This is a combination of two handouts given at the National IRE Conference in Phoenix. To order the complete handouts or to get a list of other available handouts, call the IRE Resource Center at (573) 882-3364. It's easy to remember to add color and life to your story when writing features about movie critics of baby names. It is harder, but no less important, to do so when writing about county government or aviation.
The following is a combination of two writing handouts given in June at the IRE National Conference in Phoenix. Not all of these tips are new, but all are worth repeating. Got data. Now what? One of the toughest things about computer- assisted reporting is that it's not enough to be a dogged reporter and a skilled user of data- base software. The best CAR work stands out in large part because the reporters have mas- tered the skill of writing compelling enterprise stories.
There are no simple recipes for effective writing in newspaper projects. But there are some tips that can serve as a guide. Hone the message Sometimes the process of reporting - ob- taining data from reluctant officials, getting it into a usable format, crunching the numbers, drawing and verifying the conclusions can be so mind-numbing that it's hard to stand back and see the significant theme that runs through your findings.
But it's this part of the process that's most crucial - you have to figure out the single important message that needs to be communicated. The best stories have a single, central theme which the data, the interviews, the documents, the examples support. Keep it simple You spent three weeks on the story, inter- viewed 50 people, examined 212 documents and put 6,000 record into a Foxpro database. You used a Pentium 133 with 32 megs of ram to crunch the data.
That's impressive and im- portant. But don't let it get in the way of telling the story. How it was done How important is it to explain to the reader how we did this wonderful computer research? I've found that it's far more helpful to separate the "How We Did This Story" from the actual reporting and writing. Ithink most readers couldn't give a flip what kind of database we used. There's nothing wrong with reporting quickly how we reached our conclusions, but save the heavy lift- ing for a sidebar inside Part A.
Nerd boxes and graphics If there's important details about how you used the data and about definitions of terms used in the story, consider breaking it out into a sepa- rate box. It will be there for those who need to know the details, but it won't deter the general reader. When using graphics, keep it simple. Highlight boxes on what you found out are ex- tremely helpful. Readers tend to look toward those first, then read the story.
Tell a Story The same people who balk at reading an eight inch story on county government will devour a 500-page John Grisham novel. When stories are "too long," it's often because writers have failed to make them compelling enough. How do you do that? Again, there's no right formula, but often the key is to use a narrative format. Narratives keep people reading by introducing believable characters and setting colorful scenes.
The best stories of this type follow the form of a novel - with a beginning, middle and end. It's not an easy thing to do in the reporting you need to nail down details of the characters, the color, the dialogue - that you might not gather in reporting a more traditional survey story. There's no excuse for embellishing the details or creating composite characters. But if you do the reporting painstak- ingly and craft the story carefully, there can be a big dividend in more readership.
The computer did most of your work, but do you have enough human faces in your report? Even the most computer literate will long for a human element to your story. The real question will be whether to include that in your main story, or break out a sidebar. There's no hard and fast rule. But having someone tell your story without the benefit of Paradox or Excel makes the story. Don't forget the basics We talk often about the nut graf at the Journal Sentinel, as most papers do.
But you would be surprised to see how often it gets buried in the story. If you're going to report proudly that bad guys are living in your neighborhood because of some bureaucratic screwup, then explain why that's important to life as we know it. Many reporters seem to get too caught up with the "gee whiz" part. Vary the tone Avoid large, uniform sections - chunks of data or extended interview segments - in the story, if possible.
To keep readers interested, mix anecdotes, key findings, data and quotes. Caution Be conservative in interpreting the data. Try to imagine all the potential counter-arguments to your central finding. Bounce it off experts. You may have to go back to the data to see if your findings and methodology are really bul- letproof. Make sure your story states promi- nently the point of view of those who can make reasonable arguments against the central find- ing.
Do you have an adequate response to your blockbuster? Are they buried in the story, or did they get their shot higher in the story? You have to find the right place in the story, and not bury it, even if they think your story is full of holes. Killer Comparisons Strive for ways to derive statistical findings that can fairly be stated in the most concrete terms. In Newsday's series last year on racial discrimination in mortgage lending, the central finding from an analysis of nearly 100,000 mortgage loans was that African-American ap- plicants are rejected nearly three times as often as whites.
That was stated prominently. But the story also brought that point home to readers: "The gap is so wide that a black applicant making more than $150,000 a year stands a greater chance of being rejected than does a white person making less than $35,000 a year." Suspense If you use the narrative form, readers will stay with the story because it keeps them in suspense about the way things will turn out.
The narrative can build momentum, propelling read- ers through the story. The End Bring it back home at the end of the story. Explain what happened to the people you wrote about at the top - or go back to the community you began writing about- or both. The last few grafs of a story can be the most powerful and can leave readers with a lasting impression. Dynamic Sometimes the data is strong and the finding so urgent, that the story works best with a hard lead, rather than an anecdotal top and narrative approach.
Go for it. Richard Galant can be reached at (516) 843- 3274, or by e-mail at rgalant@newsday.com. Don Walker can be reached at (414) 224-2051.