Media Helping Media

The site has been asked to set out how an interactive news story should develop online and what elements should be added and when. The request came from a newspaper in Africa which is building a converged newsroom. Managers want to be able to publish content to every device their users may wish to turn to in order to access information. Much depends on available editorial resources, newsroom systems and whether journalists are able to access the assets to create an online news story.

A lot depends on  editorial resources, newsroom systems, and whether journalists are able to access information and assets. The following notes are based on experiences gathered working on large-scale broadcast news websites.

The following module sets out the elements you should be thinking about adding to a breaking news story as it develops. It also sets out some rough timings, which will vary depending on whether you:

• are operating in a converged news organisation
• have centralised journalistic tools that make all the assets/elements available
• belong to a media organisation with audio/video
• have a website that aims to update around the clock
• deliver content to multiple devices.

It will also make life easier if your news organisation has:

• a strong forward planning operation
• a core editorial proposition based on issue-led journalism.

Breaking news box and graphics

As soon as your duty editor announces that there is a breaking news story, you will need a breaking news element at the top of your site. If you are working in a converged news space along with TV, then it will probably be the same content.

Adding the next paragraph

Try to get that breaking news headline out as fast as you can, obviously making sure that you have verified the details with two independent sources first.

Once the breaking news is out, aim to add a summary and a breaking news graphic within minutes so that you can remove the breaking news banner and move into story update mode.

This is because you may want to use the breaking news banner for a further news flash update, or in case another important story breaks.

Taking ownership of the story

The breaking news alert may have come from one of your reporters or correspondents on the scene.  However, the first breaking news alert may also come from the wires.

If you are confident the incident has happened, you can send out an alert qualifying the information using words such as "Reuters is quoting...", "Reports are coming in...". However you can't go big on the story until you have confirmed it happhas happened or you are able to add value to the information that is already in the public domain.

Once you have verified that the incident has happened, try to add something unique from your own news resources so that you can take ownership of the story.

Then, continue building the online version of the story with an image, ideally within the next ten minutes.

You will need to have access to the latest images coming in from the wires services your news organisation subscribes to or, better still, to images coming in from your own newsgathering people at the scene.

This is often where it gets difficult. Everyone will be racing around. You will probably be sitting in front of a computer screen with a telephone at your side. You will be expected to gather all the information and elements you need for your online version of that story via the computer. If your news organisation doesn't have an integrated news management system you will be struggling.

Adding to the developing story

Your front page summary should contain a headline that makes sense standing alone. It will be a sentence, not a question or a label. This is because you may wish to extract the headline as a product to distribute to ticker services (see the Starting in Online Journalism module).

The summary should complement the headline and not contradict or repeat. It should add value and enhance the viewer's understanding of the story. The image should be relevant to the story and tease the reader to click on the link in order to view the main text.

Related stories should add value, too, and must not be earlier versions of the same story.

Quote boxes

It’s good to add a quote box as soon as you can. This breaks up the text in the absence of pictures and it helps highlight an important element of the breaking news story. Be sure to pick a strong quote that reflects the main point of the story being written up in the headline and summary.

Quote boxes are useful for those users who want to scan read your piece.

Always go for the quote that is likely to capture the imagination of the viewer.

It should also be the most newsworthy quote in the story.

Fact files and timelines

Text boxes are ideal for displaying the main elements of the story.

They are also useful for breaking up text if you are short on images.

If you have a good CMS (content management system), and a database stocked with previous news items and other background information on the topic, you should be able to search for and add other elements such as timelines, fact boxes and people profiles.

If you don't have these resources in your system, but your CMS allows you to create a text box, consider gathering the main facts of the story and writing them up and presenting them in a fact box.

This serves two purposes.

It offers those who want to scan-read your piece the chance to take in the most important facts, and it also (depending on your CMS) can often become an asset that others can add to other related stories as the news item develops.

Displaying complext data

Fact boxes are a great way of displaying data that would be difficult to write about in sentences.

At times you will have important data that is essential for understanding the story, but which would result in too much text if it were to be included in the body of the piece.

Too many facts can also distract from the main thrust of the story, such as the latest developments and their significance.

But a responsible news organisation should try to find a way of displaying the key information it has in order to help its audience understand the issues.

This is where fact boxes come into their own.

If your news organisation has covered earlier developments of the story, there should be information in the database which you are able to reuse.

Hopefully, your CMS will enable you to access this data.

Ideally it will already be in an existing text box, which you can dust off, update, and then add to the story you are working on.

Info graphics

If your newsroom system links to the TV, radio or print database, your newsroom tools may enable you to search for shared graphics.

This is a great way of ensuring you are not duplicating effort (so it saves on costs), but it also is good for the brand, showing a consistency of style and message across all platforms.

Some news organisations have a common look and feel concerning graphics.

This is an intelligent strategy, and all part of a converged, multiplatform content production approach.

Info graphics are ideal for showing the viewer in a simplified form detailed and complex information that make take them several minutes to read.

They are another way of offering options and choice for those who wish to consume their news in different ways.

Correspondent and reporter scripts

If you are able to access the text being written by the TV, radio or print correspondent who has been assigned to the story, you may be able to turn round a correspondent’s report offering it as a side bar (related story) to the breaking/running news story you are writing.

Again, if your newsroom has a converged news management tool, you may be able to find researcher/producer notes in order to put together a simple Q & A (questions and answers) to add as another side bar.

User-generated content (UGC)

If the story is likely to have a direct impact on your audience, and they may have witnessed something or are likely to have something to say, the sooner you engage the audience and feed that content back into your output, the better.

So you need to set up an invitation to your audience to encourage them to send in images and comments early on in the process.

Within an hour you may already have some user comments/images to add to the piece.

Adding these within the story itself encourages others to contribute and gives the story an added relevance.

This is important because more and more the audience wants to participate in the news and not just sit back and watch or read what you, the journalist, is producing on their behalf.

The sooner you can include UGC in your report, the better.

Special sections

Many of the top stories you will be covering will be those your news organisation has invested time and effort in telling in the past.

Because of this, you are likely to already have a special section or in-depth area of the site dedicated to the subject.

If you have, be sure to remember to link to this. But, before you do, be sure to update the special section with the latest news so that it is fresh and relevant.

Linking to an outdated special section is confusing for the viewer and bad for the brand.

Side bars

Most top stories deserve a number of side bars.

These can include many of the elements discussed above.

What they offer the user is a neat collection of added-value items that will enhance their understanding of the topic you are writing about.

They could be made up of links to:

• correspondent report
• a Q & A
• timeline
• profiles
• related stories
• in-depth sections.