Your Favorite Part of Reporting?

So what is your favorite part of the reporting process? Do you like to research about the subject and find out all the nuances? Do you prefer to interview? Do you like to write the lede and watch your story build around it? Do you just like to file it when it's done? Do you not even care about anything? Do you just like reading endless questions on a message board?


I prefer to interview. I like getting to the bottom of a person and finding out what makes them tick. I am beginning to get great quotes and learning how to interview each coach and player on my beat. I like listening to them open up to a question and then once they say something, in my head, I tell myself, "that's the money quote." A close second is writing the lede.

 

I like seeing how the story unfolds, even though I die a little each time a story doesn't turn out the way I hoped it would.

What's been funny is that some of those stories are the ones that have gotten positive reviews.

 

Asking the questions that put the coaches/athletes on their heels and takes them off their SID-fueled quote game.

 

Da big scoops.

 

My favorite part of reporting -- and I wish it happened all the time -- is when I know I nailed it. It could be a scoop. It could be a good lede or a line in the story. It could be a great interview. It could be a question that makes a source squirm. It depends on the type of story I'm working on.

 

I consider the reporting and the writing to be two separate activities, so I'll stick with the former. Got to admit that I like it when, in a group setting (two or more reporters), an interview subject who is giving robotic, bored answers suddenly perks up at a question I ask and engages with a real good answer. Even though I know the other reporters get some benefit from my work, I'll take an interview subject with some energy over dullsville. (Obviously, sometimes I'm the one soliciting the deadeyed answers and someone else asks the good question.)

After that, I like when I reach that tipping point in my reporting, either interviews or research, where a road map for the writing shows itself and I know I've got enough to get hacking.

 

When I have time to appreciate what I am writing, I like seeing how the different pieces fall into place and build something out of basically a chaotic mix of information. That's also what I enjoyed most about designing newspapers -- watching all the different pieces come together to form a cohesive product. As for the reporting part, I like doing the background research, b/c that's when I really learn something new.

 

Lede-writing has always been my favorite part of reporting, because it gives me a chance to be creative and grab the reader's attention.

 

Definitely those Eureka! moments, like when you've uncovered something that has never been reported or find your story going in a direction vastly different from those written by the fellow fishhacks.

 

I really love stumbling across some random fact, anecdote or something about a player that nobody knows.

Getting it into the story and looking at the finished product.

There is nothing better than doing that first read over the complete article and just knowing it is some of your best work.

Of course, this pretty much pertains only to features, but those are more fun anyway.

 

I'm not sure if this is really what you are looking for, but my favorite part of the job is walking into a stadium. There's that little calm before the storm. Everybody is busy doing something getting ready - people in the pressbox, players, grounds crew, vendors, fans filing in.

I really enjoy getting to college football games and minor league baseball games really early to have a look around.

Although it's rare anymore, I especially get a kick out of covering a Friday night football game in some out of the way location that I've never been before.

 

I like the feeling when i know I nailed something. I have been at my shop for 21 months and have had that feeling I think four times