Associated Press Reporting Handbook

1
Associated Press Reporting Handbook

• Changing Media and Media Careers
• Chapter 24

2
Converging Media

• Convergence has been the buzzword of the past
  decade.
• Newspapers, magazines, radio, television and
  Internet try to incorporate a little of each into
  their presentations.
• New Media was only a cliché for a new way to sell
  the same old media, but convergence is different.

3
Versatile People

• A reporter will have to write a story for a
  newspaper or a magazine and then turn around and
  write a script because the story is going on TV
  in 10 minutes.
• Then, do it for the Web.
• Then, do it for a radio (split) broadcast.

4
Maturity, not Perfection

• Maturing in each phase of information gathering
  and presentation impresses employers.
• You are not omniscient, omnipotent nor
  omnipresent. Perfection is not the question.
• You may not be a great photographer, but you
  can take a decent photograph.

5
You are NOT Alone

• The lone wolves, and solitary investigators
  will have to adjust to a more collaborative way
  of working, joining with others to produce
  multimedia presentations.
• This can be terrifying to some people, especially
  those who have not developed skills or their
  attitude.

6
Content is King

• Newspapers, news services, radio, television and
  dot-coms are all looking for content.
• James M. Donna, AP VP for human resources
  Everybodys looking for content, and content is
  words somebodys got to write those words.

7
The Competition

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says job growth
  for reporters will be higher for online
  positions.
• In 1998, out of 67,000 reporting jobs, only 10
  percent were in magazines and news services.
• 60 percent were in newspapers and 30 percent were
  in radio and television.

8
The Outlook

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says job growth
  for reporters will increase from 78,000 in 2000
  to 80,000 by 2010.
• Consider that these are 2,000 new jobs.
  Statistics do not anticipate attrition, such as
  death and retirement.
• Donna says compensation ranges from 15,000 at
  small-town papers to more than 100,000 for
  veterans in metropolitan areas.

9
Not Bad

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows median
  income currently at 29,110.
• More applicants have degrees in other fields
  History, Political Science, Economics.
• AP Applicants have included a person with a
  medical degree and several with law degrees.
• These people will certainly earn less in
  journalism than they might as executives in other
  businesses.

10
The Calling

• People come into this business because of
  passion.
• They could be making a lot of money but they
  are working in journalism making fifty to sixty
  thousand dollars a year working nights and
  weekends.
• Its all right because its a great story.
  They feel compelled to tell the world whats
  going on. This is their calling.

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The Journalist

• And the Changing Face of the News

12
Journalists Roles

• Watchdogs
• Ombudsmen
• Critics
• Provide a Forum
• Journalists do enjoy privileges not allowed to
  all citizens -- not legally, but in fact

13
Changes in Public Affairs Reporting

• Street Reporter
• Persuader
• Crusader
• Investigator
• Exploiter
• Entertainer
• War Correspondent
• Broadcast Journalist

14
Looking Beyond Government

• Branching out from traditional public affairs
  or government meetings, journalists realized
  from fees paid by the little league ballpark,
  school employee screening programs and sexual
  abuse by priests , the public wants to know who
  is responsible -- accountable?

15
New Beats, New Viewpoints

• Social, economic and technological changes have
  shifted our news coverage and altered the beat
  system.
• Racial and Ethnic issues
• Energy crises
• Internet
• The Environment

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Limits of Traditional News Gathering

• Cause/Effect
• Event-Oriented
• Newsworthy
• timeliness
• effect
• proximity
• conflict
• prominence
• uniqueness

17
News From the Top

• Avoid the Spin
• Officials are Setting the Agenda
• manipulative
• self-serving
• Reach beyond Officialdom
• Crime reports
• Watch the Statistics

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The Myth of Objectivity

• We cant just regurgitate information
• Let the reader decide
• Important background
• Reporters knowledge
• Interpretive journalism
• Fairness and Balance
• Diverse Perspectives

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Models of Reporting

• Interpretive Reporting
• Help public understand meaning and effect of
  events
• Humanistic Reporting
• How issues and events effect the public
• Explanatory Reporting
• Why and how events occurred

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A Reporters Training

• Strong liberal arts training
• Write and communicate well
• General knowledge of economics, psychology,
  history, political science, literature and
  sociology
• Training can begin in college, but it never stops

21
Getting it Right

• The overriding compulsion to get things right
  should guide every reporters training.
• If you dont have time to get it right the first
  time, you wont have time to do it twice.
• Corrections -- complacency

22
Understandingthe System

• Each level of government has unique functions,
  procedures and terminology.
• Professions have their jargon
• Your contacts and your understanding of your beat
  can save you grief.
• Who has what kind of information, in what format
  -- who do I have to see? How do I get that
  information?

23
Putting Theoriesto Work

• Checks and balances
• Reporters need to understand the principles and
  purposes of government and their roots.
• Combine skills, knowledge, academics, training,
  ideals, ethics, voracious appetite for
  information.

24
Associated Press Reporting Handbook

• What is News?
• Chapter 2

25
News?

• It is tomorrows history. The news you write will
  define your town, city or community for years to
  come. It defines you. Is it accurate?
• It is of local importance, sometimes state,
  national and international importance.
• Fortunately, or unfortunately, news is what you
  say it is!
• Reporter, Editor, Wire Editor decide at different
  levels.

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Coverage

• In the books example, Ron Harrist has six
  reporters to cover an entire state. How does that
  work?
• Harrist has air traffic controller syndrome.
• Controlled by the clock The publishing cycle.
• Your audience, to a degree, determines what is
  news.

27
Reporting

• AP reporting is no longer at the local level.
  Precinct reporting is out for wire services.
• Your audience does not necessarily want a
  verbatim account of what happened in court.
• Louis D. Boccardi, AP president and CEO What
  the times demand is helping the reader cope with
  this flow of information which is beyond
  anybodys capacity to deal with.

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Contributions

• AP receives thousands of stories every day
  produced by individual papers, according to that
  papers standards. These are not always in good
  AP style.
• AP makes mistakes, too Examples of the 1935
  Hauptmann trial verdict 1884 Election
• 2000 election AP held firm and did not call the
  election.

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Accuracy

• if it isnt accurate, it isnt news. Its
  fiction.
• if it isnt accurate, it isnt news. Its
  fiction.
• if it isnt accurate, it isnt news. Its
  fiction.
• if it isnt accurate, it isnt news. Its
  fiction.
• if it isnt accurate, it isnt news. Its
  fiction.
• if it isnt accurate, it isnt news. Its
  fiction.
• if it isnt accurate, it isnt news. Its
  fiction.

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The End