20 steps to better reporting, researching…frankly, living 0
Gangrey.com has a list of 20 things reporters should be thinking to either get ahead or make reporting more interesting. To tell the truth — because I am no reporter — I find this list fascinating as a person who loves researching things or just appreciates creative perspectives. So I reproduce the list here. njoy
1. Talk to strangers: Be a nosey neighbor, sit by the old woman on the swing, everyone has a story.
2. Play hookie: Roam aimlessly, let someone else drive, ride the bus, walk the docks, look around.
3. Read the walls : Check bulletin boards at libraries and Laundromats, buy bad papers, scour the classifieds.
4. Sit the bench: Be a fly on the wall, eavesdrop at beauty parlors, eat lunch alone
5. Make freaky friends: Opposites attract, befriend photographers, use your friends for ideas and contacts
6. Get a life: Eat dirt at the drag strip, join bowling leagues, not junior leagues, go to festivals
7. Ignore important people: See who’s in their shadows, who’s holding their coattails, write around celebrities
8. Celebrate losers: Dreams don’t always come true, ask people about their failures, lessons learned
9. Wonder: Who would ever?: Here’s to you, Mr. golf ball picker-upper, someone has to do it, why is it that?
10. Hang out at bars (or coffee shops): Check out different dives, try a martini, always come back to Cheers.
11. Give everyone your phone number: Keep in touch, don’t dis PR people, ask what else is going on.
12. Be late: Old news is good news, it’s easier to talk after the arrest, whatever happened to …
13. Work holidays: Relish rituals, find faith, be with others who can’t celebrate, first-time, traditions.
14. Take stories no one else wants: Make people care, write for other sections, find a way it hasn’t been done.
15. Look for the bruises on the apple: Ask uncomfortable questions, celebrate conflict, sucks for them.
16. Lie on the floor, climb on the cabinets: See stories from a new angle, write from a different perspective, seek other stakeholders.
17. Listen to the quiet: The sound of silence, what doesn’t happen, questions not answered.
18. Go along for the ride: Invite yourself over, scan the bookshelves, ask for photo albums, vacuum the scene.
19. Play dumb: Repeat the important questions, why don’t I get this? Find the crux of the biscuit.
20. Don’t be afraid of yourself: Share your life, open up, tell stories, take risks, wherever you go, there you are.