WASHINGTON — I don’t know if it’s her toned arms, graceful fashion sense or her forceful push to end childhood obesity. Whatever it is, Michelle Obama certainly knows how to draw a crowd. I attended a White House press conference last week where the first lady released her task force’s recommendations on how to stop the growing weight problem for America’s kids. Her goal with the Let’s Move initiative (and the 120 pages of suggestions) is to decrease the level of childhood obesity back to 1970 levels, pre-epidemic levels. I have been carefully following her initiatives from the beginning, but I did not realize that every other news organization has been as well.
I planned on publishing a daily story, touching on what was announced at the press conference and the findings in the report. By the time I had walked the three blocks from the White House to my newsroom, however, there were already three stories up online. Reuters posted its story “39 minutes ago,” which was while the event was still happening. I was rather flabbergasted and frustrated that I didn’t have a story anymore. And it just got worse. Within a couple of hours after the conference concluded, Google displayed 30-plus spot stories and blogs on the topic.
It was perplexing to me how these reporters gathered facts, spoke with numerous sources, picked out the most intriguing quotes and swiftly composed an informative story within minutes. In today’s journalism world, reporters need to work at the speed of Google Chrome to stay competitive. But they cannot be sloppy either. So I did some research and gathered the following tips on how to get your story up first:
- Write the story beforehand. Check out the press release for the event and call the press secretary a few days before the event. They may be able to give you embargoed information. Compile as much information as possible before the event by phoning people presenting at the event or others who are experts on the topic. You should be able to write the meat of the story. Then just fill it in with quotes from the event.
- Sit or stand in the front at the event so you can be first in line to ask questions afterwards. Get there early to make sure this happens.
- Bring your laptop, iPad or your smart phone. Type in the quotes as they are happening so you don’t have to go back and sift through your notes or listen to a recording later.
- Don’t write the lede first. You can often get stuck trying to write a catchy and comprehensive lede, so write the bulk of the story first and add the lede last. This does not work for everyone, but it’s helpful.
- If you call a source and the person you want to speak with is not available, push for a recommendation for someone else you can talk with who may have information on the topic.
- Get the story ready in your blog or website publishing program so that all you have to do is copy, paste, edit and publish. Topping the post live from the event becomes easier this way.
- For the daily story, pick one angle and run with it. You are not going to be able to write an in-depth article on a multi-faceted announcement or study in 10 minutes after an event.
- Use bullet points when appropriate. It will save you time with writing transitions.
- Or just don’t cover events that everyone else is attending. Ask the press contact how many people have registered for the event so far and if possible, find out who. If the bigwigs are attending, you could still go to the event, but you must find a unique angle and give up your daily story. For the obesity task force, for example, I ended up ditching the daily and spending days researching one aspect of the report. Something that not one of the other reporters at the event chose to do.