by Project for Excellence in Journalism
What background would a newcomer who is affected by the story need to know so that they might care about it? For example, on the issue of Medicare.
- Where did the idea of Medicare come from?
- What is Medicare?
- What was life like before it?
Another virtue of asking "what does my audience need to know?" is that it can lead to creating new entry points into stories-such as asking, what background would a newcomer who is affected, or has a stake in the story, need to know so that they might care about it?
So often, the news seems like something for news junkies, spoken in a language, newspeak, that only the initiated understand, especially if you are using wire copy as your base material. What new entry points can you create into stories?
