METHODS OF GATHERING NEWS
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Recognize the most commonly used methods of gathering Navy
news.
The four most commonly used methods in news gathering used by Navy journalists are
observation, telephone conversations, research and interviews.
OBSERVATION
Observation consists of your actually seeing an event take place and then reporting what
you have seen in the form of a news story. The difference between a good story and a poor
one is often in the skill of the observer. Skilled observers use their eyes, ears, mind,
notebooks and tape recorders. They make sure they get the concrete facts, specific figures
and accurate information. They look for the colorful, the dramatic or the unusual in any
situation.
Skilled observers always try to get more information than they actually need. They know
it is easier to discard excess material than to retrace their steps after the story is cold.
Developing your powers of observation can come only through experience. You cannot
become a skilled observer by simply reading a book. The key to becoming a good observer
is to look for more than you see on the surface.
TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS
The telephone plays an important role in your daily work as a journalist. It saves you time,
legwork and it often enables you to reach people who are ordinarily too busy to see you in
person.
Telephone conversations may range from full-scale interviews to brief queries to verify or
amplify information. But regardless of how often you use this method of news gathering,
you should keep the following points in mind:
l Know what information you want before you dial. Keep your pencil and paper handy. Do
not call someone and then ask that person to wait while you look for writing materials.
l Speak politely indistinct, well-modulated tones.
l Be cheerful and businesslike.
l Make sure you get your facts straight. Ask the other person to repeat figures or spell out
names.
l Avoid three-way conversations among yourself, the person on the telephone and
somebody else in your office.
l Recheck your information by reading it back to the person who has given it to you.
l Record the conversation using a "telephone pick-up" (a device that attaches to the
telephone receiver and plugs into the microphone jack of the cassette tap recorder). Be
sure to inform the person on the other end that you are recording the conversation for
note-taking purposes only.
l Do not discuss classified information.
Although a telephone is a very useful instrument, remember it is not the only, and not
necessarily the best, method of gathering news. It should supplement, but not replace, all
other methods. Whenever it is proper and convenient, use the telephone, but do not be
afraid to engage in a little legwork
RESEARCH
Research is nothing more than digging out information from files and reference works.
Research is used to verify or amplify facts in news stories and to give depth to feature
stories and magazine articles. Very few
Navy public affairs offices have adequate reference libraries. To do any extensive research,
learn to use the facilities of the nearest Navy, public or college library. Here you can find
the necessary books, encyclopedias, almanacs, magazines, atlases, directories, indexes and
similar References. The Naval Historical Center (OP-09BH), Washington, D.C., is a good
source of additional information about the Navy.
INTERVIEWS
About 90 percent of everything in a news story is based on some form of
interviewing - either in person, by telephone, or occasionally, by correspondence.
As a Navy journalist in search of information, you must learn who to get information from
and how to record facts. You must learn techniques for handling different kinds of
people - how to draw some out, how to keep others on the topic and how to evaluate the
motives or honesty of others. In short, you must learn how to get along with people and
how to treat them with tact and understanding while still accomplishing your purpose.
Types of Interviews
A distinction must be made between news stories that are merely based on interviews and
actual interview stories. Very seldom is a journalist present at the scene of an accident as
it takes place - for example, at a collision between two automobiles. A story of this type
must be based entirely on interviews - either in person or by telephone - with the police,
with eyewitnesses, with the victims themselves, and depending upon the gravity of the
accident, with the garage mechanics, hospital attendants, relatives of the victims and
others.
In news stories of this kind, the journalist is concerned with a news event that requires
interviewing people to learn the facts. The interview story, on the other hand, is
essentially a feature built around the views, personality or exploits of an individual or
group of individuals. The difference, in most cases, is largely in the emphasis. In writing
the interview-based news story, you stress the news, whereas in the interview story, you
place the stress on the person being interviewed.
Interviews are as varied as the people who grant them, the journalists who conduct them
and the news that suggests them. Rarely are interviews so mechanical that they can be
reduced to standard formulas or categories. Several types, however, deserve special
attention because they are the ones that occur most frequently. They are as follows:
News interview
Telephone interview
Casual interview
Personality interview
Symposium interview
News conference
Prepared question interview
NEWS INTERVIEW. - The news interview is based on "hard news," some event or
development of current and immediate interest. Suppose you are a journalist assigned to
the staff of Commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMNAVAIRLANT), and a
new supercarrier has been launched for the Navy. Later, you learn the earner will be
assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, and you are assigned to write the story. The original news
announcement released by the shipyard or naval authorities would most likely contain
only the broad, straight facts - cost, size and construction details.
A story of this scope is of major interest to the local community of the supercarrier's home
port. Media want more information than is offered in the initial report. By interviewing
competent news sources, such as key officers on COMNAVAIRLANT's staff, and asking
well-defined, carefully considered questions, you can localize, illuminate, expand and add
depth to the original story. When will the ship be commissioned? How will the ship's
presence affect the local economy? What will its mission be? When is it expected to join
the fleet? To which carrier division will it be assigned? Will there be a flag officer
embarked? Has a prospective CO been selected? How will this new carrier strengthen our
national defense effort?
In any interview, try to speak to the best authority available. Do not settle for the supply
clerk if the information you need should come from the CO.
TELEPHONE INTERVIEW. - The telephone interview, a modified version of the news
interview, has a number of obvious advantages, and at the same time, it has several
limitations that challenge a resourceful journalist. Ingenuity and clear thinking are
sometimes needed to locate a news source when a big story breaks; the power of
persuasion is often necessary to elicit information from a reluctant person who can easily
hang up the receiver, and a sympathetic telephone voice is important when you are talking
to a family where tragedy has struck
CASUAL INTERVIEW. - An accidental encounter between a journalist and a news source
on the street or at a social gathering can often result in a tip that arouses the curiosity of a
writer. A major news story may be the result after you do some digging.
PERSONALITY INTERVIEW. - In the personality interview an effort is made to let the
reader see the appearance, mannerisms, background and even the character of the
subject. Magazines like the New Yorker have developed this type of interview, called "a
profile," into a high art not easily attained by daily newspapers under the pressure of
deadlines. However, with preliminary research on an interviewee's background,
intelligent planning of questions and skillful interviewing, a good journalist can let a
person's words and mannerisms bring that individual vividly to life in an interesting
newspaper feature story.
SYMPOSIUM INTERVIEW. - From time to time, news developments of current interest
require a journalist or a team of journalists to seek information not from one or two
sources but from a dozen, or perhaps a hundred or more. For example, which of the two
presidential candidates in the television debate made the best impression on the public?
How do the residents of a city feel about their football team winning the Super Bowl? For
some stories - as in a pre-election poll - all of the techniques of a scientific opinion
sampling may be required. In other instances, reactions and comments may result in a
lively feature story. Depending on the subject, the symposium (or group) interview may
bring out opinions of importance, entertainment or merely the views of the "man on the
street" on some subject of general interest.
NEWS CONFERENCE. - In recent years, an increasingly popular phenomenon of journalism
has developed - the news conference. By presenting news conferences "live" on television,
President Kennedy raised them to one of the most potent forces in the public exchange of
opinion between the people and their government. For close to 70 years, in a different
format, the news conference has been an important source of news. The person
interviewed at a news conference may be the President of the United States, the Chief of
Naval Operations, a senior government official, the manager of a big league team, a movie
star plugging a new motion picture or any other person promoting what is believed to be a
news story of interest to the public. As in every interview story, preliminary groundwork
pays off; a knowledge of the interviewee's background is indispensable. During the
interview, an alertness to story possibilities often leads to unexpected results.
Additional details on news conferences are covered later in this chapter.
sources of news in journalism and importance of news sources
Anything that provides news information for a period of time is said to be a news source.
News sources can be a moving person or still documents. Such as people who have
witnessed the crime would come to the news source or documents found at the suicide
crime spot would be considered as a news source. There are several news sources such as
official documents, governmental officials, witnesses of the crime scene, the victim itself
etc. News sources are required for the both, the journalists and for the audiences. Here we
are going to discuss the news sources for both.
In earlier days many rulers used the technique of drum beat to convey their message
through different people or his officials and many rulers carved their messages on the
walls or rocks to deliver their message. Later in the modern world, all these news sources
were eliminated and then press took new elements of news sources. In today’s world, we
can see there are totally different news sources. Such as televisions, radio, press release,
press conference, newspapers, press interviews, institutions such as hospitals, schools,
colleges, police stations etc.
These are the news sources which are prominent in today’s time:
1. Radio: It is an audio medium used by many in today’s time. We can see people are
relying on Radio as a source of information. Radio is prominent and seen in both
rural and urban areas. People in rural who cannot afford television rely on radio as it
is cheap. If we talk about urban areas where we do not see many using radio at their
houses instead they listen in their cars. Over decades radio has gained popularity and
is said is a good source of news.
2. Television: television telecasts their news on television through which other
newspaper takes there sources. It is said to be the most authentic source of news as it
has visuals to establish the authenticity. Television helps and provides newspapers to
give detailed information to the audience but television news just doesn’t act as the
source to the newspaper but also the audience itself.
3. Newspapers and magazines: these two also act as a good source of news.
Newspaper on both the levels national and international provides the best
information in details. The newspaper has 5W’s and 1H which gives all the significant
information at the starting of the news and further deals with the minor details and
same is done in the magazines.
4. Press release: Press Releases are generally used for the release of a particular news.
The Press Release should contain worthwhile material which has some news value. A
Press Release should be written in a journalistic style and provide facts and
information of interest to readers and should cover all aspects of a specific subject.
The release should be on current subject and a piece of clear writing without any
ambiguity, color or ornamentation but it should at the same time not be generally
lengthy.
5. Press notes: The press notes are less formal in character. These are also issued on
important official matters e.g. raising or lowering of tariff rates, price fixation of food
grains, subsidy announcement of seeds, fertilizer etc. Apart from the name of
department, place and date, a press note mentions headings. Unlike the press
communiqué, the newspaper can edit or condense the press notes.
6. Handouts: The handouts are issued on a variety of subjects like the day-to-day
activities of the ministry or departments, VIP speeches, question and answers in
Parliament or legislature and the developmental programmes of government
departments. It covers the name of the PIB or information department. No official
handout is issued, if the minister or a government official has spoken in his personal
capacity.
7. Press statement: the statements are usually given by known people, then he shares
his statement with media and later this becomes press statement.
8. Police station: every event which is of big concern to the police station would be
firstly found in the police station. If the reporter wants to know about a crime scene
he would get first-hand information from there.
In journalism, a source is a person, publication, or knowledge other record or
document that gives timely information. Outside journalism, sources are sometimes
known as "news sources". Examples of sources include but are not limited to official
records, publications or broadcasts, officials in government or business,
organizations or corporations, witnesses of crime, accidents or other events, and
people involved with or affected by a news event or issue.
According to Shoemaker (1996) and McQuail (1994), there are a multitude of
factors that tend to condition the acceptance of sources as bona fide by investigative
journalists. Reporters are expected to develop and cultivate sources, especially if
they regularly cover a specific topic, known as a "beat". Beat reporters must,
however, be cautious of becoming too close to their sources. Reporters often, but
not always, give greater leeway to sources with little experience. For example,
sometimes a person will say they don't want to talk, and then proceed to talk; if that
person is not a public figure, reporters are less likely to use that information.
Journalists are also encouraged to be skeptical without being cynical, as per the
saying "If your mother says she loves you, check it out," popularized by the City
News Bureau of Chicago.[1] As a rule of thumb, but especially when reporting on
controversy, reporters are expected to use
