Tips and reminders
about hometown newspaper stories,
including legislative stories
JRN 3315
Steve Stewart
Revised 12/27/16

· Put your byline at the top of the story on a separate line: “By Jane Doe.”

· Write a lede that tells your readers the most significant new information that you learned while researching the story.

· Use the following format for legislators’ names: Rep. Pedro Klux, D-Frisco City, and Sen. Barbara Quixote, R-Scratch Ankle. You can get the party affiliations and hometowns from the Legislature’s ALISON website (mentioned on the readings/assignments page).

· You will most likely have to telephone both your editor and your legislators and other sources in order to get much done. They may not respond to emails, texts or instant messages.

· If you introduce yourself to a legislator or other politician who represents the district where you vote, start by telling him that you are a constituent (as recommended by Steve Flowers). In any event, tell him early in the conversation that you are writing a story for a newspaper, and name the newspaper. This will get his attention because he cares what the newspaper says about him, especially if it’s his hometown newspaper. Also, he’ll take you more seriously than if he views you as merely a student completing a class assignment.

· Do your interviews face to face or on the telephone. Email is a poor substitute and should be used for an interview only if the person won’t deal with you any other way.

· A “bill” is the same thing as a proposed law.

· Good questions to ask a legislator who is sponsoring or supporting a bill include: Who asked you to introduce this bill? Who is for it? Who is against it? Why? Then, call some of those people and interview them.

· Interview and quote people who are both for and against a bill. Find out what the pros and cons are.

· One-sentence quotations are usually not enough. Get people to explain what they mean; then explain it to your readers, using both direct quotations and paraphrases.

· If a bill has been introduced, it will have a bill number, such as House Bill 123 or Senate Bill 456. Include this number in your story.

· Read the text of the bill on ALISON. Make sure you accurately describe what’s in the bill. You may want to quote part of the bill in your story.

· Use ALISON to determine the current status of a bill — in other words, how far it has gone through the legislative process.

· Google for news stories that have been published about the issues discussed in your story. These news stories will give you background information. You can use some of it in your story, but if it goes beyond what is generally known, be sure to attribute it.

· Remember to end the story with the following paragraph, as specified in the written assignment that’s in Blackboard:

Troy University journalism student (your name) of (your hometown) wrote this story as part of a project partly funded by the Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation.