1. 615: Week One
Warren Watson
Director J-Ideas
Ball State Dept. of Journalism
August 21, 2007

2. WHO ARE WE?
WHY ARE WE HERE?

3. A Special Vocation
“The worst journalists are those who consider
the craft a job like an any other, to be
practiced eight hours a day, and left behind
for the domestic delights of wives or
husbands, children, dogs and gardens.”
--- Pete Hamill, journalist, editor, novelist

4. Situation: A Crisis of Readership
• Daily newspaper penetration in the U.S. is at an all-
time low.
• In 1977, 67 percent of Americans read a weekday
daily newspaper. Today, that number is about 47
percent.
• If newspaper readership had continued at the same rate
after 1950 as it had before 1950, there would be 25-
million more readers today.
• The Internet is becoming a dominant form, but can it
provide the depth and breadth -- and context as
newspaper journalism?

5. Strategies to Stem the Tide
• 1) To make the newspaper easier to use and follow.
• 2) To use Readership Institute imperatives.
• --- Better, more local news, brand, promotion, ads, more-positive culture
• 3) To improve content, to lengthen the time people spend
with a daily newspaper.
• We’ll be talking about No. 3 in this course!

8. Why a Different Content Approach?
Traditional definitions of and approaches to the news
have handcuffed us, inhibited us from reaching new
readers, and insulated us from the lives of an ever-
diversifying audience.
So, we must be the conscience, the heart and the soul, of
our communities Reporters must listen and see, but also
observe and understand, and prioritize and lead.
We must see the multiple dimensions of stories.

9. What Does It Mean
• Our stories must inform, but also form.
• Our stories must reach down and show how people live and die, cope
and thrive.
• Our stories must include a wider cast of players -- young and old,
black and Hispanic and Asian, majority and minority.
• Our stories must reflect the community and what makes it unique.
• Our graphics and photos must tell the story at different levels. They
must add emotion but also sort out complexity.
• Our page designs must help to lubricate the news.

10. Add the 5 i’s to the 5 w’s
• A new approach to the news would add meaning
and depth.
• We must:
* Inform as well as report
* Illuminate how people really live
* Instigate action when appropriate
* Integrate the different parts of the community
* Be involved, not detached

11. THE COURSE

12. Course Structure
• Textbooks by Don Murray and the IRE team of
Brant Houston, Len Bruzzese and Steve Weinberg.
• Examinations of investigative work done in 3
singular works of investigative newspaper
journalism (Watergate, Enron, government policy).
• Quizzes.
• Short and long papers.
• Visits to see experts, guest appearances here in 392.
• Discussions, presentations.

13. Investigative Journalism
“The reporting, through one’s own
initiative and work product of
matters of importance to readers,
viewers or listeners. In many cases,
the subjects of the reporting wish the
matters under scrutiny to remain
undisclosed.”
--- Brant Houston, Upcoming PIR Speaker

14. Seek It Out, Hunt For It
¥ Good reporters donÕ wait for the news.
t
They seek it out. They hunt for it.
¥ News is often unannounced by official
sources. Stories about trends, migrations of
people to the cities, disputes, subtle
movements and fluctuations behind events
have to be uncovered.
¥ As Gene Roberts, former editor once said,
ÒReally important things seep and creep .Ó
creep.Ó

15. Premise of This Course
“Every journalist can be an investigative
journalist … It requires an intense
curiosity about how the world works, or
fails to work. Such curiosity must be
accompanied by skepticism stopping short
of cynicism or nihilism, abetted by
undying outrage that expresses itself
through comforting the afflicted and
afflicting the comfortable.”
--- Brant Houston

16. Essence of Investigations
“Most good investigations come down to one
of two things -- either a process did not
work or people did not follow the guidelines
… if a baby dies, was it one child protective
service worker who screwed up or is the
whole system failing.”
--- Tom Honig, editor in Santa Cruz, Calif., writing in
the “IRE Journal.”

17. Effective Writing
ÒEffective writing is constructed by
revealing specifics -- quotes, facts, images,
descriptive details.Ó
details.Ó
--- Donald Murray, writing coach, author

18. Murray’s ‘Writing to Deadline’
“I wrote with information: specific
revealing details, concrete images,
quotations, statistics, records,
facts. Meaning came from
connections between pieces of
information, not from connections
between words. The words were
the symbols for information. … so
it had significance, order, logic,
structure, meaning.”

19. Writing to Deadline:
Murray Pointers
• Explore
• Rehearse
• Focus
• Select and develop
• Draft
• Clarify
• Also, revise!

20. Finding the Focus
¥ Seek the language fragment, the word,
phrase or line that contains the tension that
will release the energy to drive a story
forward.
¥ Look for the unexpected, what is
contradictory; this will produce material
that provides tension to hold the reader.

21. Finding Winning Ideas on Your Own
Reporters and editors can develop strong
antennae to mine content. HereÕ how:
s
¥ By thinking stories forward, backward , outward
¥ By brainstorming
¥ By anticipating readersÕquestions

22. Anticipating Reader Questions
As you do a first edit, anticipate * No kidding!
the questions of the reader: * Why did he do that?
* Tell me more!
* How come?
* How do you know that?
* Stop it! I’ve heard enough!
* Says who? * Get to the point!
* I don’t get it! * So what!
* What do you mean? * Hold it. Back up.
* I’d like to know more
about that.

23. Finding Winning Ideas:
Brainstorming Topics
¥ A way to discover what you, others know
¥ Write down everything that comes to mind
¥ DonÕ be critical
t
¥ Goal is to harness the illogical, silly, irrational
¥ Be surprised by yourself and others
¥ Create an idea fountain by doing it in groups

24. Finding Winning Ideas: NPR
• The National Public Radio approach:
* Think a story forward:
* What’s coming up next?
* Think a story backward
* What’s at the root of the issue?
* Think a story outward
* How have others dealt with the issue?

25. From Sam Stanton, ASNE
Distinguished Award-Winner
Deadline writing keys:
• Be prepared: read, research, interview, anticipate, rehearse.
• Search for detail: inventory the senses; get color, but also
sounds and smells; write down more than use.
• Be flexible: change direction, go against the grain, zig
when they zag, look for the surprise.

26. Freedom of Information:
First Amendment and More
• An important part of the course will be a
consideration of the importance of Freedom
of Information issues.
• We’ll spend a couple of weeks talking
about this early in the course.

27. READING, WRITING, MORE

28. What We Know About All Readers
¥ Readers make connections
¥ --They relate events to their own experience
¥ Readers want context
¥ -- So what? Who cares? I donÕ understand.
t
¥ Readers are intelligent
¥ -- No need to dumb down
¥ Readers appreciate news in various forms
¥ -- Stories, photos, graphics, lists, charts
¥ Readers read!
¥ -- They will make the time if itÕ worth it
s

29. Ô
Information AnxietyÕ
Ò Good instruction is built on good
description. Words, pictures and numbers -
- use the right means to describe your ends.
Learning is remembering what youÕ re
interested in.Ó
in.Ó
-- Richard Wurman (1990) in book of the same name
(Book was recently updated)

30. Writing: Power of Simplicity
“Strike Three. language. What did you do
Get your hand off my knee. last night? Enter into a
meaningful romantic
You’re overdrawn. involvement or fall in love?
Your horse won. What did you have for
Yes. breakfast this morning: the
No. upper part of a pig’s hind
leg with two oval bodies
You have the account.
encased in a shell laid by a
Mother’s dead. bird, or ham and eggs?”
Basic events require simple

31. The Inverted Pyramid
¥ First, real juicy stuff at the top of story
¥ Then, more real important stuff
¥ Then, less important material
¥ Then, some background
¥ Then, more stuff
¥ Then, bs bs bs
¥ Then, zzzzz

32. Inverted Pyramid:
Overused and Abused
Ò is a safe and rigid formula É Formulas
It
are rigid. Formulas are death. The inverted
pyramid is an enemy of reading. It takes
away the basic pleasures of reading. It
gives away the ending.Ó
ending.Ó
--- Tom French, St. Petersburg Times

33. From Wayne Gretzky
ÒStatistically, 100 percent of the
shots you donÕ take donÕ go in!Ó
t t

34. It All Starts With An Idea
“The word I always twin with enterprise is
idea. … Execution is a major part of it. But
if you’ve got a great idea, you’ll have the
passion for executing it.”
--- Bill Dwyre, sports editor, Los Angeles Times

35. Turning Ideas Into Stories:
Ask These Questions First
• Will the story have • Does the news value justify
something to say? the reporting time?
• Can the idea be stated • Does the idea center ona
simply, in 1 sentence? person or group?
• Is the idea timely? • Is the idea fresh?
• Do you have a grasp on • Is the idea more than a
the length of the story? governmental hiccup?
• Is the idea feasible? • Is the reporter capable of
pulling it off ?

36. ASSIGNMENTS

37. Due Next Week: Backgrounding
• 350-word (minimum) “warmup” paper.
• Do backgrounder on your instructor.
• Find as much as possible about Warren Watson -- his
work and private life, interests, writings, teaching etc.
Treat him like you would any public figure.
• Write a short personality profile.
• Any online or (hard-copy) document source can be used.
• No personal interviews with Watson. No other person-
to-person or email interviews.
• Name, assignment, date at top left of paper.

38. Long-Range Team Assignment:
Examining 3 Works
• Woodward and Bernstein
--- ‘All the President’s Men’
• Bartlett and Steele---
---‘America: What Went
Wrong’
• Smith and Emshwiller
--- ‘24 Days …’