Pubic service journalism comes in various forms.
In one example earlier this year, a team of reporters explored cross-border marriages involving two rival nations, India and Pakistan. The obstacles the couples faced were daunting. Among them, reporters found, were strict visa requirements, difficulty obtaining citizenship, and restricted travel for spouses who crossed the line to marry. Religious bias was another stumbling block. Media in both countries published the collaborative story.
“We raised issues pertaining to citizenship and basic rights, hoping applicants might get some relief in each of these nations,” said team leader Mirza Ghani Baig, a deputy news editor at India’s Network18. “We wanted to be the voice of the voiceless for these families."
This piece, titled “Bordering on Love,” is an example of public interest reporting. The project was supported by ICFJ’s program, “Stemming the tide of intolerance: A network of South Asian journalists to promote religious freedom.”
Public service journalism is broadly defined as “independent, ethical, and accurate reporting on issues of common concern to the public.” A primary purpose is “to ensure that those in positions of power are held accountable." Giving a platform to vulnerable groups is part of the equation.
“This kind of journalism serves the public through each step of the reporting process from the topics the reporter looks at, to sources used during the reporting, and the method of publication. It’s all about being transparent,” said Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, founder and executive director of the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ).
CCIJ brings together investigative, visual, and data journalists to report on issues impacting vulnerable and under-represented communities. A recent series documented Namibia’s dire sanitation crisis and the government’s lack of action. Reporters found that over half of all child deaths in Namibia are related to a lack of sanitation, with diarrhea, malnutrition and pneumonia among the biggest killers. Almost a quarter of children younger than five suffer from stunting, a sign of hunger and chronic infections.
“That is public service journalism at its best,” said Kelly Lowenstein. He offered the following tips for reporting stories in the public interest:
- At the beginning of a project, ask yourself: Am I looking at this from the viewpoint of the authorities or taking a more community-minded approach? Do I have a balance of official sources versus people and organizations in the community?
- In the interest of transparency, let readers know what informed the data analysis and led to the findings and conclusions.
- In data-heavy reports, share the data so readers can check the work, trace results and explore the topic further if they choose.
- For publishing, use as many formats as possible. Engage on social media, produce a podcast, and create fora for dialogues with the audience.
“It’s not just about putting the information out there and that is the end of it,” said Kelly Lowenstein. “The journalist makes the information as accessible as possible and engages with the public about the work. I see that very much as a part of this kind of journalism.”
Eight paths to telling stories
Topics for public service reporting can be generated within any newsroom beat. The challenge is finding ways to make readers care about the story you are telling. An effective writing style can make all the difference.
To draw an audience, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jacqui Banaszynski approaches stories through eight distinctive paths. It is up to the writer to decide which one – or which combination – is appropriate. The best way to test this method is to give it a try.
Choose a story idea on religion or any other topic and run it through the list. Which paths jump out as the best fit? How could they help to tell the story in the most compelling, memorable way?
Below are Banaszynski’s eight paths:
- Profile: Find the people behind a story, the characters driving the issue. You can profile not just a person, but a place, an event, even a building.
- Explanatory. Show readers why something is happening or how something functions.
- Issues or trends. Ask yourself if there is a larger picture to explore. Trends are not exclusively related to culture or lifestyle; think crime or economy.
- Investigative. Look into wrongdoing, “follow the money,” analyze power struggles, and make use of available documents. Is there public interest at stake?
- Narrative. A story with a character, scenes and tension.
- Descriptive/Day in the life. The alternative to a narrative, focusing on a particular moment, such as a ride-along with the police, a visit to the new museum.
- Voices or perspective. Have people tell a story in a unique way: Q&A, roundtable discussion, a rail of quotes, or vignettes.
- Visual. Photographs, graphics or illustrations might be the best ways to tell some stories.
In 1988, Banaszynski won the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for a series about a gay farm couple facing AIDS, and two years earlier she was a Pulitzer finalist for her reporting on sub-Saharan famine.
“Stories can change policies. Stories can do all kinds of things to make a better society. And that’s the bread and butter of what we do: public service journalism,” she wrote in a 2013 piece for Nieman News.
Other helpful resources:
6 must-know hacks for investigative journalists, from IJNet
Tips for investigative journalism, from Media Helping Media
Tools for public service journalism: Tips and tricks for Glitch, MapBox and more, from Reynolds Journalism Institute
Header photo by Gabrielle Rocha Rios.
This resource is part of a toolkit on religion reporting, produced by IJNet under ICFJ's program, Stemming the Tide of Intolerance: A Network of South Asian Journalists to Promote Religious Freedom.