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Research. When the call comes in the middle of the night, a fireman only has to put on his pants and extinguish the flames






When the call comes in the middle of the night, a fireman only has to put on his pants and extinguish the flames. A correspondent must tell a million people who struck the match and why.

Mort Rosenblum of Associated Press

Let’s start with the basics, and you can’t get more basic than the physical tools needed to do the job of research. Time was when the only supplies a reporter required was any old notebook and any old pen. Not any more. Today, you need a mobile phone, lap-top computer, a digital camera (useful for recording a person or scene you may later want to describe in your story), and, maybe an electronic organiser or Blackberry. You will also want to have the following old-fashioned items:

Notebooks: You need two: one, as small as will slip discreetly from pocket or handbag when out working face to face with people; the second, as large as possible for working on the telephone from your office. The big size will mean you can take notes a lot better and will not have to keep pausing to turn the page. And get a spiral-bound one, not a stapled or gum-bound one. The pages turn, lie flat and can be torn out without the whole thing falling to pieces.

Tape recorder: Tape recorders are at their best for face-to-face interviews and, with the right leads and connections, for recording telephone interviews, the contents of which may be contested later on. (In all but the most special circumstance – like investigating criminality – you should tell the person they are being recorded.) But even in interviews with a tape recorder, a notebook should be used as well: to jot down your observations, and to record the highlights of what is said, consulting the tape only for confirmation of detailed facts and precise quotes.

Contacts book: Every reporter should maintain a detailed book of contacts’ phone numbers. It can be a ring-bound notebook or an electronic organiser – but make a copy of its contents. one day you will lose it; I guarantee that.

And also one piece of practical, mental equipment:

REsEARCH 51

Shorthand: unless you are the only human being on the planet who can write as fast as people speak, you will find shorthand invaluable, if not essential. Tape recorders break down, their batteries suddenly fade and there are a lot of circumstances, like press conferences, street interviews, etc., where it is simply not possible to get a usable result. There are also an awful lot of people who will say far more to you if they are not being intimidated by a recorder. An even greater number will soon tire of the reporter who keeps asking them to repeat things so they can be taken down in longhand.

so much for the means of research; now for the finding out.

You don’t have to edit and judge news stories for very long before one thing becomes apparent: the most common reason why stories fail is not bad writing, duff quotes or poor construction, it is inadequate research. In reporting, no amount of fancy phrases will disguise that. You either have the raw material, or you don’t.

If you do, then you have the means to write a clear account, free of any gaps, with a strong original angle, some lively examples or anecdotes and a sense of perspective. Your story can be tight and solid, with no loose writing because there is no need to pad it out.

If you don’t have the raw material, then your story will be fuzzy and uncertain, with some holes where information or explanations should be. It will be waffly, stale and lifeless. At best it will be what news executives call ‘a trot round the block’, meaning that it is a mere tour of the story’s more obvious and familiar points. And too many stories are not merely ‘research lite’, they also lack any kind of intellectual depth. This is not just because of a failure of ambition by the reporter or news desk, but a failure to apply intelligence as well. To do good research, you should be constantly asking yourself: what is the real story here? Try and find out the why, as well as the what, where, who and how.

so what do you have to do to get that good material? First you have to know, broadly, what you are looking for. second, you have to know where to get it, or at least where or who to ask. Let’s assume you’re going to research a substantial news story for your paper.


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