Category: News Decoder Tips

  • Why you need to triple check your facts

    Why you need to triple check your facts

    There it was. A seemingly well-sourced, carefully crafted and copy-edited article about a new brand of young, vibrant, national leader, with astonishing levels of commitment, courage, creativity and compassion. All ready to be self-published online.

    The only trouble was that my draft article was based on wrong information and it needed to be spiked. That’s a journalism term for sending it to the trash.

    Now, I could moan and blame social media and disinformation for this near mistake. Or I could reflect on how close I came to disseminating gross misinformation and share the concrete learnings that I am taking from this quasi-failure.

    Be open to new story ideas.

    I recently read a WhatsApp post from a trusted Southeast Asian colleague of mine in the United States. He shared an opinion piece from his home country about a relatively new leader in another country in the Global South.

    The opinion writer said that this leader recently told public officials: “I don’t want my photographs in your offices because I am not a god or an icon, but a servant of the nation.” He urged them to hang pictures of their children instead.

    The writer added that this leader then delivered a ‘devastating moral punch’. “Whenever the spirit of theft visits you,” he said, “take a good look at your family’s picture and ask yourself if they deserve to be the family of a thief who has destroyed the nation.”

    It seemed like a great story and when I researched this new leader online, I found posts and articles that corroborated this particularly striking example of a new leader’s bold move against corruption.

    And I found other praiseworthy stories about his economic pragmatism and post-colonial idealism.

    Trust your gut and triple-check the facts.

    As a conscientious former reporter for the Reuters international news service, something troubled me. I thought about something my dearly departed father would say: “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

    So right before publication, I decided to verify some of the facts one last time with two in-country sources I knew in Kigali, Rwanda.

    In no uncertain terms, one of them challenged most of the core aspects of my article and firmly declared that the particularly praiseworthy, anti-corruption initiative that was the centerpiece of my article was actually not true at all.

    She was right. On further investigation, the other stories of this leader’s supposed initiative and success all turned out to be skewed or exaggerated.

    And so the article was sadly consigned to the dustbin of fake news.

    Find the original sources and quote them directly.

    But I was not done. On further investigation, I managed to find a slightly different quotation that the opinion piece was probably based on:

    “We will build the country of other opportunities — the one where all are equal before the law and where all the rules are honest and transparent, the same for everyone. And for that, we need people in power who will serve the people. This is why I really do not want my pictures in your offices, for the president is not an icon, an idol or a portrait. Hang your kids’ photos instead and look at them each time you are making a decision.”

    And I discovered that the person who said this was none other than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his inaugural address on 20 May 2019.

    His statement does not talk about a “thief who has destroyed the nation” but it is still deeply impactful, particularly in light of his country’s devastating challenges over the last three years.

    Be willing to do things differently in future.

    I have been a journalist for a long time but here are some key reminders for me of what I need to do going forward:

    → Balance enthusiasm and engagement with integrity and plain hard work;

    → Recognize that in these difficult times, we all yearn for an inspirational story but even with the best of intentions, emotions can get in the way of good judgment;

    → Always take the extra time necessary to track down original and reliable sources;

    → Do this extra work whether you are sharing something with thousands of people on News Decoder or with only one other person in private;

    → If in doubt, cut it out or don’t share it and start again;

    → Have the courage to admit when you are wrong, apologize and make amends as appropriate and learn from that humbling experience.

    And just in case you are wondering, my father never claimed that his beloved saying was his.

    The original source is unknown but Dictionary.com points out that the term was part of the title of Thomas Lupton’s Sivquila; Too Good to be True, which dates back to the 1580s.

    The search for the original source continues as I recall the cynical words of a former official with the title “Minister for the Quality of Life” who counseled journalists to always write “lively and interesting” stories that correspond “where possible” with the truth.

    In future, I promise to always try to write truthful stories that are, where possible, lively and interesting.

     

    Questions to consider:

    1. Have you ever written or said something that you thought that was true but turned out to be false? If so, what did you do?

    2. If not, what would you do if this happens in future?

    3. And what will you do from now on to make sure this doesn’t happen?

    Source link

  • That info you found. You sure of the source?

    That info you found. You sure of the source?

    Ever play telephone? You sit with a bunch of friends and whisper a phrase in the ear of the person next to you. That person whispers it to the next person. So, it goes until the phrase reaches the last person. 

    More times than not, the initial phrase became so convoluted as it is passed from person to person that it is funny. The phrase “80% of success is showing up” might end up as “an Asian person senses a growing pup.”

    That’s often the case with information on the internet. The more sources through which an article has been published through a syndicate or aggregated source, the more likely that article will change. Sometimes important context or nuance is lost. 

    In journalism, the goal is to be as close as possible to the publication making that initial “phone” call.

    “The closer you can get to the source, the better,” said Dan Evon, senior manager of education design at the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit that provides students with media literacy tools. “It’s important for people to know how to find those sources.” 

    How to know if info has been rehashed

    Sometimes it is difficult to tell an original source from one that has been republished and rehashed. Media consumers often think they got their information from an original source, when they had found it on what is called an aggregator or syndicator.

    An aggregator compiles data from many sources into one. Many institutions host aggregated databases with publications from various sources, including the scientific and medical communities. 

    One such example of an aggregated source is the National Library of Medicine PubMed, the world’s largest biomedical library that hosts more than 37 million citations. Publications hosted by the database span institutions, journals and online books but always include the name of the original publication. 

    These are shown at the top of the webpage near the title; the page should display the original journal or book that the research appeared in. In addition, research studies include a unique code known as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and a search of this configuration of numbers and letters will also lead to the original publication. 

    Other aggregators include the Harvard Web of Science, a database that indexes the world’s leading scholarly literature, and Science.gov, an online U.S. government database of millions of scientific research across U.S. federal agencies.

    Syndicators and news wires

    Syndicators are networks of media organizations that share content. Snopes, a U.S.-based fact-checking website, publishes original content. This content can then be republished by its syndicated partners, which include MSN and Yahoo. 

    But just as in that game of telephone, important information can be lost or confused when a story is republished. For example, a syndicate publication may adjust a headline or alter the story’s content, leading to a story being factually incorrect or lacking crucial context. 

    Many news publications, for example, use content from newswire services like the Associated Press or Reuters, but each publication might alter the story or reword photo captions.

    “If you have a correction or an article is withdrawn, or there’s an editor’s note, that might not make it into the sites aggregating it,” said Evon. “When outlets republish articles, sometimes they change headlines, which can sometimes change their meaning — especially when people don’t read past the headlines.” 

    In other words, an update, editor or correction note issued to the original article may not be reflected in a syndicated article published before these additions. 

    Who wrote the story?

    Look to the writer’s byline to find an article’s original publication source. Information about the reporter, original publication outlet, date and location should be included here. Sometimes, that information is at the bottom of the article. 

    Perhaps the most well-known syndicated news source in journalism is The Associated Press, a wire service that covers global news. This independent news source publishes original reporting that websites, newspapers and broadcasts worldwide can republish. AP syndicated stories can appear in various news outlets, including local newspapers.

    To identify an AP style, look for the “AP” and original publication location in the byline. 

    If this information isn’t readily available or apparent, a Google search of the article headline and reporter name may sometimes reveal the original source. In a seemingly endless world of information, how does one determine whether a news source is reputable? Evon advises readers to take their time. 

    “Slow down. There is so much information that comes at you so fast, and you don’t have to look at everything,” Evon said. “The internet is awesome. It has all the information that you need. You just have to slow down and learn how to use it properly. Take a few seconds to look at an account name, who is publishing it, where it’s coming from — there are many basic questions that can be answered in 30 seconds that can really weed about the false information that goes around.”

    Credibility can’t be rushed.

    A credible media outlet or news publication will be transparent in its editorial strategies, correction policies, staff, funding and any conflicts of interest. This information should be easy to find and is often listed on a website’s “About” page. 

    “Once you know that’s a source that you can trust, you don’t have to do that work every time. It’s more about when you come across new and unfamiliar sources,” said Evon. “If you do not recognize the account or the outlet, that should give you pause to do a bit of research.”

    Understanding the different source types can also help determine whether information comes from an aggregated or syndicated source. Sources of information often fall into three categories — primary, secondary and tertiary — based on how close they are to the source. Primary sources are considered original materials or official sources of information, such as a research journal that published a study or a press release issued by a law official. 

    Tracking down the primary source is the best way to track down the first time this information was made available and hasn’t yet been distorted by varying degrees of reporting, interpretations or users who copy and paste text without context. 

    For scientific or social science studies, the primary source will be the study itself and the researchers who conducted it and the university where the research took place. Moreover, once you identify the researchers, you can contact them and interview them for original research of your own. 

    Secondary sources reprint, restate or analyze primary sources. These might include textbooks, articles, biographies, political analyses or commentaries that add value to the primary source but don’t necessarily represent its original context. 

    Tertiary sources compile, index and organize different pieces of information to create a broader understanding of a topic. These include dictionaries or encyclopedias, almanacs and manuals that usually do not credit a particular author.

    “Journalists play a role of an intermediary between sources, so there is this desire or inclination to go to the primary source,” Evon said. “What we hope journalists can do is look at that primary source, parse that data into easily understandable tidbits that they can then put out to the general readership.” 

     

    Questions to consider:

    1. What is meant by a news aggregator?
    2. How do you tell who conducted the research when you find a scientific or social science study on the Internet?
    3. Why is it important to tell if information has been republished and altered?

     

    Source link

  • To tell a big story find one that’s small

    To tell a big story find one that’s small

    How do you get someone who lives in India to care about people in Uganda?

    That’s the challenge for journalists who try to tell stories about parts of the world that most of the press ignores. Correspondent Enock Wanderema is from Uganda and wants the world to know what happens there. 

    For a story about the widespread government corruption he focused on one woman, Aloikin Praise Opoloje. Wanderema tells us this story about Opoloje giving birth in a hospital that had been starved of resources because of government corruption. He writes: 

    …she watched the midwife try to manage multiple births at once. Opoloje could tell she was exhausted.  “One of the women was in critical condition, but the surgeon who was supposed to operate was nowhere to be found,” Opoloje said. “We tried calling him, but he wasn’t picking up.” 

    Wanderema used what we call an anecdote to help bring the complicated story of government corruption to life. Anecdotes are little stories about something that happened to someone. People tell little stories about themselves all the time. 

    Bring the story to life.

    In interviews savvy reporters will focus attention on these little stories and try to get as many details as they can. When did this happen? Where were you exactly? What time of day was it? Were there people around? What did it sound like? 

    A good reporter knows that the little details help make a story three-dimensional for readers or listeners. It helps place the reader there as it is happening. And if people feel like they are there, they will care. 

    High school student Helen Milito wrote about her experience spending a year studying in Italy with School Year Abroad. To show how different she felt and how much it took her out of her comfort zone she gave this story:

    We were split into two teams scrimmaging against each other. The boys I play with are competitive so there was the usual light trash talking, jersey pulling and agile foot skills. 

    We were playing friendly rules with no corner kicks. My teammate, Gugu, was fouled in the makeshift goalie box and dramatically fell to the ground yelling for a penalty kick. 

    None of us expected the coach to listen to him, but surprisingly he gave it to our team on the condition that I take the kick. All the players lined up around the box as I prepared to shoot, choosing to aim for the bottom right corner. 

    Two things you should know: First this is in Italy and I’m an American teenager who speaks little Italian. Second, I’m the only girl on the team.

    The coach blew the whistle. I confidently ran, kicking the ball with all my strength. It went soaring over the crossbar into the fence behind. I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. 

    Note how she shows us visually what is happening through action: “there was light trash talking, jersey pulling and agile foot skills.” She includes the sound of the coach’s whistle. And she gives us emotion: “I confidently ran…”, “I wanted to crawl into a hole…”

    Telling other people’s stories

    Correspondent Leah Pattem felt compelled to report how people in Madrid were suffering from high rents. To do that, like Wanderema, she found one woman whose story she could tell. 

    Pattem wrote: 

    Now in her 80s, [Marjorie] Kanter is at the peak of her career, author of three books and an active member of Madrid’s writing community. “I don’t have many more years left, so I really want to enjoy being a successful writer for as long as I can,” she said.

    However, Kanter is facing a major setback. In September, a registered letter demanded she vacate her home at the end of October. A Galician vulture fund had purchased her apartment and didn’t offer her a new higher-priced rental contract. She suspects that means they will convert her home into a tourist flat.

    The thing is, people don’t offer up anecdotes without prompting. They don’t think reporters are interested in the little stories they tell their friends. And there is a general rule in interviewing that people won’t answer unasked questions. So to get the anecdote you need to tease it out of the person you interview question by question.

    Here are some questions that are useful in teasing out a little story:

    Can you remember the first time you did that? 

    Can you remember the scariest time? 

    Can you think of a time when that happened to you?

    Drilling down

    Ask questions to jog a person’s memory. They’ll say, “There was this one time that …”

    All the time, write down what they say and pester them for details. Imagine that the person is your grandfather and you are five years old. You will keep interrupting him to ask for details he doesn’t think is important but is important to a five-year old: What were you wearing? Was it cold? What did it smell like? Were you scared? Were you hungry? How old were you? How tall were you? 

    The key is to drill down. When someone says something, ask for specifics. When did that happen exactly? Where was that? Who else was there? No detail is too small or insignificant because to recreate a scene and you need to paint a complete picture.  

    Anecdotes are great ways to start articles. They grab the attention of readers and get them interested enough to read on. 

    After all, who doesn’t want to hear a good story?

     

    Three questions to consider:

    1. What is an anecdote?
    2. How can anecdotes help you tell a complicated story?
    3. Can you think of a little story you have told your friends or family about yourself?

     

    Source link

  • Can your story stay fresh?

    Can your story stay fresh?

    At News Decoder we publish stories intended to help young people understand the wider world they live in. To do that we look for stories in places that are underreported and on problems that many people in many places are struggling to solve.

    But we don’t expect our readers to read these stories the second we publish. Young people are busy and teachers might want to focus a class on a particular topic weeks if not months after we publish. So our stories are meant to be “evergreen.” 

    That’s a journalism term to mean that a story is about something that isn’t just happening now. It will still be relevant a year from now or two or three years in the future. 

    But it is a challenge to write a story that will grab readers’ attention now and still be worth reading a year from now. 

    The prize is that you get new readers all the time. We have stories on News Decoder that reappear on our most-read list years after we originally published them as the topics become hot and people search for information on them. 

    Make your story “evergreen”.

    So how do you make a story that isn’t necessarily time-sensitive grab a reader’s attention and at the same time be relevant for those who come to it much later? We’ll show you.

    1. Take the time and space to explain events and their context. This way readers in the future will understand what the heck you are talking about. Right now a lot of people are talking about DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative created by U.S. President Donald Trump and led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk. But two years from now who knows? DOGE might be all but forgotten. 

    2. Connect what is happening now to universal concepts. Musk and DOGE are systematically going through the U.S. government laying off thousands of people and cutting funding to thousands of programs. These moves are affecting programs that involve food, health, housing, travel, education and recreation. Those are topics people are always concerned about and interested in. Chances are, a year from now a top news event will concern the government and one of those things and your story will connect to it. 

    3. Connect what is happening now to events in the past. In this way you show your audience how the past repeats and how the present is affected by what has happened before. For readers coming in much later they can start connecting what happened when the story was first published to what is happening in their world when they read it.

    For the past year, we’ve been republishing articles that connect to something happening now. We call it our Decoder Replay. On 19 February, for instance, we republished a story about how China censors mentions of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre that occurred in 1989 because now a Chinese artificial intelligence program called DeepSeek seems to negate any reference to Tiananmen Square. 

    The week before we republished a story from 2020 about the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in fighting the Covid pandemic. Then U.S. President Donald Trump had denounced the WHO. We connected it to now President Trump pulling the United States out of the WHO.

    One of the reasons many people feel disconnected from news articles is that the articles focus on “news” — what is happening now even when such things don’t have much relevance in people’s lives — isolated crimes that happen far away, for example.

    So next time you decide to take on a hot topic, think about the readers who come to the story six months from now, or a year from now. How might the story resonate with them?

    Source link

  • Journalism is a calling. Is a story calling you?

    Journalism is a calling. Is a story calling you?

    Marcy Burstiner is the educational news director for News Decoder. She is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and professor emeritus of journalism and mass communication at the California Polytechnic University, Humboldt in California. She is the author of the book Investigative Reporting: From premise to publication.

    💡 More Tips Like This

    This story is part of News Decoder’s open access learning resources.

    Whether you’re a secondary student, studying at university or simply interested in learning new things, we can help you build your journalism skills and better understand big global issues.

    If you are a student or a member of a News Decoder Club, check out our other learning resources.

    If you are a teacher, check out our other classroom resources:

    And ask us about joining the News Decoder Club program.


    Source link