Wayne Brasler, newspaper adviser at University High in Chicago, suggested ways to find stories in a recent posting on the Journalism Education Association listserv. Here are excerpts of his message:
Beat Reports — Every administrator, faculty member, coach, club sponsor and student
leader is contacted monthly and asked: What are you doing in your
classes, particularly anything new or
photo-worthy? What are the organizations you advise or the sports
you coach doing?
Futures Book — A calendar in a loose-leaf book is maintained of all school
programs and sports events and updated daily. The editors look for what
needs to be previewed for the next issue and followed-up on from the
previous issue. And it includes a list of
stories done every year by month (such as prom) so nothing is
forgotten. The rule here is to always emphasize in these stories what is new, what is different, and never to do a formula story.
Clippings Book — Articles from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone, Wall
Street Journal, Time and Newsweek are clipped and filed for future use in localizations.
Write about people, not things.
Use a variety of story approaches — straight news, features, profiles,
interviews, sights-and-sounds and the so-called New Journalism, which is
now 40 years old.
Photos are as important as words.
Include everyone in coverage, not just the popular kids or the leaders.
Be careful and conscientious about racial and ethnic variety and
balance on the pages — no one should ever feel the paper belongs to the
white kids or the black kids or the Asian kids or the Hungarian kids,
or to the girls, or to the boys.
