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#24hdansuneredaction

06. Getting ready and going out on the field

Choosing the angle is capital. The angle is the road that leads the news to the story.  The double-entry table helps get a wide view of all possibilities and define the trajectory that makes most sense and generate the most information.

Example : a flood in a small town.

1. Build a table :

  • In column : a list of everyone involved in the event (Who?)
  • In line : all topics (What?)

2. Fill up the table with all information gathered: archives, phone interviews, statements, Web testimonies…

3. Find the empty parts of the table: this is where you must investigate to bring added value to the package. In the example we’ve picked, the prefect says nothing about why the flood occurred. This is where we must dig.

4. Find the axes generating the most problematic issues.

Topics
WHO? WHAT?
Actors

Technical issues

Facts

Rescue operations

Technical answers

 

Victims

 

Flooded basement

Transported by helicopter during the night

Ask for subventions to build house back

Victims

 

Was asleep

Too late

 

 

Mayor

Aucune aide de l’Etat pour rénover les digues

Feeling helpless when faced with the flood

Bat coordination, rescue teams came in late

Town’s future endangered

 

Prefect

 

??

Rescue coordination

The rescue plan worked well

Destroy houses likely to be flooded

 

Architect

Dilapidated dikes

 

 

Say that you can’t build on certain areas

Rescue teams/ firemen

 

Bilan entre sauvés et disparus

Not enough means to react accordingly

 

 

Fisherman

 

Saw the wave two hours before events

 

Cancel the marina project

Using the same example, it’s possible to cross the actors and the places (WHAT ? / WHERE ?), or the actors and the times (WHO ? / WHEN ?)… and prepare other interesting questions.