Students revisited the basics of newsworthiness with a twist — don’t get hit by the flying candy.
Tammy Merret, professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, shared tips on news reporting for beginner journalists called “Candy is dandy! What IS news?” at MediaFest 25.
At the very start, a journalist needs to find the five W’s and an H: who, what, when, where, why and how, Merret said. But reporting does not end there. There are five characteristics of newsworthiness.
“You will learn [the characteristics] and apply them to every potential story you’re considering doing or every story that you actually do,” Merret said.
The first is impact, arguably the most important aspect of a story, because if it doesn’t have anything to do with your audience, they won’t care, Merret said.
“We are very selfish preachers,” she said. “We want to know, ‘What does this have to do with me? Why do I care about this?’”
Next is conflict, which is more than just identifying the two sides of a story, Merret said. It is also covering people in the middle.
“That is probably the majority of your audience, and you don’t want to alienate them,” she said. “They don’t often see themselves reported on in the press as people who are on the extremes.”
Proximity is simply looking at how a local story fits in your coverage area, Merret said. It’s important to evaluate how old the news is and if it’s still relevant.
(Photo by: Dany Villarreal Martinez)
Novelty is where you analyze how unique something actually is, she said, a tricky one for beginning and veteran reporters alike.
Merret then pulled up a picture of an almost fully naked statue of President Donald Trump, set up in New York City in 2016.
“In this instance, that’s not something you see very often,” Merret said. “Our tendency is to overestimate the novelty of a particular news story.”
At the end of the panel, Merret presented the audience with different scenarios and had them find the characteristics of newsworthiness. If you answered right, she tossed candy at you.
“Hopefully, no one will leave with an eye patch,” Merret said. “But I can’t make any guarantees.”