Elements of Journalism: Engagement And Relevance

Journalists must make significant news interesting and relevant. First, we must consider the differences between storytelling versus information. Storytelling is the art of expression, such as a bedtime story you tell your niece. Information is raw data, such as a sports score.

Journalism is a combination of storytelling and information. The two are not contradictory. Journalism is storytelling with a purpose, and rooted in fact. Our duty is not just to provide information, but to do so in a way people will listen while still adhering to accuracy and truth.

There are various approaches to making important news interesting. Those approaches start with asking yourselves questions, like:

Who is the audience and what do they need to know? What is a given story really about? Let's say you're working for The State News, and you're covering student government. They pass some sort of big budget increase and as part of that budget increase, student fees will go up.What's the main gist of the story, the budget or the fee hike? Which would readers -- in this case, primarily MSU students -- care about most? Which would affect them most directly?

It would be the fee hike, right? So that should be the angle you highlight in how you write the story.

Who is the audience and what to they need to know to make up their own minds about this subject? For example, The State News regularly covers East Lansing City Council meetings. Rather than cover whatever the council considers their biggest actions, reporters look for and concentrate on stories that have the greatest impact or interest to their primary audience -- MSU students -- regardless of how big a part of the meeting those issues were. We're not there to take dictation of the meeting; we're there to highlight what matters most to our audience.

Who has the information? Go to the people most directly involved with the subject matters.

What's the best way to tell this story? For example, on a story about a tuition increase, perhaps you'd want to focus on how the tuition increase will affect the average student by talking to students and asking them how they'll handle the tuition hike.

There are various story styles one can utilize. We'll look at each approach, using examples based on coverage of one of the every-few-years Cedar Fest riots around here.