Elements of Journalism: Making News Comprehensive And Proportional

Journalists should keep the news comprehensive and in proportion. Think of journalism as cartography (the science of mapping). Journalism creates a map for its audience to navigate society (e.g., how much is tuition going up? When is the football game? Is it a good idea to plan another Cedar Fest?). That is its reason for being.

And the value of journalism, like a map, depends on completeness and proportionality; accuracy and the ability to see the whole community in coverage. Otherwise, it's like a map with whole parts of town missing. It leaves the audience poorly informed because so much was left out, and vulnerable to making poor decisions about their needs and societal trends based on what they don't know.

This is why we need to show people not just what they want to know, but also what they need to know and what they don't know.

It's also important to have the ability to see yourself and every-day people in your coverage (that is, your needs, values, interests and that of the community at large reflected by the types of stories presented and issues tackled), and a fair mix of what most people in your community would consider interesting, significant, relevant and/or useful.

In judging the wants and needs of an audience, traditional market research does not work very well, like focus groups and surveys. Usually, those ask people to choose between predictable alternatives, like different brands of a certain product. News is harder to market-research because it changes every day.

And news may not be significant until you know about it. For example, personal safety may not be on your radar as a reader. Unless, that is, The State News has a story about muggings on campus. The news creates interest that wasn't previously there.

Journalism requires a more open-ended approach. Simply pay attention to your community and its people. Find out more about their lives. Ask about and look for broad trends. Focus on everyday people and their problems, and not big-wigs and theirs.

Try to understand how to design a news package that is comprehensive and proportional to their community, their needs and their concerns by asking yourself questions like;

What are people talking about? For example, at MSU they may be talking about how high their student loan debt will go, or whether they will have jobs after graduation.

What are they complaining about? Like tuition hikes and off-campus rent getting more expensive.

What are they doing? Like, working multiple jobs while in school, or getting out of Michigan after graduation.

Getting answers allow newspapers to design coverage that responds directly to your audience. And such coverage rings authentic with readers (because they are seeing issues being addressed that actually appear in their daily lives), who then build trust in you.