The Line Between News and Sales

via Committee for Concerned Journalists

News and Sales: Clarifying the Relationship

Summary of a January 2002 forum on business pressures that affect newsrooms.
To attract both viewers and advertisers, television news must be credible. Protecting the integrity of the news product has become increasingly challenging, however, as stations seek new revenue sources in a difficult economic climate. Good journalism and a station's economic goals can sometimes conflict. But stations risk damaging the foundation of their business if they produce or avoid news stories to please sponsors, or solicit or place advertising in a way that weakens the integrity of their news operation.
With that in mind, a group of news and station executives gathered in early 2002 to discuss ways of helping news and sales managers deal with the pressures they face. The meeting was co-sponsored by NewsLab and the Committee of Concerned Journalists.

Overview

The group agreed that the following general principles should serve as the basis for all decisions affecting news and sales:

• News content should be determined solely through editorial judgment.
  
• News sponsors should not dictate or influence news content.
  
• News content should be clearly distinguishable from advertising content.

Guidelines

Written guidelines help to manage the relationship between news and sales. Managers must decide--and then clearly articulate to the newsroom, sales department, and sponsors--what is and what is not for sale. In past instances, people have been fired and companies have been subjected to national embarrassment because specific guidelines were not in place or not properly communicated. Among other issues, guidelines should clarify:

• What is content and what content can be sponsored.
  
• Whether newscasts in different day parts or on different days of the week are subject to different rules and if so why.
  
• Whether the news department will create content specifically as a vehicle for advertising and if so under what terms.
  
• How news and sales people communicate, especially about story ideas or sales suggestions.
  
• Who must see and approve sponsorship proposals.

Useful questions for all situations

To develop guidelines and to work through most situations involving news and sales, answering these four basic questions will help:

• What are the short-term and long-term consequences of making or not making this sale or arrangement?
  
• What will viewers think when they see this on the air? For example: Could this sponsorship influence or appear to influence the content of the story in any way? Could this sponsorship affect the station's brand, image or reputation?
  
• How will you explain this decision to viewers, critics and station personnel, and are there any details you would be uncomfortable making public?
  
• Should this arrangement be in writing?

Management

The general manager should be directly involved in developing station guidelines, and ultimately is responsible for ensuring that sales proposals do not "cross the line" and jeopardize the station's integrity.

• The general manager should personally review any sales or promotional agreements that could affect the credibility of the newsroom or its employees, or the station's image.
• The general manager should be the final arbiter of disputes involving news and sales.

Communication

Everyone in the station has a stake in the credibility of the news and the success of the business. Stations can foster understanding between news and sales employees in various ways. Here are some examples:

• General managers can bring all department heads together to watch and discuss newscasts.
  
  
• The news director can speak to groups of clients to explain in general how and why editorial decisions are made.
• News managers can hold periodic meetings for sales personnel, trainees and others to explain the newsgathering process.

In addition to the questions listed above for developing guidelines, the following questions may be helpful when deciding specific cases, such as:
Story or Franchise Sponsorships
Station Campaigns and Partnerships
Billboards and Logos
Coverage of a Sponsor
News Personnel
Outside Experts
Online/New Media Issues

Story or franchise sponsorships:

• What are we selling with this sponsorship?
  
• Will the sponsor provide or expect to provide experts on this topic, exclusive or otherwise?
  
• Does it make a difference if the idea for the franchise or story came from the newsroom, the station sales office or the advertiser?

Station Campaigns and Partnerships:

• Will you co-sponsor an event or activity with just one sponsor?
  
• Will you handle campaigns differently if the outside sponsor is non-commercial?
  
• Will the partner provide or expect to provide experts or guests, exclusive or otherwise?
  
• What role will news personnel play in the event or activity? (For example, will they endorse or appear to endorse any products or services and what effect will that have on their ability to report on this topic or sponsor?)
  
• How will you respond to requests for news coverage of an event the station is co-sponsoring?

Billboards and Logos:

• Where in the newscast will you place billboards? How often can they run?
  
• Where in the newscast and where on screen will you place sponsor logos? (For example, will you allow sponsor logos to appear over news content?)
  
• Will sponsors be able to brand or title elements of your newscast? (For example, the XYZ Doppler Radar.)
  
• Will sponsor logos or billboards also include audio mentions, and if so, by whom?

Coverage of a sponsor:

• How and when will the newsroom inform other station management that a story about an advertiser is in the works?
  
• How and when will the newsroom inform co-owned stations about a story involving one of their advertisers?
  
• Who will respond to questions from the advertiser?

News Personnel:

• What can news personnel do on your air, outside of news programming?
  
• What can news personnel do for air on other stations?
  
• What can news personnel do off the air? (For example, appearances, speeches or endorsements.)
  
• What can news personnel do for pay and what can or should they do pro bono?

Outside Experts:

Will you disclose the expert's associations on the air? How, and how often? If not, why not?

• Can an expert sponsor his or her own on air appearances?
  
• What product or company endorsements or mentions, if any, will be allowed during the expert's on air appearances?
  
• What will the expert be allowed to do outside of on air appearances?

Online/New Media Issues:

• Do the same guidelines applied to broadcast content apply to online content and sponsorships?
  
• Can the user clearly tell the difference between news and other content online?
  
• Who owns and who benefits from any database created by online signups?
  
• What are the privacy rules on your Web site and how do they apply to sponsor information?
  
• Do you disclose these rules? Why or why not?

Several broadcast organizations already have developed guidelines on news and sales that can serve as a starting point for discussion for stations wanting to draft their own. Examples are available here.

Ten Tips for a Better Interview

via Committee for Concerned Journalists

1.  Be prepared! Always read up on the subject you are reporting about and the person you are interviewing. Your source will appreciate your effort, and you will be able to skip questions that can be answered by an assistant, book or document. When scheduling the appointment, ask your source to suggest documents or other sources of information about the topic you will discuss. The interviewee will appreciate your interest and often share valuable documents before the interview. Make sure your tape recorder has batteries that work. Bring an extra tape as well as pens and notebook.

2.  Set the rules of the interview right up front! Be sure your subject understands the story you are working on (this will help keep the interview on track). Additionally, the interviewee must understand that everything they say is "on the record." It is best to establish these ground rules when making the interview appointment. Although most government officials have enough experience with the media to indicate when something is "off-the record" or "on background," other experts may not understand the differences. Remember that an upfront clarification may be required (especially when your source's job or life could be endangered by being quoted).

3.  Be on time! The worst impression you can make on a source is being late for the interview.

4.  Be observant! Observe details of the place and of your interviewing partner; this can add color to your story. If you are interviewing people in their home or office, be sure to get a good look around and note what you see. For example, they may have some old photos that show them in a more personal light. You may start an interview with assumptions about a person and leave with a completely different impression. However, this may be exactly what your source intended. Perception is a tricky business! Try to talk to others, colleagues or friends of your source, to get a bigger picture.

5.  Be polite. Don't rush your source! It is important to establish a polite rapport and a level of comfort for the interviewee. Some interviewees, on the other hand, need a couple minutes to become comfortable talking to reporters. Even though you may only have 30 minutes for an interview, you should not rush your subject. If you sense the interviewee is in a hurry, adjust your timing accordingly. Keep in mind, everyone is different. Taking the time to get to know your sources will prove valuable, especially when you need to call with follow-up questions or use them as a source for future stories. If the interview goes well, it may even go beyond the scheduled time. Give yourself plenty of time between appointments to avoid scheduling conflicts.

6.  Listen but don't be afraid to interrupt when you don't understand! Keep your audience in mind! One reason you are conducting this interview is to explain it to your readers. If your subject uses scientific jargon or explanations only his/her peers would understand, politely interrupt and ask for further explanation. Never be embarrassed about not knowing something.

7.  Silence is golden. Sooner or later you will have to ask the tough questions that your subject may be loath to discuss. When you start asking those provocative questions, the answers most likely will be short, useless or carefully worded. You may not get an answer at all. If this occurs, look your source in the eye and don't say a word. In most cases, your opponent will begin to feel uncomfortable and begin to share information again. If this doesn't work, ask for sources who might be able to answer your question.

8.  Maintain eye contact! A reporter who spends most of the interview bent over taking notes or looking into a notebook can be as disconcerting as a tape recorder in an interviewee's face. While taking notes and recording the interview, maintain as much eye contact as possible. Learn to take abbreviated notes looking down only once in a while so you can focus on your interviewee. This will make the interview more like a conversation, and enable everyone to be more relaxed.

9.  Before your leave... ask your source if there is anything that you might have forgotten to ask. Perhaps the interviewee is burning to tell you useful information, but you did not even think to ask that question. Don't leave without getting a contact number or e-mail address and a good time to call with follow-up questions. Always ask for other sources. Colleagues or friends of the interviewee may be more knowledgeable or willing and able to speak to you. Thank your source for spending time talking with you before you leave.

10.  Review your notes right after the interview! Don't wait until the end of the day or later in the week to review your notes. Go over them right away, while everything is fresh in your mind, filling in your shorthand and elaborating on your observations. Skip that date for drinks with your office pals until after you have reviewed and organized your notes.

TELEVISION AS TIEF HEAD

Tief head, I am told by one of my journalism students, is something that intentionally misleads or confuses greatly. So I want to nominate Crime Watch for Tief Head Television Programme of the Year.

Honestly, people! Carried away as we are by our outrage at Ian Alleyne’s antics on Crime Watch, we need to step out of the frame for a bit and look at the larger picture of what Alleyne’s programme is really about. We must see Crime Watch for what it really is, not what it purports to be. And what it really is, is a new genre of television entertainment for Trinidad and Tobago that we need first to understand. Then we need to decide what we want the ground rules to be.

So first, let’s all take a cleansing breath and remember: Crime Watch is entertainment. It’s not church, even though Mr. Alleyne sometimes grabs a podium and intones Scripture to make a point. It’s not real crime fighting, whatever he would have us believe; and it’s NOT social activism. In fact, Crime Watch is actually a sort of hybrid un-reality show, combining crime drama with a fantasy like the X-Men  – think Port of Spain’s Most Wanted channels the Avenging Angel.

Look at it: the man sets himself up to single-handedly wage war against the forces of crime and evil in our society. The only thing is, he doesn’t bother himself with the many complex social factors that will pretty well ensure that crime remains a big, big problem for us. With Ian, our crime problem is all black and white – a morality show in which good must triumph over evil, at whatever cost to the victims of evil.

And Ian is the sole arbiter of good. Work with the police? Well, hardly! Instead, he makes sure we understand that our police force is worth nothing; he asks us to believe that he alone is better than all of them put together. He’s the Lone Ranger, fighting crime all alone, and, he wants us to believe, he’ll take down all our criminals, one episode at a time! So – am I alone in thinking that as far as addressing crime in this country at all effectively is concerned, Alleyne is simply tilting at windmills?

The programme clearly works, though, and real media professionals and real crime fighters alike need to understand what its success means for this country.

Crime Watch works, first, because it simplifies life so much for us – do you, Mr. and Ms. Trinbagonian, really want to believe that we probably won’t fight crime effectively until we get the social supports right, address the law-making process, outfit the police properly, and make the wheels of justice turn faster? Do you want to sprain your brain thinking that criminals are people with complex motivations whom we probably need to understand if we want to deal with them effectively? Because, you know, that just depresses me! Even more so, because nobody seems to know how to fix the mix. It’s so much more relaxing and reassuring, then, to identify a hero who promises that he can fix the problem for us, and leave him to get the job done.

The programme works too because what Ian’s got going for him at the same time is that interactive thing that allows his audience – us - to become part of the story, and thus to feel empowered. While he places himself in the firing line, we’re encouraged to phone in our information and help him to solve crime - happy vigilantes in the safety of our homes. And we don’t have to wait on the justice system, apparently. Every week Ian points to the newspaper and shows us another instance where we’ve done good, as people are brought to justice who, if not for us, would never normally have been apprehended. (Forget about that whole pesky going-through-the-courts bit and whether they will ever be imprisoned, because for a few sweet moments we saw them cowering in our headlights, didn’t we?)

The trouble is, a number of viewers have bought the story line with absolutely no pause for analysis. Desperate for the Feel Good fix, they've bought into the vision of himself that Ian is selling. The result is that they will go along with him, no matter what he does. If a few innocent people are sacrificed along the way - well, we can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, can we? 


However, Ian Alleyne isn't, in fact, our society's answer to all its problems. In fact, he's causing quite a few social problems of his own as a result of the harmful myths that he is spinning. Crime Watch therefore needs to be dealt with, with a clear understanding of all that Alleyne is, and all that he is not. Above all, it needs to be dealt with by people who don't buy the line that if firm limits are drawn to address the pernicious nonsense he tries to sell us on Crime Watch, it'll mean the end of even such a flawed law and order  system as we now have in Trindad and Tobago.

Because that, in a nutshell, is how Ian Alleyne’s show has succeeded so well as entertainment. Tasteless, crass and unbelievable as it is, it has caught the viewing public’s imagination as the Feel Good programme of the year. Too many of us have bought into Alleyne's own Super Hero vision of himself, and now believe that Gotham City is safer because of Ian, and will go to hell without him.


In short, the show totally tief Trinidadian head. If we don’t like it, we’d better figure out how to upgrade the model, because like it or not, folks, that's how Ian’s model works.

Watching a real crime

What can you (safely) say about Trinidad and Tobago’s latest media hero that is not a paean of praise? Crime Watch’s Ian Alleyne prides himself on going boldly where no man has gone before. In this State of Emergency, our police force has only just begun to swoop down on criminals. Not Mr. Alleyne. Every week, armed only with his camera, his zeal, and his apparently inexhaustible testicular fortitude, Mr. Alleyne goes off on a crime safari. ”The hunt is on,” he posts on his Facebook wall. On television, he warns detractors and criminals alike, “When I come after you I will gather dirt from when God was a little boy!”

The public is duly impressed.  I myself am not altogether convinced of his righteousness. I admire Mr. Alleyne’s bravery – he seems to believe that nothing can stop him as he progresses on his march against crime. I completely understand why his programme has created such a stir in our society. We Trinbagonians feel increasingly overwhelmed as successive governments create successive failed strategies to deal with our urgent crime problem. In the midst of our despair, a man has emerged who is, apparently, ruthless and willing to risk his life on our behalf. We are rescued! One person urges on Alleyne’s Facebook fan page, ‘hunt them down!” Another lavishes praise: “Super Hero talk! Go, Captain T & T.”

Heroes are very scarce on the ground in our country, and victims all too plentiful. As I lock myself behind burglar proof bars every evening, I too feel a yearning for action against the criminals who have made Trinidad and Tobago into Dodge City.

But here’s the thing: I think that in Crime Watch Mr. Alleyne has been offered (and has grabbed with both hands) a power that he may now be abusing. As the ‘star’ of a show on one of the country’s most-watched television channels, he has the ear and eye of countless citizens of this country, of all ages. On his Facebook page, messages expressing adulation are posted by teenagers who probably never bother to watch the news. No one can deny that Ian Alleyne has caught the public imagination. Using the leverage bestowed on him by television and social media, he has become one of the most influential men in Trinidad and Tobago today.

So what does Mr. Alleyne do with his power? On one night, he shows us a graphic video of a young girl being violated, all sound effects included. On another, he shows the body parts of a woman who has been dismembered. He prods and pokes the corpse of a murdered woman to demonstrate what he thinks may have happened. The national audience buzzes with satisfaction as he promises to get justice for the victims - but what does that justice cost?

Mr. and Ms. Trinbagonian, do we actually believe that young girl who was raped will be allowed any opportunity to deal quietly with her pain until she can go beyond it? She won't receive justice. Instead, having been raped once, that child will continue to be victimised, thanks to the video that was aired on Crime Watch, and that was later making the rounds on Facebook. The family of the woman who was dismembered must continuously relive the sight of someone they love torn to pieces, as captured by Crime Watch and posted on YouTube. They must deal over and over with the thought of what her last living moments were like. The young woman who was murdered lost her right to respect, even in death, as Mr. Alleyne prodded her corpse to demonstrate his skills of detection to his admiring fans. Whether her murderers are caught or not, she has already been dehumanised and made into a freak show for the gratification of people who never knew her, and some of whom couldn’t care less about her.

We, the viewing public, urgently need to take some time to ask ourselves: are the victims identified by Crime Watch  finding justice, or simply being re-victimised? Who is committing the ultimate injustice against them? The criminals or Crime Watch? And as we make Crime Watch the flavour of this season, aren't we, the audience, being complicit in THAT crime?

Mubarak: Tweeting his downfall

So what do you do if you’ve been given a break on the biggest story in the world and you’re not due on the air for more than three hours?

Full story on Reuters Institute

Why Every Student Should Learn Journalism Skills

By Tina Barseghian

How do we make schools more relevant to students? Teach them the skills they need in the real world, with tools they use every day. That's exactly what Esther Wojcicki, a teacher of English and journalism at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, Calif., is attempting to do with the recent launch of the website 21STcenturylit. I interviewed Esther about the site, and how she hopes it will serve as a useful tool for both students and educators.

Full story here

Crime reporting tips for beginners

Covering crime is one of the most challenging journalistic roles. It requires integrity, sensitivity, accuracy and an awareness of all that is going on around you. Here are the basic rules for reporting on crime.

People want to read about crime. It sells newspapers, TV advertising and book. It's about greed, violence, sex, revenge - all the really powerful human emotions. Sometimes crime reflects important issues in society: corruption, drugs, homelessness, hunger, lack of education, or whatever. And sometimes it is just a good story, with no wider implications. Either way, you need to cover it properly. Your audience expects it. So here are some things to remember about crime reporting.

1: Everything is built on the basics of good journalism
In crime reporting as in all other specialisms, you must first have acquired the basic skills of journalism. Your copy must be accurate. It must be spelled correctly. You must have facts to support every sentence you write. Your copy must be clear and unambiguous. It must capture the interest of the audience.
You must have facts to support every sentence you write

2: Success is built on integrity
Your personal and professional behaviour must be above reproach. You must be honest, thorough, trustworthy and fair-minded. You must be considerate and compassionate. Do not abuse the power or responsibility of your position. Accept criticism where it is justified. Correct your mistakes. Be punctual. Deliver your work on time and be a good colleague.
Do not abuse the power or responsibility of your position

3: Gather all the facts
This is a requirement of all journalism, but perhaps especially so of crime. The American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer (the Pulitzer Prize is named after him) was very keen on crime reporting. He always wanted his reporters to provide 'details, details, details'. Readers want to know everything about a crime. What kind of mask were the raiders wearing? What colour was the getaway car? What was the weather like? The more facts, the better the story. So work hard, keep digging, keep adding facts.
The more facts, the better the story

4: Know your patch
The good crime reporter does not sit around waiting for the next bank raid to happen. To work effectively, you must have excellent contacts with all the relevant agencies, police, government bodies, courts, press officers etc. Cultivate these people. Make sure they have your contact numbers. You need a close working relationship, so that when a big story happens, they ring you to tell you about it, rather than you having to chase them for information.

The Lego approach to storytelling

via Knight Digital Media Centre

The cutting room floor of journalism is a sad place: all those facts, interviews, asides, anecdotes, context, insights, and media gathered during reporting which, while relevant and interesting, just don’t fit comfortably into the narrative flow or length/time limits of the finished story.

This doesn’t merely represent wasted time and reporting effort. Many of those scraps are missed opportunities to engage readers and gain search visibility or links…

Read the full story