Journalists and Other Writers
Research and compile news stories, write and edit news reports, commentaries and feature stories for presentation in print and electronic media, and compose written material to advertise goods and services.
Deadline in an hour
You are a journalist at a local news outlet, chasing a story that must be published before the afternoon edition. It is just after midday. A local story is breaking, your editor wants copy by one and your sources are not all answering. You have an hour to decide what is true and what to say.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I'll tell you something if you promise to keep it off the record. The council knew about the faulty playground equipment for months. But if my name comes out, I'll lose my job. Will you protect me?
Promise to protect her completely, and plan to use what she says as a quote so the story has a real named voice at its centre
You have agreed to something you cannot do both ways. If she is later identified, you have broken a promise, or you have lost the story. Be clear about what you can do before the conversation, not after.
Explain exactly how you can use the information and how you will protect her, then look for a second source to confirm it
Wendy decides to go ahead. You find a document that confirms her story. Because your promise was clear, she trusts you, and the story stands on more than her word.
Take the tip without promising anything and use it however the story needs
You keep your options open, but Wendy feels deceived when she sees her words used. People who trust you with a risk need to know where they stand before they speak.
A rival has just posted that the mayor is under investigation. Your source says the same thing but you haven't got a second one. We'll lose readers if we wait. Can we just run it?
Run it now, since someone else has already published, the readers expect it and your source seemed very sure
If the claim is false, it is a serious harm to a person and a legal risk to the paper. Someone else's mistake does not make yours safe.
Refuse to run anything on the matter until you have three sources
You are careful, but the story gets out of date while you wait, and your readers hear it from elsewhere. A short, accurate update is possible while you keep working.
Publish only what you can confirm, say others are reporting it, and ask the mayor's office for a response
The story is careful, fair to the mayor and still timely. When the facts emerge, your account is the one that holds up. Credibility is the main asset a journalist has.
I've read your story and I wish I hadn't said that about the council. I was angry. Can you take my quote out? I'm worried they'll make my life difficult. I didn't think it would be in the paper.
Take it out immediately, to be kind and avoid trouble
Mr Lindqvist is relieved, but the story loses an honest voice. If he told you the quote was for publication, removing it without thought may not be fair to readers.
Refuse, because he was told it was an interview and it was said on the record
You are within your rights, but Mr Lindqvist feels bullied, and you have not thought about his worries. Being entitled to publish is not the same as being fair.
Listen to his concerns, check whether he understood the interview was on the record and discuss what is fair, including the editor
You find he did not fully understand. With your editor, you keep the quote but add the context of his anger. He feels respected, and you learn to explain the rules at the start of every interview.
How it went
At one o'clock the story goes out. It is accurate, fair and a little later than your rival's, and it will still be true tomorrow. Journalism is about curiosity and courage, but above all about getting it right and treating the people in your stories as people. Could you carry that responsibility?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The flood rumour that spread faster than the water
A fictional case set in a small regional newsroom that publishes online and in print.
The situation
Kavya was a reporter at the Valley Gazette. After a night of heavy rain, a post went around social media saying that the town's levee had broken and that people near the river should leave immediately. It had been shared hundreds of times by morning. Kavya's editor wanted a story up quickly, because rival outlets were already running it. But Kavya had not yet heard from the emergency service, and nobody she knew had seen a break with their own eyes.
What they did
Kavya rang the emergency service's media line and the council duty officer, then drove to the river and looked for herself. The levee was holding, though water was high in one low paddock. She wrote a story that said clearly what was confirmed, what was rumour and where to find official updates. Her editor wanted to run it while it was still unclear. Kavya explained that a wrong evacuation story could cause panic, and the editor agreed to wait an hour for her check.
How it turned out
The story ran an hour after the rumour had started. Other outlets were forced to correct theirs. Readers sent messages thanking the Gazette for being sure, and several shared its page as the place to check. Kavya's editor said that being second with the truth beat being first with a mistake.
What would you do?
- Why was it risky to publish quickly in this case?
- How do you decide whether to trust a post or a person?
- What would you want from a news source in an emergency?