This document provides guidance and examples for writing news stories about sustainable village energy projects. It begins with an excerpt from a Mother Jones article about a Tanzanian farmer who spends $10 per month on diesel to power his TV. The document then suggests connecting with the audience and leading them through the story. It provides examples of translating technical information into common language. The goal is to accurately and clearly share these stories while being fair to different perspectives.

1. Sustainable village
energy: off the
planning board,
into the news.
Sharon Schmickle
Media Program
Smart Villages Initiative
November 2014

2. Opening by connecting
 “Lusela Murandika just wants to be able to
watch the evening news. The 76-year-old
farmer lives in Kanyala village in northern
Tanzania, 60 miles from the nearest town
that's connected to the electric grid. For
years, he's powered a tiny TV set in the dim
sitting room of his concrete house here with a
diesel generator, spending roughly $10 each
month on fuel—money that could otherwise
buy more than 20 pounds of rice in a country
where the per capita GDP is $695.
”
--Tim McDonnell, Mother Jones, Sept. 15,
2014

3. Please come with me
 Open a door
 Extend a hand
 Lead the way

4. Speak to your audience
A story about sustainable energy for villages
might speak to:
 Farmers
 Policy makers
 Business leaders
 Consumers
 The developed world
 All of the above

5. Typical journal article
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a major crop plant
and a model system for fruit development. Solanum is
one of the largest angiosperm genera1 and includes
annual and perennial plants from diverse habitats. Here
we present a high-quality genome sequence of
domesticated tomato, a draft sequence of its closest
wild relative, Solanumpimpinellifolium2, and compare
them to each other and to the potato genome
(Solanumtuberosum). The two tomato genomes show
only 0.6% nucleotide divergence and signs of recent
admixture, but show more than 8% divergence from
potato, with nine large and several smaller inversions.
--Nature, 31 May 2012

6. Translation
What is your idea of a dream tomato? Women selling
the juicy globes in the markets, no doubt, would wish for
a slow-spoiling variety so that today’s leftovers would sell
tomorrow. Buyers, of course, would want luscious flavor.
Growers would hope for fortification against yield-
stealing pests.
The day when all of those wishes could come true has
been advanced by news published online in the journal
Nature: tomato’s genome has been decoded. Now
that scientists have the full genetic code of a common
tomato, they have an unprecedented view of some
35,000 genes that make the tomato what it is.
-- Sharon Schmickle, B4FA web site

7. From technical jargon to
common touch
Paul Karaimu covered a technical presentation at an
“AgKnowledge Africa” fair in Ethiopia. Here is how he started his
story:
Imagine using your mobile phone to connect to a voice site on
the internet, to listen to your favourite blog or to search for
information. According to IBM, this might be one of the ways we
use the internet in the near future.
No, it will not replace the current technology that involves using
a browser on your computer to search for what you need online,
but the company is banking on a new voice-enabled internet
platform that can provide information and services to millions over
the phone, especially in the developing world’s rural areas, where
many people do not read and write and have no access to the
internet.
-- From Science in Africa

8. Try extending your own hand
 Identify the audience for your article
 Craft beginning paragraphs that speak to
the audience
 Share your creation

9. Now what?
Your invitation was accepted.
Now you must deliver the full story with
 Accuracy
 Clarity
 Fairness

10. Thank
You