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Building Relationships and Covering Beats: OHS Journalism Dept. 2014-15

This document discusses beats and building relationships for journalism students. It defines a beat as a subject area assigned for coverage, such as a sports team or student organization. Reporters are expected to develop reliable sources within their beats that can provide information. The document provides tips for building relationships with sources, including introducing yourself professionally, staying in regular contact, and showing respect even when sources are difficult. It suggests practicing interviewing skills by role playing a friendly source and an unwilling source.

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44 views10 pages

Building Relationships and Covering Beats: OHS Journalism Dept. 2014-15

This document discusses beats and building relationships for journalism students. It defines a beat as a subject area assigned for coverage, such as a sports team or student organization. Reporters are expected to develop reliable sources within their beats that can provide information. The document provides tips for building relationships with sources, including introducing yourself professionally, staying in regular contact, and showing respect even when sources are difficult. It suggests practicing interviewing skills by role playing a friendly source and an unwilling source.

Uploaded by

api-242971974
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Building Relationships

and Covering Beats


OHS Journalism Dept. 2014-15

What is a "beat"?
A beat is a subject area that
you have been assigned to
cover.
In newspaper and in media
productions, this can be
anything from Stugo to the
girls basketball team.
In yearbook, your beat would
be the section of the book
you have been assigned, such
as Sports or Student Life.

As a beat reporter,
you are expected to
develop reliable
sources that you can
contact when you are
searching for news.
For example, if your
beat is the cafeteria,
one of your sources
could be Judy
Kimball, the cafeteria
manager.

Can you think of


reliable sources for
these beats?
Administration
Freshman Mentors
CTE
Crime
College

Building Relationships

While you are


covering your beat, it
is integral to build
positive relationships
with your sources.

Some of the best ways to build relationships with


your sources are:
Introduce yourself to the source. Whether
you're talking to the principal or an incoming
freshman, be sure to let them know what your beat
is, who you are reporting for, and what type of
information you are looking for.
Keep it professional. While it is alright to be
friendly, remember that you are not conducting
interviews to make friends, you are doing a job and
your source should understand you are first and
foremost searching for valid information.

Stay in touch. Once you


have initially introduced
yourself and interviewed
your source, keep in touch. If
you have another story to
write while you are covering
the same beat, interview your
already-established sources.
If you are looking for other
opinions, ask your sources if
they know of anyone else
who has more information
on the topic you are covering.

Show respect. Remember


that the people you are
interviewing do not have to
share information with you,
and they have every right to
say they do not want to talk
with you. Therefore, always
be courteous and truthful,
even when your source is
being difficult or rude.

Partner Activity (4 min)


With a partner, have one person pretend to be the
interviewer, and one pretend to be a teacher,
coach or student who is very friendly and willing
to share questions. As the reporter, introduce
yourself how you would to an actual source, and
establish a professional relationship with the
source.

Next, switch roles. Have the previous interviewer


become the source, and the previous source
become the reporter. This time, however, the
source is someone who does not wish to share
information. Go through the same process as
before, and as the reporter, try and respectfully get
your source to share information.

Discussion

Break out into groups (newspaper, yearbook,


media productions) and discuss how beats and
building relationships applies to your group
personally.

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