I'm about to share some free story ideas here, because, quite frankly, they are needed.
Watching from the other side now as a news customer, I don't see enough value. I already saw the sports highlights on ESPN. I already got the forecast from weather.com on my mobile.
The majority of your audience isn't beating a spouse, making meth in the basement, joining gangs or stabbing each other on the light rail line. So why is nearly every story about those things?
Most of the audience can identify with one or all of these issues:
*Is worse off financially now than 12 months ago
*Is unemployed, underemployed or related to someone who is
*Received a notice in the past 12 months of a financial service that is going away or is soon to cost more
*Continued to make mortgage payments on time but has seen a 15 percent decline in their home value
*Experienced shock, disgust or anger at the conduct of political decision makers
*Got off the couch to get involved by commenting to public agencies, contributing to a cause or made a personal change because enough was enough
If you want to be the news outlet that makes a difference, be the jobs source, be the personal finance destination, expose stupid things (no shortage out there) and find solutions.
Here are some ideas:
*A Boston paper did a great story on how restaurant customers were not being served the fish they thought they were ordering. This presents all sorts of health and allergy risks, not to mention that no one should be charged $25 for a “flounder” dish that's really swain—a tasty but not so nutritious fish that sells for $3.99 a pound. The reporters collected samples from some high end restaurants and had a lab test the fish DNA. In times like these, news customers want to get what they pay for, and they want you to find the truth for them.
*Everyone is reporting on the Muslims who were fired for refusing to clock out of their car rental agency jobs for five prayer breaks a day. Dig deeper than getting a token interview with one representative of “the Muslim Community.” What would happen to you if you left to attend a church Mass without clocking out? What are typical employment policies for smoke breaks? For nursing moms? Are these uniformly enforced?
*Public overtime. You can get a database for any sector and effect change if you find abuse. You can ask that the agency just list the employee names and annual overtime payments for the past, say, 24 months. You can receive this file electronically and in just minutes, be able to scroll down the list and find who is getting the big payouts. Find a similar agency in another jurisdiction that is doing a better job controlling overtime.
*A lot has been said about the “Move your Money” and “Bank Transfer Day” movements. If you are not reporting daily on what's behind these causes, you're out of touch. Bank Transfer Day's Facefook page has been shared with over 350,000 fans. And it's less than a month old. You know the story. It was created by a 27 year old California woman. Have you done the math yet to see how much time and money, if any, customers would save leaving the big bank they're angry with? Follow a customer and show whether it's easy or difficult to make the switch.
*I'm a fan of police and 'behind the scenes in the crime lab” stories- but you can only do a couple of these a month before they are old, old, old. Look at safety equipment. Do the radios work? How old are the cars? How many cars have they wrecked and what's being done to better train them? You might even find they're sending too much on cars. My hometown police (Beaverton, OR) seem to have a few new, hot looking Camaros – unmarked. What's the need/benefit of that? They may be able to justify it but does anyone ever ask?
A few years back, advertisers and consultants sold news management on prioritizing the chase for a younger audience. This is even more laughable now than it was a few years ago, given how the economy has hit 20-30 somethings. But whatever the case management seems to believe the way to hook younger viewers is with younger hires. They come in the door with excellent technology skills and often with solid work ethics but many don't know how to get a substantive story. Here are some dues-paying steps to consider:
*Come to work an hour early to make some calls and file public information requests. Tell your assigning editors “hands off” until your shift starts today. You're investing. Get your boss to support this. An hour invested today will net results in about a week. Call every other day to see how your records request is coming along.
*Budget $25 a month of your own money for cultivating sources. Bring them a favorite coffee. Take them for a beer after work. Years ago when I was an assignment editor at WJW, a retiring crime reporter told the up-and-coming beat reporter some of this same stuff. He said, “Go to their weddings. Go to their funerals.” She did. That was only part of the reason she went on to become the city's best beat reporter, but it helped cultivate relationships.
*Pool resources. If you have a story you want to do that requires work in other cities or expensive lab tests, see if you can work with other outlets in your ownership group. Or, get your editor's help putting a group together. If everyone contributes just $100, it's likely to win budget approval.
Deadline's this evening? Editor too busy to work with you? No research help? Sharing a camera with a two-hour timetable? No money to run lab tests? Been there. I get it.
But we're talking about what's real today. How are you spending time on days when you have to wait for that camera? Are your days off so full that you can't invest some research time? I know unions hate it, but you have to invest in your career and that means giving up some personal time and resources. Forget about whether you get paid overtime – this is an investment in keeping your readers, viewers and online visitors.
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