How to develop local news-feature stories

1. Developing a story about
community issues
(and other stories, too)
Judd Slivka
@juddslivka

2. How a story is found
• A boy story and a girl story get together, and
they love each other very much…
• If only it were that easy…
• I’m sort of loving on the ellipses now…

3. …

4. Finding serious stories
• The first idea of finding good stories is that
they’re all around us.
• You can find good stories at meetings. Or
walking down the street. Or by reading
something from somewhere else and applying
it here.

5. For instance…
• A thin guy riding a bike pulling a basket of
copper pipe might get you thinking “Why is he
so thin? And why is all that copper pipe going
with him?”
• And that can spark a story (in this case, a
story about meth heads stealing copper and
the impact that’s having on communities).

6. Or…
• Walking through a shopping center and seeing
that half the stores are empty and there’s
reconstruction outside could spark stories on
rebuilding a mall or the tough retail economy.
• Driving through town and noticing there are
five frozen yogurt-type places in a city of
100,000 could spark the story of ‘Why is this
such a trend and can the town support it?’

7. Walking through a story: Step 1
• Figure out the idea, either as a broad theme
or as a narrow specific.
• A broad theme will require you to find the
example that supports it.
• Starting with a narrow specific can be easier,
but it can make the nut graf harder.
• What’s going on nationally?

8. Identify the story
• As a broad theme: I want to write about the
trend of frozen yogurt stores in Columbia
• How do I do that?
• First thought: Is this a national trend?
• Second thought: Is Columbia an example of it?

9. Identity the story, add2
• I can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a
frozen yogurt place. Have I seen that
elsewhere?
• The first step for research, then, is going to be
is this happening elsewhere?
• It is. The frozen dessert unit is one of the
fastest growing segments of the franchise
world.

10. Identify the story, add3
• Where in Columbia are these places?
• Two are downtown, one is west, two are
southwest.
• I should check begin talking to people and asking
why they’re located there.
• Official sources: City planning and
zoning, Columbia Chamber of
Commerce, national trade organizations, national
businesses
• Unofficial sources: developers, other
merchants, local franchisees

11. FroYo is big
• I should also check to see if there have been
any stories written about this elsewhere, since
I might be able to use those facts to help my
piece.
• I find there have been lots of stories in
national publications about this, on a lot of
different angles.
• What makes Columbia different that would
give my story a strong nut graf and edge?

12. Who to call?
• In talking to the Chamber of
Commerce, someone makes a comment that
they wonder if Columbia can sustain this many
FroYo establishments over a sustained
period, particularly when half the year is not
good for business.
• Now I’ve got my conflict.

13. The actual reporting
• I’m going to need both a local perspective for
my angle and a national one for the nut graf.
So I should start early. I’ll call the national
trade organization to see what they have stat-
wise, and begin talking to all the local
operators.
• And I’ll see if there’s an expert in restaurant
economics somewhere who can lend me
some national perspective.

14. Woohoo!
• I find an expert who quotes restaurant closure
rates and tells me how FroYo places, in particular,
usually start out great and quickly plateau in
terms of customers. And that they need strong
summers to make up for slow winters.
• Uh-oh. Doesn’t Columbia empty out in the
summer when the students go home?
• Now I’ve got my story – which started as an
observaton and now is very narrow and specific.
Even though I haven’t done a lot of reporting yet,
I have a preliminary nut graf…

15. Preliminary nut graf
Columbia has one frozen yogurt place for every
20,000 citizens, all of them located in either
student-dominated downtown or in the affluent
southwestern part of the city. But even though
frozen yogurt franchises are now the second-
highest franchised restaurant business – right
after sub sandwiches – the number of locations in
Columbia begs the question: Can the city support
five similar concepts, especially in the dead of
winter when no one wants frozen yogurt and in
the heat of summer, when 70 percent of students
go home.

16. Figuring out who to talk to and where
to go?
• Who knows about this stuff?
• Who’s affected by this stuff?
• Who cares about this stuff?
• Who can give me perspective about this stuff?

17. The Internet is a starting point
• Simple search engine queries can give you leads.
Looking for an expert in tuition increases? Search for
related terms. Note the names of where people are,
then call them as experts.
• Use searches to figure out institutional targets. For
instance, if you’re writing about restaurants, find the
trade group that represents them. If you’re writing
about fashion (for instance, how a Polarfleece mill
burning down in Massachusetts changed the
performance apparel industry for two seasons), find
companies or non-profits that deal with that.