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Reporting process
Before writing
Reporting is everything, to report well, you have to be planned and organized with your information. Every story you write must have in-depth reporting prevalent throughout. This section should represent how I report and what I recommend most writers in the ODYSSEY to do as well.
Enterprise planning document
Left: Here is a PDF of a planning document I made for an enterprise story I did on suicide prevention. A big part of my reporting process is a planning document, that's the first step always. My ideas are often running around in my brain so without writing them all out I forget them very easily. In this specific document, I start with a few notes, then stakeholders with contacts and updates on communications. I also included a couple of loose ideas and several drafts worth of outlines. I love planning documents because they help me keep things organized throughout my reporting.
Portfolio planning document
Left: Here is a PDF of the planning document I made for this portfolio. While not specifically writing related, this PDF shows my commitment to the organization in all of my journalistic efforts. This document starts with some notes and then goes into a list of all the areas I want to cover and my ideas for what media to put where. This was accompanied by a google drive folder for me to upload the actual media for easier access. I believe a lot of journalistic failures can come from a lack of planning before writing.
Before interviews
Interviews are likely my favorite part of journalism, I like to talk to new people and have conversations about topics with in-depth questions. And to have these good conversations you need to research your topic and create a large question bank you can pull from when needed, while also making room for follow up questions.
​Interview questions pt1
Left: In this image is a question bank I made for a story I wrote on new recycling bins in my school. I have a section for the teacher and president of the club in charge of it and for a press conference. I do use questions from different parts of the list for anyone the sections are just a starting point. One thing I have improved on since the creation of this was more of an equal distribution of the 5W 1H. However I do still feel like this is a very good question bank.
​Interview questions pt2
Right: Here is an image that has both starter questions and an organized list for a longer interview. So on the top is a list of 6 start questions I ask in every interview with some variation. I use these questions to both get the stakeholder a bit more comfortable before jumping into it and also to get the hard facts I may need. They also help me record my stakeholders in my publications database. The second section is for an interview I did with a director at the organization I was doing a profile on. I segmented the questions into three key parts I wanted to talk about in my story. I like this form of organization because it helps the concepts behind the questions to stay solid during an interview.
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