Beat development
Sink your teeth into your beat and make it your own.
- Excellent tips from El Nuevo Herald’s Manny Garcia.
- Columbia Journalism lecture on beat memos
- The Herald News‘ guide to assembling a beat map
Developing sources takes commitment and a long-term strategy. You have to be deliberate and relentless. Here are four ideas that will provide dividends in better and deeper stories:
1. BEAT MAPS. A beat map is, in essence, a do-call list of non-governmental players on the beat. In Paterson, for example, one might list clerics, business people, academics, etc. The basic idea is to check in regularly with people in the know in various fields, who can tip you on what’s happening - much as cops cover a beat. Former police Chief Lawrence Spagnola stresses how much information his officers obtained from the religious community and the PAL. A beat map is an antidote to city hall-centered or meetings-heavy coverage.
2. HOLE CARDS. These are sources you keep in the hole, as you keep some cards down in stud poker. It’s often useful to have sources in the community whom you talk to off the record, and who trust you not to expose them in your stories. These could be anyone from a former mayor to a tax assessor you develop a relationship with, to a citizen who has lived in town all her life. These are your go-to folks. People who tell you what’s happening behind the scenes. People who explain the ins and outs of an issue, the interests at work. People who tip you on a hot story. People who talk frankly and help you piece out the story. People you talk to regularly, but don’t quote: your aces in the hole.
3. THIRD PLACES. This idea comes from Pew Center for Civic Journalism. Every community has 1st places (city hall, schools, department of public works) and 2nd places (chamber of commerce, churches, taxpayers association meetings). Third places are public spaces where conversations take place. They can include diners, bars, lunch counters, barber shops, laundromats, libraries, bookstore cafes, beauty salons, parks where people walk their dogs - any place where a reporter can settle in and have a chat with real people. Find the 3rd places on your beat, and you’re in a position to develop new and more diverse sources that will fill out your stories with new voices and help you discern what’s important to the citizens on your beat.
4. LISTENING POSTS. Allied to the idea of 3rd places, listening posts are exercises in developing more diverse sources. The essential of listening posts is listening to public conversations. Don’t whip out your notebook and start asking a lot of closed-ended questions. Use some hours to let the community come to you. Get to know people you wouldn’t otherwise: jobless, hookers, cops, soccer moms, swingers, newspaper readers! Use your ears to pick things up and create new sources. Don’t pretend to be anything other than a reporter, but let people know you are there to learn, not exploit people for quotes.
-Jonathan Maslow, Herald News, Oct. 2004
More Maslow tips for developing sources: