Reporting for Journalists

Chris Frost is senior lecturer in journalism at the University of Central Lancashire. A journalist and a teacher for almost thirty years, he chairs the National Union of Journalist's ethics council. He is the author of Media Ethics and Self Regulation

The role of the reporter - reporting in different media; news - what it is and how to identify it; specialist reporting; finding a story - market considerations; diary stories; off diary stories; calls; ethical considerations; more than words; researching the story - contacts book; computer assisted reporting; using the Internet; figures as facts; professional practice; office procedures - office diaries; story support material; on the road - looking good; out and about; personal safety and security; making contact - building trust; cultural expectations and problems; ethics; security; inside the door - taking notes; the news theatres; making promises; interviewing - what the public expects; types of interview; your approach to the interview; asking questions; ethical matters; broadcasting - planning the story; thinking on the move; telling the story; story treatment; the broadcast interview; some broadcast dos and don'ts; getting the story back; filling the story - dealing with the office; avoiding disaster; what next? - what is creative thinking?; following up a story; and finally - organizations with codes of practice.