RFTM Ch. 19: Advanced Reporting

Up to now, we've concentrated on reporting via sources and basic documents. Now, we'll look at other ways to gather data and offer news, including using statistics. Much of the information gathered by reporters come in the form of statistics (budgets, sports scores, studies, ect.).

Reporters must make those numbers interesting and understandable for readers. We need to highlight what those numbers mean for readers. How do those numbers impact them? How are those numbers interesting and relevant?

One way to do that is by emphasizing human interest. Like, finding an human anecdote that reflects the numbers. For example, for a tuition hike story, find a student socked by the tuition hike, and use his or her anecdote for an alternate type of lede.

Another way is to present numbers as simply as possible. Find the numbers that are most telling to the story, and explain what those numbers will mean to readers. For example, if tuition is going up 7 percent, figure out how many dollars that would be for someone carrying atypical load of classes. Telling readers that a tuition increase will mean paying $500 more per semester for the typical student is more impactful than just saying 7 percent.

Also, consider finding more illustrative forms of using numbers. Instead of saying something like, 33 percent of the population will die from cooties, translate that to a more easily-understood proportion, like, one in three people will die from cooties.

Plus, put numbers in context, consider proportion and be fair. If the number of fatal cootie deaths in the U.S. grows from one to two, it's unfair to trumpet a 100 percent increase.