Reporting
controversy
“You’re not going to arrest violence
on the streets by slapping handcuffs
on the First Amendment.” -executive director of The Freedom
Forum, Paul McMasters, 1993
“What is history but a fable agreed
upon?”
… Napoleon Bonaparte
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The parson, the geologist and the cowboy were
all standing together and gazing for the first
time at the grand Canyon.
“One of the wonders of God,” the parson
said.
“One of the wonders of science,” the
geologist said.
“What a helluva place to raise a cow,” the
cowboy said.
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So much for objectivity.
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With that bit of pointed whimsy, Detroit newspaper
executive Derick Daniels dismissed a bit of hard-core
journalistic dogma: objective reporting is the one path
to truth and reality. Interpretation and depth reporting
have earned a place in the pantheon of journalistic
gods.
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There are two important reasons for high school
journalists to engage in reporting controversial issues:
To report on issues and events of importance to them
To make a difference in the lives of their peers.
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No longer do scholastic publications just focus on the
trite and banal topics of prom, homecoming and
school spirit.
High school reporters today are willing to take a risk,
to challenge readers to think outside of their everyday
boxes of cliques, soaps and gossip, and to examine
ideas and issues meaningful to their everyday
existence.
Folksinger Pete Seeger, in Little Boxes sang of
“wooden houses, all made of ticky-tacky, all the
same,” in reference to the lockstep society of the late
’50s and early ’60s. Many of today’s high school
students are also locked into standardized, milktoast
and robotic thinking and of looking alike.
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They need journalism that challenges their ideas, their
self-images, their lack of involvement. In short, they
need to be led outside the paradigm of the ticky-tacky
boxes they live in.
They need journalists willing to make a difference,
willing to be unique, willing to say “we needn’t be or
think all the same.”
These journalists are publishing thoughtful, in-depth
and meaningful stories on important and often
controversial subjects.
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The challenge is to find a way to report these
issues that is unique and meets the needs of the
local readers.
Another challenge is find a way to make
whatever topic you choose have a human
interest angle. The only way to do this is to
relate it to real people and situations -anecdotes, description, storytelling, narrative -ways to make a longer, statistic- and researchbased piece come alive and grab the readers.
A third challenge is to involve multimedia in
meaningful ways so content is served no
matter the platform.
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Consider these goals for investigative reporting from
the Center for Investigative Reporting:
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Alert the public to emerging issues, crises and trends, and to stories
that are unreported or underreported.
Provide key information to citizens, the public-interest community
and public officials in as many media outlets and forms as possible.
Monitor the unfolding story and solutions to the problems we
uncover and, whenever possible, update our stories after they
appear.
In-depth or controversial reporting is not superficial,
one of the criticisms of media today.
Critics of the media argue, rightly so, that the lack of
space or time or willingness to be thorough, forces
the press to only cover the surface and to be
sensational. Critics claim issues laced with subtleties
cannot be explored properly under the constraints of
speed and brevity.
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Emphasizing in-depth reporting implies several things:
It means better reporting
It means the use of multiple sources and even
reinterviewing them several times
It means careful research
It means asking more questions than you answer
It means the willingness to take the time needed to
do a thorough job
It means combining the best of news and feature
reporting, of using infographics and photography and
other media to get the message across
It means being willing to take the risk to do
something that will leave a mark on your readers.
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Evaluating topics and stories:
Is the topic of the story worth in-depth treatment
because of its seriousness or relevance?
If the story is one long piece, does it have a fullfledged introduction leading to an internal lead or
nutgraph?
Are scenes, anecdotes and other strong examples used
to involve the reader in the story?
If the story is broken into several pieces, does
each piece deal with a different aspect of the story? If
shorter pieces, is each coherent?
Are charts and other infographics used
appropriately and effectively?
Is the story free from grammatical errors and in
accordance with the publication and AP stylebooks?