By John McDonald

Steve Silberman has learned a great deal about giving depth to news stories in a reporting and editing career that has taken him to the Record in Hackensack, N.J., the Commercial Appeal in Memphis and the Orange County Register. He recently was named executive editor at the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, joining the paper from the Idaho Statesman, where he was managing editor.

He told journalists that depth to a story can be provided by a mere paragraph or a running series in a newspaper. The key to depth is deciding what questions one wants to answer in the story. The questions should bring answers that give the story context, sourcing, details and specifics, evidence, impact, scope and a view of the future, he said.

The in-depth story should give the reader a learning experience and get them to think about this in a different way. They should hear new perspectives, gain insight, connect the dots, be offered solutions and find their emotions have been touched.

Silberman’s favorite questions when thinking about how to give a story depth include: What don’t you know? What don’t you understand? What’s really going on? What’s the story behind the story?

One of the primary steps recommended to the writer attempting to provide depth is to frame the story; break down the issue into component parts, define the scope and decide if issue can be addressed in a single story.

A pitfall of in-depth coverage that Silberman warned against was trying to cover too much in a story. The danger is that the reader will get lost in the an ambitious effort.

There is an ideal that Silberman offers for those wanting to give depth to their stories, it is captured in a comment about explanatory journalism offered by Pulitzer judge Janet Weaver of the Sarasota Tribune.

"Explanatory journalism can illuminate the complex, can take readers behind the scenes of the commonplace, can demonstrate how a problem developed and outline possible solutions," she said.