Teaching yourself to ask better questions

Interviewing consists of you asking questions and then selecting appropriate answers to print. The better questions you ask, the better answers you’ll get. You can use questions that the pros use. Look in news stories to find them.

“But they don’t print questions,” you say. That’s true. But they do print answers. And the theme of this blog is to [borrow/be inspired by/steal from] the pros. You can figure out the questions they ask by turning this into a “Jeopardy!” exercise – the answers are given, you supply the questions.

Think: "What question did the reporter have to ask to get this answer?"

For example, on the front of today’s Washington Post metro section there is a story about a county considering moving 6^th grade to middle school. The first quote, from a parent, says: “He’s might get exposed to things that I think he’s not ready for.” A possible question to arrive at this answer might be: “Are you for or against this move? Why?”

On the front of today’s Wall Street Journal is a whacky feature about a yogi wanting to teach Afghan insurgents and coalition fighters to join in practicing yoga. (the bottom of the front page of the Journal always delivers a fun feature story). A quote later in the story says: “We explained that meditation needs to be experienced rather than discussed as this is not intellectual therapy, but inner spiritual work.” A possible question might have been: “Why did you actually make people get down and mediate on the floor of your office when they were still in their military fatigues?”

Tip: While these aren't the most exciting examples, do this exercise with an entire news story. Write down the question for each quote. Then do it for every quote in the entire newspaper. Do this with a different paper each day for a week – WSJ, USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, etc…  At the end of the week you will have a ton of questions written down. If you wrote them on a computer you’ll be able to group them into patterns you notice. Some will be straight forward, some will be off-beat, some will begin with various words (5 Ws and H). You’ll be able to think of questions on your own that were inspired by this list.

Then read “The Craft of Interviewing” by John Brady (It's a bit scattered, but still one of the best books on interviewing).

You will then be a great interviewer.

Ansel Oliver – saving you journalism class tuition.

(For beginners, a good, quick overview is here: http://www.concernedjournalists.org/ten-tips-better-interview)

How to write amazing headlines

Want to write amazing headlines? Find some amazing headlines and write them out with pen on paper.

Get the front news section of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and two other top-tier newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and write out all the headlines and subheads that appear.

Then get The New York Times arts section and The Wall Street Journal's Review section and Off Duty sections and write out all the headlines and subheads you see there.

Then do the same for two issues of Forbes magazine and then for two top-tier magazines in your own profession or industry sector.

Then you'll know how to write amazing headlines.

You're welcome.

Really spoil the ending in the headline

Buddy Stals Kinborg brought me back a newspaper from his recent travels. It’s the student paper from an Adventist University…I won’t reveal which one, only to say that it rhymes with “othern.”  The front page has a headline that nearly gets the point, but it can be even better.

The headline is “Library introduces new search engine to students.”

My question is, “What’s the name of the search engine?” Or maybe it doesn’t have a name. There’s no name for the search engine mentioned in the story. Maybe it’s the nameless search engine. Anyway, I thought the headline could have offered more detail -- its name, what it does, or a critique. Examples:

Library introduces search engine Geegle

Geegle offers search of all library content

New Geegle search engine delivers, but bugs still remain

This reminds me of a seminar I taught in Jamaica last month – one of the best groups I’ve ever encountered. Even so, a few of the headlines written by workshop participants got close, but didn’t quite make the grade:

New leader selected for conference president

Beach ministry announces new director

These are close, but they don’t quite spoil the ending right away, which a good headline does. In addition to saying a position has been filled, a headline should actually say who that person is ... maybe even something about them. Now, church writers in Jamaica are writing excellent headlines, such as the following:

Jones selected as new conference president

Deputy Director Smith tapped as new beach ministry director

This goes along with this blog's first post, on August 30.  Instead of just saying that something happened, give details about what happened.  For example, a more effectively headline than:

Conference president speaks at church Sabbath Afternoon

would be

Conference president calls for more cheese at potlucks

For more on this, please see the August 30, 2011 post.

For now, help your readers understand the entire story in your headline.

Taking a week off

It's Annual Council here at work -- 300 world church executives are here for business meetings.  Slight change for when postings resume next week -- instead of twice a week, they will appear once a week on Wednesdays.  Thanks for reading. 

Write about other people, not just yourself

Stop your navel gazing, get out your notebook, there’s a world exploding out there.

                                                                                                                   —Tom Wolfe
 

I'm often told that I should consider a specific college student or a recent graduate as a potential candidate for a reporter, usually from a well-meaning relative of that person. Upon further investigation, I find that while they are a good writer, they have only written about themselves – their own opinions, their own devotional thoughts, their own worship essays, things about history that interest them, a mission trip they went on, their own first triathlon, me, me, me, etc.

Journalism is about OTHER PEOPLE. Tell the reader someone else’s story. Ask 10 people what you should write about and then choose one of those topics.

Show me some published clips of news and features that a small city newspaper could run.

I remember an editor explaining to me why she only advertised employment openings for reporters on journalismjobs.com and not in her own newspaper. “If I do that, we’ll get people calling up, ‘oh I’ve always wanted to be a reporter, and I write poetry, I journal daily...’”

If you’re in college, then do what you can to dominate your campus newspaper. Make yourself the “go-to” reporter. Become the best you can there. Serve others and your editor.

Then find the nearest small-town paper, go in and show them a bunch of your clips and offer your services as a freelance writer. Don’t worry about the pitiful payment. What you’re after are published clips. If you’re good, the money will come later.

Do you see where this is heading? Once you can dominate larger and larger newsrooms, you just might find yourself at a major market daily. You work your way up. As you seek to step up to each new level, your goal is to get published clips – initially they’re worth more than money.

So to summarize, serve your editor by making yourself the go-to person. Write stories so that people in the community (campus) will recognize themselves and others they know.

None of this will happen if you only write about yourself.

captions

Writers with a serving mentality take the time to write effective captions for readers. Most readers aren’t going to read your entire story, and many won’t even start reading. But some research studies suggest that a caption is likely to be the text that’s read word-for-word on your page. That’s because it appears below the thing a reader’s eye is drawn to first – a picture.

Associated Press style suggests news photo captions – or “cutlines” – should generally contain two sentences:

First sentence – uses present tense to describe what’s going on in the picture. It also includes the location and date the picture was taken.

Second sentence – uses past tense to offer context by describing why the photo is newsworthy.

For example: Harlan Frubert smiles big while showing his reddened stomach, much to the envy of nearby dejected Belly Flop contestants at the Eastern Conference retreat center pool on June 19. Amid increasing competition, Frubert put on 15 pounds in the off-season to maintain his champion status, winning the competition for the fifth consecutive year.

Note how specifically the first sentence is written. Think of yourself as needing to explain the picture to a blind person. A concise, engaging explanation brings the scene alive. Notice, you can’t even see the picture in the example above, but it’s easy to imagine how it might appear.

Also, look how easy it is to tack on a location and date at the end of the first sentence. Do it every time.

Of course, there are exceptions. If there isn’t space, a caption writer must combine content from the two sentences into one sentence. Also, when the picture is an older file photo, the two sentences can be reversed and the date less specific. For example:

Adventist Risk Management is urging church leaders to reassess their insurance policies on all properties. Here, the British Union Conference building after a fire in 2009.

You can’t force readers to read everything you write. But you can serve them by making it easy for them to figure out if they wish to continue reading. That’s why effective story leads start with the most important part of the story – the climax. Essentially, you’re spoiling the ending.

Note, the second sentence of your caption is essentially – but not word for word – the same concept as the lead of your story. Doing this serves your readers by saving them time. People who are interested in the lead or second sentence of the caption will continue to read.

Here’s an example of how the second sentence does a good job of summarizing the entire issue: http://bit.ly/u2GtsL

Most readers won’t even notice you’re using a formula – they’ll just receive information clearly without even realizing what made the caption effective.

Exception: USA Today does this well. On a feature about Danica McKellar’s (Winnie Cooper on the TV show The Wonder Years) new book about math for girls, the picture on the jump page was just a head shot and the simple caption: “McKellar was Winnie on The Wonder Years.”

Now, did the previous paragraph just negate all of what I said up until then? Not necessarily. You need to figure out what style is going to work well for readers. USA Today uses short sentences and the front page is made to appear like a TV news screen. There are so many labels and graphics and subheads that we already know most about the story before we even start reading. A caption of a few words works for their style.

I nearly had an uprising on my hands a year and a half ago in Brazil when I taught a newswriting workshop about this subject. Associate communication directors gathered together in Sao Paulo about had a fit when I suggested that an effective, two-sentence caption should reveal most of the story. They said most editors keep the caption short to “get” the reader to read the story to find out what it’s about.

But does that work?

Remember, most readers won’t read most of what you write. If you serve them by making it easier for readers to find out what the story is about, there’s a better chance they’ll read more…but only if they’re interested in that subject. Offering summaries means you value their time and only want them to read stories that really interest them.

How can you “get” people to do what you want? The answer is by giving them more information. Empower them.

Two years ago I read an article in Forbes magazine about this concept as it relates to construction of modern casinos. Casinos are designed on the same concept as grocery stores – the longer you stay, the more you’ll spend. Neither have windows or clocks and the exits are hard to find. They want you in their own world. Then a casino builder came out with some interesting research:

It turns out that people are more likely to do what you want them to if you empower them with more information. This man found if exits are clearly marked and can be recognized from a distance, people will likely stay longer. Their internal monologue is more likely to be: “I have to meet Mike in 10 minutes outside, so I’m gonna stay here at this slot machine for eight more minutes, I know where the exit is.” Without clocks and clearly marked exits, the internal monologue could be: “I have to meet Mike in 10 minutes outside so I’ll leave now to make sure I can be on time.”

Results in higher profits prove it. The more information you give to people the better.

In Brazil, that evening after the workshop, I shared this concept with a few willing listeners privately. They seemed to understand and thought they might implement it. We’ll see.

And we’ll see what you do. I’ve given you all the information I have on this topic. Now the choice is up to you.