Poynter High - Story Ideas

Wayne Brasler, newspaper adviser at University High in Chicago, suggested ways to find stories in a recent posting on the Journalism Education Association listserv.  Here are excerpts of his message:

Beat Reports -- Every administrator, faculty member, coach, club sponsor and student leader is contacted monthly and asked: What are you doing in your classes, particularly anything new or photo-worthy?  What are the organizations you advise or the sports you coach doing? 

Futures Book -- A calendar in a loose-leaf book is maintained of all school programs and sports events and updated daily. The editors look for what needs to be previewed for the next issue and followed-up on from the previous issue. And it includes a list of stories done every year by month (such as prom) so nothing is forgotten. The rule here is to always emphasize in these stories what is new, what is different, and never to do a formula story.

Clippings Book -- Articles from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, Time and Newsweek are clipped and filed for future use in localizations.

Write about people, not things.

Use a variety of story approaches -- straight news, features, profiles, interviews, sights-and-sounds and the so-called New Journalism, which is now 40 years old.

Photos are as important as words.

Include everyone in coverage, not just the popular kids or the leaders.

Be careful and conscientious about racial and ethnic variety and balance on the pages -- no one should ever feel the paper belongs to the white kids or the black kids or the Asian kids or the Hungarian kids, or to the girls, or to the boys.