How to Develop Great Reporting Skills

How to Develop Great Reporting SkillsHow to Develop Great Reporting SkillsA good journalist needs to have great reporting skills. Since it takes time to develop great reporting skills, you should work on this area if youre trying to land a job as a reporter or magazine editor. Good reporting, whether youre doing it face-to-face or over the phone, is key to getting a story done well. And, since misquoting people can ruin your reputation, you need to make sure you do more than just ask the right questions - you need to listen well and get the information down correctly. Here are some basic rules to remember in order to develop good reporting skills. Be Prepared Before Reporting While a reporter needs to be quick on their feet, as they might need to chase a story down quickly, you should always know your subject matter. If you have a scheduled vorstellungsgesprch with someone, do your homework. Know the persons background and sketch out the questions you want to ask. You need to go into the interview knowing what youd like to get out of it and, if you write out your questions ahead of time, youre more likely to stay on track. Be Prepared but Not Rigid While you always want to have a plan in mind before you do an interview, dont be unwilling to let an interview go off in another direction if its an interesting one. You never want to let someone youre interviewing ramble on about something pointless, but if the interviewee starts talking about something interesting, go with it. Recognize when someone is saying something interesting and react to that. When youre done with the interesting aside, you can always go back to the questions you prepared beforehand. Dont Be Afraid of Silences In general conversation, people have a tendency to want to fill moments of silence with conversation. In an interview, try to avoid that. Often, if you let seemingly awkward silences go, an interviewee will fill that void with more information. Ask for Clarification Ear ly in your career, it may be easy to let this one slip not asking for clarification on something. Theres no reason to be shy and assume youll be able to figure it out later or feel afraid that by posing a question youll look unprofessional or ignorant. Theres no need to feel that way. If you dont understand something as soon as someone says it, chances are its confusing. And, chances are, your editor is going to ask what that confusing thing means. A reporter should always ask for further explanation. If somethings unclear, phrases like What do you mean by that? or Can you explain that further? often work. If someones using a lot of jargon, ask them to explain what theyre saying in laymens terms. In general, you dont want to end an interview confused. Make sure you understand what the person said before you leave them or hang up the phone. Thebottom lineis that its a journalists job is to report whats happening. If youre unclear on something someone says to you, you wont be able to logically relay the story to the public. Ask htte nicht viel gefehlt Talkers to Slow Down While some interviewers have the luxury of tape recording conversations, youll have to do quick news stories without recording. Therefore you need to be able to quickly type what people are saying, and some people can talk very fast. While most reporters use a shorthand basically anything they themselves can read make sure to ask people who are talking too fast to slow down. Also, if you miss something specific an interviewee said, feel free to interject and ask them to repeat it. Always Get Names Spelled Out Not every Jane Smith spells her name that way so, even if someone says a name thats recognizable, ask them to spell it out. It should be second nature to get every name of every person you talk to, and every person that person refers to, spelled out for you.