Bad
Friday, November 2nd, 2007Being a reporter never really goes away. If someone tells me something interesting at a conference or at a dinner party, if I overhear something on the train, my immediate reaction is: Wow! That’s a great story!”
It’s a bit like the old press photographer’s joke (when there were press photographers, rather than reporters with digital cameras). One says to the other: “What did you give that starving old lady on the park bench?” and the other replies: “F16 at 125.”
My little fishing magazine, Classic Angling, carries 16 pages of news. All too many editors think it’s acceptable for a monthly title to carry a page or two of “token” news, the stuff that’s done at the last minute from press releases. On the contrary. News is often the first thing a reader sees. If it’s dull, regurgitated press release pap, do they really think: “Ah, but I bet the features will be good.”? Course not.
I’m a great believer in the adage that good news makes good features. Find the off-diary stories and you’ll be in the habit of seeking out better quotes, stronger opinions, fresh ideas in your features.
News is everywhere. But too few journalists on magazines (and local papers too) stick their heads above the parapet. Press releases and lifting stuff off the web is easy. Doing follow-ups? Phoning round? Doing more at exhibitions than grabbing all the press releases you can carry? Too much trouble for an increasing number of people who purport to call themselves journalists.
They whine: “We don’t have time.” Such an attitude is insulting to readers, and a quick route to another failed title. If it’s dull to write, it’s dull to read. Using that stuff without even making a token effort to make it relevant to readers isn’t writing, it’s typing.
Sorry about the rant. Had a run of courses where staff were actually discouraged from showing any initiative in finding stories. What sort of people have the gall to call themselves editors with that attitude?