Essential Reporting

The NCTJ Guide for Trainee Journalists

Jon Smith, Joanne Butcher

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781446259641
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Journalism
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

"If you want a book that instructs you about all the technical skills you need to pass the examinations set by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and embark on a career in journalism, then this is the book for you. It outlines the basic knowledge required to succeed as a trainee reporter. Shorthand, intros, writing styles, subbing, layout, the way newsrooms work and how to find things out are among the range of skills described."
- Times Higher Education

"Precisely what it says on the cover - a down-to-earth essential handbook for anyone embarking on a career in journalism. All you need to know about avoiding newsroom minefields and attracting the editor?s attention for the right reasons. If only it had been around in my day!?
- Bob Satchwell, Executive Director, Society of Editors

This is a book for everyone who wants to be a journalist: a practical guide to all you need to know, learn and do to succeed as a trainee reporter in today?s newsroom.

Although the world of journalism is changing fast, as technology blurs the boundaries between newspapers, radio, television and web-based media, the reporter?s core role remains the same: to recognise news, communicate with people, gather information, and create accurate, balanced and readable stories. Essential Reporting, written by an experienced NCTJ examiner, explains how to do this. Contents include:

• what makes a good reporter
• what is news, and how to find it
• how newsrooms work
• day-to-day life as a reporter
• key reporting tasks
• covering courts and councils
• successful interviewing
• writing news stories
• specialist reporting
• handling sound, pictures and the web

It also contains a wealth of advice, tips and warnings from working journalists, a guide to NCTJ training and examinations, a glossary and a guide to further reading.

It will be invaluable to anyone embarking on a career in journalism and is the NCTJ?s recommended introductory text for all students on college and university courses preparing them to become successful reporters.

One

WHAT YOU NEED

YOU want to be a reporter. Of course you do: it’s the best job in the world. How else can you get paid for listening to gossip, digging behind the scenes and telling everyone else what you’ve discovered?

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• Character
• Attitude
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Equipment

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The first question is whether you are likely to be any good at it. Well, picking up this book and reading so far shows that you have at least three of the vital qualities: ambition, curiosity and self-belief. There’s a lot more to it than that, of course, and this opening chapter looks at all you need to be, to learn, to do and to have to be the ideal reporter.

Don’t let the length of the list dishearten you. There are thousands of reporters out there, every one of them different and none of them perfect. There are hard-nosed door-stoppers hunting celebrity wives, planet-brained intellectuals hunched over government statistics, mothers of five writing up village shows, front-line correspondents ducking bullets. They are old and young, male and female, left-wing and right-wing, happy and angry, introvert and extrovert, open and devious, teetotal and alcoholic, driven by passion and by money. What on earth do they have in common? What are editors looking for when you apply for a job?

Ask Google ‘What makes a good reporter?’ and you will discover hundreds of people who have tried answering that question. A few are convinced that the only requirement is a burning desire to overthrow the system (any system), but those who know what they are talking about show a high level of agreement about the essential qualities a reporter needs. Some are innate, some can be nurtured, some you can learn.

QUALITIES YOU ARE BORN WITH

YOU NEED…

Curiosity

A desire to know what is going on and how things work. You have to be inquisitive about everything, constantly asking questions about the world around you. What has happened? Who did it and why? What happens next?

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The only qualities essential for real success in journalism are rat-like cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability.

NICHOLAS TOMALIN

(1931-1973)
Journalist
The Sunday Times

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An interest in people

Fascination about what makes them tick and how they feel, whoever they are and whatever they are doing. You need to know and appreciate what grips your public before you can recognise what is newsworthy and how to handle it. If you are bored by sports players, find politicians a turn-off and couldn’t care less what is happening in Coronation Street, reporting may not be the job for you.

Intelligence

Bright enough to grasp what people are talking about most of the time, sharp enough to discern nuances and inferences, quick-witted enough to think on your feet. A good all-round education is useful but you don’t have to be academically brilliant.

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Get some work experience before you start a college course or apply for a job.

Tutors and editors expect you to have some idea of what you are letting yourself in for.

Most newspapers give people a chance to join its newsroom for a day or longer to see how it works.

Apply as early as possible: there are a lot of people out there looking for work experience, and places are limited.

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Health

You need to be fit. Physically fit, because you will be working long and odd hours, not always in the most comfortable environment. Mentally fit, because you will have to cope with pressure from deadlines, stressed-out news editors, angry readers and distressed relatives. It helps if you can survive irregular sleep patterns, possess a good digestion, and can keep a steady head after a couple of drinks… or more.

Courage

The self-assurance to accost strangers and ask them awkward questions, to speak out at a press conference in front of dozens of other journalists, to stand up in court and tell magistrates they are wrong when they try to ban you reporting someone’s name. You may need the strength to face jail for refusing to reveal your sources. If you are planning to be a foreign correspondent, you will need a strong nerve the day you find yourself under fire.

Belief

If you believe in yourself, are keen to succeed, listen to what you are told and learn from your mistakes, you will get there.

YOU NEED TO BE:

Out-going

Cheerful, optimistic, confident, able to get on easily with all sorts of people and work in a team. A sense of humour is vital. So is being a good listener, sensitive to people’s feelings, appearing sympathetic even when you disagree with what you are being told. It is handy to be able to exude enough charm to talk your way past protective secretaries and petty officials, especially if you can do it over the phone. You need to be flexible, willing to adapt to change whether it means having to cancel a night off to cover an emergency or re-train in the latest technology.

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Good reporters have vision – to see beyond the story, spot the implications and identify how it can be followed up.

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Enthusiastic

You have to believe that you are a force for good, a vital part of society, that what you are doing benefits your fellow man and woman – and to argue forcefully with those who disagree. It helps if you have a well-developed sense of justice, so long as it doesn’t override your ability to report objectively. You need enough idealism to make you indignant about injustice but not so much that you can’t see both sides of an argument.

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The main ingredient I look for in a reporter is hunger. Do they really get excited about breaking news? Do they really want to be a journalist? What have they done to prove it?

PETER BARRON

Editor
The Northern Echo

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Determined

You must want to succeed. You need the strength to persevere in the face of opposition and refuse to accept failure, a sense of urgency to work fast to deadlines, and a desire to get there first.

Accurate

You must be committed to getting the facts right and the quotes correct. Every word you write will be read carefully by those involved; your stories may be cut from the newspaper and kept for years. If a name or a fact is inaccurate, readers dismiss your newspaper as ‘the local rag – which always gets things wrong’. Your commitment to accuracy should be coupled with a strong desire to find out the truth and expose falsehood. This means being open-minded, willing to listen, wary of making assumptions, aware of your own beliefs and prejudices and capable of putting them to one side.

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The skills I look for are compassion and tenacity.

SIMON REYNOLDS

Editorial director
Lancashire Evening Post

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Sceptical

You need a healthy distrust of authority, whether it is a government minister, a petty official at the town hall or a slick-spoken press officer. You have to question what you are being told and why you are being told it (but not with so much scepticism that you are too cynical to recognise good news when you come across it).

Thick-skinned

You need a skin thick enough to take criticism from your seniors and the public, and not mind looking faintly foolish when you don’t understand everything first time or have to admit you have got something wrong. Not so thick, though, that you are impervious to the feelings of others.

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I look for passion, commitment and a hint of madness. And dreadful clothes on a man: I find those who dress badly often make the best investigative journalists.

DOROTHY BYRNE

Head of News Channel
Four Television

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Innovative

You need to be able to see beyond the immediate, come up with ideas, work on your own, and make decisions.

QUALITIES YOU CAN WORK ON

YOU NEED TO BE:

News-conscious

News sense is the ability to put things in context, recognise what is newsworthy and how much it is w...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• THE INTRO
• 1 WHAT YOU NEED
• 2 WHAT‘S NEWS?
• 3 FINDING OUT
• 4 A DAY IN THE LIFE
• 5 FIRST TASKS
• 6 OUT AND ABOUT
• 7 TALKING TO PEOPLE
• 8 THE UNEXPECTED
• 9 SHAPING THE STORY
• 10 WRITING THE WORDS
• 11 ENGLISH MATTERS
• 12 WORKING ONLINE
• 13 AUDIO & VIDEO
• 14 COURT REPORTING
• 15 LOCAL POLITICS
• 16 SPECIALIST AREAS
• 17 FEATURES
• 18 TRAINING
• APPENDICES
• LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
• INDEX