Transcript Chapter 17 Advanced Reporting

Chapter 17
Advanced Reporting
Fedler, Bender, Davenport and Drager
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Journalists seem to believe that
democratic politics, which alone
underwrites their craft, is a selfperpetuating machine that can withstand
any amount of undermining. They are
wrong.
 (James Carey, journalism educator)
Five Categories in
Advanced Reporting
In-depth stories
 Statistical material
 Informal polls
 Computer-assisted reporting
 Converging media
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Using Statistics
Transform those numbers into words, or
your reader’s eyes will glaze over.
 Statistics are excellent evidence and build
credibility when used properly.
 Relying too heavily on raw numbers,
however, will be confusing.
 Explain what the numbers mean. If you
have a 2% increase in property tax, how
much is that for the average home.

Use a range of property values and show
the reader how much more she is going to
have to pay.
 This will buttress the humanity of the
story. How will the reader be affected?
 If you write about trends, make sure you
consider how demographics will alter
these trends – age, sex, race and religion.
 Make sure the statistics are aimed at a
target dealing with a human element.

In elections, statistics can help voters
understand into which demographic they
fit, as well as see demographically who is
opposition.
 Bloc votes are identified by appropriate
use of statistics – ethnic group – gender
group – conservative or liberal.
 The Landslides are revealed.
 When using statistics, keep it simple and
remember they can be deceiving.

A mayor wants more taxes, so he tells the
media and employees the tax revenue is
up only 2%, while employee insurance
paid by the city is up 15%.
 2% of tax revenue is $2 billion
 15% of employee insurance rate is only
$120,000.
 Percentages are all relative.
 Traffic deaths can easily increase 100% in
a year in a small town – if only one person
died last year.

Who really said, "There are lies, damned
lies, and statistics" Mark Twain or
Benjamin Disraeli?
 Joel Best, professor of sociology at the
University of Delaware, settles the
question once and for all: Disraeli (whom
Twain credits for his use of the remark in
his autobiography).
 The quote's misattribution is similar to the
twisted course statistics often take as they
"mutate" into chart monsters with slim
relation to original numbers, or reality.
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Conducting Informal Polls
How was the survey conducted?
 How were the people chosen?
 How were the questions worded and
ordered?
 The sample may be chosen by nonprobability or by probability sampling
methods.
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Non-probability sampling methods
include all those in which respondents are
selected without randomness, without
the requirement that every person in the
population have an equal chance of being
interviewed.
 One type of non-probability sample is the
available sample, in which the
interviewers choose as respondents
people who are readily accessible.
In choosing a volunteer sample,
interviewers select volunteers to survey.
 For a quota sample, the interviewers
choose respondents based on prearranged
categories of characteristics, such as 50
men and 50 women for a specific quota.
 To make up a purposive sample, the
interviewers select respondents from
subgroups in the population because they
have specific characteristics or qualities.
For instance, only those people who say
they eat yogurt
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Probability sampling methods allow the
researcher a better chance of accurately
choosing representative respondents.
 It is the only method that makes it
possible to estimate the amount of error
that the sample will produce.
 A random sample is the result of a
probability sampling method. The term
random does not suggest haphazardness.
 A random sample is set up
systematically, so that every member of
the population being studied has an equal
chance of being included in the sample.
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So, the unreliability of an informal
poll is understood.
 Some news organizations contract
with professional pollsters.
 Press-Register / USA Poll.
 Informal polls are still interesting
and enable reporters to localize
issues in the news.
 The best use is to summarize trends
or highlight them.
 Identify everyone quoted in a poll
story, and quote only those who say
something unusual or important.

Using Computers to get Answers
Twenty years ago, only national or large
regional newspapers were using
computers to help spot trends and
patterns in the information they gathered.
 More than 95% of newspapers today use
computers as reporting tools.
 Databases are nothing new, but computerassisted reporting has opened many more
of them to the public.

Looking for sources – experts and ordinary
people to interview
 Looking for ideas for new messages (news
stories, advertisements, etc.)
 Looking for examples of the conventional
wisdom or the current "take" on a topic
that is the subject of the message being
prepared
 Finding background information about a
topic, about potential audience members,
about previous messages on that subject,
etc.

Locating statistics and checking facts
 Getting or creating data sets for in-house
analysis (census data, demographic and
psychographic data, government files,
etc.)
 Looking for key source or foundational
documents
 Looking for public records
 Data-crunching tools allow reporters
and editors to do their own analysis of
files created by others.
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Access
ACT
Gold Mine
Alpha
Approach
Paradox
FoxPro
Computer-assisted reporting does not
replace good, old-fashioned reporting
skills.
These are just tools to provide reporters
with more access to information that the
public needs.
Converging Media
Convergence forces us to be flexible,
versed in new technology for print,
broadcast and Internet.
 To prepare for the future, learn to adapt
the information you gather for
presentation in a variety of ways – or
number of platforms.
 Write well, take decent digital photos,
practice your broadcast voice and practice
with some video cameras.
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Checklist for Using Statistics
Verify your information and source
 Make the important or unusual aspect of
the statistics your story’s point
 Be concise – help readers understand
 Look for interesting links, but don’t claim
causation, unless you have PROOF.
 Let the numbers speak for themselves. No
editorializing, please.

Checklist for Using Polls
Use open-ended questions and try to get
specifics.
 Make the lead specific.
 Don’t shift too quickly to quotes.
 Look for trends.
 Write strong transition.
 Do not criticize responses.
 Do not imply an informal poll can be
generalized to the entire population.
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