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Tips for Issue Based Reporting

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One beat that have struck me most over the last five years as a News Editor at Uganda Radio Network are Crime and society. Lots of stories about Defilement (70-year-old Arrested for defilement), Rape, Thefts, Robberies, manslaughter (man beats woman to death), Infanticide (15-year-old girl throws Baby in pit latrine) pour into the editing trays per day.

I have reached a stage where I can actually design the story template and just fill in the names of the perpetrators, victims, witnesses, dates and places. In other words, such stories have become monotonous, boring and so obvious. How many times do we stop and reflect on the following questions as we write our stories.

  • Why is this issue important?
  • What do you want to tell the wider audience?
  • Why should the public care about this issue? Or Why should they be aware about this issue?
  • Does this issue need to be explored now?
  • What impact would the story have on the community and the wider audience?
  • How can you expand the issue from just a regular news piece to a greater story?
  • What is your focus or theme of the story?
  • What will the audience /readers miss if you don’t tell the story today?
  • How would the other Newspapers, Radio stations, TV’s handle this issue?

This is the challenge! So how do we take this kind of reporting to another level?

The trick lies in reflecting on two questions, what if? And so what? So what if the 70-year-old man raped a minor? What if the community decided to impose punitive measures against defilers? What if council enacted bylaws against defilers in community x?…. what if no one cares anymore about defilement, because it has become all too common?

I realize that many of the freelance reporters are reporting from small towns, communities but on any given day there are lots and lots of issues being talked about in our communities. People are talking about issues as they sell their stuff in the markets, as they purchase goods in shops, as they chat over a bottle of beer in a bar, as they ride their bicycles to their homes, as they talk about their day over dinner.

Whatever the size of your community, there are so many issues being talked about on a daily basis. Think, Listen, Act, Write.

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