Читать книгу Feature Writing and Reporting - Jennifer Brannock Cox - Страница 25

Before the Digital Age, the ways news organizations delivered information were not always efficient. Newspaper deadlines for stories were often early in the evening for the next day’s print edition and a week or more in advance for a longer feature story. For magazines, deadlines could range from weeks to a month in advance for editing, layout and printing. Even media with more instantaneous modes of delivery, such as television and radio, had routine deadlines in order to make their broadcast schedules work.

The widespread use of the internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s changed these work cycles only slightly. Even within the same newsroom, reporters treated their own online product as competition and were afraid to publish anything online before printing the publication for fear of getting scooped, or beaten, by other news outlets. Reporters would first ready their work for print, then reconfigure the story slightly for publication online.

The news cycle changed forever when audiences began turning to mobile devices as their primary medium for getting information, replacing legacy products—the older, more traditional media platforms such as newspapers, magazines and TV and radio news programs. Publications had to recognize that people were no longer waiting for the deadline product to get timely news. They could easily find up-to-date information from a variety of sources using social media and search engines. Now journalists have to think about their mobile audience early on in the reporting process, posting updates and information online as they investigate the story to get readers’ attention. They also have to add value to the story, helping it rise above the mass of information online.

It is not just breaking news reporters who have to consider mobile audiences. Feature journalists need to engage their audiences during every step of the reporting process, whetting their appetites for the story and even getting them involved as the story is developing. Feature writing and reporting depend on engagement with people affected by issues and events, and social media platforms offer journalists unique ways to find and connect with a diverse array of sources. We will explore both in-person and online strategies feature reporters can use to engage with audiences before, during and after the reporting process throughout this book.