This dates me but I remember when Presidents Kennedy and Reagan were shot. 

Kennedy was riding in an open car in Dallas November 22, 1963, Reagan outside the Washington Hilton March 30, 1981. Reagan survived.

We were working on a South Carolina  newspaper when Kennedy was shot and a Pennsylvania newspaper when Reagan was shot. I had been Reagan’s guest for breakfast at the White House only a few weeks before. It ain’t bragging if it’s true, Muhammad Ali said.

We covered both stories almost as if they happened in our town. Lots of staff-written stories from every angle we could think of including reactions from people on the street.

David Graham of The Atlantic magazine calls himself a first responder to news.

“When people ask what I do, I sometimes describe my role as that of the magazine’s first responder,”  Graham writes. “A significant part of my work is to jump in when a big news story happens and quickly place it in context. That creates a beachhead for my colleagues to come in with additional reporting. The adrenaline spike of breaking news is one of the things that hooked me on journalism.”

Just reporting the news in today’s world of TV, radio and social media isn’t enough. Be creative.

The key, as Graham says, is to jump in when a big story happens and quickly place it in context.

Context means how does this news relate to my readers? How many local angles does that mean?

Editor Rolfe Neil used to say, “There’s a local story in everything. We just have to find it.”

The late Monty Curtis, a great city editor, preached that we must find the local angle. He would use as an example a building collapses, killing or injuring people, as happened in Miami.

Monty would ask: How safe are our buildings here? How do we know? Who inspects them? 

We turned national news into local stories by interviewing local officials.

Treasurer opposes IRS snooping

Should your bank tell the Internal Revenue Service how much money you have in your accounts? 
State Treasurer Curtis Loftis doesn’t think so. He said the State Board of Financial Institutions has urged Congress to oppose the effort to force banks to report private account dollar amounts.

Nursing homes face dilemma

Could  federal covid vaccine mandates close any of our local nursing homes?
State health officials don’t know yet. They say the mandate requires vaccinating staff and residents. 

This can be even more critical for broadcast journalists who need to fill a 30-minute local news program on slow news days. The formula works for newspapers and news magazines, too.

1. Don’t settle for the wire services covering it for you. Get all of the local angles you can.
2. Check social media for news that has captured people’s attention and gone viral.
   After the Charleston church shooting, people were shocked and saddened. Many were frightened, wondering if they were safe in their own churches. Individuals in many parts of the country started to worry about local race relations. Many wondered if a tragedy could happen here. 
3. Ask yourself how national or international news may affect local people. How do conditions in Israel and Ukraine affect local families who may have relatives in those countries? What do local people think of the pro-Palestine protests? Could these protests affect local students and colleges?
4. Where are we in time and the  news cycle? Do we treat the news development in tomorrow morning’s edition the way TV or radio did last night? Or do we give the news a local focus:

• Religious leaders shocked by shooting 
• Inspector: Old buildings may be unsafe
• Local students: We support Israel             

Don’t settle. Think creatively. Your audience will appreciate it.  

Looking for something to reward your stars? Consider giving them a copy of  The Art of Compelling Writing. It’s available on Amazon.com.
The above will appear in The Art of Compelling Writing, Volume 3, which is already in the works. Volume 1 and 2 are available at Amazon. These books were published to help editors like you teach your reporters how to report and write well. To comment or with questions, please write JerryBellune@yahoo.com