This document provides guidance on narrowing the focus for photo essays, audio stories, and video packages by developing a clear "driving question." It recommends brainstorming potential driving questions, choosing one that is specific enough to answer yet broad enough to have an impact. The driving question should ask "why" or "how" and begin to address what the problem is, who it affects, what is being done about it, and obstacles or solutions. Developing must-have audio/video elements is also suggested to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end focused on answering the central question.

1. Narrowing your Focus
for your photo essay, audio story & video package

2. Do you have a topic or a story?
“I want to report on homelessness in our city.”
“We need to do a story on this new
environmental policy.”
Too often, the resulting feature remains
a broad topic that never quite finds its
story.The focus isn’t clear and it sounds
more like a collection of quotes than a
purposeful story with a beginning,
middle and end.

3. • You need to imagine
the sorts of pictures
or “tape” you need.
• Gathering pics/audio/
video takes time, and
it’s not easy to go
back and get
something you need.
• For the sake of
efficiency you’ve got
to think ahead!

4. The scope should be narrow but not too narrow:
• What is going on with homelessness in city?
• What does the mayor say about the
homelessness issue?
• What has been the impact so far of the
city’s new initiative to reduce homelessness?
<= too broad
<= too narrow
It asks “why?” or “how?”
• Why has homelessness increased so much in the past
5 years?
You can at least begin to answer it
The driving question

5. The driving question
• What’s the problem?
• Who is affected?
• Who is doing something about it and what are they doing?
• What obstacles are they hitting or what solutions are
they creating?
• What question do you personally really want to know the
answer to?
• Can you answer this question in four minutes? If not, what
question could you answer?
• What’s the most specific version of the question?
• What’s most important, new or different about this topic?
• What does my audience need to understand? What is
relevant to them?

6. Brainstorm the driving question
(3-5 minutes)
What might be the single, driving
question for your story? Write everything
that comes to mind, even if it seems silly.
Each question could present a different
pathway for the story. At the end of this
step, take a moment to scan through what
you wrote and identify one or two
questions that seem most promising.

7. Explore where the story could lead
You’re not making final decisions, you’re
testing out the concept.
1. Get into groups of two or three.
2. One participant begins by laying out the
premise of their story and their chosen
driving question.
3. The group weighs in, offering feedback
and questions.

8. Describe 1-2 pieces of must-have “tape.”
What kind of story is this?
What will you leave out? What elements do
not help to answer your central question?
Questions to ask: