team by those who are not jealous of their all too rare abilities.

Naturally, achieving this higher state of reporting doesn’t come easily to many. And to many, it doesn’t come at all. But neither is everyone good-looking, smart, athletic, healthy, etc, etc. etc. But everyone can bring something special to the table.

Customarily, real news organizations have one to several news meetings daily, in which stories are “pitched,” then “spiked” or “sold.” You will begin your career as a potential enterprise reporter this semester by coming with three story pitches for your beat each week, stories your editor (me) will either spike (kill) or assign to you.

A few words of caution to hold close:

1. Stories are not the same as topics. Do not come to the story meeting with a desire to cover police brutality, violence in gaming, the whatever-movement-of-the-moment for SFSU undergraduates. Come with a specific news story that has a news hook: Something happening such as a planned or proposed Google heliport at Buena Vista Park, a little known cell of gamers who are reenacting Isis beheadings, or the unexpected consequences story that is new, interesting and of some importance.

2. News stories are not old. Pitching a story already heard, viewed or read is considered very bad form. Research your story idea FIRST to be sure it hasn’t already been written, broadcast or posted.

3. Story pitches are not wish lists. Do the research. Absolutely know what you can deliver and cannot. Make the calls, check the documents, attend the meetings and have sources ready to produce BEFORE you are cross-examined in the story conference.

4. Don’t get discouraged. This will probably take time and patience. It will most certainly take work. Remember someone smart (and fortunate) once said “The harder I work, the luckier I seem to get.”

STORY PITCH WORKSHEET

Name:

Date:

Deadline:

SLUG:

WORKING LEDE:

NEWS HOOK:

THREE OTHER ALREADY PUBLISHED STORIES MOST RELEVANT:

FIVE-POINT TASK LIST:

THE INTERVIEW

Go to a good library and look in the computer catalog for books about interviewing. Or go online and search for interviewing techniques. Or you could spend some time at a large well-stocked book store on the subject.

They all come down to one word: rapport. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word as “Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.”

• Try not to INTERVIEW your subjects. Have a conversation with them. They do the talking, you do the listening. You prompt them, they respond. Pay attention to your usual way of greeting someone. And pay attention to the way people regarded as good and bad communicators begin their conversations. Be yourself, don’t role-play, most people have very sharp intuitive sense about phonies, people who condescend or manipulate. Your best trick is to actually get interested — without that you will be miserable and ultimately fail.

• Know what you want from the interview. Have your questions prepared. This is especially true for cub reporters. Your own notes should have simple one or two word prompts so you don’t spend time looking for your next question, or time trying to figure out what it was.

• Have questions ready that are not critical to your story. You can use these to vamp. The Interviewee can be rattling off box scores from 1938 and you can be nodding your head in total fascination while you try to remember why you’re there and what you better come back with.

• Remember, YOU are running the interview. You set the tone, the agenda and the pace. You ask the questions, the sources provide the answers. This is the implicit social contract understood by the person who agreed to be interviewed. When they start asking you questions don’t be flattered. You are becoming a tool. There are infinite methods sophisticated sources employ to avoid answering questions. We will try to deal some of the better ones in class.

• Sometimes interviews go awry. Don’t be afraid to back up and start over. Simply stopping and saying something like “We seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, could I beg your indulgence and begin all over again fresh?” is enough. An apology on your behalf for any role you might have had in the mix up is required.

• Sometimes the interview goes almost too well. Some people are just startling brilliant at putting a spell on you. Careful. You are working. You are a professional. Stop and consider that warm glowy buzz that can lead to bad reporting even if for good (or pleasant) intentions.

• Don’t be afraid to call back for foloup questions. Good reporters can do this over and over with the same source. You will find almost any credible source will be grateful and respectful that you are simply trying to get it right, which is, of course, your primary mission.

• Always get name, title and contact data as soon as possible in the interview.

• ALWAYS identify yourself BEFORE you begin the interview. Anything before that time is off the record. (See On The Record/Off The Record below.) This is a key requirement for anyone hoping to call themselves reporters.

• ALWAYS demonstrate respect, courtesy, professionalism and NEVER any anger. Never. You can always say “thank you, goodbye,” or walk away. If they are rude, unprofessional or simply mental, just leave it. On the other hand, here’s one of Roland’s Rules you can keep in your back pocket: “We don’t give no shit, but we take no shit.” Before you apply that rule, remember, it’s an emergency ripcord. It’s probably better to remember that as distasteful as it may seem to a reporter trying to squeeze information from a relucant source, the First Amendment not only guarantees the right to say whatever one pleases, it also ensures the right to say nothing at all. Remember this: If you can’t get the information from someone, this is YOUR failure as a reporter, not their failure as a source.

• Email interviews suck. No rapport, too many opportunities for manipulation, evasion and failure. Don’t do them.

• Phones are the second best means to interview and the most used by non-broadcast reporters because of the enormous time & motion savings. (Although experienced broadcast reporters will do a quick phone interview first to be sure they are not barking up the wrong tree.)

• If someone says they want the questions in advance of an interview, tell them that’s difficult because circumstances change from one answer to the next. If they insist, give them three generic questions and a very clear declaration that there may well be many other questions not on your list. You can also tell them your editor more or less prohibits them. If sources wish to talk to said editor, send them my way.

• Rapport is connecting with people. It should be one of the primary reasons you are studying journalism. If you do this well for 50 more years you will still be studying it, learning everyday and making changes in the way you go about interviewing. Go out and start learning with pleasure.

ON THE RECORD/OFF THE RECORD & POINTS BETWEEN

There will always be some ambiguity regarding the terms such as “off the record.” We will simplify them here for working purposes. Your mileage may vary.

In the real world, we ALWAYS want to stay on the record, for full attribution. Sometimes important sources will insist on qualifications and you may need them to get your story. Outside of highly formalized newsgathering venues such as Washington D.C. and Sacramento (yes, Sacramento) the rules have some special structures. We will deal with those lastly.

For the most part, when someone says they will speak to you off the record, the first impulse MUST be to decline. Attribution is as important to journalism as Kentucky corn mash fermented alcohol in new, charred oak barrels is to Bourbon. It ain’t Journalism without it.

If, because you have convinced your editor the story cannot be done without sources going off the record, you should consider negotiating with your source. Remember, you must negotiate from a position of strength. Here’s how we approach it:

If a source has agreed to talk to you, that means they want to. They want to be interviewed. They want to get their information out. IT IS VITAL TO ALWAYS RECALL THAT YOU ARE ON THE RECORD THE MOMENT YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED YOURSELF AS A REPORTER. UNLESS YOU EXPLICITLY, IN ADVANCE, AGREE TO GOING OFF, THERE IS NO DEAL. That means, simply, unless YOU have EXPLICITLY agreed to something less than a full on-the-record protocol, it is absolutely prohibited to allow the source to change their minds and say they don’t want you to use the information they just gave you. In other words, there is no — never — going off the record after the interview. Remember, you do not represent just yourself. You represent your news organization and all professional journalists who have gone to jail and prison and more upholding these standards.

If you do decide to deal, here is the basic structure of the basic choices broadly considered by professionals as “off the record:”

Not for attribution: The information may be used in the story but the attribution will be qualified by a description that will shield the source. For example, “a White House aide familiar with the situation.” “A teacher in the California State University system who agreed to talk on condition of anonymity.” You get the idea.

Background: The information may be used in gathering information for the story but there will be no identification of the source in any way. None.

Deep Background: the information may not be used in the story, you will have to find it elsewhere. In a very strict interpretation of this category, the reporter agrees to not use the information in any way to leverage information from other sources. Since this obviously has very limited use to any reporter, there are probably no circumstances when a reporter would agree to this stifling condition.

Exception: In highly political news centers such as Sacramento and Washington, D.C., going “off the record” may mean the same to the source as deep background. It is always VITAL that you explicitly negotiate the terms of your agreement BEFORE the interview and that all parties understand exactly what status the source will have. Use these discussions to negotiate up to as close to on the record as possible.

If you have questions, ask your editor (me).

COMPUTER ASSISTED REPORTING

Some of our best in American journalism have noted it is perhaps the only professional field that makes a point about using computers in its work. Some of these same voices have argued journalists, like other professions and trades, should simply use the digital, online databases and similar tools without any special names, such as CAR.

But perhaps because news people are accustomed to classifying, labeling, NAMING we have and most certainly will continue to use words and acronyms such as computer assisted reporting and CAR. Regardless of your stance on the bar talk, it appears to be here to stay for while.

Begin here: http://www.nicar.org/. The National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting is a tremendous institution that helps reporters in everything from breaking news to long-term features. Becoming familiar — and actually using — some of its rich resources will give to power to achieve your goals in ways that will impress even the most jaded.

If the prospect of using computers seems unattractive and you are thinking you turned to reporting because you want to connect with people: Bravo.

CAR is NO substitute for street reporting, just as street reporting is no excuse for real reporters to ignore CAR.

For example, let’s say you have a fairly simple assignment looking at major political fund contributors in your beat. You can use FollowTheMoney (http://www.followthemoney.org) or OpenSecrets.org (http://www.opensecrets.org), depending if you are reporting on state or federal campaigns.

With the data you secure from this simple CAR technique, you then find your human sources and make a story out of data. Gold out of straw, if you will.

Who would pass up an opportunity such as that?

DEMOGRAPHICS (POPULATION/PEOPLE) REPORTING 

This could also be titled WHO ARE WE?

Using the tools you have brushed up against at our SFSU library tutorial, you are first looking for a data profile of the people who are your beat. Remember, your neighborhood is quite nothing without the human beings who inhabit them. Without them, in fact, all you have a real estate story.

What is the population of your beat, what are their ages, what are their income levels, what are their occupations? What kind of cars do they drive? What flavor ice cream so they prefer? You may be surprised at the depth of research available not just from government sources such as the federal Food & Drug Administration (http://www.fda.gov/), which can tell you what kinds of presecription drugs are getting sold in your beat, but the private research firsm such as Donnelly Marketing (http://www.donnellymsa.com), which gets down to ZIP codes and smaller areas with detailed data about many consumer and other demographic information.

When you have seriously researched what data are available, then you need to put meat on that bone: Go out and find these people and breath life into your story.

And absolutely, do not forget it’s always all about context. Comparing and contrasting your demographics to the beat next door or finding one similar someplace else can make for fantastic storytelling and insights into the way we live now. Context, by the way, can also mean your neighborhood in the past, whether it’s 100 years ago or a generation (usually thought of as 30 years) past.

And how about the future? Are their projections for your beat? ABAG http://www.abag.ca.gov/ projects Bay Area figures, perhaps someone is extrapolating for your part of that world. Perhaps you can find someone who will.

Let your big brain be the limit of what you can do. Consider telling the story the way a visual artist might: What would a painter or excellent photographer show? What will you show us? And what does it sound like? Take your audience there.

LIBEL

The American Heritage Dictionary used to define libel this way: “Any written, printed, or pictorial statement that damages a person by defaming his character or exposing him to ridicule.”

Having noted that, we may safely state that reporters then commit libel on a regular basis.

Today, that landmark dictionary, along with most others, qualify the definition. The AHD now states libel is ” The legally indefensible publication or broadcast of words or images that are degrading to a person or injurious to his or her reputation.”

It is vitally important to add for the beginning student of journalism, this libel is never the opinion of the reporter — we save that for columnists, editorial writers and people who pose as reporters but in fact are simply just another bodypart with an opinion.

We will then note real reporters do not flinch from reporting sometimes unpleasant facts such as credible people’s opinions, that may in fact, be libelous. If Harry Truman says Richard Nixon “has all the characteristics of a dog except fidelity,” to print the assertion is clearly libel. (To not report such a wonderful quote would be self-censorship.)

For journalists, there are two types of libel: defensible and non-defensible. We will carefully weigh and define the distinctions, having confidence in printing libel that is defensible and always avoiding libel that is not.

This can hardly be  the final word on this subject, which can and probably has filled libraries. But we will run through some of the very basics:

We begin with one of the very foundations of our republic: the First Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Read it carefully. There are no asterisks, codicils or footnotes. Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of… the press. None.

Here we run into a busy and dangerous intersection. The Constitution also guarantees other important rights, such as securing “the blessings of liberty,” and the Ninth Amendment in the Bill of Rights (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html) to name but two. When our rights appear to conflict, as they most certainly do on occasion, ultimately, the United States Supreme Court has the power to finally adjudicate the dispute.

For example, although pornographers have often used the First Amendment as protection, how shall we respond to cries of liberty when child pornographers use this defense? Do our most precious and vulnerable citizens not share unalienable, enumerated rights of life, liberty and happiness?

In 1964, the high court issued a ruling that stands as our strongest, best and clearest definition of where the First Amendment protects a free press against claims of libel, and where it does not.

It began four years earlier, when a civil rights group bought a full page ad in the New York Times castigating the Montgomery Alabama City Commissioners, including a man named L.B. Sullivan, for what it said was a violation of Martin Luther King’s rights as an American. Sullivan sued the newspaper for libel, saying it should not have printed the ad. The case went all the way to the high court, which ruled in favor of the Times.

Here are some of the major points:

The court ruled that when someone puts themselves in the public eye, such as running for city commissioner, they must trade in some of their rights, otherwise a free and open society with the essential component of a free press, cannot fully shine the bright light of public scrutiny on its centers of power and influence.

Because Sullivan fulfilled the description, he was unable to sue successfully.

For those of us who have chosen to remain private citizens, our right to sue for libel is stronger.

— First and foremost, truth is absolute defense. If the so-called libel is true, it is legal.

— If the assertion is false, the injured party must also prove the reporter KNEW the information was wrong and willfully published regardless.

— In fact, the injured party must prove there was a malicious intent and a reckless disregard of the truth.

Pretty tough stuff. Many would argue too tough. That’s one reason some clever litigants have gone around the libel lawsuit barriers and look for other ways to punish reporters for stories they don’t like. They have had some success using others laws, such as those regarding invasion of privacy — a subject still more complicated and left here for your law and journalism course and the excellent teachers of that subject we are fortunate to have in the department.

Perhaps it is best to conclude this vital subject with this take-home point: Don’t look for excuses to get away with libel, use your best judgment knowing that although we have the right — not privilege — to a free press, that also comes with a grave responsibility to use it wisely, compassionately and fairly. One goes, so does the other. And, yes, one may argue, so goes the republic.

As the court ruled in 1971:

The greater the importance of safeguarding the community from incitements to the overthrow of our institutions by force and violence, the more imperative is the need to preserve inviolate the constitutional rights of free speech, free press and free assembly in order to maintain the opportunity for free political discussion, to the end that government may be responsive to the will of the people and that changes, if desired, may be obtained by peaceful means. Therein lies the security of the Republic, the very foundation of constitututional government.” (Emphasis supplied)

The Crime Story

Crime is a staple in newswriting. The first newspaper known to history, Acta Diurna (Daily Acts), published in ancient Rome, had crime stories such as one about a mugger bashing in the skull of some poor Roman innocent.

Perhaps you are one of those who have the impression that crime news is a cliché designed just to sell papers, which no doubt, the pure at heart find scandalous and vulgar.

Consider this: Have you ever been a victim of crime? Has anyone in your family been a victim of crime? Do you know anyone who has been a victim of crime? If you answered no to all three of these, I want to do a story about you.

In short, crime is a constant in American life and one we all want to avoid. Good crime reporting gives us the opportunity to have a role in this. We learn what neighborhoods we might not want to vacation in (the Lower-Bottom or Ghost Town of West Oakland), stores we might not want to shop in (7-11s in east San Jose on a Saturday night) and behavior we might avoid (pointing a water pistol at a street cop).

Crime is customarily something reported (ascertained) by police. But it is not always so. Think this model through and see if you have the imagination to supercede it. Crime is not always homicide (and you should know the difference between murder and homicide if you are to be a reporter). It is also genocide, stock fraud and much more.

Much of the work police do is increasingly hidden to press and public, especially in California. First find out what is available to you through records searches, police interviews, the district attorney’s office, defense lawyers, criminal justice social workers and yes, private detectives, to name just a few. There are many ways to skin this cat. For those of you with San Francisco beats, two elementary sites to are http://www.crimemapping.com/map/ca/sanfrancisco and http://sanfranciscopolice.org/compstat. Those of you outside the city will want to seek similar Web locations for your beats.

In the end, we want to know what happened, who it happened to, who did it, what’s going to happen next to the principals involved. We want to know if there is a trend of certain crimes and what is being done — or not being done — about it. It doesn’t have to be dozens of murders by mutants in North Richmond, it can be Walnut Creek losers breaking and entering to steal liquor, pills and ski equipment.

Remember a few important rules of the road: Thankfully, in this nation, you are innocent until proven guilty. Do not convict an innocent person. Cops, although about as well liked as reporters, are usually pretty cool one-on-one. Throw them some respect. They have deeply dangerous jobs, they protect you with their lives and don’t get paid a heck of a lot. Take this under consideration.

Criminal Justice Journalists (http://www.thecrimereport.org/about-us/criminal-justice-journalists) has a site that may be of interest to those of you wishing to succeed.

The Court Story

If we consider covering public authorities such as city councils as the legislative branch, government agencies such as public works as the executive, then we need to consider how we make sure the bright light of public scrutiny includes the third branch of government: the courts.

Because we are dealing with local authorities to begin with, we will concentrate of the Superior Courts

Each California county has a branch of the state Superior Court. They all work more or less the same, so what is applicable in San Francisco should be so in the other eight Bay Area counties. And the first thing you need to remember is there is a distinction across This Great Land of Ours between criminal and civil courts. Criminal is when someone has committed a crime and is accountable to criminal prosecutors –– usually the county district attorney. Civil is when two citizens have a dispute that leads to a legal action, usually called a lawsuit.

We will deal here with just felony criminal cases.

Always remembering, at least for now, in the United States of America, a person is innocent until proven guilty, the process is fairly straightforward:

• A crime is committed.
• Police arrest a suspect after determining probable cause.
• The district attorney determines whether it is beyond reasonable doubt that suspect is guilty and that the d. a. can win the case.
• The suspect is arraigned, which is where they hear the formal charges against them.
• An attorney is hired or, if they cannot afford one, a public defender is assigned.
• The suspect enters a plea. If it it’s not guilty –– and it pretty much always is –– there is a pretrial hearing where a preliminary hearing is set.
• A jury is selected.
• The trial takes place.
• A verdict is announced. If the defendant is convicted, only then may we call them guilty.

Naturally, there is an appeal process to higher courts. And very often before there is an actual trial, a plea bargain between the defendant’s attorney and the district attorney takes place.

We will deal solely with trials.

How do we find trials that are newsworthy?

Many urban counties have computerized systems that allow some access to some documents and proceedings. For example, the Alameda County Superior Court uses something called Odyssey.  Some may allow you to use a criminal docket finder, or find someone in jail, waiting for a trial to begin or end, in an inmate locator tool. You owe it to yourself to spend a good hour exploring your beat’s court web site for options.

Two places you might want to seriously consider covering are the felony arraignment or post–preliminary hearing arraignment and pleas departments at the court house. The easiest way to do that is get to the court house just before it opens and as soon as the doors are unlocked (usually 9 am) ask the security people, clerks, or some well–dressed person (which almost always means they are an attorney) where that department is. You might also ask where the master calendar courtroom is.

Speaking of well–dressed, be sure you are. A courthouse is no place to look like a student. Casual–professional is fine. Men do not need to wear a tie, but a sports coat and a collared shirt are the bare minimum. Women should dress with equal appropriate care. Thinks job interview.

Be quiet as a mouse inside the courtroom when it is in session. Before and after you can, politely and professionally, ask the attorneys for help understanding what’s going on. Do not try to talk to the person being tried or the judge. The court clerk can be very helpful if you play your interviewing skills well. Never try to talk to a juror until after the trial is completely done. This will likely cause a mistrial and make put you in the news for being stupid.

We consider that Not Good.

The Environmental Story

One of the longstanding traditional beats in American journalism, the environment, often also includes science and even medicine. We will restrict ourselves here to environmental reporting, as a basic introduction.

Broadly speaking, the environmental story is often about air and water pollution and toxic waste, from Superfund sites to gas station tank cleanup. The story is literally all around you. Stand on any corner of your beat and look around:

— Air quality. Are there buses, or trucks fouling the area?

— Water & waste. Where is the water coming from, are the pipes in good shape? Where does the wastewater go? Are there leaks?

— Garbage. Is it all over the place, are there dumps in the alleys?

— Do kids get exposed to dangerous materials such as needles in the playgrounds or lead paint on old buildings?

— Food. Are there businesses in your area spewing grease from grills, flushing ink from presses, creating a foul stench (think of the Harris Ranch when you drive I-5 to L.A.).

— In San Francisco, the pervasive smell of urine has replaced the fresh scent of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. Is that not an environmental story?

These are some very basic starting points, and true enterprise reporters will hardly stop there. The environment can mean anything from the what’s in a homeless person’s cart (trust me, it’s often a small Superfund site on wheels) to the consequences for firefighters who have to stand on roofs covered with slick, dangerous solar panels.

Some basic links to get your brain going:

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/
href=”http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb2/”>http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb2/

http://www.baaqmd.gov/

http://www.sej.org/

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=13988

A big word of caution: What started out as the ecology movement of the 1970s, became environmentalism and now has the commercially catchy green trademark, is not, like the sanctity of human life, all wonderful. There are shysters everywhere, zealots with little concern for common sense, preservationists intent on stopping anyone from having a place to live, so-called “environmentalists” who who stop building anymore camp grounds, narcissistic bicycle riders pretending to be social activists — the list goes on an on. Some of them are developers using laws such as CEQA (http://resources.ca.gov/ceqa/) to stave competition.

This a beat where many good reporters get lost and go native — that is to say — allow their prejudices, preconceived notions and political ideas to cloud their mission to hold the flame to environmental zealot and corporate polluter alike.

This is a good time to consider the conventional approach and then go the other way. But check with your editor before you start driving hellbent for glory.

The Meeting Story

The bane and salvation of reporters coast-to-coast, the meeting story, is a basic requirement that needs to be approached like perfume: smell it/don’t drink it.

As always, we’ll begin with the basics: Much government business gets formally done at public meetings and public meetings are open to press and public. In California, there are strict rules requiring a good deal of transparency that make reporting stories relatively easy – some thoughtful people might argue all too easy.

California’s Brown Act http://www.thefirstamendment.org/brownact.html requires local government agencies to post their agendas at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. The agency can’t deviate from the agenda and must make much of the information – but not all – available to anyone who wants it. Read and understand this important law before you start this assignment. On the state level, this is mirrored in the Bagley-Keene Act. http://ag.ca.gov/publications/bagleykeene2004_ada.pdf

Since so many journalism school graduates become so good at covering meetings (compared to more old-school types who learned on the street) there is a nasty undercurrent in many newsrooms where j-school grads are sometimes called “just meeting reporters.” Don’t be one of them. Enough said.

Here’s the drill: First your editor assigns you a meeting to cover. Let’s say it’s the local city council or board of supervisors. (For those with San Francisco beats, the two are the same, since San Francisco has the unusual distinction of being both a city and county.)

As with all public meetings, first we go online and find the agenda.

http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=2314

We read it looking for items that are potentially newsworthy, that is to say interesting and important. Much of the language will, at least at first, seem odd and jargony and obscure. Government agencies are especially enamored of acronyms, such as RFP (request for proposal) and EIR (environmental impact review). You need to find out what those are. How?

You can always ask your editor, who will immediately wonder why she or he hired you when you don’t know even the basics — or call the people who run the meeting and ask. These folks also happen to often be your highest and best sources. You decide.

Please note: The people running the show are not usually the mayor, or supervisors or council members or commissioners or legislators. The irony (some might say reporter dilemma) is elected officials are the ones most likely to talk – but least likely to know what they are talking about. They have paid staffs that, out of the public eye, do the heavy lifting and actually know what’s going on. Those would be people such as the city manager, administrative aides, planning directors and their staff and the like. Generally, each agenda item has a staff person assigned to it and is often named in the agenda. Call them. Talk to them. Learn from them. AND DO THIS BEFORE THE MEETING.

In other words, it’s a bit like house painting: The success (and real work) is in the prep, not the final act of slapping on the color.

Larger city councils and the like will likely have committees that meet before the full agency group, where much of the real business is hashed out and perhaps more importantly to us, where we can get early alerts of possible strong stories. (Real reporters always want to break — be the first to report — stories, not follow them.)

For example, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has eight committees that meet regularly. If I am covering the city and have a meeting story assignment, I want to be among the very first to see the committee agendas to be among the very first to snap up a story. You should, too.

One last note about the agendas: the beginning often contains a “consent” agenda, or has consent items. These are typically small fry junk such as proclamations and announcements about awards and other such stuff. Since real reporters never fully trust these guys, its wise to scan the consent items to be sure they aren’t sneaking something newsworthy in it. It rarely happens, but once is enough. And it takes minutes, at most.

If you have questions about the agenda – stupid as they may be – find the right person to ask and ask ask ask until you are content you understand the issue. Then, when done, highlight the issues you are most interested in and go cover the meeting.

UNLESS… the item is too hot to wait for a meeting. You should then write an advance or “walkup” story and beat the snot out of the competition. Nothing like it in the whole wide world.

At the meeting, when the items that drew your attention come up, be alert and pay attention to the speakers and the actions taken. You should almost certainly have questions at the meeting, from the correct spelling of the public speaker’s name who may have great quotes about the item, to foloups (newsfolk like to abbreviate, so you will often see “folo” instead of “follow” and that sort of thing) to pronouncements by the officials.

There are always breaks in meetings – and if there aren’t, they always end. That’s when you jump, corner your sources and finish the reporting. If there are several people you want to talk to and are worried they will disappear, try to grab their contact information immediately and hunt them down later. Business cards are great for this, although waiting for them to fumble for them is usually slower than just jotting down a name & cell number in your reporter’s notebook. NOTE: in many public meetings, the speakers are required to fill out cards with their name and numbers. That is public information and is often in the hands of the clerk of the board.

If the board is rattling on about some other dumb stuff you don’t care about, it is appropriate to use that time to walk around and corner sources IF THEY DON”T MIND TALKING THEN. Take them out in the hallway or somewhere else away from the formal meeting. Trying to do interviews in the back of the hall will usually torque someone like the mayor who thinks his or her meeting is way too important for anyone to disrespect.

The real excitement comes when you have a deadline that bumps up against or comes before an action (like a vote) takes place. Prayer might help then, but that sounds like another handout for another class.

The Political Story

Eugene McCarthy, a Democratic senator from Minnesota who caused one the biggest revolutions in his party’s modern history, once said politics is like football: You have to be smart enough to play it well – and dumb enough to think it’s important. (He borrowed the line from Vince Lombardi.)

Brilliant or befuddled, politics is the game that counts and telling it well is a rare gift — yet one that can be acquired and must be appreciated if you are to be a real reporter on any level. It is, simply put, about power: the acquisition, wielding and the struggle to retain power.

Politics is far more than just election returns, party conventions, polling or fuzzy feeling anecdotes about Citizen Suzy and Her Perceptions. (Not a band, btw.)

A good political story is about power. You can do the stereotypical coverage and report it as the struggle between armed camps, or bring a little more humanity to it and see it is about how people (your audience) deal with the power that is in their hands, at their periphery or a bayonet at their backs.

When a truly outstanding enterprise reporter is presented with a political assignment, the reporter must think about not just the big players in the scenario (the senator, the supervisor, the city council member) but the people who pay their salary (taxpayers), the people who pay them their bonuses (contributors) and the people who pay for the cost of their decisions (the citizens).

DON’T THINK POLITICAL STORIES START AND STOP WITH POLITICS.
There are politics in hospitals, politics in police departments and yes, politics in schools — very much including universities. (‘Why are there so much politics in academia?’ one wag asks the other? ‘Because there is so little to fight over,’ he answers.) When you begin to understand that, you begin to understand a very fundamental part of reporting. For example, the occupy movement is really a political story. Although we rarely have the time in mass media to tell the complicated, contradictory, complex story well, it doesn’t mean we don’t try. But, given its sometimes all-too-violent nature here in the Bay Area, we also must take special precautions to stay safe. More on this later.

Presuming you will start with relatively straightforward assignments, such as covering your San Francisco neighborhood beat, political stories will be likely be about someone wanting something done at the board of supervisors or mayoral level. Rarely will you find the supervisor or mayor himself directly involved in the hubbub of political deal-making and even more rarely will you find them candidly speaking to you on the record about that processes. Instead, you will want to seek their top paid staff and the affected residents. The Web is a great place for help but better yet are evening meetings and simple door-knocking (What old-timers call the shoe-leather method).

Remember to be acutely aware of your political proclivities — even if they are indifference. It is only by that means that you will be able to adjust for them and be the honest information broker that defines a real reporter. And bear in mind what landmark political writer Theodore White stated: “When a reporter sits down to write, he has no friends.”

The Education Story

Ironically, although most of you have been in school since you were 5 years old and are now university students, the idea of a news story about education is likely to create little more than indifference. I would suggest that may be partially attributable to the old adage, “familiarity breeds contempt,” if not boredom.

Let’s break through that.

Formal, institutional education shapes much of our lives, individually and collectively. And if you among those “home-schooled” there are enormous consequences there as well.

Let’s turn this upside down: How does a lack of education manifest itself?

Demographic research on your beat should reveal some education levels and as you well know, education levels have direct relevance to income. And income to health and longevity. And so it goes.

How many public and private schools are there in your beat? What are they up to? Do you subscribe to the PTA emails? Have you cultivated sources who have children in schools? Do you know if your schools are earthquake safe? Do all the bathrooms work? Do they have sufficient text books? What about parents who refuse to inoculate their children but send the little petri dishes to class? I could go on all day.

So should you.

The Profile

The profile is at once among the most intriguing and most pleasant and most deceptively difficult assignment you will face as a reporter. Each story is a portrait of a human being — true portraits revealing humanity in all its paradoxes, peculiarities and personalities.

Before you begin, stop and outline how one might profile you. Yes, you would be the hero at first take, but then you would expect a good profile to drill down. Naturally, the next step would be how you are misunderstood, right? That of course leads us to who misunderstands you and why. Maybe it would be easier now to imagine how you would profile someone you know very well, heroes and antiheros other people seem to us. Do you begin to see how difficult this assignment really is?

A wise old news hand once said to a very green cub reporter struggling with getting a story like this started “start with who got screwed.” You have your hero, you have all their sycophants telling you how great they are and now you are stuck. Who got screwed? An ex-wife? The kids? Former employees? Former bosses? Competitors? Roommates? Neighbors?

How does a beginning reporter find the person who got screwed? In a first interview of the subject I like to ask towards the end of the conversation “What does your wife/husband complain about you? Really?” You get the idea. Are they divorced? OK, what’s the ex have to say? (Check the court papers.) Just remember, if they are private citizens, there are some serious restraints. If they are public figures, you have far greater latitude.

But at the end of the day we are where we began: A profile makes them human. Yes, they have regrets, what well-lived life doesn’t? Yes, they have big hopes, what American life doesn’t? Yes, they have paradoxes, what interesting life doesn’t? Remember, you are writing a profile, not a book. Which is one of the defining challenges of a real reporter.

The Entertainment Story

By entertainment I mean sports, gaming, music, movies, TV, fashion, food, the list goes on.

Let’s use the sports story as a template for all the entertainment stories that divert people from knowing about how they are exploited:

The traditional, old-fashioned (and to some extent failed) model of the sports writer is the simpleton who sees the world as winners and losers, black jerseys and white jerseys, offense and defense. When you are covering a sports story, the temptation to draw those crude lines is so strong. And yet, it is ultimately false.

Even when covering the most simple and basic of sports stories — a game — you must remember those are people on the field of battle, each with a story. And that doesn’t begin to mention the coaches, the cheerleaders and perhaps most ignored: the people in the stands. Take that story where you will and then consider the possibilities beyond the game.

The sports story is about the contest: The contest with what we can do, the contest with our brother, the contest with the forces of nature. We practice, we plan, we struggle, we negotiate and although we want to win, we really want to test ourselves.

It’s about being in the arena. And how is that different from being on the runway?

The Public Works Story

First and foremost let’s get something straight from the top: We will never use the word “infrastructure” (unless it’s in a quote) in any news operation I have any say in. It’s down there with “impacted” and “but despite.”

Public works is the backbone of local government. Although some would rather talk about foreign policy (because they don’t have any responsibilities for it), one of the first jobs for city officials to take care of — after police protection — is to get the streets paved, the lamps lit and the sewers running. You get the idea.

Cities such as San Francisco have huge obligations for public works. The tunnels have to be earthquake safe, the stoplights have to synchronize; the water needs to come all the way from the high Sierra into your home, business and bathroom down the hall. Getting this done, making it safe and reliable and effective is a 24-hours-a-day challenge. And it is enormously expensive, far more than any project private business can take care of financially.

The Bay Bridge is a perfect example of a public works project (the most expensive in California history) gone awry and the subject of countless great stories.

Your beat may have sidewalk issues, the merchants may have graffiti problems, and the schools may need to make baseball diamonds become soccer fields. (Which, of course, is also a sports story.)

In San Francisco, as with most other towns, there is a public works department, and at the political level, there is probability a committee of the board of supervisors or city council governing it. These will have agendas, studies, meetings and other opportunities to get a glimpse of what they are doing — and not doing. That’s a start.

And don’t forget, there are airports, water agencies and even Caltrans that will also have major public works projects in your beat. You can start by going to your assigned neighborhood and standing on a corner and then start walking: You see the parks in front of you, you look up and see the utility wires and the street lights, you look down and know there are vital pipelines beneath.

Here are some links to get you started:

http://sfpublicworks.org/services/envista

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/government/o/PWA/index.htm

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/pw/

http://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/124/Public-Works

http://nextcity.org/daily/tags/tag/public%20works

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/on-location/featured-stories/ansels-public-works/

Think of public works as the skeleton, blood and internal organs of your living neighborhood beat. What is the state of its health? What does it need? What does it want to get rid of? Those people who are on the public works subcommittee is one place to get going, but what about the homeowners and business associations in your beat: What do they want? PTAs are also on this list, but wait — what about the kids on skateboards or hanging out at the corner? They have little power, don’t go to meetings or sign petitions — what do they need?

The limits are hard to define for a good reporter. Be one.

The Business Story

It’s about money. About making it, spending it, managing it. And if you consider your story from that light you will immediately accomplish two goals: 1. Start the all-important focus on what your story will be about and 2. Get the audience interested.

The business story often has an odd – and destructive – effect on reporters: many associate it with pure data, such as numbers and accountants and ledgers. Serious students of journalism may stop here to seriously consider that the profession’s fear of business may be a direct contributing factor in the news business’s current turmoil.

Having said that, one must not also commit the folly of assuming business stories need be the stuff one largely sees in the standard American newspaper business section — stories that often have no interest or importance to an audience outside of a few people in the business world who probably already know more about the subject than the reporter and editor responsible for the assignment.

Take, instead, one example from the Wall Street Journal, from many years back: A reporter was assigned a story about the current state of the business of being a cowboy. This, while sounds interesting, could have easily become the stale work of a hack. But instead of reciting some standard income index that might have found a cowboy makes $$$ a year, the number of people the census bureau have listed as “cowboys,” and the number of cows transported from California ranches to other locations, the reporter hung out with some range hands while they went shopping for a week’s groceries. In that telling episode, he weaved in the cost of cans of beans, loaves of bread and the like. The audience not only got a strong idea of the kind of income they were living on, but how they lived.

Different regions, different towns and different parts of a town will have businesses of certain types, either by historical circumstance (the Silicon Valley) or government zoning laws (factories are zoned for certain areas while nursery schools may be in quite another). Consider this when considering your beat and stories you will discover there. The Fillmore district of San Francisco was once home to Japanese Americans, but after Interment in WWII, others took their properties — a story not often told. North Beach has traditionally been the home of Italian-American businesses, and privately, some business owners there will tell you they are always unofficially discouraging Chinese-Americans from crossing Columbus Street. Shoe repair shops (the cobbler) once proliferated in most Bay Area towns but in a far more disposal consumer society, they are all but disappearing. The ideas can go on and on — if you stop, really listen and think.

Two very real and ever-present dangers constantly threaten good business stories: 1. Ballyhooing businesses that see news stories as opportunities for free publicity (i.e. organic stuff in the Bay Area) and 2. Stories bashing businesses because political and competing business interests see news stories as an opportunity to punish their enemies (any “chain” in San Francisco). Be very much on the look out for these tendencies and pressures.

Bob Dylan wrote “Money doesn’t talk / It swears.” Your job is to make it do what Dylan always had trouble with despite his job description (and wealth): Sing.

The Medical/Health/Science Story

It could be about medical marijuana. The fact of the matter is marijuana is essentially legal in California, despite the federal government’s half-hearted, sporadic and inconsistent attempts to stop it. And, of course, there are the few restrictions put on the weed by voters and legislators. And although most Californians will say they favor marijuana legalization for the truly medically needy, the fact of the matter is that a great deal of the substance is bought by people for recreational use.

Yes, that is a medical or health story. Do I have your attention now?

The health or medical story need not be about heart attack drugs for old folks. They can be about the resistance to birth control, what happens to a body when a bullet plows through it, the latest research on the effect of alcohol on the brain. Or bike accidents on Market Street, or around college campuses. (I could do this all day.)

Insofar as neighborhood beats are concerned, the local health department will likely have statistics on morbidity (look the word up — it’s not about death) by discreet areas such as ZIP codes, and even census tracts. Getting stabbed in the Mission is a health story. Anorexia in the Marina is a health story. Get the idea?

The Centers for Disease Control (http://www.cdc.gov) and the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov) are treasures of information. The California Department of Public Health (http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/DEFAULT.aspx) also serve a great starting point for story ideas and stories. San Francisco’s health department (http://www.sfdph.org/dph/default.asp)is great with reporters. The FDA (http://www.fda.gov) was mentioned in an earlier handout regarding prescription drugs sold in your beat. (It is not so good dealing with reporters.) If you can imagine the data, someone has probably collected it. Have you explored online tools such as Google Scholar?

From conception to death, every member of your audience has a care about medicine — some healthy, some not. The average I’m-So-Effing-Alternative undergraduate who rolls his own but drinks filtered water and Sunday mornings has about horrible hangovers is a spark for a health story. That’s just one small slice of the demographic. Mental and emotional health is on the table as well as physical. The limits are yours to find and explore.

Be Careful What You Ask For Assignment

Throughout the term you may have more than once grumbled, gritted your teeth, spewed venom and been party to typical reporter reactions to assignments. You may have now earned a chance to show how you would do things when your editor is away for the weekend. Have at it. Let’s see what you’ve got. Bring it. It’s on. All that.

Special Notes For Photo Students

If you have permission from your editor (aka instructor) to take a photo essay assignment as a substitute for a traditional writing/reporting assignment, there are some basic building blocks to start from:

Always think as a storyteller — you need a narrative.

Make your audience wants to see the story through, using your images backed up (given some starch) by copy blocks. Something changes, something grows. A story with a beginning, middle and end. It must be intriguing.

And never forget, people are more interesting and important than real estate. This is true for most all quality storytelling, regardless of medium. 

Copy blocks are like cutlines, or what most people call captions, only of paragraph length. You must write to the images — that is, the words must directly jibe with the pictures. (This is especially true for video, where the trak — the read or voice over cannot stray from the pictures.) And make sure someone good edits your copy before you turn in the final assignment!

We can learn a great deal about propelling a visual story by studying the movie-making tool of storyboarding. There are many online sites and tools available for that.

Technique aside — tactics — this takes a far bigger challenge — strategy. All this takes that most difficult thing we do: Thought. Productive thought takes work. Good work takes time. Naturally, this is true regardless if you are a writer or photographer.

And it pays to remember photography comes from the Greek for ‘writing in light.’ 

The Community Profile (Final) Story

As you will recall from the course syllabus, the “final story… will demand a synthesis of your acquired learning.” You will almost certainly have little trouble recollecting that the final assignment is worth a substantial portion of your final grade. I’m guessing I have your attention now.

Whether your beat is a San Francisco neighborhood, one in another town or another entire town altogether, it is time to put together what you know. As you earlier this term drew a portrait of a person, now you are assigned the task of portraying your beat. It may be an ugly little creature, but it’s yours.

Think of it as a profile, bearing in mind that while even the most ambitious, best reported and most poignantly written profile can never fully explain a human life, it can provide an outline, a perspective, an illumination worthy of your audience’s time. So it is with your beat, which in all its myriad complexities and seeming contradictions may also be viewed as a synthesized, dynamic set of balance points.

In fact, this is the entire point-counterpoint concept we have discussed in class so often come to life in a big way. Your beat has rich and poor folks, formally educated and not, churches and atheists — in short, the very mosaic nature that makes us what we are. Do not shy from this, embrace it, for in that pluralism (or as today’s cliche sometimes mislabels the politically coded word “diversity”) we are at our strongest as a people — and as journalists.

In short — make the seeming paradoxes of your beat work for the story.

Start where we began: The special seminar we had at the library that gave you tools on demographic data in your beat. Naturally, I have expected you to be using these tactics all semester, but now they will help form the very foundation of this final assignment.

Then take some time to seriously consider the assignments you have filed this term, from the simple crime story on. Putting these pieces together, what emerges in this quilt work?

Here your real effort begins. If your beat were a person, what would he or she look like? What manner of speech would he or she use? Aromas? Think this through, write down your 100 questions and get them answered. Then write your first draft.

Many of you will be filing a news feature and will do so without knowing exactly what you are doing. that’s because professional grade feature writing is a specialized skill, much as is hard news.

1. Do everything you can to avoid the number one mistake I see consistently in the people profiles: Do not write a publicity piece. Get a A LOT of sources — with contrasting perspectives.
2. Exhaustively review data, the kind we looked at in the library. (Please remember stories about people blow out stories about real estate, policy, technology, prices, data, etc.  We use people to personify these things.)
3. Figure out what your nut graf is gonna be. Here is a link as a start: http://www.poynter.org/2003/the-nut-graf-part-i/11371/

The nut graf is very much like your hard news lede that we have tried so hard to get this term. What are the most interesting & important aspects of the story you are about to tell? What is the point?

Perhaps you want a passing grade for the semester. Knowing you get only one draft on this final — but having the experience of having almost every other story edited and then rewritten for a grade — ask a respected colleague to look at your copy and then set about on the serious rewrite a good editor would demand.

As always, I am totally available for questions, suggestions and pep talks throughout the reporting and writing process.

Power up.