Speeches, News Conferences and Meetings

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Speeches, News Conferences and Meetings

• We need a press thats dedicated to the watchdog
  role. We dont need a pipe organ for government
  and politicians.
• - Mike Peterson, cartoonist Tribune Media Services

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Thomas Jefferson

• Were it left to me to decide whether we should
  have a government without newspapers, or
  newspapers without a government, I should not
  hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
• - 1787

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6 Coaching Tips

• Do your homework. Check clips and online sources
  for background.
• Listen for what the speaker doesnt discuss. Ask
  questions to find answers that the readers still
  want.
• Did the most interesting info come in prepared
  comments or afterward? Lead with that info.
• Try to get as many good quotes as possible.
  Favor full quotes over partial ones.
• Use graphics as a writing tool.
• Write a highlights boxto accompany your story or
  to organize the story.

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Mark Fagan

• Comments officials make during a meeting are for
  public posturing.
• Best quotes come when meeting ends.
• Get additional quotes from members of the public
  too.
• Write advance stories.
• Reporters are there for the readers.
• Find out what an item on the agenda really means.

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JesusHimself

• Not even divine intervention could help a
  proposal to expand an East Lawrence electric shop
  onto vacant lots next door.
• During their meeting Tuesday night, Lawrence city
  commissioners denied a request from Patchen
  Electric Industrial Supply Inc. to expand its
  47-year-old business at 602 E. Ninth onto two
  lots zoned for apartments.
• In the end, the request never had a prayer.
• If Jesus Christ himself wanted to expand his
  carpenters shop in East Lawrence, we would
  respectfully request that he find another area
  that is more appropriate, Commissioner Jo
  Anderson said after the meeting.

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Media Manipulation

• Sources often use speeches, news conferences and
  meetings to further their own causes.
• Reporters need to ask good questions.
• Add opposing points of view balanced coverage.
• Alisa Cooper

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Preparation

• Need to do more than repeat what you heard.
• Advanced text doesnt always match actual
  comments.
• Jot down reactions from the audience and speaker.
• Get an aisle seat.
• If someone asks a good question, follow that
  person out of the room.

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Stories about Speeches

• Basic Info
• Size of audience.
• Location of the speech.
• Reason for the speech.
• Highlights of the speech, including good quotes.
• Reaction of the audience, especially at dramatic
  points during the speech.

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Basic Facts

• Dont clutter the top of the story with the basic
  info.
• Write the story, just as you would any other good
  news story.
• Hard or soft lead.
• Avoid no news lead someone gave a speech.

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No News Lead

• Students from Gay and Lesbian Services spoke
  yesterday to a psychology class about their lives
  and experiences.

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Speeches

• Speaker dont usually make their strongest points
  first and follow chronological orderso why write
  your story in that order?
• Put most emotional or news worthy items first.
• Back up with quotes and supporting points.

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Whats Happening

• Most interesting info can happen away from the
  speech.
• Major reactions.
• Protests.

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The Other Stuff

• Five gay-rights activists were arrested Saturday
  after disrupting a speech by U.S. Rep. William
  Dannemeyer at a seminar on The preservation of
  the Homosexual Ethic.

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Storytelling Techniques

• Zev Kedem huddled in silence with his
  grandparents in a pigeon coup above his familys
  apartment while soldiers searched for them. His
  grandparents were prepared to swallow vials of
  poison as the soldiers tried the metal door they
  hid behind. And the soldiers went on.

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News Conferences

• Questions reporters ask are often more important
  than prepared comments.
• Basic Info
• Person who conducted news conf.
• Reason for news conf. and background.
• Highlights of news, including responses to
  questions.
• Location, if relevant.
• Reaction from sources with similar and opposing
  points of view.

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Cincinnati Riots

• CincinnatiThe mayor declared a state of
  emergency and announced a citywide curfew as
  riots over the police shooting of an unarmed
  black man stretched into a fourth day today.
• Story continued on pages
• 370-371.

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Meetings

• Decisions made by local government officials
  affect readers daily lives.
• These decisions are made at meetings.
• Local news is near the top of the list of the
  kinds of stories readers want.

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Meeting Stories

• Sometimes written in a dull fashion.
• As a result, readers stop after the lead.

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Making Meeting Stories Interesting

• Need impact whats the significance for readers.
• Write with flair.
• Decisions must be made public, even if they are
  made in executive session.

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Understanding the System

• What authority does that body have?
• Zoning Boards most of its decisions go to city
  council next.
• Need to explain system and next step in your
  story.

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Donald Joe Peak
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Outhouses
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Writing Advances

• Pre-meeting stories can be more important than
  post-meeting stories.
• Alerts voters and tax payers about what is being
  considered.
• Scan agendas carefully.
• Call Board members ahead of time and ask for
  comments.

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Temple University Advance

• For the first time in its 107-year history,
  Temple University may require all undergraduates
  to take a course related to race and racism.
• The proposal, which grew out of black students
  demonstrations at Temple, is to be debated by the
  schools faculty senate on Friday.
• Among the faculty, however, the proposal has
  already sparked intense discussion. The debate
  mirrors that of other campusesincluding
  Stanford, Wisconsin, Michigan and Berkeleywhere
  courses related to race are required.

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Covering the Meeting

• Arrive Early.
• Find out names of Board members and who is in
  charge.
• Ask Board members and community leaders if you
  can talk to them after the meeting.

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Covering the Meeting

• Check items on the agenda.
• Consent Agendaitems approved without discussion.
• Follow members of the public.
• Stay for the whole meeting (unless deadline
  prevents it).

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Writing the Story

• Impact, Impact, and More Impact.
• Dont tell readers how long meeting was or how
  much you suffered.

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Writing the Story

• Type of meeting and location
• The vote on any major issue
• The next step
• Impact on readers
• Quotes
• Background on the issues

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Type of Meeting and Location

• If the city council always meets in the same
  place, you dont need to mention it.

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The Vote on Any Major Issues

• In a 4-1 vote
• Controversial say who voted for each side.
• Dont need vote for minor issues.

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Next Step

• If it cant be adopted until a public hearing,
  tell the readers when and where the hearing will
  be.

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Impact

• Explain how the decision will affect readers.

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Quotes

• Dramatic.
• Interesting.
• Crucial.

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Background

• What do readers need to know to understand what
  happened?

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Meeting Stories

• May need multiple stories.
• May need a second day lead.
• Focus on major news, but include other items in
  an in other business section.

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Final Writing Tips

• Use tell-a-friend technique.
• Kiss-off technique block comments from a single
  speaker in one part of the story.
• Exception mayor or similar official.

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Style

• Board collective noun that takes a singular
  verb. The board discussed the issue at its
  meeting.
• Capitalize if its part of a proper name Atlantic
  City City Council.
• Capitalize titles of board members if before name
  such as Mayor Robert Levy.
• Votes 3-1, not 3 to 1.

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• Art took a tumble Thursday when the Visual Arts
  Commission agreed to move a sculpture of two nude
  women and a nude man to another site.After
  months of protests and political maneuvering by
  religious conservatives, the commission accepted
  an offer to move the sculpture, known as
  Triangle, to the Benson Sculpture Park to end the
  conflict. "I hope this resolves the issue,"
  said Jim Baldwin, the commission's former
  chairman who resigned after the City Council
  discussed taking the commission's autonomy away
  on buying and siting art.The 7-foot-tall bronze
  sculpture, the work of noted artist Kirstin
  Kokkin, shows one of the women and the man
  holding the second woman aloft to represent
  humanity helping humanity.Triangle, placed in a
  roundabout at Sculptor Drive, drew fury from
  parents dropping off children at a new charter
  school nearby and a new Abiding Love Lutheran
  Church that's going up on the route.

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6 Coaching Tips

• Do your homework. Check clips and online sources
  for background.
• Listen for what the speaker doesnt discuss. Ask
  questions to find answers that the readers still
  want.
• Did the most interesting info come in prepared
  comments or afterward? Lead with that info.
• Try to get as many good quotes as possible.
  Favor full quotes over partial ones.
• Use graphics as a writing tool.
• Write a highlights boxto accompany your story or
  to organize the story.