On my path to becoming a freelance journalist, there are a few key ideas I’ve struck upon that I think are tacitly acknowledged as some of the main working methods in journalism. These ideas are tools that help them find news in things that don’t look like news.
Sometimes, what happened was thrilling already, so there’s no work to do as a journalist except to write it down. These working methods are for when that isn’t the case. These are the methods that make people dislike journalists. This is the art of putting a spin on it.
The first idea is to recognise that you’re writing a story. A story is different from a dry account of the facts. A story has a cast, a setting, a plot and dialogue. You are still representing the facts, but you’re making a story out of them, because people prefer stories over dry facts.
The second idea is to map out the cast. Who are the agonists? Who are the heroes and villains? Who are the victims?
The third idea is to start writing the plot and the dialogue. Who did or said what first? How did the other characters react? How did it affect the victims? What’s moving in this story?
The fourth idea is tension. Suppose you’re attending a seminar and it’s fairly dull, but one of the speakers — who is somewhat important or famous — introduces a somewhat controversial idea. That’s an act he carried out. “Famous person X claims that Y.” and that’s your agonist — the aggressor. Now you must find the antagonist who wants to get in his way. Maybe he doesn’t know about this provocateur yet, but somebody’s got to tell him, and it might as well be you!
The fifth idea is conclusions. What happens now? What broader implications does this have? Is this a part of some larger movement or development? Finally, when can we expect to hear more about it?
Your job as a writer isn’t to write an account. You’re not filling out a spreadsheet. Even the most factual of writing ultimately needs to engage the reader. They’re here to read your text. It’s story time and you’ve got to pull them in. Sometimes, you have to gently pull some strings. Not enough that the fundamental elements of the story become false. That’s fabrication. Just enough to expose the tension that was right under the surface all along. Exposing truth sometimes requires active participation, in other words.
Journalists have to be a little bit on the edge. A little bit cheeky in order to create the right amount of excitement or tension. You wouldn’t bother reading their stories if they weren’t cheeky.