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Newspaper

Typically most of my news gathering for broadcast comes from interviews, but I almost always do external research in my pieces to ensure they are completely accurate. Many students lack trust in the news, by sharing outside facts to support what I am saying gains trust between me and the viewer. Not only does gathering external information for my viewers, but it helps me know what questions to ask, whom to interview, and what to film. I have a specific process I follow when gathering news for my stories. I did not make a page for news literacy but my news gathering process involves making sure my news is unbiased and accurate. 

News Gathering

Broadcast 

First I will write down what my story is about and why.

 

From deciding whom to interview based off of what I want my what and why to be of my story.

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With that basis I can start writing my script. My script involves writing down interview questions and b-roll shot ideas. 

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If my story requires external research I will write the information down as well. 

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Following this process keeps me on track while I film and interview, making my news gathering more accurate and on track.  

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Writing 

I start my news gathering for my articles differently than I start for broadcast. 

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I will first decide the what and the why of my story.

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Then I will write down questions prior to my interview. 

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After my interview I go back and listen to the recording of the interview and write down quotes from the interviewee. 

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I will then start writing my story and adding the quotes where I feel appropriate. 

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Picking the right soundbites for future quotes helps me focus on putting the right content in my story so I can make the quotes fit to what I write, instead of having to change my story to fit quotes I find after I put down my content. 

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Below are examples from past stories of my news gathering process 

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Here is a story I worked on that involved gathering interviews and data. I interviewed students on their news literacy and then did further research to find national percentages that supported my findings amongst my school. Not only did this make my story stronger, but it made it more accurate and trustworthy. 

Last year I extensively followed the CKA policy at my school, this involved studying the policy before I had even written a single interview question down.

I attended board meetings to get a first-hand account on what was being discussed regarding the policy. Attending these meetings provided me with the knowledge as to how policies are handled in the school board. I was then able to know exactly who I needed to interview to gain the most accurate and valued voices. I interviewed multiple school board members, and the superintendent - all who were at the meeting. 

I was able to obtain a rough draft of the policy from the superintendent which I studied so I knew I was informing my audience correctly. â€‹

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Even in feature stories, I will do outside research to add specific details to my article. In this writing, I made it a point to find the website for the Cheyenne Youth Festival to provide information about the event. I even went on the website to find the exact awards my subject had won to make sure that he had provided me with the right information during our interview. 

When gathering my interviews I will write down my questions in notes so I can easily ask them to my interviewee while I record on voice memos. I am able to go back to the recordings to help develop my article and I can always use the recordings as a fact checker for my quotations. Voice memos is also a helpful tool to use to add interesting content to a story. I will forget or even miss specific facts during interviews so being able to go back and "relive" the interview helps put me back with the interviewee as I write. 

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When writing an article a journalist uses her own words to write the story and quotes to add evidence and color to it. In this piece I wrote for the Enterprise, I use my own words to explain the background of my subject and then I used a quote from him to add a personal touch to the story. Not only did this quote add more to my piece, but it also supports the stories central idea that Jake (the subject) has come a long way in film making from when he first entered in the festival. 

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