Other basic story forms

Covering speeches, news conferences and gov’t meetings

(and a bit of newsroom math)

Covering speeches

Speeches often produce rather

routine stories, especially

when covering the same stump

speech by a candidate for the

umpteenth time. But then

there’s the day you go to the

Conroe Kiwanis club luncheon

and hear Gregg Bingham, then

of the Houston Oilers …

Speeches, news conferences, meetings presentation

Today, we will talk about three other basic types of stories: the speech, the news conference and the meeting story. Now, just because these are common stories doesn’t mean you treat them as routine or formulaic.

Each of these story types often require a judicious use of quotes -- make sure you understand the difference between direct, indirect and partial quotes. Direct quotes add immediacy, color, credibility and emotion -- but too many direct quotes can make your story take on the form of a transcript. Partial quotes and indirect quotes can be space savers -- but their overuse can make your story appear lifeless.

PR reps are often very involved in the organizing and conducting of speech and news conference events. In addition to serving the needs of the client -- the speaker perhaps – PR reps need to fulfill the needs of the media as well.

THE SPEECH STORY

What makes a good speech?

Journalists are generally “speech coverers” not “speech givers,” so how can they judge whether a speech was effective or persuasive? Here’s some help. The ancient Greeks and Romans concluded that all public speech could be broken down into six separate parts (see handout):

1) the introduction (exordium),2) the proposition (narratio), 3) the outline of what's to follow (partilio),4) the proof (confirmatio),5) the refutation (refutatio), 6) the conclusion (peroratio).

Poynter link – What political reporters say about covering speeches http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=72092

Checklist before the speech

Prepare -- Go to the library, go online, go to your newspaper archive. Check books and magazine articles. Can you get an advance copy of the speech? Will you have to write an advance story? Background of the speaker -- Make sure you have the

right person. Background of the topic -- If you are clueless about a

speech topic, undoubtedly that will carry over into your story. Educate yourself.

Gather your materials and troops -- Will you need media credentials? Will you be bringing a photographer or another reporter who is doing a sidebar (maybe, if it’s a major address)? Bring extra pens, notebooks, tape recorder and batteries.

Know what time to be there and arrive early. Positioning can be important, especially for photographers, TV cameramen or the journalist’s ego.

What you don’t bring to a speech (unless it’s in Baghdad) ... a gun

… especially if you are

covering a speech by Ted

Kennedy or, for that

matter, any other member

of the Kennedy clan.

Checklist for writing the speech story

1. The lede should focus on the most striking or significant elements or issues addressed by the speaker. Speech and news conference stories often have a two-paragraph lede approach since the subject and attribution can make one paragraph a bit bulky. No book report ledes, please

2. If the speech coincides with a special occasion, it could be part of the story.

3. Include the audience and its reaction when it becomes newsworthy.

4. Develop the contents of the speech by summarizing the key points and arguments presented by the speaker. For the most part, you develop the speech’s contents with indirect phrasing -- but don’t fail to use direct quotes to bolster key points. This is called the concept/quotes format -- you summarize a comment or concept and then follow with a direct quote.

Quote/concept example

Concept graph: Support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appears to be diminishing on both sides of the aisle in Congress.

Quote(s): “I think he should resign immediately,” said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Her GOP counterpart, Minority Leader John Boehner, said, “It’s time for him to get out of Dodge.”

Concept graph _______________________________________________________________________________________.

Quote “______________________________________________________.”

Checklist for writing the speech story

5. Details about the speaker’s expressions, tone, hand gestures can add color to your story.

6. Include biographical information about the speaker where it fits best.

7. If there are other speakers, follow the same routine. Hang around for any Q&A.

8. Follow inverted pyramid style. Remember, a quote is a good way to end such stories.

9. As you are preparing or finishing your story, remember to fact-check and check for spin

Speech story in Pyramid Form

Speech Story Example

The news conference story

THE NEWS CONFERENCE: A checklist

Before and during the news conference:

1. Prepare (if possible). Much like with a speech story, do some research.

2. Often those staging the news conference will have an opening statement.

3. After the opening statement, it’s generally time for Q&A. You may have your own set of questions, but listen to those by your colleagues.

4. Sometimes, it is the question itself or the questioner that can become a story.

5. Cover the event -- Note the mannerisms of the main participants and audience reaction.

6. Hang around afterward. Check to see if you can interview any of the participants after the news conference.

THE NEWS CONFERENCE STORY

Writing the news conference story: A checklist

1. Determine the main topic for your lede.

2. Organize the remaining material into some sort of logical order. You may want to use a series of bullets to introduce secondary topics.

3. After the lede, follow the speech story approach for filling out the rest of the story.

The meetings story

When government entities are your “beat”

The meetings story

Reporters generally fall into two categories -- the general assignments reporter and the beat reporter. GA reporters may have to cover meetings from time to time, but for beat reporters, meetings are almost part of the job description. All kinds of governmental entities and civics organizations have regular meetings, and if that agency or group is part of your “beat,” then you will likely be going to their meetings. It’s a good idea to keep a calendar that indicates what agency meets when.

THE MEETINGS STORY

Texas Open Meetings ActThere are a lot of rules and laws that dictate how governmental entities conduct their meetings. Some overviews of the Texas Open Meetings Act can be found at:

http://www.burger.com/omindex.htm

http://www.tml.org/legal_pdf/2006TXOpenMtngAct.pdf

Easy Guide to the Texas Public Meetings/Records Act:

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/publications.shtml

Meetings stories: agenda examples

North Forest ISD (pdf) handout: Note that much of the meeting is in closed session for the discussion of personnel matters (the renewal or non-renewal of educator contracts)

HISD board meeting (pdf) handout: HISD board agendas are much more complex. The agenda in the handout includes a sample of additional documentation related to item D-7 on the itinerary. Note that some agenda items are somewhat routine, such as renaming a facility (item D-5), but others are higher profile, such as the repairs to Key Middle School (item F-3). HISD board meetings can easily take three hours, says Chronicle reporter Ericka Mellon.

THE MEETINGS STORY

Here are several items to note:

1. Notice of a meeting -- with time, place and subject -- must be made 72 hours in advance of the meeting. For emergency meetings, only two hours notice is required.

2. Quorums are defined as a “majority of the members of the board who are authorized to vote.” If you have nine folks on a school board and five of them sit together at a football game to discuss a pay raise for the football coach, that’s a quorum and that would be an illegal meeting.

3. Open session vs. closed -- State law lists the topics for which a governmental body can go into discussions that are closed to the public. There are exceptions and some of them are somewhat hazy.

Covering a government beat – tipsHere are some crucial factors and practical principles for any

reporter on a government beat:

1. Information is power. The person within a government who knows what makes it tick and where the bodies are buried is the person you need to get to know.

2. The budget is the blueprint. The money trail will tell you many things. How the money comes in and where it goes are important areas for you to keep an eye on.

3. Distributing money and power is called politics. Politics provides the mechanism through which limited resources are allocated to competing groups. The maneuvering to get the money can be entertaining, as well as newsworthy.

A lede to avoid

As submitted by a student in a colleague’s class:

On March 5, 2007 the city of Sugar Land conducted

their Regular Business Meeting and Zoning Workshop.

Items discussed in this meeting were, consideration of

an amendment to the United Health Care

Administrative Services Agreement, teachers paying

for their meals on school sponsored trips and then

being reimbursed later, and parents concerns about

bus routines. (second sentence has 37 words)

Covering a government beat – tips

A handy guide for journalists on a government beat is Covering Government: A Civics Handbook for Journalists by Rob Armstrong, a former CBS correspondent.

Before and during the meeting: A checklist

1. Governmental agencies are required to post meeting agendas in a public place, and mail them to anyone who requests them. Will you need to do an advance story?

2. On meeting day, prepare as you would for the speech story and news conference. Remember to cover the event as well.

3. Interview the participants after the meeting for additional comments or explanation.

Covering a government beat – tips

Writing the meetings story

1. Again, rank the topics by newsworthiness. Never, never, never begin a meetings story with something like: “The Conroe City Council met Thursday to discuss ….”

2. Note that the reaction to the action(s) taken could be just as newsworthy as the action itself.

3. Make use of the concept / quotes format for handling the main topic and sub-topics. Secondary topics that require some length to develop or explain could be turned into sidebars.

Covering a government beat – tips

Writing the meetings story

4. Consider the bulleted items technique as an option for handling more routine items.

5. Remember that you writing for the reader; not for the government body.

6. Writing for readers handout.

7. ONLINE: Covering News Events:

www.snn-rdr.ca/snn/nr_reporterstoolbox/covering-ws.html

The government beat – budgets

BUDGETS AND MATH

Covering government meetings or those beats will require

that you learn something about budgets. Since budgets

have numbers, you will need a small dose of newsroom

math.

-- Deciphering Budgets – tips from UH Prof. Ted Stanton

-- Newsroom math: handout

First, let’s check YOUR math skills …

NEWSROOM MATH

Take out a sheet of paper and do the following:

A. Write down a number between 1 and 10, inclusive of those numbers.

B. Multiply that number by 2

C. Add 8

D. Divide by 2E. Subtract your original number from the dividend obtained in answer D

F. Apply that new number to a corresponding letter in the alphabet; for instance, if your answer was 10, then write down the letter J

G. Write down the name of a country that begins with the letter in answer F

H. Go to the next letter in the alphabet and write down a mammal that begins with that letter (example: M for monkey)

I. Note the color of your mammal.

J. Now concentrate on the country, the animal and the color of the creature. Keep the mental image going for as long as you can.

Some common types of math for journalists

Average -- add up the numbers in a series and divide by the sum of the

numbers in the series. Example: 67 74 89 90 100 = 420. Divided by 5 gives an average of 84.

Median -- the middle number in a series that is arranged in ascending order. From the previous example, the median is 89. But in this series -- 67 74 83 89 90 100 -- the median is 86 (the midpoint between the middle two numbers, 83 and 89).

Mean -- the dividend between the highest and lowest numbers in a series or group. Using the first example: 67 + 100 = 167. Divided by 2 = 83.5.

Percentages -- The part divided by the whole x 100. Say you have a city with 200,000 residents and 10,000 are jobless. What is the percentage of jobless folks? 10,000 divided by 200,000 = .05 x 100 = 5 percent.

Percentage increase/decrease -- Take the NEW number and subtract the OLD number, divide that result by the OLD number and multiply by 100. Using the previous example, lets say the jobless figure grows to 15,000. The percentage of jobless becomes 7.5 percent. What is the percentage increase? 15,000 (new number) minus 10,000 (old) = 5,000. Divided by 10,000 (old) = .50 x 100 = a 50 percent increase

Danger areas

Note that the difference between 5 percent and 7.5 percent is 2.5 percentage points -- not 2.5 percent. That 50 percent increase translates to 5,000 human beings. This is where spin comes in: When talking about their record, which figure would a mayoral incumbent prefer to be used for the jobless numbers -- 50 percent, 5,000 or 2.5 percentage points?

Also, be aware that a 200 percent increase is not the same as “double.” It’s a 100 percent increase that is actually the figure that is twice the size of the previous number.

Tax rates

Government bodies get revenue from a variety of sources -- grants, utility bills, franchise fees (such as cable TV), fines, user fees (parks), sales tax, bonds etc. But the primary source for most entities is from taxes levied on commercial and residential properties.

Texas law requires that the actual appraised value of the property, not some assessed value, be used in the property tax equation. County appraisal districts provide property values to all of the governmental bodies in that county. The government body -- a school board, city council, utility district, fire department district etc. -- sets a tax rate, which is then applied to every $100 of the property’s appraised value. In your stories, the style for referring to tax rates is: The board approved a tax rate of $1.12 per $100 value.

Tax rates

When doing stories about budgets and tax rates, provide the reader with an example of how the tax rate will affect the average homeowner. Appraisal districts can tell what the average price is for a home in a particular community.

Example: Let’s say you have a $120,000 home in Katy

Katy ISD tax rate is $1.10 per $100 value. 120,000 divided by 100 = 1,200 x 1.10 = $1,320 that you owe Katy ISD

City of Katy tax rate is 95 cents per $100 value. 120,000 divided by 100 = 1,200 x .95 = $1,140 that you owe the city of Katy

Note that commercial and residential tax rates may differ. Also note that a variety of tax exemptions could reduce the amount owed.

Newsroom math: Handouts

Common math problems for journalists (on previous slide)

AP style guide for using numbers

Guide for dealing with rates

Exercise

ALVIN COUNCIL MEETING

A. Make up name of the cop (creativity appreciated)

B. Use quotes as needed

C. Note that it’s only a proposed budget, not in final form. The council (which is an it, not a they) took no action at this time.

D. Do the math on the taxes; check the percentages

E. Get the news in the lede; use the pocketbook issues (taxes going down but utility rates going up) or the conflict (threat of a police strike) or both if you can pull it off.

F. Ending could be quote or the what’s next element.

G. Write seven to 12 graphs or so; remember to double space