Issue-led journalism

Issue-led journalism is essential if journalists are to inform the public debate.

It's the opposite of wires-led journalism where journalists reproduce what they are fed.

It means journalists have to set the editorial agenda by covering the issues that most concern their audience while explaining the significance of events.

Without it you may think you are producing journalism, but you are probably pumping out PR or propaganda.

The role of the journalist

Issue-led journalism means digging where others don't, shining a light in dark places, challenging the powerful, and telling compelling stories about real people whose lives are being affected by the actions of others.

Issue-led journalism means digging where others don't, shining a light in dark places, challenging the powerful, and telling compelling stories about real people whose lives are being affected by the actions of others

Some may have another name for issue-led journalism, so don't bother Googling the term because you will probably end up back on this site.

When you have completed this exercise you will have the formula for coming up with at least 10 original stories a week that will only appear on the wires or as the topic of a news conference after you have broken them.

And that is the real test; that others are forced to follow up the stories you have found and broken. That is the sign of real journalism.

Make sure others are following up your stories rather than you following up theirs

So here are a few tips to get started. And before you say it can't happen, I have carried out this excercise with media organisation in Central America, the Balkans, the CIS, Middle East and three countries in South East Asia.

In every case it has resulted in exclusive stories being published, with the competition having to follow. Think of the stories you find fitting into the category of "had it not been for you, the world would never have known."

Think of the stories you find fitting into the category of "had it not been for you, the world would never have known."

Defining an issue-led journalism strategy

Gather your senior editorial team together and decide what are the key issues concerning your audience.

Of course, before you can carry out this exercise you need to know who that target audience is.  You will have already carried out an audience segmentation exercise and decided which segments to super-serve in your editorial offering.

Wherever you are in the world you will probably find those concerns boil down to issues such as jobs, housing, health, education, transport, law and order. the environment, etc.

It's funny the way that works out. You may think that doing this in Guatemala, Belgrade, Baku, Harare, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur might result in different issues - but it doesn't.

Once agreed, these form the key issues for your issue-led journalism strategy.

When I carried this exercise out in Azerbaijan in 2009 the editorial team came up with the following issues:

1: Homes
2: Health
3: Education
4: Jobs (finance and the economy)
5: Transport
6: Agriculture
7: Crime
8: Environment
9: New Technology

There may be fewer than nine, but there will usually be at least six. Try to find 10.

Note that politics and corruption are not listed as key issues, despite being suggested as such almost every time I have carried out this exercise.This is because politics and corruption can impact all the areas mentioned above and are common to all, rather than issues or topics in their own right.

Investigating the issues that concern your audience

Now we need to break down each issue into topics, preferably 10 topics on each issue. In the Azerbaijan case we started with homes and then broke into groups to come up with up to 10 topics on each issue.

The topics associated with the issue of housing, put together by the Azerbaijani journalists, included:

1: Safety
2: Trends
3: Availability
4: Affordability
5: Maintenance
6: Building standards
7: Homelessness
8: Services (utilities)
9: Locations
10: Ethnic & Social (provision of)

Original stories about real people

Now we need to break it down one step further. We need to dig deep for original stories about real people that illustrate these topics so that the audience can understand and relate to the issues being explored.

This is where the strategy should be shared with the journalists who are working in the field. They need to find real stories about real people that illustrate the topics. Include any stringers and citizen journalists too.

This is not as hard as it sounds. You’ll be surprised, or perhaps not, at how many stories your team are aware of and can tap into. Everyone knows someone who has a story to tell.

With the Azerbaijan exercise the editorial team came up with the following story ideas on the topic of safety related to the issue of housing, all based on stories they knew about things that had happened to friends, neighbours and relatives.

1: Injury to builders and residents
2: Condemned homes - leading to homelessness
3: Cost of insurance - leading to risks & loss

By the end of this exercise you should have at least three original story ideas on each topic.

So, in the Azerbaijan model above (picture taken from one of my training PowerPoints) you will see that the exercise produced 270 original story ideas.

Nine issues multiplied by 10 topics multiplied by three stories. 9 x 10 x 3 = 270.

These are now a central part of your editorial strategy to provide issue-led journalism that informs the public debate so that your audience can make educated choices.

This is responsible journalism. And it is clever journalism, too, because, if your audience feels you are covering the issues that matter most to them, they are more likely to stick with you.

It also saves resources, offers you a differential (you will not be slavishly following the wires-fed/stimulated pack), and you will be offering original and meaningful content.

Becoming a news leader

Now the fun starts. You will soon start to set the news agenda (rather than having it set for you, as before).

Your competition will be forced to follow up on the stories you have discovered.

By the time they do, you will be breaking a new story. And on it goes.

When I did this with the Serbian broadcaster B92 in Belgrade in 2005 the competition started to ask where they got the news releases from - the competitors were accustomed to having all news delivered via the wires, through news releases, or via organised and stage-managed news conferences.

Once you have decided to deliver issue-led journalism there will be no stopping you. You will be the agenda-setters.  I have carried this exercise out from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe and the results in all cases have been impressive.

Carrying our this exercise should help you establish a unique editorial differential