Reporting or just talking about the news? Great, but don’t stop at the headline. Just as important as the basic details is getting answers to the questions people will have when they hear about the story.
Let’s take a fairly minor news story as an example, though it wasn’t minor to some folks. Down here in South Florida, we’re about to have another television network affiliation switch, with the current longtime ABC affiliate turning down the network’s compensation demands and going independent, while ABC will air on the .2 channel of the rival Fox affiliate. Got that? Channel 10 dropping ABC, channel 7 adding it on 7.2. On cable, it’ll just be a matter of finding where Xfinity will put the ABC channel. The articles and reporting I saw covered that, but on social media, there was one question being repeated over and over, with some degree of urgency:
Will I still be able to watch General Hospital?
I did not know that General Hospital was still on the air, but it is and it has an intensely loyal audience. All this “channel 10 this, and channel 7 that,” had them confused, as were Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune fans. This could have been covered in the original reporting, or even the press release. Just say “Channel 10 will keep the local news and Jeopardy! and Wheel; ABC Miami will pick up all network programming, including, yes, General Hospital, Good Morning America, etc.”
Instead, the fans had to ask those questions on social media, where other fans gave them the answers and reassured them that they don’t have to subscribe to Hulu just to keep up with the goings-on in Port Charles. Gotta anticipate what people are going to want to know, and dig for the answers if you don’t have them right away (this one didn’t require a whole lot of digging).
It’s the same for more important stories. President Trump’s executive orders are being reported daily, but the questions they raise are really not being answered. Is what he’s doing legal? If it is, will my Social Security/Disability/VA Benefits be there next month? Do the lawsuits challenging the orders have a chance? If the Supreme Court says it’s all legal, what recourse does the public have? Who is standing up to this? (Okay, there are a lot of stories about how the Democratic leadership is not putting up a fight while they figure out what they actually stand for and how to do that.) The reporting should anticipate what a reader or listener is going to want to know and serve that up in the initial reporting.
This might take time, which flies in the face of the obsession with being first on a story. We’ve always told ourselves, however, that it’s better to be right than first, and, anyway, nobody gets attribution right, and nobody in the audience cares, because they’re getting the initial report from social media. For all they know, their cousin broke the news, because that’s who posted the report to Facebook. Good job, cousin.
So, tell your audience what they want or need to know. Tell Grandma where she’ll find her “stories.” Tell seniors what chance there is that the new Social Security rules and field office closings will actually happen. Tell veterans whether their benefits are really in danger and when it’ll hit the fan. For every story, there needs to be an explainer: What does this mean for you and me, and what can we do about it?
By the way, The Young and the Restless is still on, too. You’d better be ready if CBS changes channels in your area.
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Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.
