interviews

One reason why Narrative Journalism is a better name for what we do, is that storytelling suggests one person telling a story - in print or orally. When we do an interview, two people are involved, and the interviewer loses the control they had over what the story is. You may discover the new story during the course of the interview, or sometimes only afterwards.

For example, a Minister, asked to respond to criticism of policy may announce, in the course of the interview, what the government's new policy is going to be - so that is now the story. On the other hand, he may fail to defend his corner, and once the interview is over, journalists poring over what he said, will decide that "Minister fails" is now the story!

Sometimes the story is simply that the person is giving the interview - either because they rarely give interviews, or more often, because it's not clear to the interviewer or programme team why they are doing the interview. Failing to decide in advance what the story is makes for some tedious interviewing. Wherever possible, a chat before the green light goes on should give the interviewer a better idea of where the interview is going to go, and therefore what the story is. It depends too what kind of interview it is - friendly or hostile. Is the interviewer planning to help the guest get their points across, or is the interview going to be a cross-examination of the guest's views, conduct or policy ideas? Again, it's best to know which before you start!

more reading

The name of the blog became Narrativejournalism when I found others already had storytelling in their titles. I took the term Narrative Journalism from the Nieman Foundation's website, where there are interesting links to storytelling as a topic. Narrative Journalism sounds a tad more serious and responsible than storytelling, which always risks sounding as if it's about creating fictional stories (and we wouldn't want journalists being accused of that.)

One book which combines thoughts on writing fiction and non-fiction is Solutions for Writers, by Sol Stein. It's got some great ideas in it, and I keep reading and re-reading it for advice.

Americans do storytelling really well, and there are dozens of good sites devoted to it. One, relevant to radio journalism is Transom, which has great ideas and links to more great ideas.

I'm still looking around other blogs dealing with storytelling - there are several, but these two have some useful stuff:
Teaching Online Journalism
Multimedia Journalism

storytelling - 4: starting the story

Would you expect an official report to begin like this?

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 – dawned temperate and nearly cloudless in the eastern United States. Millions of men and women readied themselves for work. Some made their way to the Twin Towers, the signature structures of the World trade Center complex in New York City. Others went to Arlington Virginia, to the Pentagon. Across the Potomac River, the United States congress was back in session. At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, people began to line up for a White House tour. In Sarasota, Florida, President George W Bush went for an early morning run.

For those heading to an airport, weather conditions could not have been better for a safe and pleasant journey. Among the travellers were Mohammed Atta and Abdul Aziz al Omari, who arrived at the airport in Portland, Maine.

This is the start of the 9/11 Commission report. It's as gripping as a novel - it has atmosphere, tension, and reads well. It not only shows that a formal report doesn't have to be dully written, it neatly sets the scene for the inquiry itself, signalling to the reader that although everyone thinks they know what happened that day, this report is going back to the very beginning, taking nothing as read.

Not every story can start like that - but ask yourself: would you have the nerve to write about formal matters in as compelling a style?

storytelling 3 - getting the order right

In October 2005 fighting broke out in the town of Nalchik - between Chechen rebels and Russian security forces.

BBC Radio News ran the news item on Radio 4 in three segments - a cue which more or less told the whole story, then there was a despatch from Emma Simpson in Moscow, giving details of the fighting, and the casualty figures in Nalchik.

(CUE: Chechen rebel fighters have staged a huge attack on the southern Russian city of Nalchik. As many as sixty people are reported to have been killed after a series of gun battles between police and militants. Twelve civilians and a dozen police officers are said to be among the dead, along with at least twenty of the attackers. Tonight there are reports that some of the militants are still holding out in several parts of the city. Nalchik is the capital of the republic of Kabardino-Balkariya, in the north caucuses, a volatile region which has seen an increasing level of violence in recent months. More details from our correspondent in Moscow Emma Simpson.)
BAND 1 FX GUNFIRE
It was a morning of mayhem in Nalchik, with the sound of automatic gunfire and explosions ringing out across the city. This was an audacious and well organised attack. Three police stations and a number of government buildings housing law enforcement agencies and the FSB security services came under fire. Militants also tried to attack the city's airport. Fighting has been fierce, with the reports that between eighty and a hundred and fifty attackers were involved. Many civilians were also caught up in the gun battles that raged for several hours. At one point, security forces poured into a school close to some of the shooting, to evacuate terrified children. Elsewhere, a number of police officers were taken hostage in one of the buildings under attack but were later freed. Chechen rebels have claimed responsibility in the form of a message posted on an internet website often used by the rebels. President Putin has ordered a total blockade of Nalchik to prevent any remaining militants from slipping out. He's also ordered his security forces to kill any gunmen who put up resistance.


Finally there was this piece by Steve Rozenberg:

It's a journey too perilous to attempt. But if you were to drive west out of the Chechen capital, Grozny, for about a hundred miles, over pot-holed roads and through a maze of army check-points, you'd eventually arrive in Nalchik. It was once a resort town in the foothills of Europe's highest peak, Elbrus, with some of the Soviet Union's most exclusive ski-slopes. Today it's the latest flashpoint in Russia's volatile North Caucasus. I visited Nalchik earlier this year. It was clear then that a combination of poverty and iron-rule were creating a fertile soil for Islamic extremism. In this part of Russia, there's up to ninety per cent unemployment. Concerned about the spread of radical religion, the authorities in Nalchik began shutting mosques. That led to more discontent. There were street battles between the security forces and local militants. And now this massive co-ordinated attack. Moscow has failed to stop the violence in Chechnya from spreading. The danger now is of a conflict which ignites the whole region.

I would contend that only when you hear the Rozenberg backgrounder do you understand what's been going on and why - and you only hear this background almost 3 minutes into the story. It's a long time to wait to find out why you are being told about shooting in a town in the far distant Caucasus on a Thursday afternoon.

The order is a natural one which 99 out of 100 editors would follow - cue, correspondent's latest, then backgrounder. But is there a better way to tell the story?

storytelling 2 - digging up bits and pieces

About a year ago on Andrew Marr's Start the Week, one of his guests compared archaeologists to storytellers: they dig up isolated bits and pieces and try to arrange them in a way which somehow tells a story in order to make sense of them all.

Put it another way: journalists are like archaeologists, in that they dig up a selection of facts, and put them into some kind of order, in order to tell a story - which not only helps to make sense of them, it makes them memorable.

How to do this? See storytelling 1 !

storytelling 1 - the key questions to answer

Storytelling is a much abused buzz word. In journalism people bandy it about all the time without really sitting down and defining it (a bit like "journalism" itself).

I'm going to try to capture some good and bad examples of the art from the real journalistic world as I add posts to this blog.

Meanwhile it's probably worth setting out a simple set of rules for telling stories:

You need to ask yourself these 4 questions every time you try to tell a story:

1. what is the story really? - keep asking yourself this question, as you gather more information and as you try to tell the story.
2. who is your audience? As accurately as possible - to the nearest person, or small group - who are you trying to tell the story to?
3. where do you start? (Opening lines are the key - get them right and the rest usually follows)
4. how do you stop? (Not only where do you stop telling, but what do you need to leave out?)