IMMF Advanced Manual - en PDF

BEYOND BASICS — AN ADVANCED JOURNALISM MANUAL
JEFF HODSON AND GRAHAM WATTS

FOR
THE INDOCHINA MEDIA MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
FIRST EDITION
EDITED BY DOMINIC FAULDER
PRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF
THE OPEN SOCIETY NETWORK MEDIA PROGRAMME

AND
THE MCGEE FOUNDATION

AND
JAY MOWATT
Copyright 2010 by Indochina Media Memorial Foundation (IMMF) and

Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT).
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form without the written permission of the IMMF/FCCT.
IMMF journalism training manuals have been produced in English, Burmese,

Cambodian, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese, and may be viewed at:
http://www.immf.or.th/download/manual.pdf
The Indochina Media Memorial Foundation

c/o The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand
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Bangkok 10330 Thailand
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Brief Table of Contents
FOREWORD xi
INTRODUCTION xii
GLOSSARY xiv
CHAPTER 1: BEYOND THE FIVE Ws AND H 16
CHAPTER 2: FEATURE WRITING – PART I 25
CHAPTER 3: FEATURE WRITING – PART II 35
CHAPTER 4: OTHER ADVANCED FORMS OF JOURNALISM 49
CHAPTER 5: COVERING SPECIALIZED TOPICS 71
CHAPTER 6: BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 83
CHAPTER 7: ENVIRONMENT 106
CHAPTER 8: POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 125
CHAPTER 9: INVESTIGATIVE AND IN-DEPTH REPORTING 138
CHAPTER 10: COVERING CRIME AND THE COURTS 146
CHAPTER 11: JOURNALISTS AND THE LAW 160
CONCLUSION 166
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 166
FURTHER READING 168
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 170
Detailed Table of Contents
FOREWORD xi
INTRODUCTION xii
GLOSSARY xiv
CHAPTER 1: BEYOND THE FIVE Ws AND H 16

Background 16
The Big Picture 17
Significance 18
Put a Face on the Story 19
Include a Diversity of Voices 21
Prove Your Point 21
Anecdotes Prove the Point 23
Chapter 2: Feature Writing — Part I 25

Focusing An Idea 27
Plan Your Reporting 28
Get Out Of The Office 28
What You Want From The Reporting 28
Profiles 29
A Feature-Style Approach To News 31
How Long 34
CHAPTER 3: Feature Writing — Part II 35

Sit Down, Switch On xx
And Start Writing
The Body of the Feature 37
Think Visually 37
Write Tight 38
Case Study: Old Age In Cambodia 38
Story Structure: Old Age In Cambodia 43
Case Study: Maintaining Reader Interest 45
Some Final Thoughts 48
Chapter 4: Other Advanced Forms Of Journalism 49

News Analysis 49
Thinking About News Analysis 50
Writing News Analysis 50
News Analysis More Than A Day After The News 51
Today’s journalists work in a region that has in many ways changed beyond recognition in a single generation.
Op-Eds And Commentaries 57

Thinking About The Op-Ed 57
Writing The Op-Ed Piece 58
Columns 60
Thinking About The Column 60
Writing The Column 61
Blogs 66
How Technology Is Changing The Print Media 67
Chapter 5: Covering Specialized Topics 71

Understanding The Beat 71
Handling Jargon, Defining Technical Terms, Explaining Processes 73
Using Numbers 75
Fractions 76
Percentages 77
Yield 77
Index 77
Per Capita 78
Ratios 78
Interviewing Experts 81
Gaining Trust 81
The Challenge 81
Know Their Credentials And Biases 82
Chapter 6: Business And Economics 83

The Economy 83
What Is It? 83
Why Is It Important Or Interesting For Readers 84
What Kinds Of Stories Come Out Of It? 84
Other Key Concepts 84
Government And Economic Policy 86
What Is It? 86
Agriculture And Commodities 89
What Is It? 89
Companies 90
What Is It? 90
Finance And Banking 94
What Is It? 94
Markets 96
What Is It? 96
Trade And Globalization 101
What Is It? 101
Final Tip 103
Chapter 7: The Environment 106

Why Is It Important? 106
The Role Of The Journalist 107
Ecosystems 109
Health And The Environment 111
Beyond Borders 112
Climate Change 112
Challenges Of Environmental 114
Case Study: Humanizing The Story 116
Case Study: China’s Sweaters,Globalization And Air Pollution 117
Chapter 8: Politics And Government 125

Know How The System Works 125
Know How The System Doesn’t Work 126
Look Beyond Formal Politics 127
Go Local 127
Keep Up With Research 128
Spot The Trends And The Rising Stars 128
Covering The Legislature 129
Policy And Lobbying 130
Budgets 130
Persistence 131
Beyond The Scrum 131
Elections 134
Free and Fair elections 134
Know The Process And ‘Dirty Tricks’ 134
Voter-Based Reporting 137
Conclusion 137
Chapter 9: Investigative And In-Depth Reporting 138
How To Do It 138
Ideas 139
Background 139
Extensive Interviewing 139
Documents 139
Observation 140
Challenges 141
Ethics 141
Putting It All Together 142
Case Study: Illegal Wildlife Trade 142
Chapter 10: Covering Crime And The Courts 146

Know The System 147
Criminal 147
Civil 148
Constitutional 148
International 148
Know The Procedure 149
Covering The Beat 151
Sources 151
Balance 152
Look For Patterns 153
Look For The Unusual 153
Look Behind The Scenes 153
Perversion Of Justice 155
Put A Human Face On The Story 157
Accidents And Disasters 158
Talking To Survivors 159
Protect Victims Of Crime 159
Some Final Tips 159
Chapter 11: Journalists And The Law 160

You Are A Citizen Under The Law Of Your Land 160
Civil Defamation, Slander And Libel 160
Criminal Defamation 162
Lèse-Majesté 162
National Security 163
Contempt Of Court 163
Copyright And Plagiarism 164
x
Where are we going in a region now largely at peace?
Conclusion 166
About The Authors 166
Further Reading: Books, Booklets, Websites 168
Acknowledgements 170
Foreword
Although the print media still shows signs Handbook, which first appeared in 2001
of buoyancy in countries such as India and was subsequently translated from
and Myanmar (Burma), many newspapers English into Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Thai
and magazines around the world have and Vietnamese — the vernaculars of the
never confronted a greater threat to five mainland Southeast Asian countries
their existence. In the United States, where the Indochina Media Memorial
great newspapers that had rolled off Foundation (IMMF) was active. The basic
the presses uninterrupted since the 19th manual was updated and redesigned in
century have been shuttered or continue 2009, and further translations are slated.
only in an online version. Those that As with the basic manual, this
survive for now are caught in unending advanced manual does not attempt to
rounds of staff and cost cuts. Countless dictate to working journalists and students
news bureaus have been axed, and of journalism how they should work.
foreign correspondents have become an Journalism in Southeast Asia is practiced in
endangered species. a kaleidoscope of different environments
The notion of a newsweekly is now affected by language, culture, politics,
an oxymoron — nobody in this wired legislation and business practices. The
age consumes news on a weekly basis. IMMF approach has always been to put
In Southeast Asia, the once influential forward examples of good practice in
English-language regional press has journalism which our alumni can take into
vanished. Bangkok, the region’s main account and apply as best they see fit to
reporting hub, had six English-language their individual real world situations. The
newspapers in the 1990s. It now has only authors of this handbook, Jeff Hodson and
two — and both are in search of a new Graham Watts, an American and a South
business model that will keep them alive African, are both gifted journalists with
and relevant. Traditional wire services, virtually unrivalled practical classroom
which depend on newspaper subscribers experience with working journalists from
for their revenues, have been severely Southeast Asia.
impacted. Many fine journalists will never On an institutional note, the IMMF
again be employed by the traditional print and its office in Chiang Mai, northern
media — because it won’t exist. Thailand, were closed in early 2009 since
This is therefore an interesting time so much of what the foundation had set
to be launching a handbook for advanced out to do had been accomplished. The
journalism in Southeast Asia. The delivery, closure brought to an end a series of
form and presentation of journalism are training courses — 26 regional and 27
without doubt being reinvented, but the incountry — that began in 1994. They
underlying principles of what makes for involved 880 journalists from Cambodia,
good journalism are much more robust. Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
They will, we all hope, endure in this Four journalists from China also attended.
altered world. So this as good a time The courses mostly covered print and
as any to remind ourselves what good radio, but also took in television and
journalism is all about. photo journalism.
This entirely new manual builds upon All those associated with the IMMF
Reporting and Writing News — A Basic in Thailand over the years have been
xii
The job of a journalist is to interpret a complex world clearly and accurately.
enriched by the enduring friendships and help keep the IMMF flame alight
that have been forged, and the ideas for a while longer. We are immensely
that have been so freely exchanged. grateful to the Foreign Correspondents’
The IMMF experience has always been a Club of Thailand, one of the IMMF’s
two-way street. Numerous IMMF trainers staunchest supporters from the outset,
have returned home with the odd feeling for undertaking to keep the IMMF’s old
they might have learnt more from their website alive, and for offering to help
students than they had actually taught co-ordinate any future manual projects,
them. Many IMMF alumni have gone including more translations into the main
on to higher studies and more senior regional vernaculars.
positions professionally. We are proud to
report that 39 per cent of the IMMF’s total Denis Gray and Dominic Faulder
alumni are female, and that they continue Former IMMF Co-Presidents
to play a vital and expanding role in
Sarah McLean
shaping the region’s media.
Former IMMF Project Director
We hope that this advanced manual
will serve as a legacy in the years to come Bangkok, February 2010
xiii
Introduction
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GOOD JOURNALIST
Most jobs only start when people arrive public knowledge. Good journalists also
at their workplace. Good journalists start read books on current affairs and history,
work as soon as they wake up. On goes as well as novels.
the radio, or television to the best news Reading is not just about getting
program available, and this stays on in the information — although of course that is
background while they do their morning the most important bit. Good journalists
chores. Those who have Internet access also read to see how things are written.
at home go online before they leave for We call this reading for form as well as
work and check the news websites that substance. Form is the shape and structure
will tell them reliably what is happening of a story. Substance is the content. It is
in their own countries, their region and important to examine and learn from
around the world. Some are lucky enough and enjoy writing that has good form.
to have newspapers delivered to their Share it with colleagues and congratulate
homes. So they read two or three papers those who have written something well.
over breakfast — maybe while trying to Tell them you like it. These are the things
feed their children and get them off to that add to our abilities and to our
school (with one ear on the radio or an enjoyment of the job and to a sense of
eye to the television). They try their best professionalism in our offices.
to read everything in their own paper. Reading also contributes to another
Nothing is more embarrassing to a serious important principle of good journalism:
journalist than being asked by a colleague are there good reasons for me to believe
(or even worse, by their boss), “Did you something is true? As journalists we
see that story in our paper this morning?” come across all sorts of information,
and having to admit you didn’t. views and opinions. If we are going to
Some journalists have a beat and will pass these on to our readers (or viewers
read everything related to that beat in or audiences), we need to help them
their own and other publications. But they examine the evidence. We have to be
will also read as many news stories and skeptical and critical. Skeptical means
features as they can on other subjects. you are not willing to believe something
That is because they need to be aware of without evidence to support it. That
the many things that are happening in doesn’t mean you have to be cynical
their country, region and the world that (though many journalists are), which is
could have an effect on the subject they to think most people are probably lying.
cover. This helps them widen their stories But it does mean that whatever you are
and give them context. You can’t judge told should be tested. Get into the habit
what is new until you know what is old. of asking such questions as: Why is this
If you have good access to the Internet, person telling me this? Is there perhaps
you will know that there is a million times some reason why they see something
more you can read than hours to read this way rather than another way — in
it in, so of course you have to skim and other words, do they have a vested
select, choosing first the most reliable interest? What can they lose or gain if
sources and reading in detail only those this information or opinion is published?
stories you need to know well. There is no Are they in a position to know about the
excuse for not knowing what is already thing they are talking about? Are they
xiv
qualified to make a judgment about But observing these standards is also part
something because they are familiar with of the ethics of professional journalism
it or have experienced it? Are they passing in which our primary duty and loyalty is
information on second or third hand, what to our readers. Not circulation figures,
we call hearsay (in which case see if you but readers. People. Like you and us, with
can get to the original source)? Is there families and hopes and frailties.
another side to this story (or even several Information, knowledge and
sides)? Have I tried my hardest to seek out enjoyment from reading can make a very
those who might have a different story big difference to the quality of life of most
to tell to provide the story with balance? people. We owe it to them to provide
Have I tried to find authoritative, named them with a journalism that cares about
sources to attribute my information to accuracy, fairness and balance in which
so that my readers are able to evaluate we behave with honesty and sincerity and
what they say? While it is usually OK to in which we do not steal other people’s
believe your own eyes, make sure that in writing and publish it as our own. In day-
most cases you have more than one source to-day life, we know exactly what we
to back something up that you have not mean when we say someone is honest, fair
seen. And remember, when something and sincere. Why not journalists too?
sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Of course that does not mean that
In other words, being a good every story we write will arrive at some
journalist is a bit like being a judge: what great truth, that our journalism will
you decide to pass on to your readers be entirely objective and uninfluenced
should be thought about as seriously by our culture, our country’s place in
as a judge considers what verdict he the world and the limits of our own
will pass on a case. You need to decide experience, education and knowledge.
whether you have enough proof, enough But it does mean that we can and should
witnesses, enough documentary and try really hard to overcome our common
physical evidence. Very often, in normal shortcomings and that in doing so we
day-to-day reporting, these things can recognize that there are important small
be found quite easily (but be careful truths that can be searched out and
not to drop your standards just because verified. We call them facts. It is our duty
the story is routine). However, in more to find and publish as many of them as are
advanced forms of journalism, such as relevant and interesting to those people
business and economics or science and the we call readers.
environment or politics and government,
the evidence can be harder to get and the Jeff Hodson and Graham Watts
consequences of not being skeptical can Bangkok, MAY 2010
be greater.
Being rigorous and diligent in
gathering information and views for your
stories makes them more reliable and
generates credibility for your publication.
It makes good commercial sense to be
trusted, because readers will come to you.
xv
CHAPTER 1
BEYOND THE 5Ws and h
CHAPTER 1: and explanation goes a long way in

helping them. Background is many things:
it is definition and explanation; it is recent
BEYOND THE events and past history. It is a reminder.
Take a look at the beginning of this
5Ws AND H story, where the background has been

underlined:
It often takes great effort to get accurate HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The US and Vietnam
and timely information to the public, on Monday opened their third round of annual
and it isn’t easy to gather the essential talks on ways to limit the environmental
facts of a news event – the “who, what, effects of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant the
where, when, why and how.” But today’s US sprayed extensively during the Vietnam
journalists need to do even more because War.
the basic facts alone are not enough Officials and experts from both countries
to help readers understand the news. convened a weeklong session that will include
Many readers also want to know: Has this a visit to the former US air base at Bien
happened before? Could it happen again? Hoa, one of several so-called Agent Orange
How will it affect me? What, if anything, “hotspots” where the US military stored and
can I do about it? mixed Agent Orange before loading it onto
Journalists can help by adding planes.
background, context and meaning to The two sides are expected to announce
their stories. They can also produce more plans for using US$3 million the US Congress
compelling stories by including a variety set aside in 2007 for the cleanup of dioxin, a
of voices, especially those of everyday highly toxic element of Agent Orange.
people most affected by the news. Finally, US forces sprayed millions of gallons of
journalists can help their readers better Agent Orange on Vietnamese jungles during
understand issues and events by offering the war to deprive Vietnamese troops of
more convincing evidence of what is ground cover and to damage crops.
happening and how. Vietnam believes as many as 4 million
people have suffered serious health problems
Background associated with Agent Orange. The US says
the actual number is probably far lower and
Background tells us where the story has that further scientific study is needed to
come from, and what has happened understand the link between Agent Orange
before. Journalists and their editors and health.
usually know the background to an issue
very well, but they often leave it out of The background begins with a phrase
stories. This is a mistake. Writers should added to the lead, or intro. It continues
not assume that readers remember with a phrase at the end of the second
everything that has already happened. paragraph. There is more background help
Most readers are busy with jobs, families at the end of the third paragraph. The
and friends, and have many things to fourth and fifth paragraphs are entirely
worry about. A little bit of background background. The reader understands why
16
CHAPTER 1
Agent Orange was used and how the two same: a tightening of credit, failing banks,
countries differ on its impact during the declining consumer confidence. The same
war. In this case, the background also tells is true for other economic developments.
us why the story is important: because up The spreading economic crisis of 2008 hit
to four million people may have suffered all Asian economies as exports to North
serious health problems. A story that America and Europe collapsed. Here is
didn’t tell us what Agent Orange was and an example from the Washington Post of
what effect it had on
the population would
be much less useful.
Some journalists
complain that they
are not given much
space for their
stories, so they leave
background out. This
is a big challenge.
Writers need to learn
to sprinkle bits of
background into their
stories, perhaps just
a single phrase. Good
journalists know how Old and new often collide dramatically in Southeast Asia.
to use background
throughout a story. They put it just where how the big picture is conveyed in this
they think the reader needs it most. story in a series of strong phrases that
unfold as figure after figure relates the
The big picture dire economic news [See the underlined
bits]:
Stories are more useful if they contain
context. Adding context to a story means Japan reported yesterday that its exports
including information about what else plunged a record 27 per cent in November,
is going on that may be related to the signaling a dramatic deterioration in the
event or issue you are covering. It means world’s second-largest economy and the
taking the latest event or development collapse of the export-led boom that had lifted
and comparing it to other things. Context many Asian nations.
gives readers a bigger and more complete Indeed, even mighty Toyota said yesterday
picture. that it would post its first operating loss in
If you are writing about a national seven decades, providing a vivid example
economy or a local stock market, it might of how some of the world’s most profitable
be useful to mention what is happening companies have been quickly humbled by the
to other economies or stock markets global recession.
in the region. Are stock prices falling Japan’s stunning decline in exports is
everywhere? Perhaps the causes are the being echoed across Asia, where country after
17
CHAPTER 1
country is reporting data that have exceeded off the coast of Somalia after it was fired
even the grimmest forecasts. Thailand said upon by the Indian Navy, which had
yesterday that its exports in November fell mistaken the trawler for a pirate ship.
by nearly 19 per cent, the most in 17 years. Most of the story was about the ship and
Similarly, Taiwan’s exports fell 23 per cent its crew (including a Cambodian who
in November, and a government report on survived) and the reaction from Indian
future export orders set to be released today officials and the boat’s Bangkok-based
is expected to show another steep drop. owners. But also in the story was the “big
“Everyone is tanking together. A fall of picture” about the dangers and extent of
27 per cent is really striking and portends piracy in the area.
substantially greater weakness,” said Easwar
Presad, a senior professor of trade policy at Warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia,
Cornell University. “The bottom line is that Russia, the US and NATO patrol the vast
many of these countries that relied on export- international maritime corridor, escorting some
led growth will have to rely on domestic merchant ships and responding to distress calls
demand to get out of this thing.” in the area … [This is the tenth paragraph]
China had reported that its November Somalia, an impoverished nation caught
exports took their biggest dive in seven years up in an Islamic insurgency, has not had a
— a drop that has reverberated across Asia functioning government since 1991. Somali
because China has become the largest export pirates have become increasingly brazen
market for many of its neighbors. Japanese recently, seizing eight vessels in the past two
shipments to China fell 25 per cent, the weeks, including a Saudi supertanker loaded
steepest decline in 13 years, the Japanese with $100 million worth of crude oil. [21st
Finance Ministry said. paragraph]
As much as 50 per cent of China’s There have been 96 pirate attacks this
trade is related to processing — buying year in Somali waters, with 39 ships hijacked.
semiconductors and other parts from Fifteen ships with nearly 300 crew are still in
Japan, South Korea and other neighbors the hands of pirates, who have demanded
and then assembling them at low cost into multimillion dollar ransoms. [22nd paragraph]
finished products for companies such as Shippers worldwide have called for a
Sony, Panasonic and Samsung. China, in military blockade of the waters off Somalia’s
effect, is the final assembly station for vast coast to intercept pirate vessels heading out
global production networks, which are now to sea, but NATO officials said there were no
sputtering to a halt. such plans. [23rd paragraph]
Japan has already officially entered a
recession, propelled by its close ties to the Significance
US economy, and the government has cut
interest rates and boosted domestic spending Stories are more meaningful if journalists
in an effort to mitigate the recession’s impact. can answer these questions: Why is this
But Toyota’s woes are the latest sign of what story important and how? What does
the World Bank predicts will be the first it mean to readers? How will they be
decline in global trade since 1982. affected? What impact will it have?
The next example, from a news agency, We often call this answering the “So
is about a Thai fishing trawler that sank What?” question. It’s a phrase that means,
18
CHAPTER 1
“Why should I care about this story?” That nine of the high-maintenance beasts. At 83,
may seem like a silly question to have to the retired American teacher is back in this
ask, but readers, as we said, are very busy Southeast Asian country to help save what
people. There are many stories to read remains of the once mighty herds.
every day and too much information to Once so famous for its herds that it was
process. A good journalist occasionally called Prathet Lane Xane, or Land of a Million
steps back from the rush of the 5Ws and Elephants, Laos is thought to have only 700
H to say, “OK, reader, I’ve told you the left in the wild.
facts and details, now I’m going to tell you “Lots of people in Asia tell you how
what it means.” elephants are their proud national heritage,”
This is often the most difficult part of Speight says. “But I tell them, ‘It was your
the story to write. Journalists must know heritage, and what are you doing to bring it
their subject very well, or must ask experts back?’ Often precious little.”
what impact the story might have. With
a little practice, and by studying how In a story about the killing of three
veteran writers do it, journalists can begin foreign aid workers in Kabul, the writer
to help readers make better sense of their inserted this line:
world. As they do with background, the
best writers don’t necessarily put this The killings have led to fears Taliban insurgents
information in one place in a story. They could target Westerners to scare off aid
include it wherever readers need it. workers and undermine efforts to bring
This lead, from a Cambodian development and security.
journalist, contains the “So What?” at the
end of the very first sentence: Not every story needs to address the “So
What?” question. Sometimes it’s obvious.
A gunfight broke out Wednesday between When a life is lost in an accident or natural
Thai and Cambodian troops at a disputed disaster, we know that is important.
border zone near a landmark 11th-century
temple, killing two Cambodian soldiers and Put a face on the story
escalating a conflict that has raised fears of
war. One way to make stories more interesting
is to include the voices of ordinary people.
The shooting deaths of two people is the Readers like reading about people and
news. But the “so what” is the possibility their struggles or successes, and finding
of war. out their opinions. If your audience is
The “So What” often comes high in elite or well educated, then it is good for
the story, and often comes from expert them to know what ordinary people are
sources. In the first three paragraphs of thinking because it leads to a more just
a story about the decline of elephants and democratic society.
in Laos, we learn that elephants are We often fail to include these voices
important because they are part of the in our reporting. Perhaps it is because we
national heritage: are lazy, or we don’t think that ordinary
Connie Speight has swayed on elephant-back people are important. Many journalists
through unforgiving jungle and has adopted think that only politicians, officials and
19
CHAPTER 1
experts are important. But including only The story goes on to quote Tin Tin Latt
the voices of experts and authorities about her fears, and to note that she
makes for pretty dull copy. It is the voices is one of thousands of widows in the
of regular people, from farmers to taxi devastated Irrawaddy Delta.
drivers and shop keepers to office workers,
that adds spice, variety and meaning. “I’m afraid my only son will become a
Focusing on people, we shall see, fisherman, following my husband,” said the
is crucial for the feature writer, and 33-year-old widow. “I don’t want him to be
humanizing a story is a classic way of killed by a storm like his father.”
making it easier to understand. Instead of ….Tin Tin Latt said she had only enough
telling us why the story is important, the rice for six days and didn’t know if her
reporter is showing us. children would have anything to eat after that.
Here’s the beginning of a story filed Although afraid, she said she had no choice
by an Associated Press reporter after the but to send her 15-year-old son to learn how
cyclone in Myanmar. to handle a boat at sea.
“I wish I could move deeper inland, and
No matter how much she loved the river and find a new way to raise my kids rather than
sea that once provided her family’s daily food, let my son become a fisherman,” she said as
Tin Tin Latt now just wants to stay away from she began to cry. “Every morning, when he
the water that widowed her, killed two of her goes aboard the boat, I pray for him not to be
children and destroyed the family’s livelihood. taken away.”
Putting a face in a story always makes it more interesting.
20
CHAPTER 1
Include a diversity of voices Prove your point
Just as putting a face in a story makes Never forget that your main goal as a
it more interesting, so including a wide writer is to convince readers of the point
range of voices makes a story more you are trying to make. It’s not enough
appealing. What do ethnic minorities to have a good lead or a nice summary
think about an issue? Women? Foreigners? of the situation. Readers are not satisfied
The political opposition? The poor? There with general statements; they need
are usually many different opinions about evidence to be persuaded. Evidence
what is happening. If we include enough usually comes in the form of details, facts,
different viewpoints, it helps readers figures, attribution and authoritative
understand more fully what is going on quotes. But it is examples — with specifics
and the possible solutions to problems. and particulars and real-life people —
In a story about the fears of a coup in that are often the most convincing.
Thailand, the reporter conducted dozens In a story about poor air quality in
of interviews around Bangkok over several Chiang Mai, the writers didn’t just tell
days. The result was a story that showed readers that people were suffering from
that even if the political confrontation smoke, they showed them: The smoke
was resolved, social and political problems was so bad that people woke up with
would remain. Included in thAe story were nosebleeds and sore throats and some
quotes from a woman at a music shop, had headaches for two weeks. Some
a motorcycle taxi driver, a noodle shop families fled to Bangkok because they
owner, a toy shop owner and a costume could no longer tolerate the bad air.
designer. The latter said: Those kinds of specific examples were
convincing.
“I’m tired of the political situation. I just follow In a story about Phnom Penh’s
along and see what they [the demonstrators] booming real estate market, Associated
are doing and hope that things will get Press’s Ker Munthit tried to convince
better.” readers — with examples and specifics —
how the boom was changing the city’s
It is these kinds of voices that give us a skyline while widening the gap between
better feel for the story. rich and poor. (This is not the whole story.)
Specific examples in the lead PHNOM PENH – An old hospital was razed to make way for
help the reader see: a 42-story Phnom Penh’s tallest building — a 42-story twin condominium
building, a garbage-strewn tower. A garbage-strewn slum became prime real estate after
slum. These examples support police evicted its dwellers to a parched rice field outside the
the main point, which is in the capital.
second paragraph. Cambodia is experiencing a construction boom fueled by
foreign investment, particularly by South Koreans, and buying
and selling among the country’s few nouveaux riche — while
leaving the poor majority behind.
Shopping malls and tall apartment buildings are sprouting
up, transforming the capital’s landscape that once bore the
21
CHAPTER 1
charm of colonial French-styled villas but resembled a ghost

town at the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime nearly
30 years ago.
Political stability and robust economic growth of nearly 10
per cent have lured investors to the real estate market that has
seen prices surge over the last few years — though they are
still lower than in neighboring Vietnam or Thailand.
An authoritative quote from a ”Cambodia was sleeping for many years and now it’s
real estate agent backs up the waking up,” said Claire Brown, managing director of Britain-
main point. based Claire Brown Realty, who began buying and selling
property in Phnom Penh two years ago.
”Everybody wants to get a piece of the action,” she said
by phone. “The time to get in is now because soon it’s going
to be too late.”
Note the details: property has Prime city land prices have tripled over the last two years
tripled to $3,000 per square to $3,000 per square meter. Those kinds of returns have
meter, while profits have drawn rich and middle-class Cambodians, as well as those
reached 200 per cent. living abroad.
“In buying and selling land, they can earn a profit of
100 or 200 per cent a year, if they make the right bet on the
right location,” said Dith Channa, the sales manager of CPL
Cambodia Properties Ltd., a Phnom Penh-based real estate
agency.
But the soaring real estate market is also widening the gap
between the rich and the poor.
The euphoria of investors is ”Phnom Penh city is getting modern every day — of
contrasted by comments from course for the wealthy,” said Chhorn Et, a former slum dweller
former slum dwellers and now living with hundreds of others in a village in the middle of
human rights workers on the a rice field about 12 miles from the capital.
gap between rich and poor. “The government swept us away because they regarded
This supports the sub-theme in us as very unpleasant for their eyes,” said the 34-year-old
the second paragraph, “leaving woman who scavenges for discarded cans and bottles to sell
the poor majority behind,” and for a living.
gives balance to the story. The flourishing property market is also happening in the
shadow of problems of land rights disputes that, in recent
years, have often pitted the poor against wealthy developers
with links to the Cambodian political establishment.
“We’re moving toward possibly about 10 per cent of the
population owning 90 per cent of the land in Cambodia,” said
Naly Pilorge, director of the nonprofit human rights group
Licadho.
22
CHAPTER 1
That could fan social and political unrest, she and others
have warned.
The biggest projects are being funded by South Korean
investors and companies, which have been the leading
investors in Cambodia following the resumption of diplomatic
ties between the two countries in 1997. Investment and
tourists from South Korea have surged following a 2006 visit
to Cambodia by former President Roh Moo-hyun.
Note the specific names of World City Co. Ltd., a South Korean company, is investing
South Korean companies $2 billion to build a “satellite” urban complex called Camko
fueling the boom, while details City on a 300-acre area on the northwest side of Phnom Penh.
and costs of the projects are The project, the single biggest foreign direct investment in
included. Cambodia to date, will include residential, commercial and
public facilities — villas, condos, trade and financial centers,
office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, schools and
hospitals.
Note also the writer’s use of Meanwhile, at a busy corner leading up to the city’s
“scale:” he tells readers one landmark Independence Monument, an old government
project is the biggest foreign hospital has been torn down to make way for a 42-story
direct investment, while condominium and shopping complex worth about $250
the other is the first luxury million. That’s going to dramatically change Phnom Penh’s
building of its kind and the skyline, where the tallest building now is a 15-story hotel.
tallest in the city. It is going to be the first luxury residential building and
tallest structure in Cambodia, said Kim Tae-Yeon, chairman of
Yon Woo Inc., a South Korean developer.
Kim said the towers will have about 500 units of
apartments, office space and retail shops with price tags
ranging from $112,000 to $1.8 million a unit. Construction
will start next month and take 3 1/2 years to complete, but
Kim said nearly half of the units have already been bought.
Whether you’re writing news or features, Anecdotes prove the point

ask yourself:
Another way to prove your point,
•• Do I have examples to support and while also entertaining readers, is to
explain my lead/intro?
use anecdotes. An anecdote is a little
•• Have I asked my source for evidence story that can be funny or sad or just
to back up what he/she is saying? interesting. Anecdotes are about real
•• Have I included enough details to people and real situations, and they pull
convince the reader? readers into the story by taking them to
•• Can I show people experiencing or the time and place of the action. Many
doing things to illustrate my point? writers like to begin their features with
23
CHAPTER 1
a compelling or amusing anecdote, but He was unsure and worried about what the
anecdotes can be put anywhere in a story future held.
to illustrate a point. For now, his elderly parents and younger
Anecdotes are usually several brother help his family. “I hope, with the
sentences or several paragraphs long. The prosthetic leg, to get back to work either in
challenge is to keep them brief, without the field or around the house.”
using all of the detail that was collected in
reporting them. Note the use of time elements to help
The following examples are from a tell these little stories. The first example,
story by a Reuters reporter on the number of Ta, begins just like a traditional story:
of people injured by bombs in Laos every “One morning four years ago ….” The
year. The bombs, called ‘bombies’ in second example, of Yee Lee, begins, “He
Laos, were dropped during the 1960s and was digging around in his garden in
1970s by US warplanes, but many did not August when …..”
explode and are still lurking in the earth. Listen carefully for anecdotes during
your interviews. When you hear your
On December 3 this year, over 100 nations will source begin to tell a little story, take
sign an international treaty to ban the use of good notes and ask for details to make
cluster bombs to prevent further tragedies like the anecdote as strong as possible. When
Ta’s, a father of seven who lives in a remote writing, try to make the anecdote a
village in Khammoune Province in southern complete but brief story with a beginning,
Laos. middle and end. Use quotes, dialogue,
One morning four years ago, he saw description and action if possible. But
something that looked like a bombie. He knew don’t use anecdotes, no matter how good
it was dangerous, but he had also heard that they are, if they do not relate to the main
the explosive inside could be used for catching point of the story.
fish, so he decided to touch it with a stick.
That one small tap cost him both arms
and an eye. Ta had to travel nine hours to
get medical help. He sold his livestock to pay
hospital bills, and when he ran out of things to
sell, he went home.
Ta says he had to ‘eat like a dog’ for four
years, before non-governmental organization
COPE provided him with prosthetic arms. Now
he is able to help with small domestic chores.
Then there is 31-year-old Yee Lee. He
was digging around in his garden in August
when suddenly his hoe came down hard on a
bombie. He lost both legs and two fingers.
“I have five very young children, and my
wife is six months pregnant,” Lee said at Xieng
Khouang provincial hospital where he was
having a molding done for prosthetic legs. ■
24
CHAPTER 2
feature writing — part i
Chapter 2: into the story before discovering its main

point. The piece may begin with a colorful
description, a short scene, or a bit of irony
FEATURE or suspense — something that makes the
reader want to read on. The main point of
WRITING — the story then becomes clear.

Through good writing and detailed
PART I
reporting, the reader is taken to the
scene of the story, whether it’s inside a
busy garment factory or along the muddy
When reporters are asked to write a banks of the Mekong. The sights, sounds,
feature for the first time, they usually ask smells and experiences of the people in
the least important question first: how the story are easy to imagine.
long? And then, of course, they want to In this feature on the struggle to
know how much time they have to write educate rural minorities, VietNamNet
it. They seldom ask the most important Bridge, an online news agency, takes us to
question: what should it be about? As a a school on a remote mountainside:
result, they often start writing before they
are ready, thinking it is like a long news On a bright summer’s morning Vi Kieu Oanh
story. Wrong again. and her husband rise earlier than usual. Today
The feature should not cause so much they will travel far into the high mountains to
heartache. In fact it is the creative, even her hometown, a village inhabited by the Kho
literary, part of journalism and it can bring Mu hill tribe. Oanh is a primary school teacher
great pleasure to writer and reader. There in Huoi Xen village in Nghe An province near
are many kinds of features, and we shall the border between Vietnam and Laos. Some
explore a few in this book. of her pupils are Kho Mu and recently she’s
Features go beyond the traditional noticed a swift decline in numbers.
news story by giving readers more than “Our pupils are dropping out so I have to
just information: they entertain as well as go to their houses and persuade their parents
explain and enlighten. They can be funny to let them return to school,” says Oanh. Her
and light hearted or serious and sad. school is perched on a mountainside. There
While the news story focuses on events are two poorly equipped classrooms made of
that have just happened and must be wood and roofed by forest leaves. The floor
reported right away, features are more of the classrooms is just dirt. A broken drum
concerned about people, places, issues and hangs in the corridor.
trends. They’re less urgent, although many From the mountains, the school looks like
good feature ideas come from current a tiny dot that could be swept away in a gale.
events and thus are very timely. The children come to school barefoot. Some
Features have a different style. don’t have a shirt or T-shirt. After a downpour
They are more relaxed than traditional there are puddles on the floor beneath the
news stories, which begin with the most kids’ desks.
important information, followed by the
next most important information, and Because features often focus on people,
so on. In a feature, readers are eased the writer lets us hear the voices of
25
CHAPTER 2
teachers and students. This excerpt begins “Then at 6am, I start to walk to school.
by focusing on teacher Tran Thi Yen. It takes an hour and a half to get here,” he
says, speaking in his mother tongue as Yen
Their heads are down as they practice translates. “I go back home after midday. Then
handwriting for the first time in their lives. I have to do housework and look after my
“Some kids really like coming to school, but younger brothers and sisters.”
others don’t care for it. I am never sure if they
will be here tomorrow,” says Yen. “I have The story ends with the voice of a parent,
to teach them how to read and write the the mother of pupil Moong Ta Loc.
Vietnamese alphabet, while they speak their
own mother tongue with each other,” she “I will allow Loc to study until she can read
adds. “It’s tough going.” This September only only,” she says, speaking Vietnamese. “Why
15 pupils, from different villages in the area, do you need to study around here? These
turned up for class. kids grow up and get married. That’s all. I am
“They come from very poor families who 60-years-old and I have never left these fields.”
herd buffaloes and grow maize in the fields,”
says Yen. “They have no notebooks or school While a feature follows fewer rules than
equipment. I have to buy materials for pupils.” the traditional news story, it is not an
Oc Kham Muon, a 13-year-old-boy, says this opinion piece, an essay or an academic
is the first time he has had a chance to go to article. Nor is it a lot of colorful writing
school. Before he comes to school he has to without a purpose. It is original reporting
go up the mountainside and fetch grass for his and involves fresh research. It is also an
family’s buffalo and firewood for his house. attempt to explore an idea or a question.
You won’t find interesting subjects sitting around the office.
26
CHAPTER 2
Abandoned for a decade, Sathon Unique

Focusing an idea resembles the home of a lost civilization, not
the upscale condominium it was supposed to
Getting the focus right is the first thing. be.
Try to phrase the question or idea in the Banyan trees surround it. Ancient Greek-
most interesting but succinct way (short, style columns are now littered with graffiti
sweet, precise and in simple words). — one column features an alien image and
Getting this wrong or unclear is the another a drawing of the Hindu god Ganesh.
biggest single cause of failed features. Do The area designated as a lobby is dark and
not try to cover too much or ask questions the only sign of a blessing is a statue of Phra
that are too big or abstract, such as “The Siam Dhevatirat, sacred guardian for Thais,
Meaning of Life.” Ask something closer to near the entrance.
the ground. Even the question, “Is religion ‘‘There should have been two statues
still important in my country?” is too guarding the entrance doors as a sign of
ambitious. But you can, for instance, write a blessing. But the economic crisis in 1997
about one particular temple or church disrupted construction. The developer
or mosque that is trying to attract young abandoned the site before bringing in the
people. That is much more manageable second statue,’’ said Suthep Karnjana, 37,
than “The Meaning of Life.” Discuss who guards the 49-storey building.
your idea with an editor or a colleague No one knows when the building, which
— ideally in the form of a pitch. A pitch is in a prime location opposite Taksin skytrain
is an attempt to persuade an editor to station, will be redeveloped. Interested
“buy” your story, a clear statement of the investors have dropped by to have a look but
question or idea you want to explore. The nothing has happened, said Mr Suthep, who
pitch should also say how you will write it, has worked at the site for over seven years.
not just what it will be about. A pitch does Despite his efforts, thieves have made
not have to be written (you can present off with construction parts and decoration
your ideas orally to an editor) but writing items. They also broke all the windows. About
it is the best way to be clear about what 600 toilets on the upper floors were looted.
you want to do. A written pitch should be All electric wires and steel cables were stolen,
about 300 words, containing a statement too.
of the “essence” (the nut graf or Dear Many abandoned projects encounter a
Reader Paragraph) of the story and it similar fate as thieves loot the sites, stealing
should give the editor a feel for how it precious construction items.
will be written. Sathon Unique is among the 508 buildings
Ten years after the financial crisis of abandoned by developers following the 1997
1997, Bangkok Post reporter Anchalee economic crisis. The projects were taken over
Kongrut wanted to find out what by the Financial Sector Restructuring Authority
had happened to all the buildings left (FRA) — the state debt restructuring arm,
unfinished by developers. But that is still a which auctioned them to financial institutions
large topic, so she focused on the fate of a
at cheap prices….
single building. Here is the first part of her
story, called “Ghosts of the crash of ’97”:
27
CHAPTER 2
Plan your reporting focusing on one building, Anchalee then

widened her story to mention the number
Once you know the question or idea you of unfinished structures, social problems
will look at, break it down into smaller linked to those buildings, and possible
elements — no more than five (because solutions for re-development.
you will be surprised at how little you can
actually explore properly in a feature). Get out of the office
These five points (even just four) together
will answer the big question or examine Most important of all, ask yourself:
the idea. Because many features are WHERE CAN I GO TO SEE THIS STORY IN
about problems of one kind or another, ACTION? This is the secret to good feature
the following general elements can be writing. It is like handing the reporter
pursued for some stories: a video/cam recorder and saying, “Take
this and bring back some good moving
•• Who is affected by the problem, and
pictures.” The feature writer will bring
how? Can you focus on a person, a
back word pictures, often called color, but
place or a business to show readers?
the effect is the same. You wouldn’t sit in
•• How big is the problem? That is, how the office on the phone if you knew you
many people/places/businesses are had to shoot film.
experiencing a similar situation? And then discuss real visual ideas
•• What is the history and background with an editor or photographer, because
of the problem? In other words, what features usually have pictures to illustrate
are the causes of the problem or the them. If you work for a website or your
reasons for the current situation? publication has a good interactive section,
•• What’s being done about the don’t forget to bring back some good
problem, and who is trying to solve video and some footage where you speak
the problem? This explores possible to camera while you are out reporting.
solutions.
What you want
•• What impact are these efforts having,
from the reporting
and what is likely to happen in the
future? As with all good journalism, you want
Go through each of these points and to come back with balanced evidence
work out how you will answer it. Start, as addressing the question or exploring
always, by doing your archive homework the idea. This will include any relevant
first. Make sure you know what has been documentary information and statistics
published before on this subject. Then list (but not too many, please). You will also
the sources you will approach or that you need to talk to people involved — starting
will need to track down. with real ordinary people whose lives are
Anchalee’s sources included the affected by the thing you are looking at.
security guard, the original developer, They are the real experts on the subject. It
two academic experts on engineering and might also be necessary to speak to people
architecture, and an inspection report who are more academic or official experts,
from the Bangkok city government. After authorities on the subject.
28
CHAPTER 2
Anchalee quoted a report that said story, just like an intro is strong enough
some of the buildings had become to make them want to read it in the first
crime scenes. She also consulted several place, so while you are reporting, keep
experts, including the dean of the this in mind.
Asian Institute of Technology’s School Anchalee ended her piece with
of Civil Engineering, who said most of a quote from the lecturer who has
the abandoned structures were in sound researched the impact of abandoned
condition and would not collapse. She buildings.
also quoted a lecturer on Chulalongkorn
University’s faculty of architecture who “We already have over 100 unfinished
had several ideas on how the city could re- buildings and now we are likely to get
develop the buildings. The security guard more,” he said. “Should this trend continue,
is her ordinary person. Bangkok will become a city of incomplete
Throughout your reporting, observe buildings — the relics of an economic crisis.”
things going on around you. And take
very detailed notes, including large PROFILES
chunks of dialogue, not just quick quotes.
Anchalee had good descriptions of the
Profiles are feature stories about
individuals. They can be brief or long.
When brief, they often are used as
examples to show readers how a person’s
life illustrates a larger problem. Brief
profiles often run as sidebars (short,
separate but related stories) as part of
a larger news package. More in-depth
profiles aim to tell readers who the
person really is and what makes them
successful, controversial, etc. Ask people
who know the subject to talk about him
or her. This is essential for longer profiles.
Talk to friends, former colleagues, even
enemies. Only by talking to others can
Observe things going on around you.
you get an accurate portrait of the
person.
The same basic journalistic rules of
building’s dark and empty lobby, and the
accuracy and fairness apply to profiles as
missing statue. Keep in mind that you
they do to news and features. Consider
should have something strong to end
these strategies:
with — a quote or a statistic or some
information about some future event that •• Research your subject as much as
will move the story forward. This ending possible before the interview. Check
is sometimes known as an outro (opposite the clips and online material, and
of an intro). An outro should be strong ask colleagues for suggestions on
enough to help the reader remember the questions they would ask.
29
CHAPTER 2
•• Interview the person in a comfortable Profiles can be long or short. Here’s

place. For some, that might be at one less than 400 words by Minh Phuong
home. For others, it might be the of Vietnam’s Than Nien newspaper. The
workplace. Observe carefully and narrative form is chronological, beginning
describe the subject’s appearance, when the boy was born and taking us up
his or her actions and the interview to his present age of 13.
setting throughout your profile.
•• Try to discover what’s unique about Mai Vu has faced more adversity in his short
the subject. What are his or her lifetime than most ever will.
dreams, regrets, heroes, strengths, Soon after he was born, tragedy struck.
weaknesses, favorite books and A debilitating disease caused Vu to suffer
movies? What motivates them to do convulsions, making it impossible for the
what they are doing? How did they infant to move normally. His arms twisted, his
overcome their struggles? mouth contorted and his legs withered.
By his first birthday, Vu’s condition
had only worsened. While most
toddlers are taking their first steps and
beginning to speak, Vu could only lie
still. He wasn’t even able to cry, let
alone speak.
But one day, his family, living in
the central town of Hue, was referred
to the Son Ca Center for Disabled
Children. It was a life-changing event
for Vu.
At the center, teachers helped
the boy improve his strength and
learn to use his voice. To everyone’s
astonishment, Vu was soon able to
What is unique about a subject?
move his body and could even utter a
few words.
•• Interview long — write briefly. A good
He then discovered he could use his toes
profile will contain only the strongest
to clamp pencils and chalk, scrawling his first
material from the interview, and only
artwork.
the best quotes.
Vu’s teachers worked hard to teach him to
•• Encourage the subject to tell you read and write and the boy became absorbed
stories you can use as anecdotes. in learning, writing and drawing.
•• Don’t forget to include background He felt happiest when he could express his
that tells your readers why they should thoughts through his art.
care about this subject. Has he/she “When I grow up, I want to be a painter,”
been in the news recently, or involved he said.
in an event that is newsworthy? Is he/ At first, Vu tried his best to draw pictures
she an example of a larger issue or on the floor but his toes quickly became sore
trend in society? from his strained efforts.
30
CHAPTER 2
Mai Ngoi, Vu’s father, said that in the •• Find out how people are handling
beginning, drawing was a huge effort for the an economic crisis. Are they cutting
boy as he had to roll his entire body around to expenses? Not paying some bills?
produce a picture. Saving any money?
“We felt distressed seeing him rolling •• During an election, ask voters what
around but we couldn’t prevent him from they think of the candidates. How
painting because that is his joy and passion,” will they be affected by the proposed
Ngoi said. policies of the political parties?
“We just know to sit near him to
Two days after the coordinated terror
encourage him to try his best,” he added.
attacks in Mumbai in 2008, reporters from
Now at age 13, Vu has now painted so
the Associated Press recreated one scene
many pictures that his family can’t remember
through first-hand accounts:
how many books of art he’s completed.
“I like drawing boats because they can take
Mumbai survivor: ‘There were bodies
me further and make me soar in the sky,” he
everywhere’
said.
His art is not only for himself but also
MUMBAI, India – At first, waiter Joseph Joy
serves as a source of encouragement for his
Pulithara thought the blasts were rows of
parents to overcome their difficulties.
liquor bottles exploding for some reason
“After a working day, I feel my tiredness
behind the Mumbai hotel’s sleek bar. Running
washed away when seeing my son’s pictures
to the scene, he found a woman screaming —
and his efforts,” his father said.
and a young man spraying gunfire.
The gunman was a member of a team
A FEATURE-STYLE
that was well-armed, well-prepared and had
APPROACH TO NEWS
just begun a two-day siege that would shut
down India’s financial and entertainment
Many reporters and editors think that
capital, leave more than 150 people dead and
features are “soft” and don’t belong on
370 injured, and turn the city’s ritzy seaside
the front page or the website’s home page.
district into a scene of horror.
But some of the best features are about
There was almost no time to escape.
events that have just happened or are
“Within two minutes, they were on us,”
still going on. There is nothing soft about
Andreina Varagona of Nashville, Tenn., said
them. The reporter recounts the drama
from her hospital bed in the intensive care
of an event by focusing on the people
unit. Wounded in the right leg and right arm,
involved and what they experienced. The
her curly brown hair was still caked with a
line between news and feature is blurred.
friend’s blood two days later.
Here are some possible feature-style
An Indian commando said the attackers
approaches to news stories:
were indiscriminate. “Whoever came in front
•• Interview survivors of a natural disaster of them, they fired.”
to see what they experienced, how There were 10 targets across the city,
they are coping. including two five-star hotels, a train station,
•• Interview the victims or witnesses to a a popular restaurant and an ultra-orthodox
crime to recreate what happened. Jewish center.
31
CHAPTER 2
feature writing — part I
The feature-style approach engages readers Here’s an example of a feature-style

with suspense, color and a different angle report from a reporter in Myanmar just
to the news. Readers often understand days after Cyclone Nargis. It combines
an issue better after reading a story that elements of feature-writing and hard
applies feature-writing techniques. news.
Man loses 28 relatives in Myanmar village hit by

cyclone
Note the human focus and The 68-year-old fisherman tried to explain how a cyclone
use of color in the first two swept away his entire family, but could utter only a few
paragraphs. words before he was overcome by tears.
“All my 28 family members have died. I am the only
survivor,” sobbed Thein Myint, whose flimsy house was torn
apart when Cyclone Nargis sent powerful waves surging
from the sea.
Thein Myint’s village is in a devastated belt around
Bogalay, one of the worst-hit towns, located some 20 miles
from the Indian Ocean in the Irrawaddy delta.
Some of the facts in the fourth Residents struggled Friday to make their way down
paragraph might appear in the what was once the busy main street in Bogalay, where the
lead of a straight news story. government has said an estimated 10,000 people perished
and 95 percent of the homes were destroyed. The smell of
rot and death was in the air from the bloated carcasses of
water buffalos and other animals.
The reporter uses observations, Debris, rubbish and branches from downed trees
including sight and smell. littered the streets, while the skeletal remains of buildings
were the only sign of the large structures that once lined
the road.
The story gets back to survivors Survivors — most from large extended families common
and their first-hand accounts in in rural Myanmar — described the incomprehensible:
the sixth paragraph. being left alone to combat hunger, illness and wrenching
loneliness after watching relatives washed out to sea.
“We huddled together, but the big trees carried by the
waves knocked down two of my children and my wife,”
said Htay Maung, 70, speaking softly at a large Buddhist
monastery where many others had also taken shelter.
When the winds first sprang up, and the storm surge
rose higher, he, his wife and four children climbed to the
roof of their house and clung to each other.
32
CHAPTER 2
“Only two of my children survived,” Htay Maung told

an Associated Press reporter who reached the town via car
from the main city of Yangon, a trip of more than 100 miles
that took about five hours because of flooding and downed
bridges.
Survivors spoke of entire villages being obliterated by
the cyclone, which struck May 3 with 120-mph winds that
unleashed 12-foot-high storm surges and left vast expanses of
the densely populated delta submerged under flood waters.
This part of the story is more More than 65,000 people are dead or missing in the
like straight news. region, with fears the death toll will top 100,000. But with
roads completely under water in the worst-hit areas, workers
have yet to gain access.
Many rice crops also were washed away in the region,
which is Myanmar’s major producer of the staple, adding to
worries about the future.
“The cyclone has hit before harvest,” said Felix Leger, the
country director of Action Against Hunger, as relief supplies
started arriving under military supervision.
The reporter describes the But even as soldiers unloaded sacks from a helicopter,
action: soldiers unloading adults complained that authorities were only distributing
sacks, children crying, sodden, fermented rice.
survivors huddling together. Huddled together, survivors recalled storm warnings that
came too late or without any instructions on what to do.
“We knew that the storm was coming, but we didn’t
know how dangerous or deadly it would be, so as usual I told
the children to stay indoors,” said one of the men sheltered in
open-sided sheds in the large monastery compound.
“We heard of the storm warning around 1 p.m., and the
cyclone came five hours later,” added another.
Bogalay residents said the warnings came via a public
address system in the town, but written notices were
dispatched by boats to the surrounding villages, which
suffered far more when Nargis struck.
The writer paints a picture With shelter almost nonexistent in some areas, many
with details: people living survivors were living under four or five coconut palm leaves
under palm leaves and they tied together, surrounded by stagnant, fetid pools of
collecting rain water in cans. water.
They used soft drink cans to catch rain water for cooking
what little rice they could salvage; some tried to dry sodden
unhusked rice beside the road.
33
CHAPTER 2
feature writing — part I
Engage readers with plenty of color and a different angle on the news.
One man displayed his naked back, red and raw from
the lashings of broken branches and fallen tree trunks sent
hurtling by the wall of flood water.
Bodies have been cleared from the streets of Bogalay
and repairs have begun on roofless houses and damaged
infrastructure. Workers hauled utility poles and corrugated iron
sheets for roofing.
In classic feature style, the Thein Myint, the broken fisherman whose eight schildren
writer returns to the fisherman were among 28 relatives washed out to sea, did not seem to
at the beginning of the story. care about repairs and restoration, or even money.
Money “is useless to me now, without my family,” he said
as he ate rice mixed with boiled banana shoots. “They were
washed away.”
HOW LONG? newspaper it will appear. The profile from

Than Nien is less than 400 words. Writers
Now back to the question at the for weekly magazines or of page-one
beginning of this chapter: How long features often produce more than 1,000
should a feature be? It partly depends on words. Each of the other examples above
your news organization, the kind of story is about 800 words — a good limit to keep
you are writing and in which part of the in mind. ■
34
CHAPTER 3
feature writing — part II
Chapter 3: feature. This paragraph will not be perfect

yet, because later you will link it to the top
(and of course you haven’t written that
FEATURE yet). Then outline the story by expanding
on the points you listed — saying where
WRITING — particular bits of new information,

sourcing, color and voices will go. Next,
PART II
decide where your background, context
and back-up statistics should go.
While the feature writer has more And start writing

freedom than the straight news reporter,
it does not mean a writer can just throw Now you can construct the top of your
a description, some good quotes and feature. There are many ways to do this. It
interesting examples into a story and hope might be a description of a person, place
it all fits together to make a “feature.” It or event. It might be a brief narrative,
doesn’t work that way. anecdote or case study involving actual
Good features are soundly organized, people. It might be an observation or
have a clear theme, and everything in a philosophical point (though not an
the story generally relates to that theme. opinion). You might want to refer to a
Only the most important and revealing film or a book or a play or a children’s
details are included. Like a news story, the story known to all readers. Possibly a
feature clearly communicates an idea, or historical event or a cultural point. You
seeks to answer a question, then convinces could contrast two people or two places
the reader with examples, explanations or two times. You might want to play on
and quotations. It also adds context and words.
background and shows us why the issue Next, link the top through your Dear
is important. It usually has an ending that Reader Paragraph to the rest of the story.
helps readers remember the point of the In other words, after you’ve written the
story. top, tell your reader quite clearly what it
has to do with the rest of the feature. This
Sit down, switch on is because the top will only be something
that illustrates or highlights or personifies
When you start thinking about how to or embodies the bigger points or question
build your feature, don’t begin with your or idea you will go on to explore in the
lead/intro or feature top. Instead, write rest of the feature. Your readers will not
a Dear Reader Paragraph, also called a know that. They will be thinking the top
nut graf. This is a sentence or two saying is what the whole thing is about. So tell
explicitly what your story is about (much them how it relates to the rest of the
like the direct lead of a straight news feature. That is why it is called a Dear
story) and which will appear as the third Reader Paragraph — because it addresses
or fourth paragraph of the feature. By the reader and says, “Hey, you’ve just read
writing it first, you will nail down exactly my top. Let me tell you what it has to do
what it is you are trying to say in your with what comes next.”
35
CHAPTER 3
You will have to keep tweaking your the second paragraph comes the point
Dear Reader Paragraph until it makes of the story, along with the coining of
the link smoothly. This will take time, but a new phrase: Bangkok is feeling “the
it is worth it because this is where most sting of aeronautical isolation.” The nut
readers stop reading — they are puzzled graf actually spills out over the next two
about what they are reading and feel let paragraphs, which explain and elaborate:
down or ignorant. So they read something tourism is devastated and businesses are
else. trying to find other ways to keep their
Take a look at the beginning of goods moving.
this story on the impact of the closure Let’s take a look at several feature
of Bangkok’s airports due to political tops and nut grafs from Seth Mydans,
protests. It’s from Thomas Fuller of the the Southeast Asia correspondent for the
International Herald Tribune. International Herald Tribune. The first is a
sad, profound observation.
The Four Seasons hotel has taken French
oysters and artichokes off the menu. Kien Khleang, Cambodia – The smallest
Frustrated orchid growers cannot export their rubber foot at the prosthetics center is a size
flowers, so they are selling them on the local 5. But it is not in high demand; few children
market for one-third the price. And FedEx is survive the blast of a land mine.
no longer the world on time, not when the Ninety per cent of the people who are
package is stuck in crisis-struck Thailand. fitted in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district for
Nearly a week after protesters besieged artificial feet, legs and hands are land-mine
Bangkok’s international airport, the Thai victims. As many as 40,000 people, or one in
capital is feeling the sting of aeronautical 250 Cambodians, have lost limbs to mines in
isolation. Cambodia, the experts say — the highest per
The closures of Suvarnabhumi Airport and capita in the world.
its smaller domestic counterpart, Don Muang,
are not leaving anyone hungry. Thailand is The next is a mystery lead about a high-
largely self-sufficient for basic food needs. profile murder.
But the crisis is devastating the tourism
industry. The head of the Tourism Authority Phnom Penh – Now every Cambodian knows
of Thailand expects business to be worse than the answer to these words: “I don’t know
it was after the 2004 tsunami. And other whether they will let me live or die, because
businesses, especially exporters, are desperate the earth is under their control.”
to find alternatives to what they took for Piseth Pileka, one of the country’s most
granted for years — a functioning airport. beautiful and popular actresses, is dead,
gunned down in July in a professional daytime
The lead begins with oysters, artichokes killing as she shopped with her 7-year-old
and orchids, but by the end of the first niece at an open market.
paragraph, the reader knows the story is Half a year later, Cambodia is still
about the crisis in Thailand. The lead also consumed by the question, in a diary
plays off a well-known advertising slogan: attributed to Miss Pilika: what powerful person
“the world on time” and contrasts the — what person who controls the earth —
current situation with a previous time. In ordered the killing?
36
CHAPTER 3
This one reconstructs the scene: Ten protesters had also been arrested.
It is a contrast that highlights the
Hanoi – Doctors and nurses clustered inequities hobbling Cambodia’s development
around the bed of Nguyen Thi Men when she into a free and democratic state. It also casts a
emerged in mid-March from a nine-day coma, harsh light on the claim that Cambodia might
urging her to stay alive. have its own way of dealing with its crimes
“Breathe, breathe,” they said. “Keep and traumas.
trying. Your husband and your children are This is still the land of arbitrary justice,
waiting for you.” where neither mass killers nor rights workers
She heard them and she tried, although can be quite sure what treatment to expect.
she felt as if she were drowning, she said in an
interview this weekend at her home. The body of the feature
“I saw a lot of doctors looking at me and
it really raised my spirits,” she said. “So many After you have got your top and Dear
people looking after me. I was very touched.” Reader Paragraph, work your way
What she did not yet know was that they through the various points you wanted
had gathered to view a miracle. She was the to cover, bringing in your other sources,
only survivor from among the six most critically background, context, quotes and statistics
ill patients infected when SARS broke out in as you go. Keep related material together.
the Hanoi French Hospital more than two Look for places to re-ignite reader
months ago. interest where you think they might be
Her survival became a hopeful symbol getting bored. Tell them another story or
for Vietnam, which on April 28 was declared anecdote that is relevant to the next point
by the World Health Organization to be the you are about to explore.
first nation to contain and eliminate the Now go back and started adding links
disease. Vietnam earned that distinction by or transitions that take the reader from
going 20 straight days without a new case one point to the next. For example, if
after recording 63 infections, including the six you’ve been quoting experts that believe
critical cases. Five people had died. one thing, you might start quoting experts
who believe the opposite. Tell your reader
And, finally, this lead provides contrast you are doing that (e.g. “There are a
and irony: number of people who disagree with this
view, however”).
Phnom Penh – As two Khmer Rouge Go back and look at the feature
leaders accused of killing more than a million critically and unpick bits that are too
people toured a balmy seaside town with dense and spread things out so they
their military escort and deferential guides unfold rather than block the flow of the
the other day, they drove past a jail where story. Also make sure the sound of your
two Cambodian human-rights workers were story varies — by introducing quotes and
receiving different treatment. people’s voices where you might have too
The workers were being held without much detached reporter style.
bail on vague charges after they had advised Only now should you write your outro.
protesters who rallied recently against the Take as long as you took to write your top
dumping of toxic waste at the edge of town. if necessary. It really matters. If you can’t
37
CHAPTER 3
Good reporters pop up in the most unexpected places.
find the right thing, go back into the story the most important material: the most
and steal something good, such as a great revealing details, best quotes and most
quote, and use that. Make sure it follows important numbers. Don’t overwhelm
logically from the previous paragraph. If your readers. Make your point and move
not, tweak and massage it until it does. on. Use a splash of color, and a bit of
context and background to help explain
Think visually things.
If you are writing it in English, use
Help decide on the best pictures and offer shorter words and tighter phrases. When
boxes and sidebars that help explain and you’ve finished your piece, go back and
illustrate the piece with good layout and cut at least 10 per cent before giving it to
graphics. Offer your interactive editor the editor.
some good video footage and additional
“dig-deeper” material for the website. CASE STUDY: Old age in
Cambodia
Write tight
Now let’s look at a complete feature and
There is nothing worse than a long, flabby see how it was put together. The story
feature. Even a story with one too many appeared in the Phnom Penh Post. It
examples or a quote that goes on too long includes subheads that break up the story
can test the patience of a reader. Use only to make it easier to read.
38
CHAPTER 3
Victims of time: growing old in the

Kingdom of the young
Written by Mom Kunthear and Eleanor Ainge Roy
Intro: A short story of an In a small hut by the side of the road, Long Hang has been
elderly woman, with good lonely for many years. Her roof is built of plastic tarp and
description and a strong quote coconut fronds that leak in the rain. The 70-year-old was
up high. turned out of her family home when she became too weak to
work. Now, she spends her days lying on a dirt floor, too ill to
move and blind in both eyes.
“I used to live with my niece, but she kicked me out when
I lost my sight. I became a beggar on the road, and some
travellers who saw my hardship would stop and give me
money. But most people were indifferent. I don’t have any
relatives left, and all I hope is that strangers will give food to
help me,” she said.
Nut graf: Uses strong contrast Long Hang is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, but a victim
(survivor, now victim) and of old age — spending her final days in a society that lacks
makes the theme of the story a welfare system and where traditional methods of family
clear (third paragraph). support have been increasingly abandoned.
“Old people in Cambodia have a very difficult time,” said
Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.
“They are not a ‘sexy’ cause, and people like giving to sexy
causes,” he added.
‘Vulnerable group’
Expert commentary is placed The National Strategic Development Plan 2006-10 has
high in the story (fourth identified the Kingdom’s elderly (60+ years old), which
paragraph), followed by a represent six per cent of the population, as a “vulnerable
statistic to give context. group requiring priority attention”.
These elements add authority But their care is being neglected in favour of sectors such
to make the story more as defence, whose budget was recently doubled, Ou Virak
convincing. said. “The primary caregiver for elderly people in Cambodia
is still the family, and there is a long tradition of this in
Cambodia,” he said.
Generation gap
Excellent background explains ”During the Khmer Rouge [era] and in the years preceding
the country’s demographics: and following it, there were not many babies born. And many
there are few middle-aged of those that were did not survive infancy. There is a big
39
CHAPTER 3
people to support the elderly. generation gap now, and we have a lot of old people and a
The writers are honest with us: lot of young people. But we lack earners in society, working-
there is no official information. aged people between 35 and 45. This is going to become a
big problem in the future and it is one that needs to be faced
now,” Ou Virak said.
Ven Sarith, director of Aged Care International based in
Battambang, agreed with the assessment of the generation
gap but said hard data is scarce.
Another reason for the decline The Ministry of Social Affairs and Development and the
of traditional family values is Ministry of Health were unable to provide the Post with
the shift in youth culture. The official statistics on birth rates before and after the Khmer
writers are explaining things Rouge regime.
while trying to convince us Ou Virak said a shift in youth culture — which has young
there is a problem. Cambodians looking to the West for cultural guidance —
has also contributed to the demise of traditional methods
of aged care as young people adopt materialistic habits and
evaluate their success in terms of the individual rather than
the family.
“Education is on the rise, and people in rural areas are
moving to the cities to attend university and look for jobs.
Now, young people no longer have to rely on their families so
much for support, but this also means that they don’t expect
to be looking after their parents,” Ou Virak said.
“A wide disconnection is beginning between the older
generation, the younger generation and a big, black hole in
the middle,” he added.
Worst in the region
This section adds context, The 2004 Survey of Elderly in Cambodia determined that
briefly widening the story to older residents of the Kingdom were worse off than their
let us know how the situation counterparts in neighbouring countries, including Myanmar,
compares to other countries. Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia.
This paragraph shows us the The study found that elderly people in rural areas
impact of the problem: poor suffered more than those in cities, being forced by poverty
health means the elderly can to work well into old age. In urban areas, 30.9 per cent of
hardly take care of themselves. people aged 60 or older participate in the workforce, while in
rural areas almost 65 per cent continue to work, primarily as
agricultural labourers.
The results of such work mean Cambodia’s elderly have
the worst health in the region and substantial difficulty
performing daily tasks such as sitting up, washing and eating.
40
CHAPTER 3
Mental disorders
Many older people also suffer silently from undiagnosed

mental conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, the
study found — an enduring legacy of the Khmer Rouge years.
A nice transition here to an But Aged Care International’s Ven Sarith sees Cambodia’s
alternative point of view high rate of working elderly as a point of pride for the country,
from an expert source. and thinks their experience and skills should be further
harnessed to contribute to the Kingdom’s development.
He said the government should encourage NGOs to be
more involved with elderly people because they have the
potential to be productive members of society.
Focuses on one solution to Keo Chantha, director of the Cambodian Elder Support
the problem: what one man is Program, runs a centre for elderly people in Sen Sok commune
doing to help the elderly. on the muddy outskirts of Phnom Penh. He set up the centre
This bit — a story about because he feared his children would not care for him in his
a horrible memory from old age.
childhood — reignites reader “When I was a child, there was a family that lived near me
interest. and treated their grandmother very badly. They beat her and
refused her food, and eventually locked her up in a very small
room. She died, and from that
time I have been afraid that
maybe as I get older the same
will happen to me. It has not,
but it remains a persistent fear.
I was scared that if no one
looked after me or my children
abandoned me, I would end
up as a beggar on the street,”
he said.
Keo Chantha, a former
French professor from the
Royal University of Phnom
Penh, founded the centre in
1997 with private funds. Over
the years, he has received
sporadic help from donors in
Canada and South Africa, but
the centre is principally funded
from his own savings and the
minimal support he gets from
What makes somebody stand out from the crowd?
his children.
41
CHAPTER 3
He has written many times to Prime Minister Hun Sen

and King Norodom Sihamoni requesting assistance for his
projects, but has so far received no response. His eyes fill
with tears when he talks of their silence.
“The government and most NGOs are not interested in
old people. They focus on people who have enough energy
and power to work.”
Keo Chantha’s centre helps 45 elderly people in his
commune, feeding them and providing a safe, clean place
to live. For many old people in the area without family or
government assistance, the centre provides a vital service.
“I consider all old people as my parents. I didn’t have the
chance to take care of my parents because they died in the
Pol Pot regime. This is my chance now to do good by their
memory.”
Future plans
A transition to the Amid claims of government neglect from elderly people

government’s response, and throughout the country, Dr Pay Sambo, deputy director of
what might happen in the retirement and pensions at the Ministry of Social Affairs,
future. Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, says plans are under way
to care for Cambodia’s aging population.
He says a meeting is planned for Monday among the
various interested ministries and aged-care professionals
throughout the country.
“I am currently in the process of securing funds to build a
big centre where old people can stay, and I am working very
hard to make this plan a success,” he told the Post.
“But the government does not have enough funds to
help everyone, and so I am trying to implement aid step by
step. Our country has greater problems than neighboring
countries because of the legacy of the Khmer Rouge and our
status as a developing nation. But we have not forgotten the
old people.”
The story ends with an elderly Lich Sreng, 70, lives near a new nursing home in Chong
person, who is linked to Ampil commune, Prey Veng province. He takes Pay Sambo’s
the previous section by his promises with a grain of salt.
comments on the government. “I want the government to take care of older people.
Then, we will feel warmly about our leader. I feel shy now
in front of foreigners because I know old people in their
countries have been taken care of by their government —
the opposite to the situation in Cambodia.”
42
CHAPTER 3
The story was also accompanied by this after each other,” she said. Pech Poy, 50, has
sidebar: been living at Wat Ounalom for eight years,
devoting the rest of his life to the acquisition
Elderly retire to temples for refuge of Dharma. “I see that most old people live in
and dharma difficult situations because they don’t have a
place to stay, so I am luckier than most,” he
Thousands of Cambodia’s elderly spend their said. “When I die my next life will be better
last years in Buddhist temple compounds. For than this. I believe I will be reborn in a good
some, the temple is a refuge. Others come condition because now I try to do good and
to devote their last years to the acquisition of save the Dharma.”
Dharma, hoping for a better reincarnation.
Ouk Set, 78, has been living in Wat Svay In the previous chapter, we said it’s easier
Popar since 1979. Her husband and two sons to break a story down into several key
were killed during the Khmer Rouge regime, elements when planning the reporting.
and when it fell, she had nowhere to go and The same is true when it comes to writing.
no one to care for her. “Even if my children Try organizing your material into several
were alive I would still come to the temple, “boxes” before you write, or draw a map
as it is a good place to learn Dharma. I will of where you want the story to go. If we
live here until I pass away and I am happy. break down the elements of the Old Age
This place is my home. Even if I don’t have feature into boxes, or sections, this is what
family, I have many old friends, and we all look it looks like:
STORY STRUCTURE: OLD AGE IN CAMBODIA…
Gives example of the problem INTRO: Long Hang, a 70-year-old woman who begs
by focusing on an individual for food. ¶s 1-2
case
Puts the individual problem MAIN POINT (nut graf or Dear Reader Paragraph):
into a wider context Long Hang survived the Khmer Rouge, but is a victim
of old age. Cambodia has no welfare system and
traditional methods of family support are failing.
Offers reasons why the issue/ EXPERT COMMENTARY: This is the material from Ou
problem is happening now Virak, human rights advocate, who explores reasons
for the generation gap. (Two of these paragraphs
are an attempt to quantify his explanation.) ¶s 4-12
43
CHAPTER 3
CONTEXT, SIGNIFICANCE: The elderly in Cambodia

suffer more than in neighboring countries, continue
to work and have the worst health in the region.
They can hardly sit up or wash themselves.
ALTERNATIVE VIEW: Van Sarith of Aged Care

International explains the positive side of elderly
who work. ¶s 17-18
Provides more explanation

and background: the problem CASE STUDY: Material from Keo Chantha, who
isn’t completely new but it is is trying to help the elderly with a center on the
spreading. outskirts of Phnom Penh. This is a good example of
what somebody is doing about the problem.
¶s 19 - 25
Looks at possible solutions to

the problem and what the laws GOVERNMENT RESPONSE: This adds balance to the
say. This is a good place to talk story, but also elaborates on what’s being done, or
to the experts. at least what the government plans to do in the
future. ¶s 26 - 29
Drives home the main point

of the story with irony and a ENDING: Like the beginning, this part focuses on
quote from Chen, the woman a person: 70-year-old Lich Sreng, who isn’t quite
featured at the beginning of convinced by the government’s talk. ¶s 30-31
the story.
If there’s a weak point in many middle of the story to keep up reader

features, it’s the lack of examples — or interest. But that would have made the
human focus — in the middle of the story too long. So they kept the stories of
story. Feature writers often put good two elderly people in a sidebar. Another
examples at the beginning and end, but option would have been to break out the
neglect the middle. Too much expert story about Keo Chantha and his senior
commentary and statistics bogs down the center as a separate story. There is more
narrative. than one way to organize a feature.
In this case, the writers could have Some feature writers focus on a
inserted more ordinary people into the single individual or family throughout
44
CHAPTER 3
the story. They begin with an anecdotal ties the feature together. In some cases,
or descriptive lead. Then after a nut several case studies are used to maintain
graf and a brief comment from an reader interest while also constituting
expert, they zoom in on the individual more examples that prove the point.
again to tell more of that person’s story
while showing the reader the impact CASE STUDY: Maintaining
of the problem or issue. After a few reader interest
paragraphs, the writer zooms out to
give the bigger, broader picture (more Let’s look at how Seth Mydans maintains
context, background or explanation of reader interest — and how he structures
the general problem) before once again his story — about a group of people
zooming in on the featured person. This living with HIV in northern Vietnam. The
strategy of contrasts — from the specific group supports each other while trying
to the general, from the concrete to to counter society’s negative views. A
the abstract — creates nice movement “shroud,” referred to in the second
in a feature, just as a movie director paragraph, is a cloth used to cover dead
continually changes scenes. The person people. We’ve only included excerpts
and his or her story is the thread that because it’s a long story. Here’s the lead:
HAIPHONG, Vietnam – The neighbors know
A lead with surprise: we don’t what is going on when they hear peals of laughter coming
expect dying people to be from the house of Pham Thi Hue. The dying women have
laughing. gotten together again.
Crammed onto a couch and little chairs, they shout and
clap as they talk about the city’s shortage of shrouds or about
the dying man with the bloated stomach who slept under a
bridge.
The writer gets out of the Mostly women, they are members of a support group for
office to understand the story people infected with HIV in a society where they are widely
and pursue one angle to a shunned, where drugs are scarce and treatment is expensive
very big topic: how one group and where a diagnosis of infection is still, for most people, a
is helping HIV-positive people sentence of death.
cope with the disease. He On a recent Saturday in this big port city near Hanoi, 15
sits in on a Saturday morning women and one man — many of whom had not told their
meeting. families of their infection — gathered to offer each other
companionship and the relief of laughter from lives of poverty,
illness and dread.
In the face of discrimination and in the absence of
adequate health care, they are for the most part one another’s
only support.
The story goes on to explain why HIV is a problem and how it is spreading from high-
risk groups, such as intravenous drug users, to the general population. That is the
45
CHAPTER 3
“big picture.” Then it returns to the women in the group, known as Haiphong Red
Flamboyant, after the name of a flower.
What the women rarely talk about, except when they

are joking, is the near certainty that in time they, too, will
become severely ill and that they will be feeding, bathing and
consoling one another, and caring for one another’s children,
as one by one they die.
The writer alternates “The meaning of the group,” said Nguyen Thi Sau, 29,
explanation with quotations so whose husband has already died of AIDS, “is so that when
that we can “hear” the voices you die you are less lonely.”
of people. This adds pace and In what they say is a form of therapy, they have chosen
variety to the story, which to look directly into the face of the suffering that lies ahead,
keeps us interested. nursing, cleaning and feeding the sick, collecting the bodies
of people who die alone in hospitals or on the streets and
attending the funerals of those whose families have turned
their backs on them.
“On some days I have to take care of four people who
have died in the hospital,” said Sau, who worked at a shoe
factory until she was fired. Often patients are prisoners who
have been sent to the hospital to die, covered in their own
filth and still chained to their cots.
“I’m the one who has to close their eyes when they die,”
she said.
“After that I can’t sleep at night.”
Although laughter and companionship is a theme of the
story, the writer shows us that caring for others with HIV is
serious and demanding work.
Most of the women gathered on this Saturday said they
had been infected by their husbands here in a city where
drug addiction is widespread, and most said their husbands
had already died. All lost their jobs when their employers
discovered that they were infected.
Hue’s husband is now in the late stages of the disease
in a drug-rehabilitation center. She lost her work as a tailor
and he lost his job as a cook in a hotel when their infections
became known.
She now works with the local women’s union to expand
support groups through the city, and she receives small
grants from foreign aid organizations. The money is used as
a fund to help members with emergencies and to distribute
rice to people who have fallen ill and no longer have an
income.
46
CHAPTER 3
The story then mentions government plans, including increased funding and proposed
new laws. It also includes comments from UNAIDS, the agency that helps countries
deal with the disease. This is the section that includes expert commentary, context and
background. The story then returns to the women in the group.
When the husband of Nguyen Thi Kim Van, 36, fell ill,
the Red Flamboyant group bought him a small bed so that he
could sleep separately from his family, crowded together in his
parents’ tiny home.
When he died, his parents evicted her, and she took her
three children to live in her mother’s even tinier home, where
all five of them now sleep on her husband’s bed.
Memorable details here: five Van, who is HIV-positive, tries to support them all by
people sleeping in a bed; selling small cups of tea on the sidewalk, and she receives
selling small cups of tea donations of rice from the support group and money to send
her oldest son to school.
It was she who crawled under the bridge to try to help
the man with the bloated stomach. He was aggressive and
frightening, she said, miming the scene, and she just jumped
up and ran away.
“Did you touch his belly?” her friends shouted, laughing.
“You were trying to take advantage of him, weren’t you?”
This was an important passage because it supports the theme that the women are
helping each other cope with the disease through laughter. And then it ends with one
more scene from the Saturday meeting that drives the point home:
This is authentic dialogue, As the afternoon passed, Sau, who had spent the morning
which comes from listening cleaning and feeding an AIDS patient, leaned her head on
carefully. The ending returns the shoulder of a friend, Doan Thi Khuyen, 23, and they sang
to the surprising theme of the quietly together.
story. Khuyen, a former secretary, was dressed in a crisp white
blouse with careful makeup and stylish hair, as if she were
heading to the office.
But she was fired from her job months ago because of
her illness, and she now sells lottery tickets on the street to
support herself and her small child, who is also HIV-positive.
“I wanted to be a shoeshine girl, but all they have is
shoeshine boys,” she moaned, and everybody laughed.
“Well,” said Hue, “at least you’re alive. You’re not dead
yet.”
That seemed to strike the women as funny, too, and they
laughed again.
47
CHAPTER 3
Is this an image about political fervor or serious air pollution?
Some final thoughts
Enjoy writing like this — it brings you

satisfaction and it brings your readers
understanding. Remember that it never
gets easy, but it will be worth it every
time. In journalism many people, tired
of the routine of daily reporting, have
remarked sadly that they wanted to be
a writer but ended up being a journalist.
Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. If
you enjoy writing, the feature gives you
an opportunity to explore the art form
and can enhance your job satisfaction. Be
more than a reporter. Be a writer. ■
48
CHAPTER 4
other advanced forms of journalism
Chapter 4: in news stories themselves, where more

and more of the content of news stories is
analytical. This is done by:
OTHER •• Answering the question So What?
ADVANCED
•• Better and more detailed background
and context.
•• Widening stories to bring in
FORMS OF other events that help the reader
understand this one better.
JOURNALISM •• Giving the event and the participants

in the story scale — is this the first or
While journalism is driven by current the biggest or the longest?
events, it is not limited to reporting the •• Quoting people who are affected by
news. An important, and now growing, the event and by experts who know a
part of media output is designed to help lot about it.
audiences understand the world. Raw data Some news organizations, in particular
(such as sports scores and stock prices) and the websites of the American newspapers,
information (such as news flashes) have are doing so much of this in their news
become available anytime and anywhere. stories that they are as much analysis
So the media have had to deepen their as they are information. Many of their
coverage to compete. This chapter looks news stories are very long (more than
at some of the ways this can be done. 1,000 words, sometimes as much as 2,000)
because they analyze at the same time.
News analysis Other news organizations prefer
to keep their news stories still short
There was a time when professional (maximum 500 words) and to provide
journalism was so strict about separating further understanding of the event
“fact and comment” that reporters were through self-standing news analysis. If the
discouraged from allowing anything to news story is strong and appears on the
get into their news stories that wasn’t front page, for example, then the news
absolutely verifiable fact. Or, if there analysis appears on an inside page (with a
was a judgment or opinion, it had to be cross reference or x-ref on the front page
attributed to a named source. This was story). If the news story is not on the front
mostly good, but it had one bad side- page, usually the analysis appears next to
effect. It made many journalists shy away it or below it. With on-line media, the two
from analysis. are linked.
This has changed. As technology has In some cases, the news analysis
made it possible for information to be appears the next day or as soon
available very quickly [See below], news as possible. (In the case of weekly
journalism has concentrated much more publications, if several days pass, then it
on analyzing the news rather than simply is necessary to find a fresh angle on the
providing the information. This is done news itself as well as to provide analysis.)
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CHAPTER 4
Thinking about news or significance of what has happened?

analysis Even ask for advice on whom to speak
to. This initial conversation will not give
All good journalism adds value. In other you everything you want, but will tell
words, the reporter takes the initiative you what other insights and quotes to go
and seeks out new insights that will help and get. There is no stage of this whole
readers understand an event. That is the process more important than getting this
main purpose of news analysis, so you bit right.
need to work hard to throw light on the Now you are ready to go to the
news. protagonists. They might be much more
Start by discussing with an editor what difficult to deal with, possibly because
you want to try to do with the analysis. they don’t trust the press or are afraid to
This is vital. Too many reporters end up talk to a journalist. So before you contact
writing a kind of disjointed summary of them, map out a series of key questions.
news events over the past days. You need Write them down and know exactly
to run through such questions as: What where they are in your notebook so that
things led to this particular event? Could you can refer to them when you’ve got
it have been different? Could it have someone on the line or you are in a face-
been avoided? What is being done about to-face interview. But don’t stick slavishly
it? What might happen next? Do not try to those questions. If during an interview
to be too ambitious. If there has been a someone comes up with a different line
resignation from the cabinet, do not try to of argument, don’t pull them back into
ask the question: “Is our country’s political your preconceived framework, unless
system at risk?” Just try to answer why the they are moving off the subject. It is more
resignation took place and what it tells us important to seek clarification about what
about the cabinet and who might be the they are saying and to follow it up with
cabinet minister’s successor. Your thoughts further questions than it is to come back
on the future of the country will have to to your key questions.
wait.
Now make a list of sources that can Writing the news analysis
help. You want to talk to those who will
give you a detached assessment of what Once you have got what you want from
has happened (independents) and those your sources, follow these guidelines for
who are much closer to the event, who writing the self-standing news analysis:
might have been involved in it or might be 1. Outline your story — listing the points
affected by it (protagonists). Their views you want to cover. You will get into
are likely to be more partisan, so you will a tangle if you do not have a plan.
need to be sure you have a balanced cross- This is because most reporters are in
section. the habit of writing news and when
Go first to the independents. Make they do news analysis they slip into
clear at first that you are seeking guidance that structure and just write more.
rather than quotable quotes and opinions, That is not a good idea. Also, you
but you do want some of those too. will probably have more in your
What does s/he think about the meaning notebook than should be in your story.
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A plan will force you to decide on the that story. Again, if you observe the idea
priorities — what is most important — that the analysis should be able to stand
and to leave out the rest. alone, you are well on the way to getting
2. Start with something different from this right.
the news story, such as a feature-style Later news analysis, however, needs to
lead. It is important that the analysis benefit from one thing in particular — it
should not “sound” the same as the has to add even more value. This means
news story it is analyzing. that it should benefit, in a sense, from a
period of reflection, a bit of time to think.
3. Summarize the main news
point very soon (latest third
paragraph) in case some
readers start reading the
analysis before they have read
the news story. Imagine that
you are reminding your reader
of the news event so it does
not sound like you are treating
them as ignorant.
4. Keep refreshing the story with
real people and good quotes.
It is important that you do not
end up writing a boring essay.
5. Provide background as and
If you want to know what the man in the street thinks, ask him.
when it is needed — further
“reminders” of not only the Not only time for you, the reporter, to
elements of the news event you are think, but for the experts and analysts to
analyzing, but other events that will do so. It also provides the opportunity to
help the reader understand why things take into account further reaction to the
have happened. news development — quotes, for instance,
6. Do not be tempted to comment or from people you have not been able to
give your opinion. You are the vehicle talk to but whose words appear in other
for allowing the protagonists and the media.
independents to say what they think. Next-day analysis also allows you to
What you think is not the point. go somewhere, beyond the office, to
sample the views of people who would
News analysis more than not ordinarily be able to get on the
a day after the news phone. You have more time to savour
atmosphere, to absorb the spirit of the
The guiding principle here is that you have story more, and getting out of the office
to assume that there will be even more is the surest way to do that.
readers who have not read the news story. Here is an example of a short, basic
That means you should provide even more same-day news analysis, from the Straits
reminders of the essential elements of Times:
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CHAPTER 4
ASEAN CHARTER
Cheer over Asean charter
Laws governing grouping’s conduct seen as vital despite
concerns over their efficacy
By Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja
Dec 16, 2008

Simple news-led intro with JAKARTA: Even as leaders of the ten Asean countries
standard “opinion is divided” celebrated the adoption of a set of laws committing them
type summary of the analysis to democracy and economic integration yesterday, opinion
that is to come was still divided as to the efficacy of the charter.
Then into the most important Questions remained as to whether the rules would
concern raised by critics, plus change how member countries conducted themselves, with
some (not particularly good) critics saying the terms set forth in the charter were only a
evidence (“said to”) rehash of those already contained in previous documents.
Asean members are said to have only honoured a third
of such agreements.
A bit of the news brought in But the mood at yesterday’s event remained upbeat,
with two protagonists’ views as Asean leaders cheered the charter as an important step
expressed before background forward in the regional grouping’s 41-year lifespan.
on the charter and an example
of the problems faced in the ‘We believe that the charter gives us legal impetus, and
past, which critics say will not if you don’t rely on legal impetus, what do you have? So if
be resolved by the signing of we had no mechanism to settle a dispute, we have it now,’
the charter Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said.
‘We are not going to make a great leap forward
on some difficult issues we have, but we have to begin
somewhere,’ Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said.
The charter was signed last November, with countries
given a year to push it through their legislatures. Singapore
was the first to do so, with Thailand the last.
In the past two years, Asean has come under pressure
to have a more formal dispute-settlement mechanism it
can draw upon, when its member nations undergo internal
strife.
For instance, the international community pushed for
it to get involved in the crisis that ensued when Myanmar’s
junta launched a bloody crackdown against street protesters
in September last year.
But, hamstrung by the principle of non-interference in
the internal affairs of a member state, the grouping chose
not to get involved, failing also to persuade Myanmar to
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CHAPTER 4
introduce democratic reforms and to release political prisoners

including Aung San Suu Kyi.
“It is part of the Asean character and history. Asean wants

And now two independent
to protect the regional interest, while domestic issues are to be
voices
left alone,” Ms Dwi Ardhanariswari, a researcher at Centre for
Global Civil Society Studies & the National Democratic Institute
in Jakarta, told The Straits Times. “From the Western world’s
point of view, this may be negative.”
Dr Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at the Singapore
Institute of International Affairs, told The Straits Times: “There
is indeed some cynicism about the charter because it is seen as
being too ‘watered down’ and not forward-looking enough.
“It thus misses the opportunity to send a strong signal
of Asean’s desire to transform itself into a more rules-based
organisation with mechanisms and tools that will enable it to
deal with the challenges of the 21st century.”
Still, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo sees the
charter as a sign that Asean is making progress slowly, but
surely.
He said it was a step towards “creating better conditions
for peace and economic development... as we find a more
institutionalised method of settling disputes among ourselves.”
The article is an example of an elementary form of news analysis that can be done with
a few quick calls to get a few different views without leaving the office. The article was
accompanied by a box listing the charter’s main elements.
Here is a more ambitious and engaging example of a news analysis from the
International Herald Tribune. It takes a hot news story that everyone is talking about and
looks at what lies behind it and what it means for the country concerned:
Celebrity scandal tests South Korean adultery law

By Choe Sang-Hun
Thursday, May 15, 2008

An unusual, very feature-style A star actress and her TV personality husband.
top, like lines from a movie An Italian chef the husband claims did more than give his
poster wife private cooking and English lessons at his apartment.
The husband’s singer friend who turns out to be the wife’s
secret lover.
The divorce lawsuit between Ok So Ri and her husband,
Park Chul, both 39, was a script cut out for tabloids even
before Ok dragged a new enemy into the kerfuffle [noisy
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CHAPTER 4
Early on we are told this is not squabble]: South Korea’s 55-year-old adultery law that
just about exciting “tabloid” punishes an extramarital affair as a crime.
copy but the law and history In a scandal that has kept the country’s Internet blogging
space buzzing for months, Ok not only has admitted to an
extramarital affair, but also has said she saw no reason to go to
prison for it. In February she asked the nation’s Constitutional
Court to rule the adultery law unconstitutional.
And now a full-blooded Suddenly the mudslinging between the couple has
statement of what the story is become more than fodder for gossip mills. It has turned into
about, the nut graf the most celebrated challenge against South Korea’s die-hard
adultery law, which is cherished by some as the last bulwark
against the “free-sex culture of the West,” but ridiculed by
others as “an anachronistic joke” in a country where “love
motels” — common places for adulterous liaisons — are
spreading everywhere and divorce is on the rise.
A good first quote from one of “The state meddling in which sex partner we should have
the protagonists — that is too much,” Lim Sung Bin, Ok’s lawyer, said on May 8
after a three-hour hearing at the Constitutional Court, where
his client did not appear. “Such a time is gone.”
The news background The nine-member court said it would rule on the case
soon but did not give a date. It is deliberating Ok’s suit with
three other petitions against the adultery law, all filed in the
past year.
From here to the end, a South Korea is among a dwindling number of non-Muslim
mixture of figures, history and countries where people can go to jail for adultery. About 70
background, great quotes and per cent of South Koreans support the adultery law, according
select bits from the court case, to surveys conducted in recent years by the government and
all presented in a balanced way the news media.
Each year, more than 1,200 people are indicted under the
law, which calls for up to two years in prison for the adulterer
and his or her partner.
“’Some argue that no law should intrude beneath the
quilt,” said Han Sang Dae, a Justice Ministry official who
defended the adultery law during the Constitutional Court
hearing. “But if we allow freedom for extramarital affairs,
it will threaten our sex morality as well as monogamy, a
foundation of our society.”
The Constitutional Court has already ruled three times in
favor of the adultery law, the last time in 2001.
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But Ok’s challenge comes as the law is losing some

of its staunchest backers. Two longstanding champions of
women’s rights and the adultery law — the Korean Women’s
Association United and the Ministry of Gender Equality — now
say it is time for South Korea to consider abolishing the law.
In South Korea, it had been women’s groups that were
the strongest supporters for criminalizing adultery. In the past,
most adultery suits were filed by wives against husbands; the
law gave them leverage in a society where women had little
recourse against their husbands’ infidelity.
With their economic and legal status rising, many women
no longer tolerate adulterous husbands or fear divorces. But
with a growing number of husbands applying the law against
their wives, they are discovering — as in Ok’s case — that the
law can be a two-edged sword: at times more a violator of
privacy than protection for women.
The number of divorces in South Korea has increased from
79,895 couples in 1996 to 124,600 last year.
In 2006, 11,244 couples fought over divorce in court
because of infidelity. In 39.7 per cent of those cases, it was
the husband accusing the wife, up 3.5 percentage points from
1999.
“Adultery was once considered something only husbands
could do. But now women think they can do it too, and some
of them actually do it,” said Kwak Bae Hee, head of the Korea
Legal Aid Center for Family Relations, a nongovernmental
agency that provides legal counseling for family problems.
The way the scandal of Ok and Park has unfolded
highlights the changing sexual dynamics.
Park filed divorce and adultery lawsuits in October,
saying he had evidence that his wife engaged in extramarital
affairs with an Italian chef in a Seoul hotel and with an opera
singer. In a highly unusual move for a South Korean woman
embroiled in a sex scandal, Ok then called a news conference
to defend herself. She admitted that she had had a sexual
relationship with the singer, but not with the chef.
“I had a very lonely and unsatisfied marriage because of a
loveless husband,” Ok said, fighting back tears. “We only had
sex ten times in our 11 years of marriage.”
Park, for his part, said he felt like “an innocent pedestrian
hit by a car.”
“Ninety-eight per cent of what she said was either
distorted or wrong,” he said at a news conference. “I hope I
never see her again the rest of my life.”
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The debate over the adultery law triggered by the scandal

has highlighted a paradoxical aspect of South Korean culture:
the juxtaposition of straight-laced traditional values with
increasingly liberal attitudes toward sex.
The government estimates the nation’s sex trade at 4.4
per cent of its gross domestic product, with more than half
a million women active in the business. Not far from school
grounds, love motels offer short stays and such amenities for
patrons as covering their license plates.
Pornographic Web sites proliferate in a country where
eight of every ten households have broadband Internet. But in
classrooms, sex education is discouraged.
Those who oppose the adultery law say it is so difficult
to build a criminal case that the law has become irrelevant. A
conviction requires proof of sexual intercourse.
Cases have been reported in which spouses, accompanied
by police officers, raid motel rooms, with cameras flashing.
Such methods have
triggered charges of
violating privacy and
human rights, and
the average number
of people indicted
on adultery charges
dropped from 2,000 a
year in the late 1990s
to 1,200 a year in the
past three years.
And punishment
has become
increasingly lenient.
Last year, only 47 out
of the 1,219 people
Some of the most beautiful places on earth are also the most troubled. indicted on adultery
charges ended up
behind bars, compared with 393 out of 1,902 in 2001. The
vast majority walk away with suspended sentences or after the
charges are withdrawn by their spouses.
Some experts also find it absurd that South Korea
criminalizes adultery while there is no law punishing, say,
incest.
Still, many think it is too early to rescind the adultery law.
In a country where many women silently suffer their husbands’
infidelity out of fear that a divorce could impoverish them,
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adultery charges remain a potent tool to secure a better

financial settlement or child custody, Kwak said.
“Korean men, many of them still get away with adultery
because women are the weak,” said Ha Ji Eun, a student
at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul. “It was as recently as
during my grandparents’ days that men brought in concubines
and kicked out their wives. If this law is abolished, I am sure
women will suffer more.”
OP-EDS AND COMMENTARIES While editorials or leaders should be

written in a style and with the firm views
Professional journalism separates fact and of the editor or the proprietor, other
opinion. As we have seen in the section commentaries and opinion pieces might
on news analysis, the news pages contain vary a lot. Here are some guidelines for
increasing amounts of analysis. But we both those who edit those pages as well as
also know that analysis is not comment or those who write for them:
opinion. There is a place for that.
The traditional way in which Thinking about the op-ed
newspapers have separated fact and
opinion is to keep them apart in specific 1. Authority and expertise are important,
pages, clearly labelled. They have a but not enough: those who write
page on which the newspaper itself articles for these pages need to
gives its opinion (usually regarded as the be able to write clearly, plainly
opinion of the editor-in-chief, but never and interestingly. There are more
signed and often written by other senior professors, senior officials, diplomats,
editors), known as the editorial page. businessmen, economists and
The specific column with the masthead politicians who can’t write well than
of the newspaper above it is called the ones who can.
editorial comment, also known as a
2. Just because something is important
leader comment, or leader, for short. On
doesn’t mean that everything written
the same page there is usually a political
about it is interesting or useful to
cartoon that makes a political comment
readers. There has to be a reason for
and very often letters to the editor,
publishing an article: something has
which are mostly comments as well.
happened that puts it on the agenda
Sometimes there is another column by one
of readers who follow the big issues.
of the newspaper’s leading writers or a
But even that is not enough. The
commentary by a guest writer/expert.
article should either say something
The page to the right of that is known
as the op-ed page — that is, the page new or say something old in a new
opposite the editorial page. Usually this way. Summaries of boring seminar
contains opinion and comment articles papers or keynote addresses do not
and sometimes regular columns of senior make good op-ed articles.
editors, writers and experts from outside 3. Even if something is not important,
the paper. it might deserve to be on these
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CHAPTER 4
pages because it is interesting or 2. Start with what in other forms of

entertaining, well-written or funny. If writing would normally be your
editors and writers keep their readers conclusion. In other words, tell your
in mind they will know what they reader what you think. Sound like
like. you know what you are talking
4. If you’re an op-ed editor, think about, not like you hope to arrive
about the mix on your page. One at some sort of conclusion by the
topic dealing with a foreign issue is end of this article. Avoid a slow start
enough, for instance. The same is (sometimes called clearing your
true for business and economics or throat) before you get going with
the environment or religion. If you’ve your argument. Go straight in.
got space for three or maximum four 3. Make clear high up why you’re
pieces, make sure there is something writing this now: something might
for everyone. Good op-ed editors have happened; there might be new
look at their list and ask themselves: research out; something might be
will readers feel they’ve had a really coming up. But don’t do it in a flat
good menu to choose from? When “background paragraph” sort of
they’re finished, will they feel they’ve way: make it part of the forward
had a good starter, something moving argument.
unusually tasty or surprising, a main
4. Ask yourself: Why should readers
course of substance, a sweet dessert?
care about this? And make sure
you answer this question and that
Writing the op-ed piece when they read your article they will
indeed care.
Few reporters make good op-ed writers
because they are so used to keeping 5. Write as though you are talking
themselves out of the article. They to someone directly, sitting next
subordinate themselves to the story, to them. Use plain language and
allowing information and other people’s brief examples, avoiding cliché and
voices to emerge. Op-ed commentary, on jargon. Be humorous if there is an
the other hand, requires a strong writer’s opportunity to do so and you can do
voice. it without sounding frivolous.
There are, however, some similarities 6. Do not spend a long time repeating
in op-ed writing to other types of other people’s arguments. Summarize
journalism. For instance, it helps to be them and then demolish them with
clear about exactly what you are writing evidence and reasoning, including
about and to get the most important first-hand knowledge if you can.
thing up the top, grabbing your reader Consider using a person or individual
at the outset. Here are some writing story as a case study that illustrates
guidelines: the evidence.
1. Focus on one thing and say it loudly 7. Say clearly what should be done.
and clearly. Many op-eds fail because Often good arguments are destroyed
they try to achieve too much. because when they are finished the
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CHAPTER 4
reader or listener says: Yes, OK, it’s all or two that will make your reader
very well criticizing, but what do YOU remember it.
think should be done? Tell them. Here is an example of a short and punchy
8. Repeat what you said at the op-ed from Thanh Nien newspaper in
beginning, but in different words, Vietnam, all about one thing and what
ending with a resounding phrase needs to be done about it:
Simple headline that says you The sector that could save us all
will care about this By Nguyen Van My
Lead is loud and clear, a bit In the current difficult times, the tourism sector could
like a conclusion be Vietnam’s economic “savior,” bringing in money and
promoting the country’s image at the same time.
Examines what has been done So far, the country’s highest tourism office has made some
so far progressive steps: organizing conferences that gather tourism
experts; arranging meetings among provincial administrations
to encourage cooperation; and setting a goal of having 100
discount tours nationwide as part of a larger campaign to
revive the sector.
Other countries also understand that boosting their
tourism industry might be the key to preventing economic
recession.
Short, simple paragraph begins Look at our neighbor Thailand.

mini-case study with evidence
Following the departure of protestors, who disrupted the
country’s main international airport for more than a week,
Thailand’s tourism ministry promoted the campaign titled
“Apologies Thailand” in an effort to woo disgruntled tourists
back into the country.
The main point is made again The price for a six-day tour was around US$300 and there
after the case study were also 100,000 free airline tickets and other benefits.
Though Vietnam did not experience such a political crisis,
we must act in order to lure tourists here now and in the
future.
Another short simple
paragraph begins a list of There are many ways to do this.
things that should be done, Our customs officials could smile more often. Surely a
written in strong, imperative smile at an immigrant point could have a huge effect in lifting
language the country’s image as a friendly and welcoming place.
Hotels and restaurants could offer further discounts. Some
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resorts and major hotels even require tourist companies to pay

deposits in order to keep reservations.
We can initiate a nationwide forum where people can give
their suggestion to improve Vietnam’s tourism.
Another solution could be a campaign to encourage
residents to clean up their neighborhood, as well as join force
in reducing the numbers of beggars, pickpockets and overly
pushy street vendors that target foreign tourists.
Simple numbers that make So far this year, there have been only four million
the point, followed by a new international tourists to Vietnam, compared to 14 million
paragraph that drives it home to Thailand, 18 million to Malaysia and nearly 9 million to
Singapore. Four million is a modest number.
Repeats the main point to If we don’t act now, it will take us quite a long time to
clinch the argument catch up with other countries in the region, let alone use
tourism to fight economic recession.
COLUMNS: Columns aren’t found only in the

op-ed section. They can also be found
Writing a column is one of the best jobs in in features, business and sports. There
the business. are many kinds of columnists, from
You get to share your ideas with food writers to humorists. Their job is to
thousands — perhaps millions — of amuse and enlighten readers while giving
people. You can be serious and analytical, personality to a paper.
or witty and satirical. You get to use all of
the tools of the feature reporter and op/ Thinking about the column
ed writer. You might even get your picture
in the paper. Like features and op/eds, a good column
They’re called columns because they starts with an idea. The best columns are
traditionally appeared in newspapers focused, and use examples or comparisons
down a single column of newsprint. Often to help readers understand. You can’t
a column is given to a gifted writer, or a write about “the quality of education,”
veteran reporter with many insights. The because the topic is too big and you only
column usually appears regularly, on the have about 800 words — or less. Better
same days of the week, so loyal readers to narrow your focus to something more
know when to expect it. A columnist manageable, like teachers not getting
often specializes in a field like politics paid enough, or a school where more than
or movies or the environment, but some half the children can’t read.
columnists are generalists who write Just because you are free to share your
about everything. The best columnists are opinion doesn’t mean you are free to say
syndicated, which means their writing anything you want. “You must be honest
appears in newspapers around the world. and accurate,” says Kavi Chongkittavorn
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of The Nation (Bangkok), who writes readers, convince them, provoke them?
columns and editorials on Thai politics How do they make comparisons? Try
and regional issues. And you must be similar techniques in your own writing
careful not to libel or defame anyone until you develop a style and voice all
[See Chapter 11: Journalists and the Law] your own.
You must also do your research, so Whatever you say, say it like you
that you can back up ideas with solid, mean it. “When you write, you must
convincing evidence. The best columnists write with passion,” says Kavi. “Say
read widely, and have good general it strongly. Otherwise don’t write.”
knowledge. Kavi says he spends four or Here’s the beginning of one of Kavi’s
five hours a day reading newspapers on pieces about a planned summit of the
the Internet. Good columnists also do Association of Southeast Asian Nations
their own reporting, getting information (ASEAN). Notice the strong language and
and quotations from people on all sides, call for action in the first few words of
while getting out of the office and the lead:
observing things whenever they can.
Do not get bogged down with Thailand must postpone the upcoming
background or detail. Only use as much Asean summit, scheduled for 15-18
as readers need to understand the point December, due to the current political crisis.
you are trying to make. The background The lack of decision within the coming
research helps you to speak with hours would further damage the country’s
authority. reputation and Asean’s credibility.
Whatever you write about, expect
criticism. Strong opinions generate strong Kavi says he tries to begin a piece with
reader feedback. You’ve got to be able a shocking statement or anecdote. Then
to take it. he makes what he calls a concession:
he recognizes the strongest argument
Writing the column against his main idea, which shows
readers he has done his homework. In
The column has as many forms as the body of his column, he saves his
literature. Columnists use a variety of strongest argument for last. He doesn’t
techniques, from feature-style writing want to leave readers with a weak point.
to news analysis. Some write in the first He concludes with a call for action, a
person, or put the main point at the end possible solution or a vision for the
of the column, not the beginning. They future.
seem to break all the rules. Some of Here’s a creative approach to writing
the boldest writers even create fictional about politics by Kavi’s colleague,
characters and dialogue, but this is a Jeerawat Na Thalang. She tried to
tricky thing and readers must be certain imagine what Thailand’s exiled former
the characters are not real. prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra,
A good way to become a better a telecommunications tycoon, would
columnist is to study the writers you say to thousands of supporters by
admire most. What is it about their telephone after some of his key allies had
style that works? How do they engage abandoned him. She sets the scene for
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the “speech” with someone testing the knows that Thaksin didn’t really say
sound system. these things, but it is an amusing way for
Jareewat to make her point about the
This is what will happen today at Bangkok’s political situation.
Supachalasai National Stadium:
Beeb… beeb… Test… test… She ends her column, and the “speech,”
like this:
Dear People,
After my last phone-in, I got many calls from Of course, some people are not happy to read
my fans to do it again. Some fans even sent that Thailand is a #$@@!! scary nation. But
me SMS messages saying “Thaksin Encore.” A it’s not my fault. My people might have been
set of groupies called “Thaksin girls” sent me drunk when they ranted to some farangs
a videoclip set to the tune of Britney Spears’s [foreigners] that everything in Thailand, except
“Hit Me One More Time”. And boy! Did I have me, was so lame. And — to their amazement
to explain to Khunying Pojaman [his ex-wife] — these farangs easily bought it. I never
that I did not hold any other type of phone-in thought they would fall for that so readily.
except the one at Rajamangala Stadium last Zzzzz… signal interrupted…
month. Some said my message during the last Hello... can you hear me. Man… I have to
phone-in sounded pretty lame. But you have say this mobile network is getting worse after
to admit that my coarse voice could turn on I sold it.
thousands. I never thought that my fans would
miss admiring my square face this month. So, In general, the same guidelines for writing
yes, I decided to do it again. op/eds apply to columns: be clear, focused,
conversational and relevant. Bring
In this imaginary speech, Jeerawat goes something new to the debate. Be creative.
on to write what she thinks Thaksin Here is an example from the Sunday
would like to say: he makes fun of his Bangkok Post by the paper’s leading
political enemies, defends himself against columnist, Voranai Vanijaka. It was
corruption charges, and comments on written during the growing political crisis
Thailand’s political turmoil. The reader in Thailand in late 2008 as protesters
demanded the resignation of
the government of then prime
minister Samak Sundaravej.
The demonstrators said Samak
and his cabinet represented
the interests of the deposed
and disgraced prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra. It is a
passionate personal piece of
column writing that turns the
political blame and name-
calling around and points a
finger at the mirror:
The pulse of daily life is different in all places. THE MIRROR HAS 60 MILLION
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FACES
A great start — a personal One night in October 1973, my mother (who was eight
story that unfolds in months pregnant with me at the time) was sitting at
narrative form, with detail home, worrying and crying. My father, an officer in the riot
and action. You don’t want to prevention unit, was trapped in a police station surrounded by
stop reading until you find out left-wing militants.
what happens. This is the way He was cradling in his arms one of his subordinates, who
to draw in your readers had been shot in the guts. He was bleeding profusely.
There were between 15 to 20 policemen trapped in
the station, surrounded by hundreds of the opposition.
The situation was hopeless. Snipers were everywhere. The
policeman who was shot eventually died from blood loss.
Late in the night, my father ordered his subordinates to
strip off their uniforms and put on civilian clothes. Under the
cover of darkness, they escaped from the police station.
A few hours later, my father made it back home to my
mother.
Now the question of the piece Thinking of all the coups, the protests and the bloodshed
— all this trouble: for what? that Thailand has been through, I wonder: What have we
been fighting for? What have we achieved?
The majority still live in poverty. Our children still beg in
the streets. Not just politics, but our society as a whole is still
corrupt. And we still have no clue what democracy is.
Coups, protests and conflicts are nothing more than the
squabbling between rich and powerful men, whose fiery
rhetoric, fancy tactics and deep pockets are able to rouse the
people to flock to their banners.
Here the writer declares where I am no fan of prime minister Samak Sundaravej, nor am
he stands. Notice the effective I a fan of the five leaders of the PAD. However, I am a fan
repetition of the word fan of everyone who wakes up in the morning, goes to work,
provides for his or her family, lends a helping hand to the less
fortunate and lives an honest life, regardless of the colour of
their shirts.
Getting rid of Prime Minister Samak and dissolving the

parliament would make a lot of people happy, it would make
me happy. But then what?
Throughout the column Would there be less corruption? Less social injustice? Less
sentences vary in length. income disparity? Would it better the lives of the people?
Some are very short We want to get rid of him because he is corrupt. But
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is he any more corrupt than the average Thai person? How

many among us never cut corners, go under the table, use
connections, or hand over a hundred baht bill?
We want to get rid of him because we don’t want
Thaksin-style mega projects. But then – look at our media, look
at our society — why are we so obsessed with materialism and
superficiality?
Here’s the point of the piece, We don’t want him to change the constitution to serve his
stated loud and clear (see (or his boss’s) agenda. But then why do we the people each
underlined bits). This will and every day bend the rules and manipulate the laws to serve
be repeated and is called a our own agenda?
refrain
If we want to change Thailand for the better, getting rid of
a few individuals won’t do it. The change starts with us.
Again, effective use of We march to get rid of one man, but do we march to save
repetition (see underlined the lives of our children begging in the streets?
bits). Some writing analysts say We march to get rid of one man, but do we march to save
readers and listeners are most the lives of our brothers and sisters in the three southernmost
influenced when things come provinces?
in threes We march to get rid of one man, but did we march when
innocent men and women were murdered on the streets?
The refrain, word for word If we want to change Thailand for the better, getting rid of
a few individuals won’t do it. The change starts with us.
The PAD has the right to protest, and Samak has the
prerogative to say he was democratically and overwhelmingly
elected.
We can say the election was bought, but which election
wasn’t? Buying an election is just a matter of supply and
demand, it can’t be bought if the people aren’t willing to sell
it. And the people is us, the Thai people. It is us who sell our
freedom, our democracy.
If Samak resigns, there are thousands and thousands more
Samaks ready to replace him. The idea and being of the likes
of Thaksin or Samak is like the proverbial “fish in the water
and the rice in the field.”
Yes, like fish and rice, there are an abundance of Thaksins
and Samaks in Thailand, in all levels of society, from the poor
to the rich.
This kind of listing is used to The jealousy, the factionalism, the close-mindedness,
create a sense that everything the hate, the cronyism, the corruption, the politicking, the
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has been considered here. manipulation, the exploitation, the selfishness and self-
Everything. So you had better righteousness, the refusal to change for the better — the
believe me... things that we see play out in the political landscape, that we
the people never cease to complain about in disgust — are we
also guilty of the same in our families, in our social circles, in
our schools, in our work places?
Samak is merely a reflection of our society, a mirror of
who we are — the writer of this column not excepted.
The rhythmic use of a single Finding scapegoats and blaming others is easy. The rich
word blame the poor, the poor blame the rich. Failing that, we
blame karma or black magic — and of course, we blame
foreigners.
Yes, we should take to the streets against corrupt

politicians, but not much good can come of it if we simply
huff and puff every few years and then go back to our daily
corruption, apathy and superficialism.
Columnists can claim they The fact is: Each and every one of us is responsible and
know the truth, the facts accountable for our country, our society and the future of our
children.
Whatever that is wrong with Thai politics and society,
we 60 million plus people all have a hand in it — we are
responsible for it.
We make Thailand. Not just Thaksin. Not just Samak. But
all 60 million plus of us.
Three beats again. Followed Samak is not worth one act of violence, not worth one
by a longer phrasing for effect drop of blood, not worth a single tear. He is not even worth
the insults and hates the PAD throw at him each and every
day.
Take to the streets and protest for the right reason: march
not because we hate Samak, rather march because we love
Thailand.
What we do in life each and every day, individually and
collectively, is what will change our country, for better or for
worse.
And finally back to the We should continue to fight corrupt politicians. But if we
original refrain truly want better things for Thailand, the change starts with
us, the Thai people.
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BLOGS change. Key developments will be updated

and analyzed as soon as they occur, so please
A blog, short for “Web log,” is an entry check this space regularly.
on a website. Blogs include online diaries,
commentaries and news. Anyone with And this was an entry ten days later,
access to the Internet can write a blog, the same day Thaksin was to address his
and more than 100 million blogs existed supporters by telephone:
at the time of this writing. Most blog
entries are short, about 250 words. Many Dec. 13, 10 pm: It looks like a swansong to
include video and audio files, as well as me. The day is ending in a low-profile manner
links to other websites. Most blogs are with the much-anticipated phone-in being
interactive, allowing readers to post their replaced with a taped speech. Thaksin did
own comments. not name any name in the speech. He, as
Bloggers often break important expected, condemned a “coup in disguise,”
news stories, and the technology allows apparently referring to the party dissolution
anyone to become a “citizen journalist” court rulings and the alleged military hands
by reporting about events they have in the shift in parliamentary allegiance to the
witnessed. Blogs also allow anyone to Democrats.
comment on just about anything. Newin [a former ally] was chided for his
For professional journalists, the blog “ingratitude” and a prediction was made that
has become an extra duty on top of the Thai crisis will be prolonged because of the
writing regular news stories, features deepening divide. The Suvarnabhumi [airport]
and columns. But it also gives them a shutdown was deplored as a big blow to the
chance to update ongoing news stories economy and Thailand’s image.
or to offer insight and behind-the-scenes All in all, it sounded more solemn than
explanations that might not normally belligerent. With Thaksin, though, we can
make it into a straight news story. never be sure.
Here are some sample blog entries
from The Nation about Thailand’s political And two days after that, the blog ended:
crisis. Called “Follow it with the Editor,”
the blog was written by Editor Tulsathit DEC 15, 11 AM: ABHISIT IS NOW
Taptim, who tried to keep readers THAILAND’S NEW PRIME MINISTER.
updated on the race to become Thailand’s HE WON 235 VOTES WHILE PRACHA
next prime minister. He wrote it after RECEIVED 197 VOTES. (Awaiting
protesters had shut down Bangkok’s two confirmation)
airports for a week. Should I feel young or old? Abhisit was
born one year after me and everyone is getting
This was the opening: excited about Thailand having a “young”
prime minister. Anyway, congratulations to a
Are you confused, or tired, or even afraid to man whose political quality has never been in
know? Don’t worry. You are not alone. We doubt. A big mountain stands in front of him,
are in this together and we’ll go through though, and we all know why.
it together. And after a very sad week, the He will lead a deeply divided nation. It
next few days may turn out to be fun for a takes one coup, prolonged protests, seizures
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of Government House and the country’s Our content, as modern media people
international airport, street violence and like to call it, can be made available
countless court rulings against his political almost the instant it is produced — put
opponents to install Abhisit as new Thailand up on websites or transmitted in the
prime minister. A lot of people have argued form of electronic pulses to a variety of
that all those political misfortunes came receivers. A story written and put online
about for good reasons. A big part of the in Vientiane might be read right away
burden to prove them right now falls on by someone in Venice or Vancouver. In
Abhisit. I wish him the best of luck. that sense every newspaper is a global
Before I’m off to have my humble pie, newspaper and all compete with each
big big thanks everyone, for following this other. Even if we still produce physical
12-day historical episode with me. It’s been a products, such as newspapers and
great pleasure and every feedback from you magazines, they can be printed in many
makes the job much more so. All the best, different places because we can beam
and, until I see you next time, Goodbye. pages across the world by satellite or
down fiber optic cable. No longer is
HOW TECHNOLOGY IS it necessary to send vans driving long
CHANGING THE PRINT MEDIA distances across land to deliver the paper.
Local print works can run off copies for
Depending on when you read this, what local distribution. Newspapers such as
we have to say about how technology the International Herald Tribune and the
is changing the way we do things might Financial Times are printed in dozens of
be already out of date. What we did as cities around the world, making them
reporters and editors just a decade ago truly global “physical” papers, in addition
has changed dramatically. And what we to having websites that can be read
will be doing in ten years from now will anywhere anytime. We can even all listen
probably change even more dramatically. to the same local radio stations all round
The biggest changes have been to the world. And it is becoming increasingly
do with speed and access. Everything possible to watch television online. And
we do now is so much faster: we can if we miss a live event or a program, we
reach contacts more easily with mobile can see almost anything we want on the
phones and always-on Internet access on “Listen Again” or “Watch” or “Video on
the same phones or on other hand-held demand” facilities on media websites as
devices. It is no longer unusual, difficult well as on YouTube and other sites that
or even expensive to interview someone allow anyone and everyone to upload
from another country for a story. We content.
can do our archive research anywhere Other changes are to do with what we
and anytime. We no longer have to “go journalists can or are expected to do. It is
to” a library to find old clippings. The of course still possible — even common
“library” is not a place any more. We — for journalists to take all day or even
can also check facts and figures online. a week or more to work on a story. But
And we can write and edit copy cleanly nowadays there is a lot of pressure on us
and speedily, moving chunks around, to “put something up on the site” very
deleting, restoring at will. quickly. In a sense we have all become
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wire service reporters, putting up “takes” processing the content produced by

as a story unfolds, updating it every few other journalists. This means that even
hours with new developments and quotes. if not all journalists are expected to
This makes a huge difference to the way do all the above things (and who can,
we work. really?), the organization can still deliver
Multi-tasking goes further than that. their content many different ways.
Newspaper reporters who used to write Podcasting, for instance, is becoming a
one story for “tomorrow’s paper” can now more and more popular way for people
be expected to: to get (listen) to their news and other
•• Write and update stories on the content. Even venerable print organs like
website; The New Yorker and the The Economist
now produce audio versions of their
•• Appear in a short video like a
stories (usually read by actors or retired
television reporter;
broadcasters) which can be downloaded
•• Produce both an audio and print
transcript of an interview he/she
has done;
•• Take pictures and/or video while
out on a story and upload those
to a website or make them
available to a television outlet;
•• Produce a three-minute radio or
podcast version of his/her story;
•• Be interviewed by a colleague
about “the story behind the
story” — how he/she went
about getting it, or relate this
themselves in print, sound or
video form.
Don’t forget to mention if there is an elephant in the room.
•• Write and frequently update a
blog;
and put on an MP3 player and listened to
•• Send SMS or very short “twitter” while on a bus journey or while jogging in
messages to audiences on mobile the park.
phones or online. These might be news Other organizations are outsourcing
flashes or more personal messages, some of their journalism. It is now
all of them very short (known as common for some sections of newspapers
micro-blogs or tweets) and frequently or magazines to be designed, laid out and
updated. (Twitter is a website that edited in another country (where salaries
made this sort of communication are lower). Some special sections, such
popular.) as motoring or property supplements, as
Media organizations are also well as some basic and routine reporting is
diversifying their output. Teams of done from abroad as well.
half-journalistic/half-technical staff are Related to this is the emergence of
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so-called citizen journalists or I-reporters. other sites, background, special packages

Established media organizations that are constantly updated, interactive
encourage ordinary people to take graphics, photo-essays, video clips,
pictures on their mobile phones or more specialist blogs, readers’ comments and
professional shots and video and to send more. Because of the almost limitless
these to them or upload them to their capacity of websites, they can cater to
websites. Some of the most remarkable the intensive, even obsessive, needs and
footage of natural disasters, accidents, interests of specialists, addicts, geeks
political protests or acts of terrorism has and nuts. If you are interested in soccer
come from these sources. So, very soon or video games or gadgets or politics or
after a cyclone has struck or a government archeology, there are countless websites
building is besieged by demonstrators, where you can read, watch and interact
there it is, on CNN, the BBC and the with others with similar interests, from
websites of thousands of newspapers Ulan Bator to Baton Rouge. Journalists
around the world. have to compete for attention in the midst
For conventional journalists, this of all this.
means global broadcasters and the As a result, in many countries the
websites of any newspapers that cover newspaper industry is struggling. Some
international events are competitors, publications that have not been able to
alongside their local competitors. So they survive financially as physical products
have to exploit their advantages – such as now exist as websites only, including
access to local people and organizations, Asia Times, The Christian Science Monitor
knowledge of the areas and contacts. Even and until its final closure the Far East
then it is often the case that global media Economic Review. In fact, when new
employ local journalists and stringers to publications start up they often launch
get them that access. their website first. And some are web-only
Probably the most fundamental news organizations, such as Asia Sentinel.
change brought by technology is the Others, like Hong Kong newsweekly
world-wide web itself. This is not just Asiaweek, which was closed in late 2001,
a matter of “delivery,” which might be still have archives online.
to a PC, wifi-connected laptop or hand- There are now more people reading
held device. It is about the “platform” journalism than ever — but in many parts
or websites themselves. At first the of the world newspaper circulation is
established media created websites that falling. That is because the readers are
were simple electronic mirrors of the going online. In some parts of the world
physical product. Newspaper stories were newspaper circulation is rising, but as
simply uploaded and made to fit a simple Internet access expands and the “net
format and that was it. Now newspaper, generation” grows up, so reading websites
magazine and broadcast media websites is likely to grow there too.
have their own identity and function as What technology can’t do — and
fully-integrated parts of the organization. never has done — is to ensure that what
All sorts of special features can be put people produce is accurate, balanced and
on a website that can’t appear in print: to the highest professional standards.
archives, links to other information and In fact some people think technology
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has undermined those things, making says. “But should we have tried to check it and
it possible for anyone anywhere to then reported back later, if only to say that
disseminate information and opinion, no we hadn’t found any confirmation? I think in
matter how biased or even malicious it this case we should have, and we’ve learned
might be. One commentator described a lesson.”
blogging, for instance, as “the new The issue has certainly divided opinion.
pornography” — there is so much of The Independent railed against Twitter
it about and most of it is trash. Others journalism, arguing that the BBC was playing
believe we are witnessing a massive Russian roulette with its editorial integrity.
“democratization” of journalism, taking In the Indy Tom Sutcliffe argued that
away information power from tired old Twitterers shoot from the hip, whereas the
traditionalists and putting it in the hands hallmark of journalism is not to publish wildly
of “the people.” because of the potential professional cost.
Here is an interesting story from The “A Twitterer owes no duty except to their
Guardian’s “digital content blog” that own impressions and own state of mind,
raises some of these points: they’ll pass on rumour as readily as fact,”he
says. “If the BBC doesn’t want the cynicism
BBC admits it made mistakes using to grow, it should be a bit more careful about
Mumbai Twitter coverage blurring the boundary between twittering and
serious reporting.”
Micro-blogging service Twitter came of age Jeff Jarvis, who writes a column for the
during the Mumbai terror attacks. However, Guardian, sparked a debate around Twitter’s
the BBC has been criticised for using role that gathered plenty of positive comments
unsubstantiated citizen reports in its coverage about the “coming of age” of the micro-
There has been a mixed reaction to the blogging service.
BBC’s use of live reports from micro-blogging Herrmann admits that while tweets gave a
service Twitter in its coverage of the Mumbai “strong sense”of what people connected with
terror attacks. the story thought, or saw, “most did not add
BBC News website editor Steve Herrmann a great amount of detail to what we knew of
has added his thoughts to the debate, events.”
including an admission that the corporation His BBC colleague Rory Cellan-Jones
will need to take more care in how it uses highlighted the dangers of overstating
lightening fast, unsubstantiated citizen posts the “Mumbai Twitter myth” earlier this
from Twitter in the future. week, arguing that, if anything, the role of
He raises a specific failing – regarding mainstream media to report fact over fiction
the widely-reported tweet that the Indian has been made even more relevant in the
government called for an end to Twitter digital era.
updates from Mumbai – which the BBC
covered in a “live updates” aggregation page.
“Should we have checked this before
reporting it? Made it clearer that we hadn’t?
We certainly would have done if we’d wanted
to include it in our news stories (we didn’t)
or to carry it without attribution,” Herrmann ■
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covering specialized topics
Chapter 5: culture and the arts. Other beats include

transportation, technology, agriculture,
the military, foreign affairs, science and
COVERING medicine, religion, health and human
rights. Some reporters are responsible
SPECIALIZED for covering certain communities or

neighborhoods, and even entire cities,
TOPICS
provinces or countries.
Within some of these categories are
even more specialty topics. For instance,
Understanding the beat the sports department could have one
journalist who covers football and one
In the beginning of this book, we who specializes in boxing. In the business
stressed the importance of reading department, one reporter might cover
widely. Journalists need broad, general property and real estate while another
knowledge to put the events they cover focuses on trade and tourism. Under
into perspective and to be able to judge culture and the arts, one reporter might
what is interesting and important for specialize in movies while another writes
readers. But journalists also need specific about architecture. Media organizations
knowledge to be successful. They need to in some countries have beats that
understand the basics of the topics they other countries do not have. In Laos,
write about, including the processes and unexploded ordinance (UXOs) is a huge
procedures of the institutions they cover. topic, while land mines continue to be a
They need to know recent background specialty subject in Cambodia. Often beats
and history of these institutions; otherwise are based on institutions, so reporters
they will have no way of recognizing if might be assigned to cover the National
something is new or significant. And they Assembly, the Ministry of Commerce or
need to know the specialty language of the Mekong River Commission.
the experts as well as the key concepts of Whatever their assignment, reporters
their fields. This doesn’t mean they must are expected to become knowledgeable
become experts — but it does mean they about the subjects they cover. Following
must know who the experts are, and how are some of the steps you can take to
to get hold of them on deadline. better understand a beat:
Most journalists are responsible for • Read background clips or archived
covering specific topics or geographic stories. Most journalists new to a
areas — often called beats in journalism beat spend hours reading their news
jargon. At small media organizations, organization’s previously published
reporters may be assigned to cover articles to understand what has
several beats while at larger ones they been happening recently, and what
might be assigned a single, highly specific constitutes news on the beat. Usually
topic. Beats typically include politics there are ongoing developments,
and government, crime and the courts, campaigns and issues, and they need
business and finance, the environment, to get up to speed as soon as possible.
education, sports, social issues, and They also read stories from the
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competition, including wire services UN General Assembly gathers and

and foreign news agencies. how a resolution can be passed by
• Talk to veteran journalists or the Association of Southeast Asian
those who have covered your beat Nations. Know when reports are due
previously. They might be happy to be filed, when budgets must be
to share insights and mentor you, submitted, when candidates must
especially if you take them out for register for elections. This gives you a
lunch. head start on the competition.
• Learn processes and procedures as • Arrange to meet regularly with key
soon as possible. A court reporter sources on your beat to keep up-to-
must know how the system works, date, even if the information is only
including the difference between on background, or off-the-record. It
civil and criminal courts, the rights will increase your understanding of
of defendants, where prisoners are what is really going on and what is
held, and how someone convicted of expected to happen in the future. You
a crime can appeal the verdict. The might be able to use the information
parliament reporter must know how at a later date. Key sources include not
legislation is introduced, the rules of only those who make decisions and are
debate and how long it takes before a the head of agencies, but also include
new law goes into effect. The foreign mid-level clerks, assistants and advisers
affairs reporter must know when the who know what is happening, as well
Numbers always give pause for reflection.
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those who have been employed at the or BSE. Brown recognized its
institution for years. They can explain news value and turned it into an
the behind-the-scenes politics and international story. He dubbed it “mad
procedures. Make the rounds regularly cow” disease.
on your beat — that is, visit people • Consider joining professional
in person as often as you can so that associations, like the Vietnam Forum
people will know who you are. This for Environmental Journalists, or check
will come in handy when you need the websites of global organizations
them on deadline.
like the International Journalists’
• Be sure to treat sources fairly and Network (www.ijnet.org). They often
to report the information they have have information about specialty
given you accurately. This builds trust, topics, as well links to useful websites
and chances are they will continue to and blogs.
spend time with you and explain how
Much understanding of a beat comes
things work. Try not to get too close to
with experience. The longer you’ve been
sources, however; it could be difficult
on it, the more you learn. It may seem
for you to report neutrally when
overwhelming at first, but hard-working
something controversial happens.
reporters can keep their heads above
• Don’t think only of officials, but water and, after a few months, begin to
consider consumers, taxpayers and feel confident.
people who use the institutions you
cover and how the system works from Handling jargon,
their point of view. Disgruntled (or defining technical terms,
unhappy) people and citizen activists explaining processes
can be valuable sources.
• Attend workshops for journalists on In almost every walk of life we develop
the topics you cover, either sponsored a language that has specific meaning to
by journalism associations, universities those who are part of it and is often alien
or international agencies. Learn to those outside. This is as true of games,
from the experts what is new and for instance, as it is of rocket science. It is
important, and how to understand the also true of our own profession. We talk
latest developments, whether it’s avian of “leads” and “briefs” and “sub-heads”
influenza, global economic issues or and all sorts of things non-journalists
regional terrorism. wouldn’t understand. Some of us also
• Read publications, reports and talk about KISS, which stands for Keep It
newsletters produced by the agencies Simple, Stupid — as a way of reminding
or industries you cover. David Brown, us that our stories need to be easy to
the late agricultural editor of the Daily understand.
Telegraph and a former IMMF trainer, Another way of remembering this is to
once spotted a short item in a scientific think about your readers, even when you
journal about a new disease in the are writing for a specialist section, such as
brains of cattle. Scientists called it business or science:
“bovine spongiform encephalopathy,” • While many of your readers might be
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experts, they are usually experts in people, places and organizations.

only one thing. 6. Signal to your readers that they
• Every day many people will have a do not have to know what a term
quick look at something you might means. You can do this by saying
have written and decide whether simply when you first use the term
to read it. These are your potential “what is known as ...” or “what
readers. Do not frighten them away economists call ...” or “what
on their first encounter. biologists call ...” This makes readers
What this means is that you need feel they are not alone in their
to write your story well enough for the ignorance and that you are a friend.
experts in that subject to be interested Then be sure to explain what it is at
and learn something from it but also in the next opportunity.
such a way that non-experts will be able 7. Do not explain technical terms by
to follow it. That is difficult, but here are using other technical terms. That
some guidelines to help you do that: is how technical dictionaries do it.
1. Readers who already know You are a journalist, a wordsmith.
something or understand how Sit down and work out how to
something works usually just skim explain something in plain language.
over those things and look for Make sure the technical term is not
what’s new. No one writes a Letter surrounded by puzzling or complex
to the Editor complaining that the phrasing. It’s hard, but who ever said
newspaper explained something they journalism is easy?
already understood.
8. Do not stop your story and give the
2. Those who sort of know how definition of something. Rather let
something works are often reassured the definition emerge from within
when it is confirmed for them in a sentence that also gives other
print. information. This is called hiding
3. Always think: Is there a common the definition. It allows the story to
phrase or word that means the same keep moving and it also makes the
thing? If so, use it. Instead of saying reader feel less patronized. Example:
gross domestic product expanded by The ministry said the inflation rate
five per cent, say the economy grew reached five per cent, the first time
five per cent. If necessary, you can the rise in the prices of goods and
use the technical terms further down services reached double figures since
in the story. But it might not even be 1997.
necessary to do that.
9. If there is a lot to define or explain,
4. Keep technical terms out of your don’t do it all in one place. That
lead. will slow the story down too much.
5. When you have to use a technical Explain the bits that are necessary
term, keep it free of other things that for the story to move on and leave
turn readers off, such as attribution, further explanations for lower down
numbers and unfamiliar names of in the story.
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10. Sometimes it is better to say what 15. Do not include unnecessary

something does than what it is. subsidiary information [See
Example: A derivative allows buyers underlined part in example below]
and sellers to agree now on a price in in the same sentence or paragraph
the future. Another example: Stem of your explanation. Example: SARS,
cells repair organs that have been an acute respiratory illness first
damaged through aging, injury or reported in Asia in 2003 and which
disease. Scientists hope to be able to then spread to more than two dozen
learn how to use this natural process countries in North America, South
to treat patients. America and Europe, is caused by
11. Explaining a process can be more a virus and spreads through close
effective than trying to explain human contact.
individual terms. Example: Instead 16. Explaining a process can sometimes
of using the term “foreign exchange be done best by telling a story —
intervention,” you could say: Central such as a case study involving real
banks buy or sell their own currencies people. Readers understand things
for other currencies to push the better though stories than any other
exchange rate up or down depending method.
on what they think would benefit
17. If you are writing a news analysis
their economy.
or feature, consider taking the
12. Saying first what something is not definition or explanation out of the
is often more effective than simply story and putting it into a separate
saying what it is. Example: Embryonic box or graphic. You could also tell
stem cells [See above] are not derived the story referred to in the previous
from eggs fertilized in a woman’s body point as a separate sidebar, possibly
and then removed. They come from with a picture.
eggs donated by women for research
purposes and fertilized in a laboratory. Using numbers
13. Try to give a real example of the thing
you are defining or explaining. Only a few rather unusual people enjoy
14. Use a quote [See underlined part in numbers (though we should be glad that
example below] to drive home the there are such people because they do
meaning or significance of something. all sorts of useful things for our societies,
Example: When scientists succeeded such as fly our aircraft and invent things).
in converting human stem cells into But most of us — and that includes our
embryonic stem cells [See above], readers — are turned off by excessive
many people thought that would numbers.
mean they would no longer need to We can’t avoid them. In fact they are
use embryos for this purpose. But this essential to our craft, so we must know
was not true. Researchers said embryo how to turn them to our advantage. This
stem cell research would continue. means knowing how to use numbers
“Human embryos are the gold to enhance a story and how to avoid
standard,” said one researcher. them when they threaten to wreck it.
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Put simply, they enhance a story when Shoe Company produced 1,050 pairs of
they are able to represent something shoes this year. For the story to have any
that has happened or compare one thing meaning we have to say, compared with
with another. And they wreck it when 1,000 last year. The general reporter did
they take the place of intelligent thought not have to say ... compared with three
by the reporter and get cut and pasted people last year, but specialist reporters
into the story in the hope that someone usually have to make such comparisons.
somewhere will be interested. What specialist journalists need to
know about numbers is:
If you think of numbers as
representing things, you might feel less • What statistics you need to
hostile toward them. After all, if you were understand.
trying to write a story about 100 workers • How to use them when you come to
being fired from the ABC Shoe Company, write or edit the story.
you would not have much fun if the only
way you could do so was to name each Fractions
of the workers. The number “a hundred”
represents (stands for) those individuals. The basic fractions are the easiest
The other thing that numbers do is numbers for most readers — halves,
to allow us to compare things. A general quarters, thirds, fifths and tenths. All
reporter can write: Five people died in the others only add to the confusion, so
a fire that broke out in a downtown try to find ways of avoiding them, such
as turning them
into percentages.
Where you have
big numbers or
even percentages,
see whether you
can round them
up or down so
that you can
turn them into
one of the basic
fractions. So:
Instead of
saying 51.2 per
cent, say “about
half.”
Instead of
Traders make their livelihoods from understanding numbers.
73.9, say “about
three-quarters.”
nightclub, and that would be a good Another way of using fractions is to
story (though a sad one). But a financial use the words rather than the numbers
reporter, for instance, can’t say: ABC themselves. So:
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Instead of saying a third, say “one out a comparison or calculate change, what
of three” or “one in three.” the index does is it calls the original thing
Instead of 68.9 per cent, say “seven 100 on a particular date and then tracks
out of ten.” the change over time. That is why you
Very precise numbers do sometimes see things like (1997=100) written next to
need to be used, for example when indices. That simply means we called the
reporting election results, currency thing we are looking at 100 in the year
fluctuations, stock market data, sensitive 1997. So, many years later, when the index
economic indicators, such as the latest has reached 197.5, we can say the thing
unemployment figures or changes in the (not the index) has almost doubled in
rate of inflation, and interest rates. size. In other words, an index is a way of
looking at the change in something over
Percentages time.
Indices start getting complicated when
These are probably the most they measure a number of things, such as
commonly used statistics. That is because the prices of consumer or retail goods and
they already contain a comparison. services. Hence the consumer price index
A percentage is a way of thinking of or retail price index. What happens in
something that is part of something else this case is that the statistics department
by saying simply: let’s call the original draws up a list of all the things that an
thing 100, because that is a nice, big, “average” household will spend money
round, easy number. on in a month (rent, transport, haircuts,
Make sure you don’t make the mistake DVDs, food, clothes, etc.) and calculates
of saying that something that grew by the total spending of that average
three per cent this year compared with household on that “basket” of goods
five per cent last year has got smaller. It and services. Let’s say that is $173.96 (the
has still grown, only more slowly. absolute number). Of course, they could
Remember, incidentally, that the just say that the next month it was $174.29
difference between two percentages is and the next month $174.87, and so on.
percentage points. In the above example, But what they do is say: let’s call the first
the rate of growth was two percentage month 100 (that nice big, round, simple
points slower than the previous year. number) and calculate each month’s cost
of the “basket” as a percentage change on
Yield that because it’s the change that tells us
what has been going on, not the absolute
This is also a percentage, but it usually number.
refers to a return on an investment. The same happens with stock
market indices. They are a mathematical
Index aggregate of lots of different companies’
share prices, weighted [See below]
An index is a further development of the according to size of company or other
percentage. Instead of just calling the considerations. The end result — the index
original thing 100 (that nice, big, round, — is a barometer of what has happened
easy number) whenever we want to make to all those shares. Some will have gone
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up, some down. Depending on which ones both have 1,000 doctors, you would know
go up and which ones down and by how more if you were told that Country A has
much, the index will go up or down. five doctors for every 10,000 people and
An index has no unit (such as dollars Country B has ten doctors for every 10,000
or centimeters). It is just a number. The people. This is particularly useful with
difference between it and the index on the social indicators.
day it was started is a percentage. After
some time, the comparison between the Ratios
index today with when it started becomes
irrelevant, and it is only the difference Strictly speaking a ratio is one thing
between the current figure and the expressed as a multiple of another: for
previous one that we care about. example, one of this and 20 of that. The
Indices are most useful when they make classic is the teacher:pupil ratio. One
it possible for two different things to be teacher for every 40 kids, for instance.
tracked or compared with each other over Beware, however, that many things
time by calculating them both as indices that are called ratios these days are
with the same starting date, such as wages percentages. The word ratio has lost its
and rents. If your rent rises faster than your strict mathematical meaning and now
wages, you are worse off — and the two means broadly a numerical relationship
indices can tell you by how much. between two things. People who love
Indices that already exist but which jargon call them metrics.
do not have the same starting dates
• In addition to these statistics, there
can be compared with each other by
are a number of concepts we have
mathematically changing the starting
to know about when dealing with
dates to be the same, a process known as
numbers. These are as follows:
rebasing.
• Trend: when a statistician traces the
Per capita theoretical straight line in something
over time, ironing out the ups and
Some numbers only make sense — or make downs.
more sense — if you know how many • Period: be sure you know what period
people are involved. Per capita is Latin the figures refer to. Are they this
for each head. This helps in the case of month compared with last month, or
the wealth of a country, for instance. You this month compared with the same
don’t get the full picture if you are told month last year? Are they this quarter
the gross domestic product (GDP: total compared with last, or the same
wealth produced in a year) of Country A quarter last year? Or is it the monthly
is $100billion and Country B $50billion. or quarterly figure annualized (which
Because Country A might have twice as basically means multiplied up to a
many people in it as Country B. This would whole year)? Always ask whoever is
mean their per capita GDP is equal. issuing the figures if it is not made
A variation on this is when something clear what the period is, and always
that is less than the population as a whole make it clear in your story, right from
is measured. If Country A and Country B when you first use the numbers.
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• Seasonal adjustment: this is what prices across the economy have risen
statisticians do to “flatten” the by ten per cent, then nominal GDP
figures — a bit like trend [See above]. will have increased by ten per cent.
Some things, such as the growing and But real GDP growth would be zero.
tourism seasons, vary a lot during the Make sure you know whether figures
year so the numbers are manipulated are real (also known as at constant
to sort of “average” things for the prices) or nominal (also known as at
year. Make sure you know whether current prices), and make it clear in
a number is seasonally adjusted and your story.
make it clear in your story.
Getting your head around all that
• Allowing for erratic items: this is in might take a while, unless you are a
a way like seasonal adjustment. It natural with numbers. But stick with it.
is taking out of the overall picture Getting numbers wrong is the specialist
those things that in one month or journalism equivalent of getting the
quarter distort the overall picture. For score wrong in sports reporting. It is
instance, if the national airline pays something you should just never do.
for five new airliners in the month of When it comes to writing the story,
April, the currency outflows will look there are several guidelines for the most
very big. Remove this erratic item and effective use of numbers:
you will get a better picture of the
1. Make the numbers serve the story
country’s balance of payments.
not the other way around. Think:
• Weighting: another mathematician’s what is the story about? And then,
trick is to take into account different at first, answer without using any
sizes or “weights” of things in numbers. That way you will stop
the same “basket.” If the average yourself from being enslaved by the
household spends a quarter of its numbers. In other words, think of the
total budget on rent, this would get numbers as instruments for telling
a greater “weight” in calculating the the story, not as the substance of the
overall consumer price index than story.
chewing gum, for instance. So if rents
2. If you think the numbers are essential
increase by ten per cent and chewing
to understanding the story, don’t
gum by 50 per cent, the percentage
have more than two in a lead.
increase in the overall index will
reflect the greater weight of the rents Nowadays the practice is to have the
than the gum. Why? and the So What? in the lead
and no numbers at all.
• Real terms/at constant prices: this
is when the figures are adjusted for 3. The average news story should not
inflation. The classic example is GDP have more than about five or six
— gross domestic product, or the numbers in it. That is a lot for readers
value of all the goods and services to deal with. Try to keep it to less
produced in an economy. If exactly the than that.
same volume of goods and services 4. Distribute the numbers through the
is produced this year as last year and story. Don’t bunch them. Try to ease
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the pain by separating them from one keep the numbers to a minimum.
another with pace-changing quotes. 7. Consider taking out some of the
5. Keep numbers together that belong numbers and getting them made
together. If you report the sales up as a table or graphic so that the
figures of a company in the first information is there and the story can
paragraph, don’t wait for the last flow.
paragraph to give the sales figures of 8. Check, double-check and triple-check
a similar company. them all.
6. Remember that numbers are just Here is an example of excellent use
one turn-off factor for readers. The of numbers in a feature story. It’s the
others are long sentences, unfamiliar same story we used as an example in
company and place names, people’s Chapter 1 in the section on “Proving the
names and designations and technical Point.” Here we look at the first several
language. Keep these things apart paragraphs:
from each other as much as possible. Laos still paying the price of Vietnam
Where you have any of these, try to
war
By Thin Lei Win
Big, unimaginable numbers XIENG KHOUANG, Laos, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Imagine growing
are turned into a simple idea: a up in a country where the equivalent of a B52 planeload of
planeload every eight minutes cluster bombs was dropped every eight minutes for nine years.
for nine years
Not 34 years, but three Then imagine seeing your children and grandchildren
decades being killed and maimed by the same bombs, three decades
after the war is over.
“Welcome...” is of course irony Welcome to Laos, a country with the unwanted claim of
being the most bombed nation per capita in the world.
Now we get the real figures, Between 1964 and 1973, the US military dropped more than
but they are rounded off two million tons of explosive ordnance, including an estimated
260 million cluster munitions — also known as bombie in Laos.
And a comparison to really To put this into perspective, this is more bombs than fell on
drive the point home Europe during World War Two.
More real figures, but again The US bombing was largely aimed at destroying enemy
rounded off and turned into supply lines during the Vietnam war that passed through
plain language “hundreds” Laos. The war ended 35 years ago, yet the civilian casualties
continue. According to aid agency Handicap International, as
many as 12,000 civilians have been killed or maimed since, and
there are hundreds of new casualties every year.
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Interviewing experts journalist who does his or her homework

makes a good impression. Once a
Nearly every story on a specialized topic journalist gains a reputation for accurate
needs an explanation or comment from and thorough reporting, doors will open:
an expert. The reporter’s challenge is to other experts will be more willing to be
find not only the most knowledgeable interviewed.
source, but also one willing to talk on the There is the opposite problem,
record and who happens to be easy to too. Some experts, including political
understand and quote. commentators, love to have their names
First you must know where to find in the paper and are very helpful to
the experts. Colleagues who have been journalists. They give good quotes that
around a while may be of help. Secretaries make for lively stories, so journalists
or public relations people might have interview them all the time. But there is a
recommendations. University directories downside in relying too much on the same
usually list faculty members and their sources. The same kinds of opinions or
areas of expertise. The online sites of biases are repeated while other — perhaps
international organizations often list more interesting — points of view and
experts and media contacts in various explanations are left out. Don’t be lazy.
fields, from climate change to poverty Find new experts.
reduction.
The challenge
Gaining trust
The most difficult thing about
Sometimes it is difficult to gain the trust of interviewing experts is being able to
experts. Some scientists, for example, may understand their jargon and the complex
think journalists “always get it wrong,” processes or procedures that are part of
or oversimplify everything, or won’t their daily work. Don’t be afraid to ask
understand their painstaking research. It’s for clarifications on technical matters, or
true that scientists are in the business of for analogies or comparisons to help you
doing research over long periods, and they understand. Most experts will be happy to
are usually careful before giving answers. explain things. It is much worse to assume
It is also true that journalists are often in you know something when you really
a hurry, always looking for answers, and don’t and then to pass on the mistakes to
trying to simplify things for their readers. your audience.
This tension is normal, but it can be Feel free to repeat or summarize what
overcome. you have learned so that the expert can
With patience and practice, journalists correct you if you have misunderstood
can learn to gain the trust of experts. anything. Before you end the interview,
The first step is to be prepared for the ask if you can call back for clarifications
interview. Try to know as much jargon when you are writing the story. Ask the
as you can before the interview. Make a expert if he or she can recommend other
list of your most important questions. Do sources. The experts in a field generally
not waste time on insignificant matters know each other, and a second expert can
that you can get answered elsewhere. A confirm your understanding of a process.
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The biases of experts can sometimes pull you in wrong directions.
Know their With other experts it may not be so

credentials and biases clear. Some work for private companies,
so might be pushing a bottom line. Civil
There is an old saying in this business that servants might be pushing agendas for
you are only as good as your sources. Try political parties, while some academic
to find out what makes a person qualified research is funded by corporations. A
senior scientist with one of the world’s
to comment on a subject. Did he or she
leading cigarette makers was working
study the subject in graduate school, have
for many years with a medical research
20 years of experience or publish papers
institute in Thailand without making
and appear at global conferences? Who is
his connection to the tobacco company
the best source for your story?
known. The scientist was accused
Also try to determine the biases of of influencing Thai research on the
the experts you are consulting. Some environment, including the effects of
won’t hide their agendas and may be second-hand smoke.
open advocates for certain causes, or When scientists publish papers
have opinions that are well-known and or announce research results at press
documented. That is fine, but make it clear conferences or during interviews, try to
to readers, and try to represent opposing find out how their research was funded.
points of view. Readers have a right to know. ■
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business and economics
Chapter 5: • Before you write a story, ask why it

might be important or interesting to
ordinary readers — so that you don’t
BUSINESS AND end up writing only for your sources
and experts.
ECONOMICS • It might be their company or finance

ministry, but it’s your story — so you
decide the angle and who else to talk
It is amazing how often you hear people,
to.
including journalists, say they’re not
interested in business and economics. Yet • If you don’t understand something,
few things have a deeper and more lasting ask; and if you still don’t understand,
impact on society. Good journalism brings leave it out — the chances are your
business and economics to life, making readers won’t know what it is either,
them relevant and interesting to all or, if they do, you could be making a
readers, not just businessmen. fool of yourself and your newspaper.
We could write a very thick textbook
on business and economics, but in this THE ECONOMY
manual we have to stick to the basics.
To do this, we have divided the subject What is it?
into a number of areas and asked four • An economy is the sum total of
questions: What is it? Why is it important millions of things you and I do:
or interesting for readers? What kinds of
• What we grow in the ground or dig up
stories come out of it? What are the other
out of it.
key concepts?
• What we make or create.
• But before we do that, here are some
things to remember about business or • What we buy and sell.
economic journalism: • Where we get the money from to pay
• It might be about business, but it is for it.
still journalism — so find real news • What we do with the money we get
and make it interesting and simple for selling it.
enough for all readers to understand. • What governments do to help or
• You are an expert in journalism, not hinder all these things.
an expert in business — so improve The amount of something that is
your reporting and writing skills rather available to sell is called supply and the
than attend economics lectures or read amount of money available to buy it is
textbooks, and read good business called demand. When there is a lot of
journalism instead. supply and not much demand, the price
• You don’t have to understand of the thing will be low; when demand
everything, but you should know is high and supply low, the price will be
people who do — so make good high. This is known as the law of supply
contacts who can explain the world of and demand. A nation’s natural resources,
business and economics to you. its government, its businesses and the
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behavior of individuals all affect both What kinds of stories

supply and demand. This is not a come out of it?
perfect law because all sorts of other The most common stories are to do
things interfere, but it is one of the with the current health of the economy
basic principles that economists use to and the outlook. These are called
understand the world. economic indicators and include such
Economists measure all these measures as GDP growth, inflation,
things and give them names, such as unemployment rate, fiscal balance,
gross domestic product, inflation, fiscal trade and current account balance [See
balance and so on [See below], and below]. Governments usually publish this
governments and others (businesses, information regularly (in some countries
trade unions) try to influence them with every month), but in some places both the
different policies. At the same time, frequency and the statistics themselves are
ordinary people influence those things unreliable. But there are many domestic
through their daily behavior, usually and international institutions, including
without thinking about it much or regional development banks, that issue
knowing that they are doing so. That such figures, so it is possible to get them,
is why economics is not a science. It is even though they might be delayed. Be
to do with all kinds of human action, sure to add value by seeking comment
ranging from rational planning, saving and analysis from both experts and real
and investment, to irrational greed, fear people involved, such as farmers, workers,
and corruption. These things are very managers and investors. Concentrate on
difficult to manage, which is why there that part of the story that answers Why?
are both economic successes and failures and What will this mean for my readers?
— often very big failures called financial and not just What are the numbers?
crises. Other economics stories include
the discovery and depletion of natural
Why is it important or resources, population growth and
interesting for readers? movement (such as migrant labor and
Because it is about things that affect urbanization), literacy and education
what readers can and can’t do, and why. (skills) levels, changing “cultures” of
Economic statistics tell us about what savings and debt, and economic conditions
we as a society have done and what in neighboring countries and the rest
we might expect to be able to do in of the world that have a big impact on
the future and what policies might be your own economy. [See others under
introduced to change our behavior. The Government and Economic Policy below.]
state of health of an economy can have
big effects on our own lives, such as Other key concepts
whether we can expect to keep our Gross domestic product (GDP): This is the
jobs or earn more money, as well as total value measured in money of all the
other more general areas of life — in things that are produced by a particular
particular politics and stability, but also country in a year. It includes both physical
our physical environment, health and goods and products (such as food, natural
welfare. gas or automobiles) and services (such as
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mobile phone payments or ferry charges). people do work that is never measured
Economists care a lot about the growth by government officials. But in both
of this figure, so a key measure is real per developed and less developed economies,
capita GDP growth, which is the actual the number of unemployed is estimated
increase in a country’s wealth (not just as a percentage of the total number of
the result of rising prices) divided by people who want to find paid work, so it
the total population (because if that is is called an unemployment rate.
increasing, then the wealth is produced Fiscal balance: Fiscal refers to the
and consumed by more people). When government’s budget, that is the amount
growth falls for two quarters in a row (i.e. of money it gets from taxes and other
for six months), it is called a recession. sources and what it spends on education,
If this continues for years, it is called a civil service salaries, the military and
depression. police, housing, health and so on. The
Inflation: When prices rise, we call fiscal balance is the difference between
that inflation. (They seldom fall for long, what it gets in and what it spends. If it
but if they do, we call that deflation.) spends more than it gets in, this is called a
Governments send researchers around the fiscal or budget deficit. The opposite is a
shops with notebooks recording prices for fiscal or budget surplus. If it has a deficit,
hundreds of things, from chewing gum to it has to borrow [See government bonds
cars. They also look at big regular costs, below] or print money [See monetary
such as rent and travel. They then estimate policy]. High government borrowing
what the average family spends money means taxes in the future might have to
on and calculate whether what they had be higher to pay the money back. A deficit
to spend this month was higher than last of more than three per cent of GDP is
month and by how much. The percentage risky. And if a government prints too much
difference is called the inflation rate. money, that leads to inflation.
Inflation of more than a few per cent is Savings rate and fixed investment:
damaging because it hurts people with In the same way as it is wise for you to
limited income (especially the old and the save money which you can use later to
poor) and erodes savings. buy a house or start a business, so it is
Unemployment: In developed good for an economy if overall there are
economies the percentage of people who high savings in the country. This makes it
want a job but can’t find one is important possible for businesses and government
because they usually get support from the to borrow from the savers to invest and
state, called welfare. That in turn increases expand and therefore to create jobs.
government spending. The number of If savings are low, then businesses and
such people can be calculated quite government have to borrow from abroad,
accurately. In less developed economies, which can be risky in the long run (or the
however, people without jobs usually have government can print money, which is a
to depend on family members — or they bad policy). It is also important that the
suffer severe hardship. This is of course money that businesses and governments
bad for them and for political stability. borrow should be spent more on long-
The number of such people is more term investment, such as factories, roads,
difficult to calculate, partly because many ports and schools, rather than on current
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costs, such as wages, fuel for cars and other countries, governments try to lay
other regular expenditure. The amount the ground for private business to get
of money spent on the long-term things on with making things and employing
is known as fixed investment (“fixed” workers. When governments run most
because it goes on more permanent things we speak of a command economy.
things). The more, the better because the When they leave it to business, we call
economy grows and people get wealthier. that a market economy. Most countries
Current account and trade balance: have a mix of both.
Money flows in and out of countries In a command economy, the
to pay for goods and services that they government sets output goals and state
trade with each other and for investment. enterprises try to meet them. It also sets
When this happens, the currency of the prices and the exchange rate and tells
one country has to be changed into the state-owned banks whom to lend to and
currency of the other. This is known as at what interest rates. This often leads to
foreign exchange [See below]. So there a parallel (or black) economy, in which
needs to be a balance (in the long term) businesses and traders conduct illegal
between the money flowing in and the transactions at so-called black market
money flowing out. When this refers to rates or prices. If this is not permitted,
the money earned from exports compared then usually the result is a shortage of
with the money spent on imports, it is something, whether it is food, goods or
called the trade balance. When we include foreign exchange.
other things, such as payments for services In a market economy, the government
like freight, telecoms, banking and so on, manages what is called macroeconomic
as well as interest payments on debt and policy. There are three parts to this —
fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policy.
profits to foreign investors, the difference
The first is about what to tax and by how
is called the current account balance, or, to
much — and then what to spend the
call it by its full name, the current account
money on. The second is about how much
on the balance of payments.
money to print or allow banks to lend to
customers. The third is about how it sets
GOVERNMENT AND
the rate at which the country’s currency
ECONOMIC POLICY
can be exchanged for another currency.
Governments that allow any one of these
What is it? three policies to become unbalanced for
Governments are important to economics too long can cause an economic crisis.
and business for two reasons. First, The most frequent cause of such crises
they are the biggest participants in the is when people and businesses and/or
economy — they spend more money the government borrow too much and
than anyone else, even the biggest then can’t pay it back. It is the role of the
businesses. Second, they decide how the central bank to keep interest rates at the
economy should be run. In some countries, right level to result in a balance between
governments actually run the economy savings and borrowings.
through state-owned enterprises and For developing countries, government
decisions made by various ministries. In policy is very closely related to growth
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and development. What the government money on. This is usually done in a formal
does and what it allows or forbids its document called the budget. Journalists
citizens and businesses to do can lead to play an important role in reporting in
stagnation and continued poverty or to detail about exactly what goes into
growth and to lifting millions of people and comes out of the government’s
out of poverty and disease. coffers, where it comes from and where
it goes to and who wins and who loses.
Why is it important or The government’s conduct affects the
interesting for readers? functioning of the economy, not just its
Everyone knows that the government own role in that economy. It is therefore
can do things that can improve their lives important for journalists to write stories
(or make them worse). Governments can about what it means for growth and
build schools, hospitals and (often) houses development, inflation, the exchange rate,
and pay for teachers and doctors and and so on.
nurses. They also can spend money on
government officials and office workers, Other key concepts
soldiers, policemen and many other Macroeconomic policy: How a government
things. How much they spend on these exercises its responsibilities to run a
things makes a big difference to how balanced economy made up of the next
their citizens live. It’s called government three items on this list.
expenditure. The “other side of the Fiscal policy: Taxing and spending by
coin” is where the government gets the the government. If a government spends
money from to spend on these things more than it gets in from taxes, that is a
(government revenue). The main source fiscal (or budget) deficit; the opposite is a
is from businesses (corporate tax) and fiscal surplus.
individuals (income tax). Lots of schools Monetary policy: What a government
and houses please lots of people, but lots does to manage money in the economy.
of taxes make them unhappy. If it prints more than the true value of
If governments make a mess of the goods and services produced in the
managing monetary policy, the economy economy, it can lead to inflation. The
can suffer inflation [See above]. Higher more it does this, the higher the inflation
prices make people unhappy. And if the is likely to be. In a market economy, the
government makes a mess of exchange country’s central bank is responsible
rate policy, export or import prices might for setting interest rates. The more
be excessively high. When governments independent of political influences the
allow the currency to be freely traded central bank is, the more likely it is to
with any other currency, this is known as follow a sound and balanced monetary
exchange rate liberalization. policy.
Exchange rate policy: There are many
What kinds of stories ways (only the main ones are listed here)
come out of it? that a government can allow the country’s
The most important are when currency to be exchanged for another
governments announce what taxes they currency. It can:
will demand and what they will spend • Allow anyone to change as much as
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they like whenever they like, called a market.

floating or free exchange rate. • Announce a gradually changing rate
• Allow this to happen but only when over time in which it does the same
the government gives permission. as in the previous item, but allows
These capital controls result in the currency to fall bit by bit over a
a partially or intermediate free specific period (e.g. five per cent per
exchange rate. year). This is called a crawling peg.
• Allow this to happen but at the same • Only allow currency to be exchanged
time intervenes in the market by with written permission in official
buying or selling its own currency (in exchange offices. This is very difficult
exchange for another) to manipulate to control and usually results in a black
the exchange rate in the direction market.
it wants it to go. This is sometimes Development policy: The officially
known as a dirty float, which means announced guiding rules for how the
it is not totally free to go up or down government wants the economy to
according to market forces only. progress. This is sometimes given a name,
• Announce a rate (usually against the such as doi moi in Vietnam (renovation).
US dollar or a combination of the It can be a set of guidelines or a five- or
dollar, euro and yen) at which it will ten-year plan with specific targets, such
keep its currency’s exchange rate by as when to liberalize the exchange rate or
buying or selling in the market to open a stock market.
hold it at that point. This is called a Governance: Economists and social
pegged exchange rate. This can only scientists often discuss the relationship
be achieved if the country’s central between development policy and how
bank has enough reserves of foreign the government conducts itself. Many of
currency with which to “play” the the things that lead to growth and away
from poverty
are to do with
opportunity, trust
and confidence
— things that are
difficult to measure
and implement in
economic terms.
They have a lot
to do with laws
and regulations
and the extent to
which businesses
and individuals are
able to invest or
seek employment
Organization of the agricultural sector directly affects national prosperity. without fear of
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corruption, exploitation or discrimination. soft commodities, and the mined ones

are called hard commodities. While there
AGRICULTURE AND are some markets in the countries that
COMMODITIES produce them, most commodities are
traded by representatives of the producers
and the users on commodities markets in
What is it?
the world’s big cities [See below].
Every schoolchild is taught in school that
countries have “natural resources” or
Why is it important or
“raw materials.” These are things we
interesting for readers?
grow in the ground, raise on the ground
Weather, economic policies, world
or dig out of the ground — food, animals
prices (affected by supply and demand),
and minerals. How much of these a
disasters and even political instability all
country has can be vital in determining
affect the output of commodities. This
its economic prospects (though, because
can mean less or more expensive food
of good or bad economic policies, some
for ordinary people. Mining and the
countries with abundant resources are
transport of minerals and energy products
poor and some with no resources are rich).
can bring big changes to the lives and
How a country’s agricultural sector is
the environment of people who live
organized can make a very big difference
near mines and oil and gas fields. What
to its prosperity. When China gave up happens to the money made from the
collective farming and allowed farmers sale of commodities is often a big cause of
to grow what they wanted and sell it political and social divisions in a country.
for whatever they could get for it, the
country was propelled from poverty to the What kinds of stories
fastest growing economy in history. When come out of it?
Vietnam freed its farmers to try to make a The most exciting stories are about
profit, rice production increased so much discoveries: finding gold! Or “black
that instead of importing rice, the country gold” (oil). But there are many other
became the second-biggest exporter in more routine stories, such who wins the
the world after Thailand. contract to mine or to build pipelines;
A country’s mineral wealth (which where the commodity is processed (such
includes energy resources, such as oil as refineries and petrochemical plants)
and natural gas) can also make a massive and with what technology; what damage
difference to its economic wealth and might be done to the environment and
development. Unlike agriculture, however, the health of people in the area; how
getting oil or copper or gold out of the much of the revenue goes to government
ground requires a lot of investment and and then back to the people; who
technology and for developing countries opposes government mining policies
this has very often involved making deals and whether they use political or violent
with big multinational companies. means to do so.
Economists talk about all these things Agricultural stories include weather,
as commodities — food, cotton, coffee, disasters and the environment (chemical
tobacco and animal products are called and pesticide use); land ownership; the
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financial conditions of farmers and farm up “freely” to get the best price for their
workers, especially debt; access to both products wherever they can.
domestic and international markets; how Cartel: An alliance of producers who
food and other agricultural prices are set get together to control the supply of
(by government or the “free” market). their commodity in the market so as to
try to stabilize the price (mostly, in fact,
Other key concepts to keep it high, which benefits them of
Comparative advantage: This is a course). The Organization of Oil Exporting
technical economist’s term for nature’s Countries (OPEC) is the most well-known,
gift — what a country has that allows it but there are many others. “Free market”
to compete well with other economies. economists say cartels exploit consumers.
Good weather, fertile soil and easy Resource curse: When a country is
access to sea ports, for instance, give a blessed with natural resources, such as
country a comparative advantage as a oil or gas, sometimes this corrupts its
food producer and exporter. Without government and leads to poor economic
these things a country might find it policies. Dependence on that one
very difficult to develop and trade [See commodity (instead of diversifying into
below]. other activities) and a corrupt alliance
Commodities markets: Formal between government officials and
organizations with administration, rules multinational corporations can trap the
and regulations for trading commodities rest of the population in poverty. Civil
through brokers. These are in the war is often related to the presence of
world’s big cities, such as London, New rich natural resources. So the “blessing” is
York, Chicago and Shanghai, and the actually a curse.
actual commodities themselves are not
present. Traders make contracts between
COMPANIES
producers and users. There are many
“middlemen” in between the cotton
farmer or oil well mechanic who actually What is it?
does the work at one end and the Anyone can do business — make
garment worker who makes the cotton something or offer a service for which you
dress or the petrol pump attendant at charge customers a price. The contracts
the other end [See markets below]. you sign and the money you make are
Marketing boards: Many legally yours and only yours. But if you
governments used to (and some still join up with other people to do it, you
do) use centrally-controlled systems for can register a licensed company, usually
buying agricultural commodities from called a limited liability company. This
farmers at specified prices and then means that the things you own, such
selling them on. There is much debate as your home, your motorbike or car or
about whether these exploit farmers or your clothes, can’t be taken away from
burden taxpayers and distort the “true” you if your company gets into trouble.
market. “Liberalization” policies include The liability (financial responsibility) for
the scrapping of market boards and debts and taxes is limited to the company.
allowing farmers and businesses to team Economists believe this encourages
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more people to feel safe about going the profits (pay some to the shareholders
into business because failure does not and invest some to expand the business).
mean they are left with nothing. More When a company issues shares, this
businesses mean more jobs, which is good business plan is called a prospectus. It’s
for all. how investors are able to judge whether
• Companies can raise money to invest to put their money into it.
They also keep accounts, which are
in land, plant and machinery by:
financial records of the business plan.
• Borrowing from a bank at a variable There are three main accounts: a profit
interest rate (a rate that can go up or and loss account (also known as an
down depending on the contract). income statement); a balance sheet and a
• Borrowing from investors by selling cash flow statement. These tell us:
them bonds. These are loans with a 1. How much money the company makes
fixed interest rate. The original bond from what it does (gross profit)
holder can sell the bond to someone
2. How much money it spends in the
else before it is due. The company pays
process (operating costs)
back the money to whomever holds
(owns) the bond on the day it is due. 3. How much it has left after 2. above
[See bonds below] and any taxes it might have to pay
(net profit or loss)
• Selling shares, also known as stock or
4. What it owns (assets)
equity, to investors. The money from
the investors goes to paying for the 5. What it owes (liabilities)
companies operations. In return the 6. The difference between 4. and 5.
investor is paid a dividend, which is a (solvency)
share of the profits (if the company 7. Where it got the money from to buy
makes a profit) or suffers a loss if the what it owns (equity and debt)
company does badly. If the company
8. Where its cash comes from (sales,
is listed [See below], the investor can
investment and borrowing)
sell the equity to another investor at
any time. All the investors who own 9. What the cash gets spent on
equity in the company are known (dividends, investment, operating
as shareholders. The managers of costs)
the company are the executives 10. Whether, on balance, there is more
who might own just a few shares. cash going in than going out (liquidity)
So they are voted in to office by the
shareholders. Why is it important or
Companies have business plans, which interesting for readers?
are documents that say exactly what Companies often think that what they do
they are doing — what money they have is very interesting. This might be true for
raised, what they will spend the money them, but not necessarily for all readers.
on, what product or service they will sell, What is interesting for readers, however,
how they will market it, what profits they is:
hope to make and what they will do with • Genuinely new products or services.
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• Interesting new ways of promoting and find out who else is doing it. If it is
selling these. financial results, refer to the results of
• Whether there are new jobs being other companies in the same sector.
created or old jobs being lost. 3. Make sure you understand it. Too
• What the company’s performance tells many reporters, blinded by the
us about the wider economy. numbers, the jargon or the technology,
tend to take the company’s version
• Whether there are connections
of the story rather than reveal that
between the company’s executives and
they do not understand. This gives the
politicians or government officials.
companies added power over you and
the readers. Ask “stupid” questions.
What kinds of stories
Dig around, ask your contacts. Find
come out of it? out what it all means.
Journalists who cover companies need to
look for changes in the following things, 4. Don’t assume the management is
because these might make stories: the same thing as the company. If a
company is listed, its owners are its
• Who owns it.
shareholders. They may not have the
• Who runs it. same views as the executives who run
• Who they employ. the company. Make sure you have
• The money they run it with. canvassed other opinions within the
company. That includes employees,
• The money they make from it.
who often have representatives. And
• What they make. don’t forget the customers. When a
• Where they make it. company changes its products, ask
shoppers what they think.
• With what technology they make it.
5. Get comment at the top. Companies
• With what training.
have built up such big public relations
• With what research. and communications departments
• To whom they sell it. that it is often difficult to get beyond
• Whom they compete with. them. However, they sometimes block
communication rather than facilitate
• Under what laws and regulations.
it. A quote direct from the chief
Here are ten tips for writing stories executive to you is worth a thousand
about companies: words from the communications
1. Judge the story by its newsworthiness. director.
Is it interesting, new, big, unusual, 6. Don’t be dazzled by the circus. When
unexpected? Don’t let the company a company wants the world to know
decide that for you. something, it can put on a fine
2. Widen the story. Find ways to explore performance. Car companies drape
issues beyond just the one company attractive women across their latest
involved. If it’s a new product, find out models and they all give away cocktails
who else has launched similar products. and classy snacks to the journalists
If it is a new management strategy, (and sometimes gifts). Keep your head,
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and your judgment. 10. Follow it up. Think about writing

7. Ask an independent. Always get a longer analysis for the next issue
someone independent to make a of your publication about what the
judgment about what the company is company has done. Or look wider than
doing — analysts on the financial side, just the company and write a feature
academics, research organizations and about the sector. And make a note in
shoppers on the product side. your diary to check out how things are
going in a month’s time, in six months,
next year.
Other key concepts

In addition to the technical
terms used in company
accounts [See above], these
are:
Brand: The personality
of a company or product. It
is partly to do with the logo
or a marketing slogan (e.g.
Coke: “the real thing”), but
is more about the emotions
customers associate with a
product or service (e.g. cool,
sophisticated, cosmopolitan,
traditional, trustworthy, etc.).
The true costs of disease and medical neglect are inestimable. IPO: Initial public offering
— when a company offers shares for sale
8. Provide the context. As with all stories, for the first time to investors (i.e. the
sit back a while and ask: What does the public).
reader need to know to understand Mergers and acquisitions: Known
the story better? More about the by their initials M&A, these are when
company? More about the market? companies come together (merge) to form
More about the wider economy? More one bigger company or one takes over
about the person or people involved? another (acquires it). This happens a lot
9. Provide the numbers. You are the in business and can change the market
reader’s representative, not the radically, e.g. when Rupert Murdoch
company’s. So you anticipate what bought The Wall Street Journal.
numbers the reader is likely to want Insolvency and bankruptcy: When
to know or what will make it easy for things go wrong. A company is insolvent
them to understand the story. Don’t when it owns less than it owes. In other
rely on the company to supply them. words, if it were to sell everything it has
Most companies supply only the (assets) it still can’t pay off all its debts
numbers they think are relevant to (liabilities). When this happens, it can be
the story. made bankrupt, which means it closes
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down and its liabilities are partly paid off governments supervise and regulate them
from the sale of its assets. (often very badly, which is how the 2008
Corporate governance: How a world financial crisis started).
company is run is a bit like how a country At first banks were small firms that
is run. Is it fair, transparent, incorruptible? took deposits from individuals and
Corporate social responsibility: Known companies around them and made loans
as CSR, this is what a company does to to people they knew. Over the years they
show it is a good citizen — through became bigger and now they are global.
good environmental, employment and In some countries banks became the tools
community/neighborhood policies. Often of very rich and corrupt people, which
this is just part of its image-building and is why revolutionaries took the banks
has no substance. over or shut them down. But almost
every country in the world today sees
FINANCE AND BANKING the need for a safe banking system and
governments now encourage the growth
of the financial sector. They believe it has
What is it? an important role to play in development,
When we ate only what we could kill or
by providing loans needed for investment
pluck from a plant we had no need for
and therefore growth.
money. When we first started raising One of the important things to know
animals and growing crops, we could about banks, however, is that the whole
sell some to other people and buy other system is built on trust, not on hard reality.
things they had that we needed. That is If you put your money in a bank today, the
when money and banking began. Today, bank lends it to someone else tomorrow. If
when a farmer needs seeds and fertilizer you want your money back next week, the
to grow something that he can’t sell until bank can’t take it back from the person
the harvest in six months, he borrows the it lent your money to. It has to get the
money. When a company wants to build amount you want back from a different
a factory to make motorcycles it will sell depositor. The whole system works on the
in a year, it borrows and then pays the assumption (trust) that everyone will not
money back when customers buy them. want their money back at the same time.
There is always someone willing to lend If that happens, the whole thing collapses
money – if you pay him or her a price (and this is indeed what happened in
(called an interest rate) for the service. 2008). It is called a run on the banks.
Sometimes “loan sharks” provide this Over the past few decades banks
service and exploit people, especially poor have expanded their business beyond
ones. But the more developed a country is, simply taking deposits and making loans.
the more this service is provided by banks. They went into what became known
They provide a safe place for people to as investment banking. They offered a
save money and lend money to people service to pension funds, insurance funds
who show that in future they will be able and investors of all types whereby they
to pay it back. In return for this, they would play the markets to make super
try to make a profit. Of course, things profits for them. They traded equities,
often go wrong with banks. That is why bonds, commodities and currencies in such
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large amounts that even though their over the world there are firms (some of
charges were low (a small percentage them subsidiaries of the big banks) that
of each transaction), they made huge specialize in lending very small amounts
amounts of money. As long as the game of money to individuals to help them with
continued (for nearly three decades, very small business projects. An example is
with a few brief interruptions, before it helping a woman in a small village to buy
collapsed), they made more and more a sewing machine. Microfinance interest
money and paid themselves fantastic rates are usually high, but about 90 per
salaries and bonuses. cent of loans are repaid on time. This is
One of the many problems with banks partly because of the close relationship
is that they are run by humans. This means between the microfinance lender and the
they often have the same emotions as community in which the borrowers live
most of us: when we get richer by doing and work.
something, we do more of it, and then
more and more so we can get richer and Why is it important or
richer. Banks make their profits by lending interesting for readers?
money, so they do this more and more Readers are involved with banks in all
until they discover they have been lending sorts of ways. Many put their money in
to people who can’t pay them back. Then banks or borrow from them. Some work
they get scared and stop lending, even to for them. Others work for companies that
people who can pay them back, because borrow from banks. In fact many people
the trust has gone on both sides. This would not get their wages or salaries
is called a credit squeeze, which was at if banks did not lend to the companies
the heart of the 2008 financial crisis. The they work for. (Companies do not wait
world went from serious over-lending until they have made enough money
to serious under-lending in a very short before they pay their workers. They pay
time. Imagine there was a fire on a bus them regularly, every Friday or at the
caused by leaking petrol from the fuel end of every month, even if this week or
tank. If every other bus driver then said, month they did not sell any products or
sorry, I won’t put any more fuel in my bus they made a loss.) Because banks lend to
because this might happen to me, the bus farmers as well, food production depends
service would come to a big halt. That is on them, and everyone needs food. When
what happened to the banking system. something goes wrong in the banking
Even when they are lending too much, system, it can hurt everyone, even people
banks don’t like to lend to poor people who have never been inside a bank in
because they don’t trust them to pay their lives. In fact most financial crises
them back. Some countries have tried to begin in the banking system. So the health
overcome this by setting up state banks or of the banking system is important to all
“agricultural banks” or they have passed readers.
laws that allow them to order private
banks to lend to people and companies What kinds of stories
that need it, even when the banks think it come out of it?
is not good business. Another solution is One way of thinking about banking
microfinance. In developing countries all stories is to think of a bank as a company
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like any other company, but one that done through branch offices with tellers
sells financial products rather than, say, taking in deposits and giving money for
motorcycles. Then look again above at withdrawals.
how to write about companies, and do Merchant banking: What banks do for
the same for banks: who owns them, companies — arrange finance for them for
where are they opening new branches, trade, both domestic and international.
what deposit and loan products are Investment banking: What banks
they offering and at what price (interest do for investors — provide professional
rate), how many customers do they services trading in financial instruments
have, etc? such as equities, bonds, commodities and
There are also many stories about currencies.
government policy and supervision Spread: The difference between the
of banks. The biggest story (and it interest rate a bank pays to a depositor
was seriously under-reported) in the and the rate it charges a borrower. The
US for 20 years before the financial profit from retail or high street banking
crisis of 2008 was how the banks were [See below] comes from this.
very poorly supervised and how they Non-performing loan/asset: A loan that
made crazy loans and sold customers a borrower is failing to pay back on time.
crazy investment products — what
one famous investor called “financial MARKETS
weapons of mass destruction.” And sure
enough, they blew up.
What is it?
Other key concepts There are markets for everything, even
Commercial bank: All banks (except when they are illegal or do not officially
the central bank [See below]) are exist, such as drugs and sex. Prices are
commercial banks. They operate for determined by supply and demand. A
commercial reasons as businesses “market economy” is one that recognises
directly with customers, even if they this fact and creates formal markets for
are state-owned. Commercial banks do those things that are necessary for a
different types of business, such as retail, healthy economy. There are, of course,
merchant and investment banking [See in most societies, vegetable markets,
below]. clothes markets and other simple markets.
Central bank: The nation’s bank. It But there are also formal, often global,
does not deal directly with customers. markets that involve the exchange of very
It regulates and supervises the banking large amounts of money, which is why
system. All commercial banks deal daily they are sometimes called collectively
with the central bank. They have to the financial markets. The traders are
keep a certain minimum amount of their not ordinary people like you and me,
capital deposited in the central bank though our money is sometimes used by
and can borrow from it if they need to. them. They are market professionals who
Retail banking: Also known as specialise in certain financial instruments.
high street banking, this is what most The money they use to do it with belongs
ordinary people think of as banking. It’s to very large pension funds, insurance
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funds and investment funds, together at any time during that period. This
known as institutional investors. Other is the bond market. So a bond is just
market players are smaller retail investors a loan but one that can be sold to
(individuals, some rich, some poorer, someone else. The price of a bond is
dreaming gamblers). whatever another investor is willing
The markets in a modern economy are: to pay for it, and that depends on
demand. If he/she can’t get five per
1. Money markets. Large amounts of
cent return (known as a yield in the
cash change hands every day. One
bond market) on some other safe
day a tire company might be paid a
investment, he/she might be willing
million for selling tires to a motorcycle
to pay the original bondholder a little
company. In five days it has to pay
more than a million.
millions to a rubber merchant for the
3. Equity markets. This is what we
raw materials it used to make the tires.
normally mean when we talk about
It doesn’t put the million in a drawer
the stock market. Shares in listed
in the manager’s desk for those five
companies [See above] are traded in
days. It gives it to a bank to “play the
the hundreds of thousands or millions
market.” In other words, on behalf of
every day of the week between
the rubber company, the bank lends
investors. The price of a share is
the cash (through another bank) to
whatever an investor is willing to pay
a company that needs a million to
for it. This is determined by many
pay for something immediately and it
different factors, including general
won’t have the money for another five
confidence in the political stability and
days. This short-term trading of cash
economic outlook of a country and the
(and other short-term instruments)
performance and profitability of the
is known as the money market. The
company. All stock markets provide a
central bank can lend money in this
sort of barometer of all stock prices (or
market too. That is how it controls
groups of stock prices) called an index.
interest rates because by lending a lot
Examples are the Dow Jones Industrial
or a little it can push the price (interest
Average (New York), the Hang Seng
rate) in the money market up or down.
Index (Hong Kong), the SET (Bangkok)
2. Bond markets. A government or a and the VN-Index (Ho Chi Minh City).
company can borrow money from When an index is up, that means
investors by issuing bonds. This is that overall share prices have gone
a fancy word for saying they give up, even though some might have
investors a piece of paper saying we gone down. The actual number of the
owe you a million (or whatever) which index is not significant in itself. It’s the
we will give you in five years time (or change that matters. (The VN-Index
whatever). Meanwhile we will pay was started on 28 July 2000 when the
you a five per cent (or whatever) fixed market was launched. As with most
rate of interest each year for this. The indexes, it was given a value of 100
bondholder does not have to wait all at the start [See ‘Using Numbers’ in
five years to redeem the bond. He/she Chapter 5]. So, as an example, if you
can sell the bond to another investor see that the VN-Index closed (what the
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index showed when the market shut at itself is not there) on commodities
the end of the day) at 307.6 today and markets in London, Chicago, New York
yesterday it closed at 302.9, then the and Shanghai the big financial market
index was up 4.7 points. On the same centers. Most commodities trading is
day, you see the Hang Seng closed at done on a forward basis — contracts
14,220.79 and yesterday it closed at for delivery some time in the future
14,001.50. That is a rise of 219.29. Very at a price agreed now [See derivatives
different numbers, but what matters below].
is not the index numbers: it is the 5. Foreign exchange markets. Trillions of
change. And in both cases the change dollars are traded on these markets.
in the index was 1.6 per cent. Only about ten per cent is for trade
and investment. The rest is speculation
[See derivatives
below]. Demand
for a currency is
partly affected by
the flow of exports
and imports and of
investment capital
between countries,
but mostly by
investor confidence
that it will increase in
value against other
currencies — or at
least hold its value.
This is in turn partly
affected by inflation
rates, because high
Poorer countries often use tourism to earn foreign exchange from richer ones. inflation undermines
the value of a
4. Commodities markets. Commodities currency. For example, after Vietnam’s
are raw materials – oil, gas, coal, long spell of high inflation it devalued
rubber, copper, cotton, cocoa, rice, the dong at the end of 2008.
wheat, orange juice and many, many 6. Derivatives markets. These are markets
more. It would be very inefficient if in all the instruments discussed above
a Chinese electrical wiring company (that is, their value is derived from
had to send a representative to Chile those markets). The difference is
in South America every time it wanted that traders buy and sell contracts
to buy copper and bargain about the for equities, bonds, commodities,
price and then put the copper on a currencies, and so on, some time in
ship and take it back to China. Instead, the future. They can then sell those
professional commodities traders buy contracts to someone else on a
and sell copper contracts (the copper derivatives market. The main traders
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in derivatives are speculators, which difficult to understand that the oil price
isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most affects us all, such as bus passengers
economists believe speculation does and those who buy food transported
not cause market prices to change to market, or that a lower price for
but rather they sharpen the trends rubber on the commodities markets
in prices and make it possible for affects plantation owning companies
producers and users to plan better. For and rubber tappers in south-east Asia.
example, if you run a tire company Very high food prices during 2007 and
and you are planning your budget 2008 led economists to talk of a food
for the year, you might decide to buy crisis. Watching the forward commodities
100 tons of rubber in July. But it is markets gives us an early signal of what is
January when you are planning this. to come.
You do not know what price you will The world financial crisis of 2008
have to pay for the rubber in July. But started with the price of houses in
rather than guess (and perhaps get it America, but it spread like wildfire. It
seriously wrong, which could damage first hit the money markets as everyone
your business very badly) you can buy was too scared to lend to anyone else
a contract now that allows you to buy in case they never got it back, causing a
rubber at an agreed price in July. The credit crunch. Then it spread to the equity
trader you buy it from is speculating and bond markets as shares in banks
that the price will be lower in July plunged and then everyone realized that
than what you agree. That will benefit this would lead to a recession, which
him. That is why he does it. If he is would hit just about every company.
right, he makes money out of you. But This led companies to start cutting back
you benefit too because you have paid investment and expansion, so this hit the
only a little extra for the certainty of commodities markets as there was less
getting the rubber at the price you demand for raw materials. (The oil price,
have planned in your budget. If the which took two years to rise from $40 a
price is higher, you benefit because barrel to $147 a barrel, took less than six
you only have to pay what you agreed months to fall all the way back again.)
with the trader. He/she loses out on And then the currency markets went crazy,
this speculation. Derivatives markets with the yen suddenly rising faster than
are full of double-guessing and at any time in history and the dollar also
gambling games about the future sharply up. This was because in both cases
movement of everything, from the oil billions in financial market investment
price to the value of the dong against money around the world flooded back to
the dollar or the baht against the yen. Japan and the US, increasing demand for
those two currencies.
Why is it important or
interesting for readers? What kinds of stories
Very few of your readers will be market come out of it?
traders or know anything about the There are many routine market stories
markets, but the movement in the prices that are no more important or interesting
of all these markets affect them. It is not to ordinary readers than football results
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are interesting to people who don’t Yield. Percentage return on an

like the game. They are usually kept on investment. The most important of these
markets pages where they belong. But is the bond yield, which is difficult to
there are many other stories that are calculate, but tells you what percentage
interesting and important to readers. return you get based on the fixed interest
When a country sets up a market, for rate and the price you paid for the bond
example a stock exchange, there are and the period still to go before the bond
many stories about how it will work and is redeemed. This is also known as the
who will run it and what companies will yield to redemption.
be listed and what method will be used Analyst. A professional who studies
in turning state-owned companies into listed companies and advises investors
public listed companies (a process known about whether to buy or sell their shares.
as privatization). There are also interesting Blue chip. The stock of a company
people stories — who are the traders that has a long and reliable record of
and the big businessmen and investors profitability (named after the most
who will benefit? And then there are valuable chip in a casino).
stories about corruption and crime. (The Bourse. French word sometimes used
biggest financial crime in history was instead of the perfectly good English
committed over the 20 years during which word stock market.
markets and investment banking reached Stockbroker. A professional who buys
their peak — the $50bn fraud by Bernie and sells stock on behalf of a client.
Madoff, an American investor of high Delist. When a company has collapsed
standing and experience.) or failed to obey the accounting rules of
the stock exchange and is forced to have
Other key concepts its shares removed from trading.
Securities. Another word for an Foreign institutional investor (FII). A
investment such as equities or bonds that pension fund or investment fund from
can be bought and sold on an exchange. abroad that buys shares in your stock
Boom. When a market rises strongly market.
for a long time. Market capitalisation (market
Bubble. A boom that reaches a cap). Number of shares multiplied by
point where the prices in the market are the market value of one share, which
unrealistically high and will soon collapse, gives you the total market value of the
like a bubble bursting. company. You can also add up the market
Bust. When a boom stops and goes in cap of all the companies on the market
the other direction, i.e. after the bubble for a total market cap of the whole stock
bursts. exchange. These values are not the same
Crash. When the above happens very as the book value of the company (what
quickly — in a day or a few days at the the balance sheet says it owns and owes).
most. Hedge fund. Firms set up by market
Bull. Someone who believes market professionals who thought they were
prices are going to keep rising. Market brilliant and offered to turn rich people’s
optimist. money into even bigger riches and pay
Bear. The opposite of a bull. Pessimist. themselves fantastic salaries and bonuses.
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They managed to make very large World Trade Organization. They wanted
amounts of money in both rising and these three bodies, known as the Bretton
falling markets, but the 2008 financial Woods institutions (because the meetings
crisis wiped most of them out. that gave birth to them were held in the
Intervention. When the central town of that name in the US state of
bank buys or sells its own currency in New Hampshire), to try to manage the
the foreign exchange markets to try to world economy to ensure peace after two
influence the price (the exchange rate) of world wars by opening it up to trade and
that currency against others. investment. Over the next 40 years the
Regulation. Scrutiny of markets by GATT succeeded in bringing down many
government agencies or watchdogs to barriers to trade in the world, but the
make sure investors are not cheated cold war and the division of much of the
and traders do not manipulate prices. world into pro-capitalist and anti-capitalist
(Regulators were “asleep at the controls” countries impeded the spread of free
over the past two decades so they market economics.
completely missed the crisis that hit the In the 1980s this process really got
world in 2008.) going (the word “globalization” was
Price-earnings ratio: One of the main used for the first time in 1983). Deng
ways of judging whether a share price is Xiaoping’s reforms in China and the
“high” or “low.” It is the market price of collapse of the Berlin Wall about a decade
a share divided by its earnings per share. later paved the way for the spread of
Volume: Number of shares traded market economic theory with financial
(rather than the value, which is the price and trade liberalization policies reaching
multiplied by the volume). to almost every corner of the globe. There
have been several financial crises during
TRADE AND GLOBALIZATION this period, including one in East Asia in
1997, but globalization and liberalization
continued to expand. The principles
What is it? include the beliefs that:
After the second world war international
• Developing countries should attract
policy makers (mostly the Americans
investment from richer countries
and the British) believed that trade war
because it creates jobs and introduces
between countries during the 1930s was
technologies and skills that they would
partly responsible for the real war that
not be able to develop themselves.
followed. They also believed that poverty
This is best done through the free
led to bad politics and trouble-making
flow of capital and a market-based
dictators like Hitler. And they thought
exchange rate.
that the chaos of the international
financial system, with exchange rates • Competition from foreign investors
shooting up and down, also played a and products improves the quality of
role. So they set up the International goods and services for consumers in
Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the developing countries.
the General Agreement on Tariffs and • Developing countries should join the
Trade (GATT), which later became the World Trade Organization (which grew
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out of the GATT). To do this they you can do when reporting on policies
will have to open their markets up is to show your readers how those
to more competition from foreign policies work and what effect they have
imports, but it will also give them on ordinary people’s lives. Go to where
greater access to other markets for new jobs are created or traditional ones
their exports. lost, where tourists bring their dollars or
Even the massive global crisis of where the environment is violated, where
2008 has not fatally undermined the shoppers have more choice or where
widespread adherence to these policies. “mom and pop” stores close because they
However, it could still do so. can’t compete. Tell all those stories from
first-hand observation and through the
Why is it important or words of the people themselves.
interesting for readers?
Nothing, short of invasion, exposes a Other key concepts
country to more foreign influence than Free trade: The policy goal of allowing
global economic liberalization. Jobs, exports and imports, including services, to
traditional skills, culture, social values move freely between countries without
and more can change through the rapid barriers, such as tariffs [See below].
development and exposure of a country Fair trade: This is the belief that
to global competition and foreign free is not necessarily fair because the
products and values. Some policy-makers competition is not equal. Some countries
and people with an interest in the old have a big advantage over others.
system resist it. Others say it is these Therefore policy-makers should try to
policies that bring an end to poverty and ensure that less developed countries are
underdevelopment and give people a given better opportunities to make up for
better quality of life. It does not matter the “unlevel playing field.”
which of these views you agree with; as a Tariffs: An amount added to the price
journalist you will find plenty of interest of an import (and sometimes an export) to
on the part of your readers in them. The increase the price the consumer has to pay
difficult thing for you will be to explain for it. This makes imports more expensive
the connection between the policies and thus protects locally manufactured
and the outcomes and why a fall in the goods.
price of a house in Los Angeles can result Non-tariff barrier: Most governments
in the loss of a garment worker’s job keep out exports by “hidden” barriers.
in Phnom Penh, a hotel cleaner’s job in Examples are total bans, quotas (limits
Vientiane or an assembly worker’s job in on how much of something might be
an electronics factory in Ayutthaya. imported), very difficult documentation
What kinds of stories work necessary to import goods and
come out of it? impossibly high health, technical or
The most important stories are policy environmental standards.
ones: what is your government doing Protectionism. Actions or policies by
next — or not doing — to attract more governments designed to protect the
investment, open up to more imports producers of goods and services in their
or promote exports? And the best thing own country from foreign competition,
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such as non-tariff barriers. stronger countries but the weaker

Intellectual property: This is the work countries do not have the trading power
that goes into writing a piece of software to get better deals. They sign up because
or singing a song or making a film. The if they don’t they get only limited access
WTO believes that copying these things to the rich country’s market.
without paying the person who created Subsidies: Governments in many
them is stealing and should be stopped. countries give taxpayers’ money to
Dumping: When a company sells industries or farmers to help them
goods in another country below the cost produce their goods more cheaply so
of producing it (or below the cost it sells they are more competitive against the
the same goods at home). The aim is to goods of other countries. American
win market share away from the goods and European Union farmers receive
of the host country and then later the subsidies of more than $300 billion a
price can rise when customers have been year, a disgrace for countries that claim
won over. Dumping damages domestic to believe in free and fair trade.
producers. Cartel: A group of producers, such as
Anti-dumping: What governments the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
do to try to stop dumping – they put Countries (OPEC), that get together to
tariffs on dumped goods. But sometimes try to control the supply of what they
governments claim something is being produce so they can affect the price
dumped when in fact it is not, but they (usually to keep it high).
put the tariff on the imports anyway to Services: Non-goods exports/
protect their own producers. The WTO imports, such as telecommunications,
opposes this. banking and other financial services,
Trade balance: When a country including stockbroking and insurance,
exports more than it imports, it enjoys a media and retail. Rich countries have
trade surplus; the other way round is a very developed services sectors and want
trade deficit. to be able to operate in developing
Bilateral: When two countries countries. The latter are afraid their own,
agree something between themselves. underdeveloped services sector will be
Multilateralists dislike bilateralism [See wiped out by the competition.
below].
Multilateral: When all the countries FINAL TIP
involved are part of an agreement. The
WTO is a multilateral organization in Economics and business is always best
which nothing is agreed until everything reported through people. Get out of
is agreed by everyone. (This explains why the office and find people producing
its members find it so difficult to agree things, selling them and shopping for
on anything.) them. Observe changes in your economy
Free trade agreement (FTA): Trade through real on-the ground reporting.
deals between two countries or small Here, from the Phnom Penh Post, is
trading blocs of countries. They are an example of an excellent economics
disliked by multilateralists [See above]. feature that does all of those things:
These are often seen to favor the Desperation takes hold as textile
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industry losses begin to mount Van Sou Ieng, president of the Garment
By Sam Rith Manufacturers Association of Cambodia
(GMAC).
Tuesday, 9 December 2008 The effects of these widespread layoffs
could be devastating for many impoverished
IT’S an early December morning, and more families in the countryside, for whom the
than 100 garment workers make their monthly salaries of relatives working in
daily rush to Supreme Garments PTE, one factories are one of the few sources of income
of Cambodia’s largest factories, near the available to them.
Takhmao bridge on Road 102 in Kandal The Cambodian garment slowdown is
province. rooted in the US recession, which has seen
But today, several of the workers exit the sharp drops in clothing sales, industry officials
factory about 40 minutes later and return to say.
their homes. US retailer sales tumbled in November, the
“Nowadays, [garment workers] enter worst monthly decline in almost four decades,
the factory and then leave about half an according to Bloomberg, and the Dow Jones
hour later to go home,” said Ong Chantou, US Retail Index is down about 28 per cent on
55, who has sold fruit in front of Supreme the year.
Garments for about five years. Clothing sales in the US are expected to
Ana, 27, is one of several who will not be fall further as consumers put off non-essential
working that day and says, more often than purchases.
not, the factory has to send employees home In a bid to slow the losses, GMAC has
because there is nothing for them to do. tried to diversify away from the US market to
“The factory has had much less work for Japan and China.
us to do since the middle of November,” she A 50-year-old worker who preferred not
said. to give her name said this year has seen the
The impact of the US slowdown is being sharpest decline in business since she began
felt by thousands of garment workers in working at Supreme Garments in 1995.
what was once Cambodia’s fastest-growing Chhin Tak Khey, the factory’s
sector. administrative manager, said the Singaporean-
Cambodia’s garment exports to the owned company has received none of their
US — the Kingdom’s largest foreign textile usual orders from European countries,
market - totaled US$1.8 billion in the first Singapore or Hong Kong.
nine months of 2008, slightly down from the The beleaguered manager said he has lost
same period last year, according to data from between $20,000 to $40,000 per month since
the US Department of Commerce. August.
Last year, the sector exported $2.9 billion Supreme Garments, which began
worth of garment produced in 319 factories operations in 1993, used to employ 2,000
that employed more than 380,000 workers, workers, Chhin Tak Khey said. Now, they have
according to figures from Cambodia’s only 624.
Ministry of Commerce. “Since November of this year, we have had
But some 30 garment factories have to take clothes from other factories for our
closed their doors so far this year, leaving workers in order to pay their salaries,” he said.
nearly 20,000 workers unemployed, said This downward trend has labor officials
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worried. to protect workers’ rights.

“Next year, Cambodia’s garment industry “It has always been difficult to demand
will face increasing difficulties because there worker protections from employers, but it has
are no purchase orders coming in, particularly become harder as purchase orders continue to
from buyers in the United States,” Van Sou fall,” he said.
Ieng said. But Chea Mony, president of the Free
“They [factories] can’t stay open if there Trade Union of Workers, says Cambodia’s
are no orders coming in,” he said. He added garment sector has remained largely
that factories nationwide are currently unaffected by international markets.
operating at only about 70 per cent capacity. “For me, I do not believe the global
Chuon Momthol, president of the economic crisis has affected factories much
government-aligned Cambodian Union because the industry has made a lot of
Federation, said about 35 factories in total progress recently,” he said, saying instead
— employing from 1,000 to 5,000 workers that the decisions by individual investors to
each — are expected to shut down by the close shop in Cambodia were to blame for the
end of 2008 if global markets continue their layoffs.
downward spirals. “The closing of garment factories is the
Oum Mean, a secretary of state for the result of long-time investors who want to pull
Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, out of Cambodia ... in order to escape legal
said he could not give exact figures on confrontations with their workers,” he said.
factory closures. “I remain skeptical as long as there is
He acknowledged that some had shut no confirmation from relevant ministries or
down, but said they were primarily small [national auditors] that factories have closed
companies that closed in order to build larger because of the global crisis,” he said.
factories. Reasons for the growing decline in
But Supreme Garment’s Chhin Tak Khey garment sales might vary, but the effects are
said his factory has lost more than $200,000 not in dispute.
so far this year and could not remain open in Sitting on a hammock beneath a plastic
the face of further losses. tarp, 29-year-old Se Thy has created a
In order to weather the crisis, the makeshift camp in front of Phnom Penh
company will lay off all its staff for two Garment City Ltd in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey
months, beginning in January. district.
“We will temporarily lay off all our staff He represents 500 workers seeking
for two months in order to find new markets compensation for lost wages. “I have been
and generate purchase orders,” he said. waiting here for ten months since the factory
“After that, if the situation remains the closed,” he said.
same, we will not be able to continue our
business.” Additional Reporting By George Mcleod
Layoffs in store
Nuon Veasna, an employee education
coordinator for the International Labor
Organization in Cambodia, said the
increasing effects of international market
turmoil has made it more difficult for unions ■
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the environment
Chapter 7: THE wildlife, interview scientists about the

impact of climate change, or cover local
businesses producing “environmentally
ENVIRONMENT friendly” products. Because the
environment is such a broad topic, there’s
no way a single reporter can cover it
It is hard to find a topic that doesn’t
all. But reporters on other beats — such
touch upon the environment: food,
as business, government, and general
transportation, health, medicinse, energy,
assignment — can find environmental
business, tourism, poverty, even sports.
angles to the stories they cover.
The environment, in turn, affects all of us,
The “environment” includes the
from the way we live to what we eat and man-made environment, such as homes,
how we work. schools, cars and factories, as well as the
Man’s dependence on his environment natural environment, which is the air,
— and his destruction of it — is often land, water, trees, plants, animals and
called the greatest challenge of the 21st mineral resources. In short, it is everything
century. Rapid development in Asia and around us, and we are part of it.
continued pollution and exploitation of
resources across the globe are pushing Why is it important?
the earth to what many scientists fear is a
tipping point. We need clean air and water to
This makes it an exciting time to write survive. The food we eat is grown or
about the environment. The environment raised on the land or caught in the sea.
reporter may cover natural disasters and The clothes we wear come from plants
industrial accidents, hike through parks and animals (cotton, silk, leather and
and forests to write about vanishing wool). The houses we build are made of
the earth and forests
(bricks, stones, sand,
wood and bamboo).
In Asia, many people
live directly off the land
(growing food, raising
animals, fishing) while
many others make
their livelihoods from
it. Even in cities, the
environment is crucial.
Cars and motorbikes are
powered by fossil fuels.
The energy for homes
and offices comes from
the burning of coal or
the flow of water over
A pristine environment or one polluted by tourism? dams. Many life-saving
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CHAPTER 7
the environment
medicines come directly from plants. like having one more India and China —
Most factories produce things from raw but only the extra people, not the extra
materials. And so on. land or resources.
The environment is critical to The challenge is to plan wisely and
our health. If air, water or food is use natural resources in a way that all of
contaminated, we get sick and miss us can have a healthy environment and
work; if we can’t work, we can’t support enjoy a decent quality of life while saving
our families. According to one estimate, enough resources for future generations.
pollution in China contributes to hundreds This concept is called sustainable
of thousands of deaths a year, while development.
pollution-related illnesses amount to a The good news is that people, and
three per cent loss in the economy. journalists, have started to take notice.
The environment also plays a role in Many cities, like Bangkok, have improved
the quality of our lives. Mountains, trees, their air quality and started to recycle
lakes, rivers, parks and gardens give us more waste; businesses are looking at
peaceful places to relax or exercise. Nature ways to conserve energy and use less
— from orange-red sunsets to cascading fossil fuel; and some countries, like China,
waterfalls — inspires some to write poetry, are starting to talk about a “green GDP,”
others to meditate and pray, and many to a way to measure the environmental
think about the meaning of their lives. impact of their economies. Economic
Across Asia, developing countries growth even makes it possible to seek
are facing enormous environmental solutions to environmental problems, as
challenges. Rapid growth has led to loss governments and businesses can invest
of natural resources as well as damage to in cleaner technologies and energy-
rivers, lakes, forests and farms. Growth efficient manufacturing. As countries and
is good when it creates jobs, leads to economies develop, citizens eventually
better schools, and provides clean water expect more than rising incomes, better
and sanitation. But growth also brings homes and a car — they also demand a
more cars, more factories and more clean environment.
construction — and that usually means
more air pollution, more demand for The role of the journalist
wood for homes and furniture, and more
energy needs. Urban expansion destroys The environmental journalist has many
wetlands and habitat for wildlife, while roles to play. Among them:
increased consumption leads to more
• Raising awareness about the
trash. Population growth creates pressure
importance of the environment and
to convert forests to farms and to intensify
the impact people have on it.
crop cultivation through increased use of
pesticides and fertilizers, which can poison • Educating people about the laws
animals and harm water and soil quality. and policies in place to protect the
The UN estimates roughly nine billion environment.
people will inhabit the planet by the • Keeping government accountable
middle of the century, an increase from for its policies and actions, and
the current estimate of 6.7 billion. That is holding it responsible for enforcing
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the environment
environmental laws. In sports, Beijing’s air quality was a

• Investigating businesses, developers serious concern for Olympic athletes in
and others suspected of polluting the the Summer Games of 2008, while golf
environment or contaminating food course development can cause conflicts
supplies. with local residents over water use and
pesticides to keep fairways green. On
• Reporting on solutions, not just
government beats, reporters routinely
problems, so people know what they
come across environmental issues related
can do to protect the environment.
to development, energy, irrigation, solid
• Finding positive stories, not just waste management, natural resources,
negative ones, so people don’t illegal wildlife trade and international
feel helpless or get turned off by treaties, to name a few.
environmental coverage. All journalists can do a better job
• Making environmental issues relevant of asking questions on behalf of the
by making links to public health, environment, no matter what story they
personal values or the pocketbooks of are reporting. A key question to keep in
readers and listeners. mind:
• Seeking out all sides of the issues, • How will this (development/
including the voices of the poor policy/product/action) affect the
— those who are closest to the environment?
environment and depend on it most. Journalists don’t have to be experts
to cover the environment. But they
Not all media groups can afford to
do need to know where to go to
designate a full-time environment reporter
get accurate information to educate
to cover these issues. But every reporter is
themselves and their audiences.
bound to come across environmental issues
Many countries have a number of
on their beats. Here are some headlines, for
environmental NGOs or international
example, from the business pages of a Thai
organizations working on environmental
newspaper:
issues. Other sources include university
• ‘Drought-tolerant corn ready by 2010’ faculties, scientists, private businesses
• ‘Motorola launches eco-friendly phone’ and hospitals. Nearly every government
(made from recycled water bottles) ministry will have some issues and
• ‘More see switch to renewable sources relating to the environment.
resources’ The most important thing to
remember is to ask good questions,
• ‘Glint of green fails to lift gloom’
think of original stories, dig for accurate
(automakers promote cars run by
information, be thorough and fair,
electricity)
explain things clearly and produce
• ‘Bio-fertilizer innovation a healthy interesting, relevant and colorful stories.
sign: organic farms will be main The birds and the bees … or, how
beneficiaries’ everything is connected
• ‘Forests hold carbon credit One of the keys to writing about
opportunities’ the environment is understanding the
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ways things are connected. A bird, for The writer explains that bees are so
instance, needs a tree to make its nest. important to the productivity of certain
But that tree also needs the bird to eat crops, like beans, that farmers are starting
its fruit and drop its seeds so that new to import them from southern Europe.
trees can grow. Bees and flowers also Others hope bees will migrate from other
depend on each other — and while that regions to the UK.
may seem like something only gardeners
should care about, it’s a relationship Even if new species did arrive, they would
vital for humans, too. When bees, birds be unable to take on all the work of the old.
and other insects collect nectar, they Many bumblebees, including all those under
inadvertently take some of the flower’s threat, are specialist feeders that depend upon
fine powder, or pollen, to other flowers, — and pollinate — particular groups of plants.
allowing the plants to reproduce. This is By the miracle of evolution, some species
called pollination, and we couldn’t grow have developed long tongues, with which
about a third of our fruits and vegetables they can reach the nectar of deep-throated
without help from the bees, which, sadly, flowers. Without them, the plants could not
are dying in large numbers for mysterious reproduce. The incomers can offer no solution:
reasons. their tongues are too short. The first casualties
Take a look at this headline and story of the bumblebee exodus, therefore, will be
summary by The Times of London some of the best-loved British wild flowers
such as foxgloves, irises, red clover, comfrey,
Plight of the humble bee toadflax, tufted vetch. Soft fruit, oilseed and
bean crops would also take a hit.
Native British bees are dying out — and with And that is the thin end of the long-term
them will go flora, fauna and one-third of catastrophe that now stares us in the face.
our diet. We may have less than a decade to You take one brick out of the ecological wall,
save them and avert catastrophe. So why is others crumble around it. Then more crumble,
nothing being done? on and on until the edifice collapses. Ecologists
call it an extinction vortex. You lose bees, you
In the article, writer Richard Girling offers lose plants. You lose plants, you lose more
these compelling explanations for why we bees. Then more plants, then other insects,
should care about the bees: then the birds and animals that depend on
them and on each other, all the way up the
If you add retailers’ profit to farm gate prices, food chain. But never mind animals — if you
their value to the UK economy is in the region stretch the process far enough, you’re talking
of £1 billion a year, and 35% of our diet is about humans.
directly dependent on them. It is an equation
of stark simplicity. No pollination: no crops. Ecosystems
There is nothing theoretical about it. The
reality is in (or, more accurately, not in) the The interaction of all things — from birds
hives. The US has lost 70% of its honeybee and bees to plants and humans — is
colonies over the past two winters. Losses in called an ecosystem. An ecosystem can be
the UK currently are running at 30% a year — large or small, from a forest to a drop of
up from just 6% in 2003. water. Southeast Asia has many kinds of
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ecosystems, including
mountain ranges, rivers,
rainforests, wetlands and
coral reefs. The great
variety of living things
within an ecosystem is
known as biodiversity,
and Asia is rich with
it. “ Biodiversity is
so important to this
region,” says James
Fahn, executive director
of the Earth Journalism
Network, based in
Thailand. “People say
there are more species
on one mountain in
Technology can tap valuable resources but real costs may be hidden.
northern Thailand than
in all of Great Britain.
All countries in the region — Cambodia, cut down too many trees (deforestation),
Laos — are superpowers when it comes to the forests can no longer retain as much
biodiversity.” water from heavy rains; nearby villages
The variety of living things matters might flood or experience landslides. If
because every species plays a role, we cut down mangrove forests for fuel
including the ones so small we can’t even wood or to create room for shrimp farms,
see: micro-organisms in the soil help break there is less protection against cyclones or
down dead things to provide nutrients storm surges. If we use too much of the
for plants. The plants are eaten by birds water stored naturally underground, our
and small animals, which in turn are eaten buildings and cities begin to slowly sink.
by bigger animals. If you remove one (This is called subsidence and is happening
thing from the food chain, all things are in places like Bangkok, Hanoi and Ho Chi
affected. That is why environmentalists are Minh City. Eventually, subsidence leads to
trying to save species that are in danger of more flooding and less protection against
becoming extinct. There are other reasons rising sea levels.)
to save species besides their importance If a farmer has too many animals,
to the ecosystem. They can also be they may overgraze and eat all of the
important to our culture and identity. In plants in an area. Once the natural
the first chapter, we saw a story about vegetation disappears, rich topsoil is
the importance of elephants to Laos, and blown away in the wind or washed away
how it was once known as the land of a by rains; nothing grows and animals
thousand elephants. starve. Overgrazing is one factor in
When humans interfere too much desertification, a process that threatens
in an ecosystem, they upset its natural about one-third of the earth’s surface,
balance, sometimes causing disaster. If we including part of central Myanmar. The UN
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Environment Program says it is “stripping toxic chemicals and dioxins. A dioxin is

away the very flesh of our planet.” a dangerous chemical that causes cancer
Nature herself can temporarily and birth defects and is released by the
upset the balance of an ecosystem. burning of plastic. Workers in these
Drought contributes to soil erosion industries typically experience respiratory
and desertification. Storms and natural problems and skin rashes but also face
disasters can destroy landscapes, change serious long-term illnesses.
the course of rivers and claim the lives Air pollution in Chiang Mai is another
of thousands. But nature is also resilient, example of environmental health. The
and in time often recovers and adjusts burning of fields, forests and rubbish
to these events to find a new balance — creates a build-up of small particles in the
sometimes bringing unintended benefits. air every dry season. Those particles get
Flooding, for instance, may destroy homes, trapped in the natural basin surrounding
crops and entire villages. But those same Chiang Mai, creating a haze across
floods deposit soils rich with nutrients that the valley. Each year, doctors report
help more crops grow. When volcanoes widespread cases of respiratory illness,
explode, people may lose their lives including coughing and breathing
and their homes, but the resulting ash troubles. Researchers at Chiang Mai
can mean bumper crops. The tsunami University say the risk of lung cancer in
in southern Thailand caused enormous northern Thailand is four times greater
destruction and loss of life, but also swept than in other parts of the country.
away dirty beaches and brought in clean In the US, a study revealed that certain
sand. Storm surges in the Irrawaddy chemicals in food packaging, pesticides,
Delta — even after the cyclone — deposit clothing and carpets could delay
sediment that helps boost rice yields. pregnancy among couples seeking to
It is the job of the environmental have children. Even though the chemicals
journalist to explore and explain these are being phased out, they are known to
connections. stay in the environment and the body for
decades.
Health and the environment Many diseases are partly a result
of our living conditions — tuberculosis
The environment and public health spreads among crowded, poorly ventilated
are closely linked. If factories, farms or places. Malaria is rampant in jungles and
buildings pollute, contaminants can build border areas. The poorest are the most
up in the food chain and in our blood vulnerable, as they often lack regular
streams, potentially causing poisoning, access to clean water and sanitation.
cancer or other health problems. Flooding can lead to outbreaks of diarrhea
Electronic waste from the West — and dysentery in underdeveloped areas.
including computers and cameras — often The poor are often exposed to chemicals
ends up in Asian countries for “recycling.” in rice fields and factories, and may not
But the people who dismantle the goods have adequate protective gear.
(including small children and people Most of our serious diseases are a
wearing no protective gear) come into result of man’s proximity to animals. HIV,
contact with cancer-causing substances, the virus that causes AIDS, is believed
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to come from chimpanzees that were Climate change

hunted by humans in the 1930s. Malaria
and dengue fever come from parasites This is likely to be one of the most
in mosquitoes. Avian influenza, or bird important issues of the 21st century, and
flu, can be caught by humans exposed therefore the most important stories of
to the blood, saliva or feces of infected the century. Like other environmental
chickens. SARS — or severe acute issues, it cuts across nearly every human
respiratory syndrome — is believed to activity. The build-up of carbon dioxide in
have jumped to humans from civet cats in the atmosphere and the warming of the
China. Many of our influenza pandemics earth’s surface temperature will lead to
widespread changes in how and where
come from viruses that originated in pigs.
we live.
Nearly all scientists agree that the
Beyond borders
planet is getting warmer. Average surface
temperatures have increased nearly one
Environmental issues cut across borders.
degree Celsius over the last century.
If upstream countries take too much We know this because we have been
water from rivers for irrigation and recording temperatures in thousands of
hydropower, downstream cities won’t places for many years. In some places, like
have enough. China’s cascade of dams on the Arctic, it is warming faster than in
the upper Mekong River is a concern for other places, and so more ice and snow is
communities in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam starting to melt. A few places are getting
and Cambodia because the dams alter colder. These fluctuations and variations
the river’s natural flow. Lower river are expected, and are one reason many
levels and rising sea levels have caused scientists prefer the term climate change
saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta. to global warming.
Air pollution from Asia — the so-called At the same time, there’s been a build-
brown cloud of haze, dust and particles up of carbon dioxide and other gases in
the atmosphere. These invisible molecules
that forms every winter — drifts all the
(sometimes called heat-trapping gases)
way to North America. North America’s
trap some of the sun’s heat. That, in turn,
air pollution drifts to Europe. Carbon
slowly warms the environment — just as
pollution in industrialized countries may
an enclosed building of glass traps heat
be contributing to natural disasters in
and helps plants grow in colder climates
developing countries.
(the greenhouse effect).
In addition, wildlife pays no heed The carbon dioxide comes from many
to political boundaries. Birds and fish sources, including pollution from cars
migrate thousands of kilometers to get and coal-burning factories. Much of it
back to their breeding grounds, so over also comes from deforestation and the
fishing or construction of dams in one burning of trees in developing countries;
region can reduce the supply of protein when trees die or are burned, they release
in another. Countries are increasingly stored carbon. And when the trees are
debating the impact they are having on gone, they will no longer absorb carbon
each other’s environment. dioxide, so carbon continues to build up
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in the atmosphere. Other greenhouse • Heavier rains and more flooding

gases include methane (which comes • More intense storms and natural
from decaying vegetation and gaseous disasters
excretions from livestock) and nitrous
• Disrupted ecosystems, loss of species
oxides (from industrial pollution and
automobiles). • More disease
Most scientists agree there is In Southeast Asia, low-lying regions
overwhelming evidence that human like the Mekong Delta could virtually
activity is responsible for the build- disappear if sea levels rise more than a
up of carbon dioxide and therefore meter. Sea levels are rising because water
for global warming. Concentrations expands as it warms, and because massive
of carbon dioxide have increased by ice sheets are melting. Predictions from
about 35 per cent since the Industrial scientists vary and it could be many years
Revolution and the dawn of smoke-stack before it happens, but cities like Yangon
industries. Although it makes up less and Haiphong could be swamped. People
than one per cent of the atmosphere, in these regions are already fighting
carbon dioxide remains for a century. climate change, even if they do not
That means pollution emitted now from realize it. Residents of the Mekong Delta
our cars and motorbikes will continue to in Vietnam are building higher retaining
have an effect on our climate for many walls to keep out sea water. Coastal
generations. residents in Thailand and Myanmar are
Using computer models, scientists planting more mangroves to keep back
predict the amount of carbon dioxide in the sea. If sea levels continue to rise,
the atmosphere will double sometime millions of people will be displaced,
in the middle of this century. If that fertile rice fields will be lost and countless
happens, global temperatures could jobs will disappear.
rise anywhere from 1.5 degrees to five
Many scientists have noticed a rise
degrees Celsius or more. Scientists are
in natural disasters, including stronger
worried that if temperatures increase
cyclones and typhoons. That storms
more than two degrees, irreversible
would get stronger as a result of climate
changes in the environment could occur.
change makes sense, they say, because
These projections are included in reports
storms get their energy form the sea;
by the International Panel on Climate
the warmer the water, the stronger the
Change (IPCC), a UN body that issues
storm. But there isn’t enough evidence
regular assessments based on studies
yet to link any single storm to climate
from all over the world. You can find this
change.
data at www.ippcc.ch.
Governments are discussing ways to
Many of the impacts of climate
drastically reduce their carbon emissions,
change could be devastating:
from using more renewable sources of
• Melting ice sheets and glaciers, energy to developing technology that
contributing to rising sea levels reduces pollution. People are discussing
• Prolonged droughts and longer ways to change their lifestyles so that
summers they consume less and conserve more.
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International organizations and local come into play. The building of dams, for
governments are researching ways to instance, was once thought to be a way of
help people adapt to climate change providing a clean and renewable source
while also finding ways to mitigate, or of energy. But dams displace people and
lessen, the impact. One solution calls for wildlife, prevent the migration of fish
rich countries to pay poorer countries to and — through the decay of vegetation
preserve their forests. Another mechanism trapped in the reservoir — release
allows for companies in some countries methane, a global warming gas. These are
that have exceeded their pollution complicated issues, with many pros and
targets to buy carbon credits from other cons, and they are difficult to write about
companies under their limits. This is part on deadline. “It takes time and money
of a sophisticated emissions market, to travel and research these stories,” says
where credits are bought and sold like EJN’s Fahn, former environment editor of
other commodities. Together, many The Nation in Thailand. “Environmental
of the solutions could slow the rate of issues are huge and complex, and it’s
environmental change. difficult to understand them. Talk to as
many people as you can. Get all sides. It’s
Challenges of never simple.”
environmental reporting Additionally, scientists, medical
doctors and environmental specialists
It’s complicated. Perhaps the greatest seem to have a language all their own.
challenge for environmental reporters Journalists can begin building a basic
is the complexity of the issues. vocabulary of the most common terms,
Environmental stories often involve like ecosystems and biodiversity. You can
scientific or technical processes such as learn these phrases by having a good
biology, chemistry or physics. Many factors dictionary nearby (Environment Words,
A Dictionary in Plain
English by Images Asia
is very good one) or
by consulting various
websites or glossaries.
You should also
develop good sources
willing to explain these
things. Remember to
avoid technical terms
in your stories. If you
must use them, explain
them. It’s much better
to use analogies,
comparisons and simple
explanations.
It’s a process,
Our wasteful ways threaten future generations. not an event. Some
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environmental stories are easy to see, such While there may be a link, it’s difficult for
as air pollution or natural disasters. But scientists to say for sure because of the
most environmental processes happen lack of data. Other environmental factors
over time, not overnight. They are difficult could be playing a role, such as irregular
to observe, and therefore difficult to rainfall and over fishing. This makes it
report. A famous example is the mercury difficult to draw absolute conclusions
poisoning that took place in Minamata, about environmental processes. Reporters
Japan, in the 1950s. Local residents should do their best to point out all the
developed problems with their muscles, contributing factors.
hearing and eyes. Some were paralyzed, It’s hard to get good play. Editors
others died and thousands were poisoned. may not give environmental stories
Scientists eventually discovered that prominent play because they are not
people were getting sick from eating fish used to environmental stories or they
and shellfish. The fish, it turned out, had may be unaware of the importance of
been contaminated from mercury that a the environment. Journalists must be
chemical company had been discharging prepared to “sell” their stories to editors.
into the water since 1932. It took time for That means they also have to educate
the mercury to build up in humans and their editors about the environment, and
cause the symptoms. Some children were must explain why the story is important
even born with the disease. or relevant to the audience. Clever
Other examples include cancer journalists pitch their environmental
clusters, where groups of people in a stories to run on slow news days, often
particular geographic area experience at the beginning of the week or after
similar cancers, most likely from holidays, when there is less competition
chemicals, pollutants or radiation in from political news. They can also peg
the environment. Journalists need to their stories to certain anniversaries, like
understand the chain of events, and World Environment Day, which falls on 5
the relationship between humans and June. Packaging the story with graphics,
the environment. Industrial processes maps and photos can ensure better play.
and developments often have serious A great photograph almost always helps a
consequences that can only be seen over story get more prominence.
time. It’s often negative and frightening.
It’s uncertain. It’s often difficult to Much environmental reporting
make a link between cause and effect. The emphasizes the harm being done to
evidence may be contradictory. Scientists the environment and paints a gloomy
may have different opinions. An example picture. The headlines about climate
is China’s construction of dams on the change predict a doomsday. But too much
upper part of the Mekong River. After negative reporting can turn off readers.
construction, some downstream fishing Journalists should consider looking into
communities hundreds of kilometers positive angles. What are people doing
away complained that water levels were to improve the situation? How are they
irregular and that fish numbers had fallen. adapting to changes in the environment?
They also complained of erosion and How can ordinary people make a
loss of vegetation along the riverbanks. difference?
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Here’s one example of a positive story, environmentalists in the 1990s, and it soon
a profile from Time magazine about a became known as a hotspot for unique species
young Vietnamese woman making a on the verge of extinction. One of the rarest
difference: is the golden-headed langur. Found on Cat Ba
Island in northern Vietnam, this cliff-dwelling
It took Vu Thi Quyen more than two years of monkey has a population of less than 100.
lobbying and paperwork to convince Vietnam’s Quyen fell in love with her country’s
government to legalize Education for Nature- wildlife almost by accident. In 1996,
Vietnam (ENV), the country’s first home-grown after graduating from university with a
environmental group. Bureaucrats had no geography degree, she took a summer job
objection to Quyen’s plan to teach public- in Cuc Phuong National Park with the NGO
school students about Vitenam’s rare and Fauna & Flora International. She was put in
endangered species. The problem, Quyen says, charge of educating villagers to respect the
was that at age 25, she wasn’t so long out of park’s wildlife, rather than hunt it. But by
school herself. Environmental enthusiasts co- 2000, Quyen began planning a Vietnamese
sponsoring the group were even younger, and conservation group that could make the
that didn’t go down well in a communist state nation more self-reliant. “We can’t expect
where seniority counts and youthful feistiness foreigners to come and save our country,”
isn’t necessarily prized. “It was very difficult she said. “The work should be done by
because we were very young,” says Quyen. Vietnamese.”
“None of us were doctors or professors or The greatest reward, says Quyen, comes
those kinds of people. We didn’t have a from winning the hearts and minds of young
history of working with the government.” nature lovers — especially kids who have
Since ENV was finally legitimized in convinced their own parents to stop hunting
2002, it has proved its mettle. The group’s endangered species. “Education makes a
Conservation Awareness Program established difference,” she says. “But it can take decades
“conservation clubs” in 50 Vietnamese schools to change attitudes.” Fortunately, she has
and taught some 100,000 children about the plenty of time to grow into the job.
country’s wildlife. It has trained rangers in 30 –Kay Johnson, Hanoi
national parks to set up school programs on
local endangered species. Vietnamese pop CASE STUDY:
star My Linh appeared in a 2004 commercial Humanizing the story
urging people not to consume bear-bile tonic, Environment stories are generally
which is extracted from the stomachs of more interesting when they focus on
trapped bears using steel catheters. This year, people affected by the issues. Here’s the
ENV set up a national wildlife-tracking hotline beginning of a feature on the declining
for people to report poaching and restaurants Giant Catfish by the Bangkok Post’s
serving endangered species. The staff has Sanitsuda Ekachai, who hooks the reader
expanded to 22. “At the moment, I’m the with a human focus.
oldest person in the organization,” laughs
Quyen, now 31. Sanan Suwanta is a proud fisherman. Like his
In Vietnam, conservation itself is a young father and forefathers, he stands out from
idea. After decades of war and isolation, other fisherfolk as a hunter of the Mekong
the country opened its jungles up to foreign giant catfish pla buek, which can be three
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meters long and weigh close to 300 kilograms. Jinnarat, 58, Chiang Khong community leader
But unlike the endangered pla buek, the and seasoned fishermen.
world’s biggest scaleless fresh-water fish, “We have been suffering so much
Sanan may well be the last of his breed. because the river has become murky and
“The Mekong is not what it used to foul-smelling,” he said. “The rise and fall
be,” said Sanan, a man in his forties. He was of the river levels have become extreme
preparing his fishing gear on the Don Waeng and unpredictable. Dirty water makes the
Island in front of his home village of Ban Had seaweed and other water plants wilt. The
Krai in Chiang Rai’s Khong district. fish population has drastically declined. Not
Ban Had Krai’s smooth riverbed, free of only pla beuk, but all kinds – many of the fish
rapids and underwater rocks, has made it the species we’ve known since childhood have
only site in Thailand where the hunting of already disappeared.”
giant catfish is possible. The story goes on to explore possible
As in every April when the water level is reasons for the decline, including the
at its lowest, fishermen from both the Thai construction of upstream dams and the
and Laotian sides of the Mekong set up flimsy blasting of rocks and reefs that were good
camps on the islet to catch the giant creatures. places for fish to breed.
For the Chiang Khong locals, the hunt
is the continuation of an ancestral tradition. CASE STUDY:
For environmentalists, however, this show of China’s sweaters, globalization
man’s conquest over mystical creatures is a and air pollution
threat to an endangered species that can only Finally, here are parts of an exceptional
be found on the Mekong. piece of environmental journalism that
The glare on the Chiang Khong fishermen explores the links and cross-border
is increasingly stern as the numbers of pla connections we have been talking about.
beuk decline. It explains how Western consumers of
In 1990, Chiang Khong scored its cashmere sweaters (which come from
highest catch ever — 69. But since then, the the hair of goats) created environmental
numbers have declined hand in hand with the problems on the prairies in China, which
ecological deterioration of the Mekong itself. in turn created air pollution in the US. It
During 2001-3, no pla buek were caught focuses on ordinary people, like Shatar the
at all…. herdsman, and has expert commentary.
“Blaming the fishermen for the decline of It provides context and history, and uses
the pla buek is absolutely not fair,” said Rian details to paint clear pictures.
The price we pay for China’s boom

By Evan Osnos
Chicago Tribune
ON THE ALASHAN PLATEAU, China

A nicely written top with two Shatar the herdsman squinted into the twilight on the ruined
paragraphs that read like a grasslands where Genghis Khan once galloped.
novel. He frowned and called his goats. The wind tasted like
dust.
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But we don’t wait long until On the other side of the world, another morning
the writer links the goats dawned in the historic embrace between the world’s low-
in China to consumers in cost factory and its best customer. Every minute of every day
America. last year, America gobbled up $463,200 worth of Chinese
goods —including millions of cashmere sweaters made from
the hair of goats like Shatar’s.
In less than a decade, a deluge of cheap cashmere from
China has transformed a centuries-old industry, stripping the
plush fabric of its pricey pedigree and making it available in
big-box America. Chinese-made cashmere sweaters now go
for as little as $19.99.
There isn’t a single nut graf, But behind the inexpensive Made in China tag
but several grafs that explain is something Americans rarely see: the cascade of
the point of the story. The consequences around the world when the full might of
writer says it three different Chinese production and US consumption converge on a
ways. It’s clear what this scarce natural resource.
story is about, and why we With all the grand ways to measure the impact of
should care. (5th through 7th China’s ascent--the mountains of exports, the armadas of
paragraphs) oil tankers--there might seem little reason to take stock of a
commodity as innocuous as cashmere. Yet the improbable
connection between cheap sweaters, Asia’s prairies and
America’s air captures how the most ordinary shifts in the
global economy are triggering extraordinary change.
This is the story of how your sweater pollutes the air you
breathe — and how the rise of China shapes the world.
Now the body of the story The country’s enormous herds of cashmere-producing
begins, with background goats have slashed the price of sweaters. But they also have
and context that help us helped graze Chinese grasslands down to a moonscape,
understand the big picture. unleashing some of the worst dust storms on record. This in
turn fuels a plume of pollution heavy enough to reach the
skies over North America.
China’s breakneck consumption of raw materials is part
of an economic revolution that has lifted 400 million Chinese
out of poverty but at a growing environmental cost around
the globe. And with their burgeoning appetite for Chinese
goods, American consumers have become crucial if unwitting
partners, financing the political survival of Beijing’s one-party
regime.
Not only has China’s demand for resources proved strong
enough to turn its grasslands into a dust bowl, it has driven
illegal logging into prized tropical forests and restaged a risky
Great Game for control of vital oil supplies.
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Every product — every T-shirt, every SUV, every child’s toy

— has a global footprint defined by the resources and energy
used to make it. In the case of cashmere, America snapped
up a record-smashing 10.5 million Chinese sweaters last year,
15 times as many as a decade ago, and far more than every
cashmere sweater imported last year from Italy and the United
Kingdom combined.
It’s impossible to say how much any single product
contributes to China’s choking air pollution. But the spike in
demand for cashmere is taking a toll on the soil, air and water
in China as well as the US — a cost that never appears on any
store’s tag. And many consumers are unaware of the link.
“I would never have imagined,” Colleen Young said amid
the bulk Cheerios and plasma TVs at a Costco on Chicago’s
North Side. “When you’re shopping for a sweater, you would
never think of pollution. Maybe the poor animal, maybe slave
labor. But never pollution.”
Still, she gazed appreciatively at the $69.99 lavender
crewneck in her hands, pulling at the Chinese-made sweater’s
waistline to test the quality. “That’s a really good price,”
she said. “This is every bit as nice as the one I bought at
Bloomingdale’s.”
A grassless prairie
Now back to our goat herder, As goats go, Shatar’s are thoroughbreds — crystal-white
the thread that holds the story coats, pure bloodlines and the durability to withstand China’s
together. Note the details punishing north, where summer boils to 107 degrees and
(not too many) that paint a winter sinks to 33 degrees below zero.
picture for readers, and the Straddling the Mongolian border, far from China’s
comparison between cashmere throbbing cities, the Alashan Plateau produces the world’s
and human hair. most expensive cashmere — that downy underlayer of a goat’s
hair that sells for at least six times the price of ordinary wool.
Side by side under a microscope, Alashan cashmere makes a
single human hair look like rope.
Shatar, 51, who like most Chinese nomads uses one name,
grew up here. He has ridden two decades of China’s cashmere
boom, enlarging his herd by one-third, to more than 300,
and steadily pushing production. The profits have given him
a small three-room house and paid for his daughter’s college
education.
Good writing refers to previous But something in Alashan has gone wrong.
scenes. In this case, Shatar Shatar called his goats once more, and the animals
“called his goats once more.
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trudged into view. Their wispy coats fluttered in the wind. They
limped up a hill and slumped to the ground around him. They
were starving.
“Look at them. They have nothing to eat,” Shatar said.
Throwing handfuls of dry corn, he added, “If it keeps up this
way, I’ll have to sell half the animals.”
This stretch of China’s mythic grasslands, one of the
world’s largest prairies, is running out of grass. The land is so
barren that Shatar and other herders buy cut grass and corn
by the truckload to keep their animals alive. Goats are so weak
that some herders carry the stragglers home by motorcycle.
Shatar expects most of his goats will live 10 years, half the life
span of their parents.
The animals’ birthrate is sinking too. Shatar once had 100
new goats each spring. This year he got 40. Even the precious
cashmere has begun to suffer. Hungry goats are sprouting
shorter, coarser, less valuable fleece.
Shatar crouched to grab a clump of gravelly dust from his
family land. When he was young, it was carpeted in green.
“Our life depends on nature,” he said softly. “Things are
getting worse year by year.”
He stood and cast aside the handful of thin, russet-colored
earth. It vanished into the breeze.
The next section explains the history of cashmere, once a luxury product now mass-
produced in China after the country adopted market reforms. China accounts for the
bulk of the world’s $350 billion textile trade, we are told, exporting an estimated 20
billion finished garments a year. The writer let us know that is “more than three pieces of
clothing for every person on Earth” — a nice way of helping us understand a big number.
The story includes interviews with owners of Chinese factories where cashmere
sweaters are made. After explaining the business, the writer returns to his theme: the
environmental impact. The revolution in the cashmere industry is putting pressure on
both their business and the land that sustains it.
So many cashmere plants and other industries have

opened in Alashan that authorities must ration water, forcing
each factory to close for days at a time. Herders are forgetting
the names of grasses that have vanished as their goats have
helped denude the land.
“Desertification is a big problem, and we know that all
types of goats are rather voracious and tend to damage the
fragile pasture,” said Swiss cashmere executive Francis Patthey
in a speech to Chinese suppliers.
The problem is being ignored, Patthey said. And it’s easy
to see why. With US demand at an all-time high, companies
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continue to build new factories and buy more expensive

equipment--putting themselves deeper in debt. That glut of
production, in turn, pushes prices ever lower.
At Lingwu Zhongyin Cashmere, a high-end producer
where workers were busy stitching Saks Fifth Avenue labels
onto pale blue sweaters, executive Ma Feng said he worries
that the system is overheating.
“People forget this: Cashmere is not like cotton,” Ma said.
“It’s a very limited natural resource.”
The limits of that resource have become impossible
to ignore. Just down the street from Alashan’s cashmere
factories, bright yellow sand dunes rise from the horizon like
an implausible movie set.
Without grass and shrubs to hold the dunes in place any
longer, the deserts in Alashan are expanding by nearly 400
square miles a year. The land, it seems, is reclaiming itself from
the people.
The next section in the story includes a brief history of how China’s prairies were
developed under Mao Tse tung, how population grew, and how people tried to cultivate
the grasslands. This sets the scene for an interview with a man who switched from raising
camels to goats, and the devastating impact the practice has had on the land.
Like many other herders on the Alashan Plateau, Biligedeli,

51, shifted from camels to goats, whose hair is more lucrative.
“A herding family will watch what animals bring the most
economic benefit,” he said.
But details as seemingly insignificant as the shape of
a hoof or the style of eating were changing the fragile
grasslands.
Commentary from an expert “Have you ever done any ballroom dancing with someone
who offers a nice analogy of who steps on your foot? The goats have stiletto heels,” which
goats and high heels. break up the delicate plants that hold the dust in place,
said Martin Williams, an authority on desertification at the
University of Adelaide in Australia. “The camels have broad,
soft pads. So a camel can tread on you and you wouldn’t feel
it.”
Goats also are expert foragers.
“They graze down to lower levels and pull up stuff, where a

camel would be browsing,” Williams said. “The goats nibble
at the bark around seedlings which transports nutrients to the
plant, so once that bark has been damaged, the plant will die.”
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Across Inner Mongolia, the number of goats soared

tenfold from 2.4 million in 1949 to 25.8 million in 2004.
Camels, meanwhile, declined 8 percent to 10,100.
Today, China’s grasslands, the world’s third-largest, are
turning into deserts. In just five years, from 1994 to 1999, the
Gobi Desert expanded by an area larger than the Netherlands,
according to the UN Environment Program.
More links — this time to silt Not only does that rob farmers and herders of valuable
in rivers land, but similarly eroding grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
in western China also deposit silt into the headwaters of rivers
that flow to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia.
And back to an ordinary Biligedeli the herder lives amid the consequences. His land
person to help us understand is barren. Standing beside his goat pen, he stared at his ailing
the impacts herd, which produced just two surviving kids this year--down
from 70 a year ago.
Sand as fine as talc clung to the base of scattered grass.
Irrigation has further desiccated the soil. From the western
edge of Biligedeli’s parched plot,
the wind off the plateau raked the
ground and headed east--straight
toward the country’s industrial
heartland.
A plume of destruction
On Sunday, April 9, Beijing residents

woke to an unnerving sight: the sky
was orange.
A blizzard of dust hung in the
wind and blanketed cars, trees and
rooftops. It mixed with industrial
pollution and formed a soupy cloud.
Environmental officials warned
Many consider instant communications a human right. children and the elderly not to open
windows or go outside while the city
weathered the worst air pollution of the year.
Such storms are increasingly common. In the 1950s, China
suffered an average of five dust and sand storms each year;
in the 1970s, the average rose to 14, and in the 1990s storms
struck 23 times each year, according to a 2005 study by the
Asian Development Bank. That study found that for the past
decade, Alashan has been the source of most sandstorms
originating in China.
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A storm in 2002 forced 1.8 million South Koreans to seek

medical help and cost the country $7.8 billion in damage to
industries such as airlines and semiconductors, said the state-
run Korea Environment Institute.
Scientists thought that was as far as China’s pollution
could reach. But a wave of new research is detailing how
China’s dust and dirty air hurtle across the Pacific, fouling the
sky, thickening the haze and altering the climate in the US.
“We had one storm in East Asia which we called the
perfect dust storm,” said Barry Huebert, an oceanographer
at the University of Hawaii. “There are good images of it
following over the Pacific as a yellow plume. When it got to
Colorado, it reduced visibility enough to make the national
news. It continued east, and the last measurement was in the
Canary Islands” off the west coast of Africa.
What scientists call trans-Pacific transport is an airborne
highway of dust and pollutants. Indeed, just as China’s air
comes to the US, North American pollution traverses the
Atlantic. But China’s air poses particular hazards because it is
some of the world’s filthiest. Roughly 300,000 people die each
year in China of diseases linked to air pollution, according to a
Chinese research institute.
The main culprit is coal. About 70 per cent of China’s
soaring energy needs are met by coal-fired power plants.
Many private homes also burn coal, combining to give China
some of the world’s highest emissions of sulfur dioxide, soot
and other pollutants.
The goats play an important role as well. Dust from the
animal-ravaged grasslands of Alashan is snatched by wind and
sent east, where smokestacks frost it in a layer of pollution.
Together the noxious brew reaches the US within five days,
where it can combine with local pollution to exceed the limits
of healthy air, said Rudolf Husar, an atmospheric chemist at
Washington University in St. Louis.
Of most concern are ultratiny particles that lodge deep in
the lungs, contributing to respiratory damage, heart disease
and cancer. One storm that began in China and Mongolia
in spring 1998 caused a spike in air pollution that prompted
health officials in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and British
Columbia to issue warnings to the public.
That storm was strong enough to drape a brown cloud
over the West Coast. Most of the time, China’s dirty dust is
invisible to everyone except the growing ranks of researchers
troubled by it.
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The writer includes more information on the work of scientists studying the dust clouds
before telling us what’s being done about the problem.
Chinese environmental authorities recognize the damage

contributed by overgrazing and are struggling to stem it. They
have stitched massive checkered straw mats into the surface of
the desert, dropped seeds from planes and planted millions of
trees nationwide. Nothing has solved the problem.
Officials on the front line of the advancing deserts are
scrambling to undo the damage that got them here. In Inner
Mongolia they have banned grazing on 163,000 square miles-
-more than a third of the province--since 2000, with broader
bans to come. Other herders have been required to lock up
their animals and feed them by hand….
If China’s measures to address the issue don’t have a
real impact, pollution will keep rising both within China and
abroad. For a world that has come to rely on China’s distant
engines of production, that will bring the costs much closer to
home….
The pull of cashmere
The story ends where it began: On the other side of the world, Shatar the herdsman saw no
with Shatar the herdsman choice but to leave his land.
After a long, bitter summer, the same cashmere goats that
had brought him prosperity now cost him a fortune to keep
alive. He was trucking grass and corn from 120 miles away,
consuming the very windfall that cashmere could deliver.
So Shatar and his family packed up their motorcycle and
shuttered the house that cashmere built.
They moved the herd 50 miles south in search of grass. He
was leaving the plot where his father was born. But he would
do anything to avoid resettling in a town, the fate of hundreds
of other herders who are succumbing to their industry’s
overuse of the land. Many of those former nomads can be
found in Alashan’s towns, listlessly growing wheat and raising
dairy cows--the nomad’s equivalent of a desk job.
“Herdsmen can’t take farming life because we’ve been
doing this for generations,” Shatar said.
In November, just two months after leaving his land,
Shatar returned. He was determined not to end up like the
other herders in town. Cashmere was too good to give up.
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politics and government
Chapter 8: often the most important questions of the

day. Central and local governments have
far-reaching powers over the way we live,
POLITICS AND from setting market prices to collecting
taxes and building roads and schools.
GOVERNMENT Governments provide essential public

services, enforce law and order, protect
fundamental human rights and defend
Politics widens horizons, pulls down their nations with armed forces. They also
walls and invites everybody in. A soldier regulate trade and industry, schools and
and a lawyer can meet here to work for universities, and many of the professions.
the common good of our country or to Politics is the art and science of
disagree as to what that common good governing. It also means running a
might be and fight to the death for campaign for election to a public office,
what they think is right. Politics gives a process that in some countries is highly
everyone the right to differ, the right scrutinized.
to his own conviction, be he soldier or Informing the people of new policies,
lawyer, prince or commoner. Politics is keeping governments accountable for
progress, is civilization, is justice and their actions, and contributing to an
therefore marvelous, some say; politics informed electorate is a high calling
is a dirty business, others will tell you. for journalists. We realize that political
You can put up arguments for or against systems vary widely in the region, and that
either side. Politics ennobles, politics each country has a different history and
corrupts. Politics inspires you with high tradition of how government affairs are
ideals, gives you the freedom and the reported by the media. With that in mind,
opportunity to fulfill yourself, to enjoy we offer some general tips on how to
the satisfaction of being master of your cover these topics.
own destiny rather than having masters
to arrange your life for you. Politics also Know how the system works
sets brothers against brothers, even
sons against fathers. Murders have been Most countries have formal political
committed in its name and in its name institutions, often set up by a constitution
great and glorious deeds for mankind or at an important point in history, such
have been achieved. Enduring friendships as independence from a colonial occupier
have been forged through politics and or the abolition of absolute monarchy.
through it you can lose all your friends, These institutions are usually described
your money, your liberty, your life. as executive, legislature and judiciary.
– Ot, son of Phloi, from the novel Four Reigns In addition there is a civil service (often
by Kukrit Pramoj described as part of the executive) that
Covering politics and government administers the policies of the state,
is the heart and soul of most news including the laws passed by previous
organizations because how we are governments. This latter fact makes them
governed, who governs us and how independent servants of the nation not
limited public resources are allocated are instruments of the current government.
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Many countries have regional and local Formal political institutions are often
political structures as well. absorbed into and have to adapt to longer
Beat reporters must know how laws existing traditional and historical forms
are made and the roles of legislative of political culture and organization. The
bodies. Many countries have a lower existence of regional loyalties is one of
body (known as a parliament, national the most important. Read your history and
assembly or house of representatives), current political analyses to identify these.
whose members are generally elected In the US, for instance, the federal system
directly by the people. An upper house, of government was specially designed
often called the Senate, includes members to take these into account, giving each
who may be elected or appointed. The of the states considerable say in their
lower house may approve laws and annual own affairs but also in how they elect
budgets, while the upper house may have national politicians. In some countries
slightly different responsibilities, such differences were ignored or politicians at
as approving presidential appointments the time tried to wish them away. But they
or reviewing legislation from the lower usually survive. Often they coincide with
house as a kind of check on its power. language, religious and ethnic differences
The head of government, usually a not always evident but still strong in the
prime minister, may have powers to issue way that people express their political
decrees or subdecrees directly through choices, including how they vote.
a cabinet or council of ministers. Know Sometimes old ways of ordering political
how these things work, and read the life become adapted to the new ways.
constitution, which includes the principles Traditional systems of patronage in which
and rules of how the government is powerful rural landlords dispensed favors
supposed to operate. to loyal subjects are often still practiced
by political parties. There are many other
Know how the system influences and invisible forces at work
doesn’t work even in the most “modern” political
systems, so look for these and keep
Most journalists know the formal updating and refining your understanding
structure of government. But good of how they work and change with time
political reporters know how they actually and personalities.
function. This is often very different from Bangkok Post journalist Kong Rithdee
what they were set up to do or what the provided this remarkable insight into the
constitution describes as their role. For patronage relationship between members
instance, the police and the armed forces of parliament and voters with this
are usually described in formal terms as account of the early life of Thai political
separate from politics and politicians. But heavyweight Newin Chidchob:
often there is a very close relationship
between them. Often senior civil servants Fourteen years ago, when he was a hotshot
and military and police officers change MP with a reputation for parliamentary
every time the politicians change. Of outspokenness, Newin Chidchob gave an
course, we know that in some places they interview to the Sunday Magazine of this
can be the same thing. newspaper, about an incident that made
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him, at the age of 12, set his mind on not educational institutions or even cultural
becoming a politician. or language societies. Some of these
“In the provinces, people believe that grow into pressure groups or liberation
each representative has to assume personal movements and then into political parties
responsibility for every constituent. If and eventually governments. Others get
somebody doesn’t have bus fare, you have to side-tracked into separatist insurgencies
give; if someone’s kid gets sick, you give. If and terrorism. But knowing their history
you don’t give, you get abused; if you give too and how they connect with local people
little, you get abused. If you aren’t available, and mainstream politicians is essential if
then your wife has to take over. you are going to do properly informed
“One day a man came to see my mother political reporting. This means you need
[because my father, MP Chai Chidchob, was to get out of the capital, away from the
away]. After talking to him for a few minutes, corridors of formal government to the
my mother ran upstairs. I followed, and I provinces and the countryside to where
found her crying. My mother explained that other forms of real political power can be
she had given the person 100 baht, but the found.
man had accused her of insulting him - even
though he had come specifically to ask for Go local
money. After 15 minutes, my mother regained
her composure, went down and resumed One way of doing this is to write stories
talking to the man. about local politics. Too many reporters
“To me, that really hurt. I will never forget stick to national politics and ignore what
that instance. I thought, is this the way my is going on in provincial and regional
family gets treated? Why must my mother assemblies and councils and even village
take this? That was the moment I decided I institutions. Sometimes these are elected
was not going to join politics.” bodies. Sometimes just the local leader is
Of course it didn’t turn out as he had elected. Sometimes there are no elections.
planned. Newin, whose father named him But that doesn’t mean there isn’t politics
after General Ne Win of Burma, grew up in going on or political stories to write.
a household of a patriarch who had been a Local people might be surprised, even
bigwig politician in their Buri Ram district. suspicious, to find a reporter looking
After helping his father run the constituency around for stories in their area, so you will
for 10 years, Newin, at 28, was shepherded have to build up trust and good contacts
into Thailand’s political safari — by that time first before you start writing about them.
probably not against his will. But that is what you will want to do
anyway because that’s how you learn.
Look beyond formal politics This is like doing research by focus
group. Many companies with products to
Good political reporters also look beyond sell use such small groups of consumers to
the formal political institutions to find gain detailed knowledge of their potential
political activity and good stories. In many market. They meet with them and ask
countries, political movements often start questions and try out their products
with non-political groupings, including and then take back the information and
trade unions, religious organizations, modify the product or the branding.
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on and again when

they have come up
with their findings. Too
much research is left on
shelves in professors’
studies and no one
knows about the secrets
they might contain.
In some countries
there are companies
or organizations that
specialize in opinion
polling. They use large
numbers of interviewers
and scientifically
selected interviewees
Is the national interest always well served by prestige public projects? called representative
samples whose ideas
Sophisticated political parties do this too reflect what all people are thinking
when they want to know what voters (samples are usually about 400 people
think of policies they are considering. at least). These can be very accurate in
Political journalists should try to attend predicting election results, for example,
as many meetings of ordinary people as but sometimes they get it wrong. Many
possible to gain a deep understanding of them poll the attitudes of people to
of what is on their minds, just like focus political policies and questions. They make
groups. Take notes, but you do not always interesting stories. But you should also
have to write about such meetings: later read them in detail to teach yourself more
you can write from the understanding you about what people are thinking.
get in them.
Spot the trends and the
Keep up with research rising stars
Sometimes this kind of grassroots When you immerse yourself in all this
research is being done by academics. So research and information gathering, keep
make sure you develop good contacts in alert to the possibility of the emergence
the universities (not just the ones in the of new political ideas and personalities.
capital) and in research bodies and non- Politics and political thinking are not
government organizations (NGOs). Meet static. Students are often the first to
the researchers and talk at length about embrace new ideas, so remain in touch
what they are finding out. Ask if you can with debates on campuses. But they are
go along with them and listen to some of not the only ones. Sometimes there are
their interviews. Again, you do not have groups within parties planning to change
to write stories on all these encounters. direction. Even in one-party systems
There will also be opportunities to write there are parties (or factions) within the
about research projects that are going party. Sometimes young officers in the
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CHAPTER 8
military develop new ideas. Sometimes become so dependent on, or close to, their
a remarkable politician is rising from contacts that they lose their independent
nowhere but is not yet known outside judgment and sense of balance. The best
his local area. There were people who way to avoid this is for political reporters
met Barack Obama many years ago and to be answerable to a strong senior editor
said: “One day this guy is going to be back at base.
president.” Of course, these are very One of the great sources of stories in
difficult things to discover and even parliament is the debates. Many of these
more difficult to write about. But they can be long and boring, but frequently
are immensely interesting to readers and they can become fascinating spectacles
rewarding to journalists. of language and live theater. In some
Being knowledgeable in these ways countries there are occasionally scuffles
will mean you can add both historical and assaults between MPs from different
and international context to your stories. parties. Reporters need to be selective
What happens today might best be and to use their judgment about what
understood by referring in the story to is important or interesting, but there is
something that happened a year ago, nothing wrong with covering such debates
or ten years ago, or even generations for their entertainment value. A great
ago. And what might seem unique to speech on the floor of the house or a
your country might be better understood ding-dong battle between two excellent
if you told your readers about similar debaters can produce wonderful stories.
things happening in neighboring Be a good note-taker and try to report
countries or even ones far away. some of this in the form of dialogue,
capturing the exchanges word-for-word.
Covering the legislature
Some tips for reporting on
Many media organizations have legislation:
dedicated parliamentary reporters. In
• Don’t wait until a law is passed
some cases they have an office in the
to report on it. Let readers
legislative building itself and that is
know as soon as the new
where they go to work. They follow
measure is proposed, and who
law making, from the drafting of laws,
would be affected and how.
through debates on the floor, through
When would the law take
to their passage and signing by the head
effect?
of state. Some of this can be exciting for
reporters — being among the men and • Report who sponsored the law
women of power, who they sometimes and why, and who is backing
even socialize with. This way they the proposed legislation.
develop great sources and break great • Get reaction from people on
stories. But there are dangers: sometimes all sides of the issue so that
they get too close to this world and lawmakers, lobbyists and the
forget about what interests readers. public are fully informed before
Such reporters also often adopt the a decision is made.
jargon of the political world. Some even
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Policy and lobbying some countries it is quite a lot). Revenue

comes in the form of taxes on income, fuel
Be aware that policy is rarely formulated and the purchase of goods and services.
entirely by the prime minister or a senior It also comes through mechanisms such
leader. It’s usually the outcome of many as the sale of natural resources (like
forces working in different directions. gas and oil), and from profits of state-
Consider the influence of senior civil owned enterprises. With these revenues,
servants, academics or intellectuals, governments can build roads, hospitals,
spouses or relatives close to senior schools and pay the salaries of teachers,
leaders, civil society groups, activists, health workers, police officers and
powerful businessmen, neighboring soldiers. Sometimes governments borrow
countries and senior generals. Much to do all these things by the issuance of
lobbying and advocating goes on behind bonds, which they have to pay back later
the scenes. It’s generally a hidden but out of future taxes.
important part of the process. With the One of the key challenges for elected
help of good sources, and knowing what or appointed officials is how to collect
questions to ask, good reporters can enough revenue and then decide how to
reveal how some of these policies are distribute the benefits. Who should be
made. taxed, and how much? How much of the
In addition, coveted appointments budget should go to defense and how
to ministerial posts, diplomatic missions much to education and social services?
or government agencies are usually the Which areas of the country or city benefit
result of behind-the-scenes maneuvering the most? The reporter’s role is to shed as
or as favors for long-time supporters. much light as possible on these decisions,
Consider: and who influences them.
• Who gets what and why? Keep in mind:
• What kinds of deals were struck to • Budgets are generally considered

form a government coalition? public documents, but you may need
to befriend those with access to copies.
• What are the qualifications of the
new leaders? Write brief profiles of • Budgets are spending plans, not
them and what they plan to do. actual expenditures. Keeping track
of government expenses can produce
Budgets all kinds of interesting stories, such
as who receives lucrative government
Reporters need to know where the contracts and whether governments
money comes from, how much goes to are overspending on public works
which government departments, and projects.
what programs or communities benefit • Always compare a budget to the
from those allocations. The answers to previous year’s one to see what’s
these questions are usually contained in missing and what’s new. Who is losing
the government budget. funding and what social programs
Every day each of us pays the might be cut? What public projects
government a little bit of money (in are on the agenda: a new train
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CHAPTER 8
station, expansion of the airport, a reporters doubted Mr Samak was in any of

renovation of the football stadium? the small, old and hot toilets. Male reporters
approached to check and saw two bodyguards
Persistence standing in front of the last toilet in the men’s
rooms.
It is important to keep track of top After almost one hour, Mr Samak’s black
officials, and to get “sound bites” from BMW arrived. Then Mr Samak emerged,
them on the issues of the day. The crowd looking frustrated.
of reporters jockeying for position He approached and stared the reporters
around prime ministers often resembles down one by one before lashing out at them.
the scrum on a rugby field. But do we “I have never seen anyone as bad as
sometimes go too far? these damned people. I have never seen such
Some Thai journalists were so an awful thing. The prime minister was in
persistent that they waited for an hour the toilet and they were standing in his way,
while the late prime minister was hiding blocking him from exiting. Is this how their
from them in a public toilet, as this story editors trained them?
from the Bangkok Post reveals: “It’s awful, it’s shameful. Can’t I have
any privacy? Should I be filmed inside while
Journalists flush out Samak emptying myself? They should be checked to
see if they are insane. This is not human.
After his weekly talk show yesterday, Prime “I was sitting inside, as was my right. Who
Minister Samak Sundaravej played a game of has a problem? I would like just to shop and
hide-and-seek with reporters, lying low in a go to the toilet, but they kept filming. Are you
public toilet at a Bangkok food market. insane?
But the journalists did not give up the “Channel owners and editors won’t air
hunt, and were on the scene when a visibly my two-hour Thai teaching programme, but
flustered prime minister emerged from the they’ll keep filming the prime minister going
cubicle and lashed out at them. to the toilet.”
After finishing his live Sonthana Prasa Mr Samak’s presence drew a crowd of
Samak talk show at the state-run NBT vendors and shoppers.
television channel on Phetchaburi road Some agreed that the press were invading
yesterday, Mr Samak declined to answer his privacy, but others said the press was duty-
reporters’ questions about his latest cabinet bound to cover the activities of a public figure.
reshuffle and his upcoming trip to Si Sa Ket The hide-and-seek game ended when
province. Mr Samak left the market without buying
As usual, he then went to the Or Tor Kor anything.
market of the Marketing Organisation for
Farmers in Chatuchak district with a convoy Beyond the scrum
of reporters following.
At the market, however, camera crews Most political reporting is conducted in
and journalists could not find Mr Samak. But a top-down or insider sort of way. But
some vendors let on he was in a public toilet. keep in mind a lot of this stuff, while
After 30 minutes elapsed, and his van fascinating and important, matters only
and accompanying police car had left, to a small percentage of the population.
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Most people are too busy making a living Thai opposition leader becomes
or taking care of their families to follow prime minister
the ins and outs of politics. They don’t By Ambika Ahuja, The Associated Press
really think it matters if one politician
criticizes another and the newspapers BANGKOK, Thailand – Thailand’s parliament
then go and ask the one who was chose the country’s Oxford-educated
criticized what he has to say about the opposition leader as prime minister Monday,
other one (sometimes called ping-pong capping six months of violent anti-government
political reporting). protests that included a weeklong takeover of
Try making political and government Bangkok’s two airports.
reporting more relevant by focusing on The selection of Abhisit Vejjajiva marks the
their needs and struggles. You can start by first time in eight years that the government
getting reaction from ordinary people — will be led by an opponent of exiled Prime
from farmers and
rickshaw drivers
to middle-class
office workers
— to important
government
announcements.
This empowers
people to have a
say in how their
country is run.
By reporting on
political or social
problems from
the perspective of
ordinary people,
you are serving as
a bridge between
government and
the people — a
Economic necessity takes people to places they might otherwise avoid.
bridge that goes
both ways.
The following story on the selection Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has loomed
of a new prime minister in Thailand was over Thai politics since he was ousted by a
written for an international audience, but military coup in 2006.
it was also useful for readers in Thailand. Abhisit, 44, will face an enormous
It contains good background and context, challenge trying to unite the country — split in
a mini-profile of the new leader, details of part between the middle class that is his base
the vote and — something that is missing and the rural poor who backed Thaksin — and
from far too many political stories — manage an economy buffeted by Thailand’s
reaction from ordinary people. political turmoil and a global slowdown.
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His appointment is expected to bring power and later convicted in absentia on

at least a brief period of calm, although the corruption charges. However, Thaksin, whose
move unleashed new protests by supporters whereabouts are unknown, still enjoys
of the previous government. Abhisit’s image significant support among Thailand’s rural
as an upper-class elitist also could hinder his masses. Until Monday, his supporters had
attempts to end the turmoil. remained in control of the government.
In Monday’s vote in the lower house of Reaction to Monday’s vote underscored
parliament, Abhisit received support from 235 the country’s deep divisions.
lawmakers, compared with 198 for a pro- Abhisit and his party enjoy strong support
Thaksin former national police chief. from the middle class and many in the
As lawmakers arrived for the vote, business sector. Many of his partisans view
Thaksin supporters tried to block the gates of Thaksin’s rural base as easily manipulated and
parliament in a last-ditch attempt to prevent subject to vote buying.
the outcome. Riot police later cleared a path “It’s nice to have someone smart in office
for lawmakers to leave the compound. The for a change,” said Nutta Tangtrakulchai,
demonstrators hurled rocks at vehicles and a 26-year-old Bangkok office worker. “He
abuse at lawmakers inside but most dispersed is also an economist so he should be savvy
peacefully. about solving the country’s most important
Following the vote, Abhisit thanked problem.”
fellow lawmakers and the public but said But Thaksin supporters feared that Abhisit
he would not talk about politics until he would neglect the country’s poor.
was officially endorsed as prime minister by “Abhisit was born with a silver spoon in
the constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol his mouth. He knows nothing but wealth and
Adulyadej. This is expected within several days. privilege. How can he solve our problems?”
From a wealthy family of Thai-Chinese said Chaiya Paitoonsiri, a taxi driver from
origin, Abhisit was born in England and the province of Maha Sarakam, 240 miles
educated at Eton and Oxford, where he northeast of Bangkok.
earned an honors degree in philosophy, Monday’s vote ended six months of
politics and economics. His first name means instability caused by anti-government
“privilege” in Thai and his friends call him by demonstrations that began with a takeover of
his foreign nickname, Mark. Thailand’s government house and culminated
He joined the country’s oldest party, the with last month’s airports takeover.
Democrats, in 1992 and became one of the In September, then-Prime Minister Samak
youngest ever members of parliament. He rose Sundaravej was removed from office after
in the party ranks and in popularity, especially a court ruled that his appearance on a TV
among the educated in Bangkok who took to cooking show was a conflict of interest.
his clean record, polite demeanor, articulate His successor, Somchai Wongsawat,
if somewhat bland speeches and movie-star was removed from office 10 days ago by
looks. the country’s constitutional court. Somchai
The Democrats had been in opposition declined to comment on Monday’s vote.
since 2001, when Thaksin, a former Sukhum Nuansakul, a political scientist at
telecommunications tycoon, first took power. Bangkok’s Ramkhamhaeng University, said any
Thaksin was forced to flee the country respite from Thailand’s political instability was
two years ago amid charges of abuse of likely to be short-lived.
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“The fundamental problem has not been developing democracies to see if they
resolved,” Sukhum said. “A Democrat win sets are free and fair. These widely accepted
the stage for another round of street protests, international standards mean that
this time by pro-Thaksin groups.” candidates and political parties must be
Abhisit will also face economic woes allowed to campaign freely, that voters
resulting from both the global slowdown and a must be allowed to cast ballots in secret
domestic climate of uncertainty. and without fear, and that media must be
allowed to report freely and openly on all
ELECTIONS aspects of the election process.
Most of these principles are enshrined
In democratic societies, elections are held in the Universal Declaration of Human
at regular intervals to decide leadership Rights, which states, in part, that
at local and national levels. It’s one of a “everyone has the right to take part in
democracy’s most important activities. In the government of his country, directly or
addition, public polls are sometimes held through freely chosen representatives.” It
on specific measures, such as whether also says the “will of the people shall be
to adopt a new constitution. The latter the basis of the authority of government”
is called a referendum. Elections and and calls for free and secret voting
referenda are becoming more important procedures.
as Asian countries make the transition to The political context varies for
more open, democratic societies. The way each country, so you and your media
organization must decide how to evaluate
in which elections are held — whether
elections.
they are free, fair and credible — reveals
Media coverage itself can become
much about how that transition is going.
an issue because candidates may not
Journalists play a key role by informing
have equal access to newspapers or
citizens so they can vote wisely and, in
radio and television stations, which may
theory, choose the best leaders.
be controlled or influenced by one of
Journalists can also: the political parties. Meanwhile, state-
• Explain the proposed policies of controlled television stations may ignore
political parties and candidates and the opposition and the election itself
how they differ. but continue to report on government
• Inform citizens of their rights, such as activities, thereby giving the ruling party
how to register and when and where an unfair advantage. All candidates have a
right to be heard and to get their message
to vote.
out. Journalists should go out of their way
• Act as a watchdog by reporting when
to be fair to all political parties, putting
rules are broken or unfairly enforced. aside their own personal biases. This is
• Give a voice to voters so their concerns very difficult to do, but it will help their
are heard by political leaders. coverage be more credible.
Free and Fair elections Know the process and ‘dirty tricks’
Civil society groups and international The first step is to learn about election
observers often monitor elections in laws and the many ways they can be
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abused. In most countries, the laws are they have great influence over the
approved by parliament while many election process, with the power to
important rules and regulations are issued disqualify voters or candidates on various
and enforced by election commissions. In technicalities.
multi-party democracies, a date is set by Be on the lookout for dirty tricks —
which political parties must be formed and the illegal things that parties, candidates
registered. Each party may have its own and governments do to win elections.
procedures for nominating or selecting These range from physical intimidation
candidates for a general election, so find and violence to buying votes through
out what they are and how it is done. gifts and money to voters and village
Independent candidates may be allowed leaders. These tactics may seem normal in
to register, as long as they have collected many countries because they have been
enough nominating signatures from around for as long as there have been
elections. Keep in mind that it is your
job not only to know the rules, but also
to educate others about them and why
they are important. A candidate or party
that breaks the rules can be barred from
politics.
The way political parties try to
influence elections are often more
easily observed in the provinces. That
is why it is important for journalists to
get out of the capital city. In Cambodia,
the ruling party held mock elections in
Battambang province before the national
election. Voters were shown how to vote
“correctly” by ticking the box next to the
party’s logo. In other provinces, voters
were forced to put their thumbprints on
pledges of loyalty. Here’s the beginning
of one such story in The Cambodia Daily:
When Cambodian People’s Party recruiters

came calling last month in a small village in
A well armed society is generally not a well ordered one. Kandal province, they brought 20,000 riel
[about $5], a krama, some soup stock – and
registered voters. An official campaign a surprise visitor, the village chief.
period is announced, as are polling hours, According to residents in the small
polling places and voting procedures. Find town in Siem Reap commune, Kandal Stung
out who sits on the local and national district, the recruitment delegation tended to
election commissions and how they are come at night. And they rarely left a house
appointed — usually they are loyal to without securing the residents’ thumbprints
one political party or another and often on pledges of loyalty to the CPP.
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Defective infrastructure is a public burden and may be hazardous.
“We could not go against them, not money to get votes. Penalties for violating the
against the village chief. We were afraid for regulation include disqualification of party
our security,” said one villager, who asked his candidates and fines of up to $7,000 […].
name and the exact location of his town be
kept secret. Abuses on election day are also common.
Despite his pledge, he said he plans to Dirty tricks include local authorities
vote for another party. “We are tired of the old escorting voters into the booth to
leaders like Hun Sen,” he explained. “help” them cast their ballots; previously
About 30 km away, in Takeo’s Samraong registered voters not allowed to vote
district, another villager tells a similar story. because their names have mysteriously
“One day, the village chief came to my house disappeared from the poll lists; and
and asked me, ‘Do you believe in the CPP or election observers barred from watching
the opposition parties?’” said the man, 45. “I the process.
had to reply to him that I only support the CPP. When announcing election results,
This was my only choice … for my safety.” consider using graphics, maps and
The CPP’s widespread and aggressive charts to show how legislative seats are
membership campaign for the upcoming allocated, and what percentage of the
election has sparked criticism of intimidation vote each party received. Results aren’t
and vote-buying from other parties. And critics usually certified, or made official, until
say it violates election-law guidelines. some time after the election. Complaints
A directive from the National Election may be filed with the election commission
Commission dated April 22 forbids parties about irregularities during the campaign,
from using intimidation or giving gifts or which could result in winning candidates
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being disqualified. Losing parties may not most important thing that you want your
accept results and either hold widespread commune to do for you?
protests, or the ruling party may annul or “It is difficult to transport the crop
cancel the results. If violence or protests products, so I hope that the new commune
erupt after the results, be careful not to chief will make a better road for us,” said
write stories that fuel the violence, but Khun Son, 45, of Phrey Gneat commune
that search for solutions to the political in Kompong Speu. She is also chief of the
problems. election-monitoring organization Neutral
and Impartial for Free and Fair Elections for
Voter-based reporting Cambodia in Khong Pisey district.
We have stressed throughout this book
Khun Son is one of more than 5 million
and chapter the importance of including
voters registered to take part in the Feb.
the voices of ordinary people. So it
3 elections in 1,621 communes across
won’t surprise you to hear this again: Do
Cambodia. Voters will select commune
not ignore the voices of voters, for in
democratic systems it is the people who councils that will exercise new powers under
ultimately hold power, not the politicians. a system called decentralization. It transfers
Go beyond the traditional ping-pong power from the central government to
political coverage to focus on the needs democratically elected leaders….
and wants of citizens. Conduct focus groups
or extensive on-the-street, in-the-tea-shop Another story looked at what might
interviews to find out what people care happen to local governments after the
about and how they think politicians can elections, while another piece focused on
help the country. This lets voters set the the role of women in local government.
agenda, not just politicians. Journalists should also test the
Consider creating a voter’s guide campaign promises and speeches made by
that provides useful information on the politicians. Are they speaking the truth,
election, from stories about issues in have they twisted the facts? If they are
particular communities to profiles on major incumbents, what have they achieved
candidates. A voter’s guide produced for
while in office and how have they voted
local (commune) elections in Cambodia
on the important pieces of legislation?
contained 19 stories, including one that
If they are challengers, how would they
reminded voters when and where to
implement their ideas and proposed
vote, what sort of identification would be
policies?
required, how votes would be counted and
when results would be announced. Another
story featured interviews with voters Conclusion
across the country, highlighting their most
important concerns. It began like this: When Phloi, the main character in the
novel quoted at the beginning of this
We need a better road! chapter finishes listening to her son
Ot explain the meaning of politics, she
This is the most common desire of Cambodians thought for a while and then said: “Why
across the country when asked: What is the should we have it then?” ■
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investigative and in-depth reporting
Chapter 9: farmers, but for high-ranking generals to

build houses. The paper also reported the
agency failed to keep proper records of
INVESTIGATIVE which land had been demined.
In Hanoi, Tien Phong (Vanguard)
AND IN-DEPTH newspaper reported that a Vietnamese

company was illegally importing monkeys
REPORTING from Cambodia using fake wildlife permits

from Laos. The monkeys were then sold
abroad for large profits in violation of
Some journalists don’t care for the international wildlife laws. [See Case Study
term “investigative reporting” because at the end of this chapter.] Such reporting
they believe that all journalism is takes a great deal of time, effort and
investigative, at least to a degree. A careful research.
reporter not only tries to find out what Not all investigative reporting has
happened, but also why and how it to be about people or agencies doing
happened, who did it, and what might bad things. Over the years, investigative
happen next. Depending on the story, reporting has also come to mean:
the answers are not always easy to • Explaining complicated processes
get. Reporters must consult different
• Describing how institutions work or
sources, conduct many interviews, travel
fail
to many places and spend considerable
time reading documents. They keep • Reconstructing complex events
“digging” for information until they • Telling the hidden story behind the
have uncovered the answers to their public story
questions.
• Identifying and explaining important
There is, however, a traditional
new patterns or trends in society
definition of investigative reporting:
to expose corruption or wrongdoing • Exploring solutions to complex
and bring to the public’s attention problems like homelessness, poverty or
an injustice that somebody — usually drug abuse
somebody very important and powerful This is sometimes also called in-depth
— wants to keep secret. This is where reporting or special projects reporting.
journalists fulfill their role as watchdogs: Whatever you choose to call it, this kind
keeping an eye on the public interest of journalism usually takes at least several
and barking loudly when something isn’t days, if not weeks or months, of original
right. reporting. And it generally involves
Examples of investigative journalism publishing information that readers did
might include stories about a developer not know before.
cutting down trees on protected park
land or a government agency misusing How to do it
donor funds. The Cambodia Daily once
revealed that the country’s demining Investigative reporters use the same tools
agency was clearing land not for poor as other journalists: they conduct research,
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especially with documents, they use interviews with knowledgeable people.

their powers of observation and they Extensive interviewing: An
conduct extensive interviews. It is their investigative report often starts with
persistence, determination and enterprise off-the-record interviews, followed by
that sets them apart. reporting to verify information. This
Ideas: The story often starts with a stage could include interviews with
tip from a reliable source with inside experts, NGO workers, government
knowledge or access to sensitive officials, politicians and independent
information. Sources often wish to researchers. Reporters should not
remain anonymous or off the record — overlook ordinary people who may be
that is, they don’t want to be identified involved in the story, including villagers,
as the source of the information, which neighbors and shop owners.
means a reporter has to confirm and Finally, there is often a
verify the information independently. confrontational interview. This is
This can take days or sometimes even where the reporter seeks comment
weeks or longer. The more sources a from the person who is partly or
reporter has, the greater the chance wholly responsible for any apparent
of getting good ideas for investigative wrongdoing. These are difficult
stories. interviews, but they must be done before
But just as often the idea comes the story is published. The subject of
from a curious reporter who wants to the investigation deserves a chance to
follow up on a news event to find out respond to the evidence that has been
what really happened, why or how gathered. Often there is a reasonable
it happened, or what has happened explanation for why things have
since. Talking to people on a beat, happened. The target also may be able
understanding how things work (or are to clarify material to make the story more
supposed to work) and being curious accurate. If the reporter doesn’t give
about unusual developments can lead someone a chance to respond, later he
to ideas for in-depth reporting or special or she may be accused of being biased,
projects. For example, the government unfair and inaccurate. One mistake in an
may have launched a new policy offering investigative story could undermine all of
free health care to the poor. A good the hard work. It also may turn out that
reporter would investigate later to see if the people who gave the initial tips were
people really are getting access to free not giving the complete story, and were
health care, whether it is of good quality, using the reporter for their own ends.
and if the system is working the way that Documents can back up — or
politicians promised it would. contradict — what someone has said or
Background: Reporters need to learn alleged, and they often contain evidence
as much as they can about the topics or proof while adding credibility to a
or institutions they are investigating. story. Documents can include anything
Background materials include previously from e-mails and phone records to
published news stories, government property transactions and government
reports, reference books, industry budgets. Access to documents varies
newsletters, Internet searches and among countries, but some (like Thailand
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and Vietnam)
have laws that
allow members
of the public,
including
journalists, to
request copies of
official records. In
some countries,
these are called
freedom of
information laws.
In reality,
it may take a
while to get
the documents
through official
channels.
Sometimes, it’s Many developing countries don’t admit to their true carbon footprints.
easier to befriend
officials or those who have access to the each of the settlements. She used her
records. In any case, it’s important for powers of observations to set the scene
journalists to begin requesting access to for her in-depth story.
documents that should be made public.
Such demands can contribute to a In a treeless area 20 km from Phnom Penh,
culture of openness, accountability and one sees rows of wooden houses. Four to
good governance. five sad-looking elderly women talk near
Observation is often the best way a heap of wood for making cottages. The
for journalists to collect and verify women are among the people evicted from
information. A first-hand account Chong Kos fishing village and sent to live
is hard to refute. Observation also on 5 m by 12 m plots of land per family.
is useful because it leads to good Tears rolled down her cheeks as Mrs.
description, which is one way to make Tres Neang, a Cambodian Islamic woman,
an investigative or in-depth report more told of the eviction from Chroy Changvar,
interesting. It makes the story come where she had lived since 1980 and where
alive. her mosque is located. Now she cannot
Ung Chansophea of Cambodge afford the 10,000 Riel moto taxi fare to
Soir wanted to find out how squatters go to the mosque. She worries about the
— poor people living on property that anger of her ancestors. In this new place,
isn’t theirs — were being treated after she does not know what to do to make a
they were relocated to three new living.
settlements outside Phnom Penh. She
talked to former squatters, city officials Sophea then moves the scene to
and human rights workers and visited another community:
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One elderly woman, named Sen, said, and beat coverage. Successful reporters
while playing cards with four other women, set aside an hour or two a day to get a
“What business can I do in this quiet area?” bit of work done on a long-term project.
Her family relies on her husband, who is a Once the story seems promising, they ask
construction worker in Phnom Penh and earns for more support from editors to finish
about $50 a month. Ms. Sen continued, “Now the project. When lobbying for more time
everything is privatized and more expensive. I and resources, they must be prepared to
feel abandoned.” explain why the story is important and
Many cottages in the village of Mrs. Sen why it needs to be told.
have closed doors. Their owners have sold Ethics: Some journalists use hidden
them to Phnom Penh people. Some were cameras or recorders and go undercover
seized because of debts. Nearby, one could to report, which means they don’t identify
hear an argument between a creditor in a car themselves as journalists or pretend to
and his woman debtor over $24. The woman be somebody they are not. This kind of
accused him of swindling her of the $24 on reporting can damage the credibility of
the debt paper. Mrs. Sen said, “Some couples journalists, and could be considered an
have many children and borrow money just to invasion of privacy. On the other hand, it
buy food. They cannot pay debt and end up may be the only way to prove something
selling houses.” like corruption.
Journalists at India’s Tehelka online
Sophea went on to show that the high media group caused a controversy when
debt levels forced about half the squatters they pretended to be businessmen from a
to sell the new concrete homes they had company selling weapons. They arranged
been given. She was also careful to get meetings with Indian defense officials
responses from city officials to balance her and secretly recorded these meetings
story. with a camera hidden in a briefcase. The
Challenges: Although investigative journalists paid bribes to the officials,
reporting seems glamorous, it is hard arranged parties and meetings with sex
work and there are numerous challenges. workers, and tried to gain a contract for
Most journalists don’t have time or money the sale of high-tech weapons that didn’t
to conduct in-depth reporting. Other exist. Although the Minister of Defense
obstacles include difficulty getting access resigned after Tehelka’s reports, there
to documents that can prove the story, or was a backlash against the reporters for
pressure from advertisers and government using deceptive methods and entrapping
officials not to publish the results of an the officials. Facing government pressure,
investigation. Personal security and threats Tehelka temporarily went out of business.
are another serious issue. A journalist in In the US, two journalists went
Chiang Mai who wrote about corruption undercover to work in the meat
in the governor’s office decided to wear department of a supermarket. They
a bullet-proof vest. It saved his life when were able to observe how the company
gunmen attacked him as he was getting sold spoiled meat and fish and rotten
into his car. vegetables, and they recorded this on
Journalists may need to juggle in- hidden cameras. After the story was
depth work with everyday assignments broadcast on national television, the
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supermarket chain sued the reporters for be told in a series of two or more stories,
fraud, trespassing and disloyalty to the along with sidebars (short, separate
company. A jury originally ordered the stories). For online versions, you can
news agency to pay more than five million link to full documents you have used or
dollars to the company, but this was later include audio or full text of the important
reduced by an appeals court judge. interviews you have conducted.
Years before that, journalists for a
Chicago newspaper set up their own CASE STUDY:
tavern — called The Mirage — so they Illegal wildlife trade
could observe and secretly record city Let’s take a closer look at Tien Phong’s
and state inspectors taking bribes. It was story about the illegal wildlife trade in
good investigative journalism, but the Vietnam. Written by Quoc Dung, the four-
reporters were denied a Pulitzer Prize, one part series was called “A Trans-border
of the top honors in American journalism, Wildlife Trade Network Unmasked.” It
because jurors felt the reporting methods took three years to report and required
were unethical. Reporters, they said, thousands of kilometers of travel.
should not engage in telling lies. Here’s an excerpt from the beginning
Make sure you consider all of of the series:
the consequences before doing any
undercover reporting. Located in a remote place near the Ka Tum
Putting it all together: Before border gate with Cambodia, in Vietnam’s
you begin to write, assess all of your southwestern Tay Ninh province, the wildlife
evidence and make sure you have all the breeding farm owned by Tan Hoi Dong Co.,
information you need. Have you forgotten Ltd. is well known in Vietnam as one of
to interview key people involved in the the first farms in Vietnam to obtain CITES
story who could add more credibility? certification. [CITES stands for the Convention
Have you collected enough evidence to on International Trade in Endangered Species
prove your case? Does your initial idea of Wild Fauna and Flora, which regulates the
have to be modified? global trade in plants and animals.]
Don’t use everything you’ve But most people do not know that it
collected. Use only the best examples, is also an essential transit site for the most
most convincing details and important sophisticated and largest trans-border wildlife
quotes. Just because you’ve spent weeks trafficking network in Vietnam. This network
or months going through reports and involves forged CITES permits from Laos, while
conducting interviews doesn’t mean you the macaques are actually being caught in
should share everything with readers. Cambodia, which has weak wildlife protection
Consider a feature-style approach, with enforcement….
anecdotes that help tell the story. There is As this series of articles will document, the
no law that says investigative stories must Tan Hoi Dong Co. and its associates have long
be boring to read. used false documents to import wild animals
Finally, consider the way you package using their breeding program as a cover for
your material. Use photographs, maps, allegedly illegal imports….
lists, timelines and graphics to help Until now there has been no evidence
illustrate the story. The report may have to of violations of Forest Protection Laws
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involving officials in the FPD [Forest Protection revealed to readers how the investigation
Department] and the Vietnamese CITES was conducted and the challenge of
Authority — agencies that the Government acquiring key evidence:
and people trust to defend forests and
conserve endangered species. If the evidence In order to find the secret that enables Trung
in this article is true, an official of a Hanoi- Viet to import macaques, we attempted to
based international conservation organization acquire the original files concerning their
considers this a case of government import. Under the Vietnamese Press Law,
malfeasance. reporters are empowered to require relevant
authorities to provide concerned information
Quoc Dung received a tip from an or documents, which are not listed as secret
international conservationist working in records stipulated by Government. Just as we
a national park in northern Vietnam. He were told at the Cau Treo Border Gate (in Ha
wrote his first story in August 2004, and Tinh Province, 400 km south of Hanoi), other
later received more information from an agencies also informed us that all macaques
“inside” source. The four-part follow-up imported by Trung Viet and its network were
series ran in October 2007. Dung says approved by permits from Laos.
he was careful to collect information However, none of the government
from multiple sources and verify all facts. agencies would provide or show us copies of
At one point he thought of giving up the export permits from Laos’ government
because of the difficulty in proving that agencies. The Vietnamese authorities
laws were broken. He persisted until he repeatedly passed the buck, refused to
finally obtained documents critical to his answer or gave conflicting responses to our
investigation. queries, or were simply absent from their
A key piece of evidence was a offices.
government permit that allowed the
Trung Viet company to import 80,000 After nearly two months of waiting and
wild animals from Laos: 5,000 long-tailed many phone calls, the Forest Protection
macaques, 2,000 brown and pig-tailed Department finally provided the
macaques, 13,000 rare snakes and more journalists with copies of permits that
than 60,000 wild turtles. The permit allegedly allowed the monkeys to be
raised suspicions because it allowed for an imported from a company in Laos.
unusually large number of animals to be Dung traveled to Laos to meet
imported.
with officials and try to confirm the
Wild macaques are protected in
information. Among his findings:
Vietnam, but the law does not prevent
anyone from importing wild animals from • The general director of the Lao
other countries and then re-exporting Scientific Authority, which oversees
them for sale, if they have the proper all wildlife exports, had never heard
permits. The primates are typically used of the Vietnamese companies.
for biomedical research. Each smuggled • The Lao customs department told
animal can bring a profit of up to $500. Dung it had never issued transit
Dung, who initially worked with four permits for local companies to export
colleagues from other news organizations, wildlife to other countries.
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• A top official for the Lao Forestry said he had never heard of Trung
department confirmed that the entire Viet company and said he suspected
set of documents allowing the Lao the permits were not real. (Dung
company to export 80,000 wild animals provided a transcript of the interview
to Trung Viet company was fake. to convince his audience. An excerpt
• Lao officials concluded the stamps is included below because it is a
and seals on the documents provided good example of interviewing for an
by Vietnamese authorities were not investigation.)
authentic.
Interview with the Director of Xay
• The director of the Lao company
Savang Company
(known as Xay Savang Co.) whose
name appeared on the wildlife permits
Below is part of the interview with the Director
denied exporting wildlife. He also
of Xay Savang Company with the help of a Lao
interpreter who translated
into Vietnamese.
Reporter: Have you ever
transported wild animals to
third countries, including
Vietnam?
Xay Savang: Never.
Reporter: Has your
company ever exported wild
animals captured in Laos to
other countries?
Xay Savang: Never.
Reporter: Do you have
any foreign counterparts in
the wildlife trade?
Xay Savang: No, except
recent cooperation with a
Chinese partner to develop
a 22-hectare farm, which
received a permit to operate
in late 2005.
Reporter: Do you know
any Vietnamese business
named Trung Viet, based in
Hai Phong City of Vietnam?
Xay Savang: I have
never heard of this company.
There are many Vietnamese
companies dealing with us in
People don’t always wear their true hats in public. several fields such as timber
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import and export and consumer products. between the numbers of animals imported
None of them has a name like that. by the company. The Forest Protection
Reporter: Have you seen this set of Department had one number, the CITES
documents? (I hand Mr. Keosavang a copy of website had a slightly different number,
the documents provided to me by the Vietnam and local border crossings recorded much
FPD, permit No 0852 issued on 12 April 2004, higher numbers. The reporters ultimately
concerning the business between Xay Savang concluded that an original wildlife
Company and Trung Viet Company) permit from Lao authorities pertaining to
Xay Savang: I don’t know this set of Malaysia was altered by the Vietnamese
documents. May be someone has borrowed company and covered up by Vietnamese
my company’s name to carry out his business? authorities.
Reporter: Can I ask again: Have you ever Dung says the most challenging part of
heard, seen or received this set of documents? the investigation was his “loneliness.” “All
Xay Savang: This is the first time I’ve ever of my colleagues who were involved in the
seen them. case with me at the beginning have now
Reporter: Do you think these documents given up due to sensitive reasons,” Dung
are fake? said. “Gangs were so strong that their
Xay Savang: I think so. network remains unchanged after my
Reporter: Please tell us if your farm is investigative features. Among the accused,
capable of exporting wild animals to Vietnam? some have kept silent, some government
Xay Savang: We just started the business officials from the FPD [Forest Protection
and have never exported any wildlife to Department] came to my newspaper to
Vietnam. give weak reactions on my feature and
Reporter: Are any of your counterparts in simply ask me to stop writing.”
this business from Vietnam? But Dung had strong support from his
Xay Savang: No. We work with a Chinese deputy editor-in-chief, as well as financial
partner. They contributed the share of one support from the Earth Journalism
million USD. We contribute 300,000 USD Network to carry out his research. His
through land use and infrastructure. stories won numerous national and
international awards.
The interview confirmed the reporter’s
suspicions that the documents were
almost certainly forged.
Dung was careful to give fair response
to the director of Trung Viet, who insisted
his business was totally legal. “I import
wildlife directly from Lao enterprises in
Bolikhamxay, Champasak, Sekong, and
Vientiane provinces,” the owner said. “All
of my shipments of wildlife from Laos to
Vietnam are permitted by the Lao and
Vietnamese management authorities.”
Dung also compared data from various
agencies, and found major differences ■
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covering crime and the courts
Chapter 10: Later, when the robbers were caught, they

confessed to having used the nylon rope on
their victims.
COVERING Four members of the gang were arrested
and jailed on drugs charges and for being
CRIME AND absent without leave after being conscripted

in the military.
THE COURTS The story goes on to provide more

details about the time of the crimes,
Few areas of journalism have the potential and recreates the night Mr. Silatham
to recreate drama and suspense as much was robbed, as well as how the alleged
as crime: A murder, a mystery, a motive robbers were caught. This is a much more
(revenge, greed, jealousy?); the search for interesting approach than the typical
clues; a suspect; the trauma of victims; and straight-news lead, which might have
the grief of families. All the passions are begun like this:
there.
Take a look at how Wassayos Four people were arrested yesterday in
Ngamkhan of the Bangkok Post recreated connection with a series of armed attacks on
the drama of one crime: taxi drivers.
With a knife at his neck, taxi driver Silatharm There’s nothing wrong with that. But
Wicharach begged for his life as he became a the Post lead takes us to the scene of the
victim of the infamous “nylon gang.” crime, like a novel.
“Please don’t kill me. I have a family. Take Not every crime story needs to begin
what you want,” Mr. Silatharm said he told the with a feature lead like this. The details
gang as he recalled the incident in the early of what happened, in the order they
hours of Sept. 12. happened, like a kind of short story, could
appear in the body of the story, and still
The story grabs the reader with its make for compelling reading.
opening lines. The consequence of crime is very often
a court appearance. And, like crime, court
He said he counted himself lucky to have proceedings offer drama and insight into
survived the ordeal and to have lived to tell his humans: Evidence is revealed; witnesses
story to police. give testimony; the court learns what
He was robbed by five men posing as happened and why; there is suspense
customers who used nylon rope to tie him to before the outcome is decided by a judge
his seat before they took all his belongings. or jury; finally, there is punishment, and
The robbers then hailed another cab as if perhaps, atonement. The conclusion
nothing had happened. often brings “closure” to victims and their
In five short minutes, the robbers had families. There is much material here for
emptied Mr. Silatharm’s pockets of about good story-telling. Some journalists find
12,000 baht in cash and they also stole his crime and court reporting so exciting and
mobile phone. the demand for good crime and court
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stories so great that they specialize in viewed, for example. And certain cases can
them. There are even court-reporting contribute to the political development of
freelance agencies in some countries, a country, from corruption trials to rulings
feeding the mainstream media with cases of a constitutional nature. Knowing
from courts in the cities as well as in exactly why a court decides on a case
faraway corners of the land where some and a sentence can give readers a lasting
of the best cases can be found. insight into the changing social norms and
Sadly, many journalists fail to cover political culture of their society.
crime and courts in a way that truly
informs as well as entertains. There is little Know the system
effort to explain how police solved a crime
and made an arrest, or of the key evidence Both crime and court reporting require a
judges cited when declaring a person lot of specialist knowledge. Laws and legal
guilty. systems vary widely between countries,
When one of Thailand’s highest courts and in some the laws even differ between
disbanded the government’s ruling party cities and provinces. Take time to learn
and disqualified the prime minister from about the legal system you are covering.
office, readers of most newspapers only Ask lawyers and court clerks to explain
learned that the case involved “electoral procedures as you cover cases, and slowly
fraud.” That was it. The evidence was you will build up a solid understanding of
never clearly explained, and readers were the legal system.
left to draw their own conclusions as to There are some basic principles that
whether justice was achieved. This kind of can be found in most legal systems,
reporting fails readers. One of the basic although — as we all know — theory and
principles of well-functioning societies is practice are not always the same. Laws,
that people need to feel sure that if they legal cases and courts can be divided
are accused of wrongdoing (or are victims into different types. The most common
of someone else’s wrongdoing) the case categories are:
will be fairly judged. If people can’t see Criminal. Criminal law protects society
(or read about) what happens in court, as well as individuals, so when one of
then this principle is at risk. So, even if you these laws is broken it is the duty of the
only report the end of the trial, when the police to investigate and try to catch those
judges give their “verdict,” find out why responsible. When a case gets to court, it
the judge or judges made the decision. is the state, on behalf of all citizens, that
And get reaction from people involved on acts against the accused. In other words,
all sides as well as expert opinion if the the state is one of the “parties” in the
case is of wider importance — without case. This is why in some countries cases
criticizing the motives and the honesty are referred to as The State vs Badguy or
of the judges, because that could get even The People vs Badguy.
you into serious trouble. [See Chapter 11: In the criminal courts the accused
Journalists and the Law] is innocent until he or she is proved
The courts are important in shaping guilty “beyond reasonable doubt.” The
a society — signaling how severely or parties are known as the prosecution and
leniently a particular crime should be the accused. Lawyers for the state are
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usually known as prosecutors and ones newspaper) for libel and asks the court to
representing the accused are known as order the respondent to pay them money
the defence. Courts are often arranged in damages.
according to the severity of the crime. So, In many countries the criminal courts
if you steal something from a shop you are also used for libel cases. This is known
will appear in a lower-level court. If you as criminal libel, which means the state
are charged with murder you will appear is one of the parties in the case. This is
in the highest criminal court. often abused and very many countries
have stopped doing this
because politicians often
use criminal libel suits to
silence their opponents.
[See Chapter 11:
Journalists and the Law.]
There are sometimes
family courts within the
civil courts. These settle
divorce cases and matters
to do with children’s
welfare. There are often
reporting restrictions in
these courts. Children
in particular need to be
protected from public
attention.
Counter-narcotics offensive or public relations stunt?
Constitutional. Most
countries have some sort
Civil. These are cases involving disputes of constitution — general rules under
between individuals or organizations, which the nation must be governed.
such as companies. They do not involve Sometimes a law is passed or the
crimes, more like arguments, such as government or an individual official does
business disagreements. Most civil cases something that might break these rules.
do not actually get to the point of a trial A high-level court decides whether such
in a courtroom but are settled between a law or action complies with the general
the parties through their lawyers. In those (constitutional) rules of the country. In
cases that do get to court, the state is not Thailand, for example, contravening the
a party but provides the forum for the constitution can result in disqualification
dispute to be fairly heard and judged. Civil from office or participation in politics.
cases are therefore usually described as There are also in some countries special
ABC vs XYZ. The parties are known as the courts for political cases.
plaintiff (or complainant) on one side and International. There are also
the respondent on the other. One type of international rules that governments can
civil action that often makes news is when sign up to. One example is the Asean
someone sues someone else (such as a Charter, under which the ten nations that
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belong to the Association of Southeast investigation begins. If someone is

Asian Nations agree to obey certain suspected of committing the crime
specific laws. These include creating a (known as a suspect), the police ask a
free market in goods and labor between senior law official, such as a judge or a
the countries and allowing all citizens of magistrate or senior prosecutor, to issue
Asean countries guaranteed rights. There an arrest warrant. The police have to
are other international laws that exist by a persuade the official that there are good
sort of “consensus” between nations and grounds for them to believe the person
range from laws to do with ships at sea to might have committed the crime. Often
rules about the conduct of war. Some of there are limits to the amount of time
these areas of law are administered by the the police can detain a suspect and in
United Nations, such as the International many countries a suspect is entitled to
Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in be represented by a lawyer immediately.
the Netherlands. When Cambodia and Even when the accused can’t afford
Thailand disagreed over their borders a lawyer, the state pays a lawyer to
around the ancient temple of Phra represent him/her.
Viharn, or Preah Vihear, they asked the If the police believe they have
ICJ in 1962 to rule on the dispute. Some gathered enough evidence against a
special international courts are set up suspect, they then take the suspect
by international bodies to deal with before a judge or magistrate where
very serious violations of human rights, he or she is charged with the offence.
including genocide and crimes against There might be more than one offence
humanity. An example is the so-called for which the accused is to be tried and
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of which appears on the charge sheet.
Cambodia, a joint UN-Cambodian court For example, a man involved in an act
trying the former leaders of the Khmer of violence might be charged with
Rouge. possession of a dangerous weapon,
There can also be a number of minor assault, serious assault or
specialist courts, such as labor or attempted murder. Of course, the more
employment tribunals and bankruptcy serious the charge the more serious the
courts. punishment.
In most countries, reporters are Once the charges have been read
allowed to sit in the courtroom to to the suspect, he/she is then called the
cover proceedings. Judges may impose accused. From this point on, everything
restrictions on what can be reported. Find that is said by either side has to be “the
out what your rights are as a journalist in truth,” and anyone found to be lying
your country. to a court (this is called perjury) can be
prosecuted (though of course convicted
Know the procedure criminals are rarely prosecuted for lying
to try to save themselves). The accused
Here are some of the basic proceedings can ask for bail or a bond — money
common to many criminal and court paid to the state intended as a sort of
systems: insurance that he/she will not run away.
When a crime has been committed If the court thinks there is a very big
a case (or docket) is opened and an danger that the accused will try to run
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away, it can order him/her to be held in the prosecution might drop the charge of
custody. A date for the trial can be set. attempted murder.
From the moment someone is Before and during both criminal
charged, the case becomes sub-judice and civil trials, both sides have to
(literally “under judicial process”). Some make available to each other all the
countries are strict about this and allow information they have and which they
only a fair and balanced account of the intend to use in the court. This includes
court proceedings to be reported — documents, exhibits (such as a weapon
nothing else. So reporters can’t interview or something that was found at the
lawyers or family members and report scene of the crime) and the names of
what they say before the case is over. witnesses. Usually people who are called
This is to prevent the judge or jury as witnesses can’t refuse to appear. If
being influenced by anything other than they do not come voluntarily, the court
what is said in the court under its strict can issue a subpoena, which is an order
procedures. This is called prejudicing the to appear as a witness. If a person refuses
case and anyone who does it might be to do this, he/she can be punished. And
prosecuted for contempt of court. In fact, if any witness tells a lie, he/she can be
some accused have been let off because prosecuted for perjury.
a court decides they can’t get a fair trial When a criminal trial starts, the
because so much has been reported that accused is asked to plead guilty or not
the court’s decision would be prejudiced. guilty. Even if a person pleads guilty,
[See Chapter 11: Journalists and the Law] the court (judge/s or jury) has to decide
In civil cases the police are not whether he/she did actually commit the
involved in either the investigation or the crime. Of course, if the accused pleads
trial. The lawyers for both sides exchange guilty it usually means the prosecutor
letters until they get to an agreement does not have to try very hard to prove
or, if they can’t agree, one applies to a the charges, but if there are any possible
civil court for a hearing (also called a reasons why someone might plead guilty
trial) to settle the dispute. At any stage when they are innocent (for example, to
before the trial date, or even during the protect the real guilty person), the court
trial, the two parties can settle between will need to be satisfied that this has
themselves and the case will then be over. been properly explored.
Something a bit similar to this In most trials, where the accused
happens in some criminal cases: it is pleads not guilty, the procedure will be
called plea bargaining. The prosecutors along the following lines after the plea:
negotiate with the accused. If the accused The prosecution starts with its
agrees to confess and plead guilty to opening argument, summing up the
one or two of the charges or to give case. The defence then replies with its
evidence against a fellow accused, the argument of why it thinks the court
prosecutor might be willing to drop should find the accused not guilty. Then
some of the other charges, even the each bit of evidence for the prosecution
higher level charges. For example, if the is looked at in detail. Usually this is
accused pleads guilty to possession of a done with a witness in the “box.” The
dangerous weapon and serious assault, prosecution asks the witness questions
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and asks them to identify the exhibits. The case ends with closing arguments
The answers to this stage (known as by both sides. The judge or jury then
examination-in-chief) should add up to leaves the court to weigh all the evidence,
part of the evidence designed to prove returning sometime later (days, weeks,
that the accused committed the crime. even months) to give his/their verdict. If
the accused is found guilty,
he/she is allowed to ask the
court to consider certain
things before deciding on
the sentence (known as
plea in mitigation). Then
sentence is passed.
Only in minor cases does
it end there. Very often
the convicted person will
appeal to a higher court.
An appeal is not a new
trial. It is usually limited to
particular aspects of the
original trial, such as specific
bits of the evidence or the
trustworthiness of a witness
or something about the
If this is illegal, are they criminals or victims? procedure that counted
against a fair trial. If the
When the prosecution has finished its appeal is lost, in some cases there can be
questions of each witness, the defence a further appeal to a higher court, and so
can question him or her (known as cross- on.
examination) immediately afterwards,
as they come up. These questions are Covering the beat
designed to try to create doubt about
whether the accused committed the Sources. Most reporters on the crime beat
crime. Then the prosecution has one more develop good relations with police, from
go at asking questions designed to try local detectives to mid-level officers and
to undermine the doubt (known as re- supervisors to high-ranking commanders.
examination). It might even be possible to arrange
When the prosecution has finished to tour the main facilities of the law
calling all its witnesses and presenting enforcement departments to get to see
all its evidence, it “rests its case.” Then them in operation. In some countries it is
the defence calls its witnesses. This stage routine for the news desk to have a radio
follows the same procedure: examination- tuned to the police frequency to listen
in-chief by the defence lawyer, cross- in for big breaking stories. See whether
examination by the prosecutor, re- you can get the police to allow you to go
examination by the defence. out with them — off-the-record at first.
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This is sometimes known as shadowing take suspects to the scene of the crime
a cop. Once you have built up trust with and force them to re-enact events under
the police, they might allow you to go out the glare of television cameras. Journalists
with them on a raid so you can report it should remember that although this
firsthand. is common practice, the suspects may
Court reporters try to develop have been forced to make a confession
good sources at the justice and interior — through torture or threat of a harsh
ministries, and at courts and prisons. sentence — while in police custody. They
Attorneys or lawyers who represent may or may not be guilty. Journalists
defendants and victims are some of the should remember that those accused of
best sources, especially when trying to crimes have the right to what is called due
get balance to portray both sides. Good process of law. They should be careful to
relationships allow reporters to gain access report that “police accuse the suspect of
to information and to find out what’s killing so and so …” or police say the man
going on. is responsible for a series of thefts. Never
In many countries, police reports state as a fact that a person has committed
and court records are considered public a crime until a court has convicted him or
documents. They often contain important her of a crime. In the example earlier of
details about crimes, and reporters are the nylon gang, the story does not make
allowed to look at them. Court clerks clear that the case still has to come to
often control access to such documents, court. Even though four people confessed,
so they need to be cultivated as friendly they are not guilty until the court finds
sources. them guilty. Try to give some information
When you have a big case on your about when the case is due to come
hands, make sure you widen your before a court, and if it is not possible to
sources beyond the police and other give a date, still say that the accused will
authorities. Former friends and classmates be held in custody until they are due to
and teachers can help paint portraits appear in court.
of victims, suspects or convicts. Talk to Never report the name of a suspect
neighbors, witnesses, friends and family of unless he or she has been formally
those involved. Not all may be willing to charged with a crime. Remember that
talk, but you might be surprised at what police make mistakes, too. If someone
you can find out. Be sure to protect the is wrongly portrayed in the mass media
sources if giving their full names might as having been involved in a crime, their
endanger them. While a case is before the reputation could be ruined. All suspects
courts you will, in most countries, not be have the right to legal protection and due
allowed to publish any of this material, process of law. That means they should be
but you can gather it during the trial so considered innocent until proven guilty by
that on the day of the verdict you can go a court of law. Just because other media
ahead and publish the story with all the name a suspect doesn’t mean that you
background and comments. should too.
Balance. In some countries, police Also, avoid stereotypes — which are
make suspects appear at a press ways of describing events or people in
conference to make statements, or they terms of a common prejudice. A Bangkok
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newspaper once reported a story with crimes that make us cringe, but we
this headline: “Woman taxi driver catches still read them — such as this one from
Burmese thief.” Although accurate, there Christmas 2008:
was no need to use the thief’s nationality.
It simply reinforces the negative views that A man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire
many Thais already hold of immigrants, at a Christmas Eve party and then set the
most of whom are Burmese. Wouldn’t the house ablaze, killing at least eight people,
headline have been silly if it had said “Thai authorities said. Several hours later, the
thief?” This is a problem in newspapers in shooter killed himself.
countries all over the world. Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, who had
Look for patterns. Are more break- recently been divorced and is believed to
ins or hold-ups or murders happening in have lost his job, knocked on the front door
a certain part of town? Why? What can of a home owned by the parents of his ex-
people do to protect themselves? What wife in Covina around 11:30 Wednesday
can police do? Provide statistics and night, said Police Chief Kim Raney.
analysis by experts to help your readers An 8-year-old girl ran to the door to
understand their society better. One answer Pardo’s knock, police said. He shot
interesting example of this is the so-called her in the face, stepped into the house and
broken windows theory that says if you began to fire indiscriminately with a semi-
ignore small crimes then you create a automatic handgun.
climate in which big crimes flourish. It is Pardo was carrying what appeared
based on evidence from the maintenance to be a large present but was what police
of New York public housing in the 1980s. If described as a home-made pressurized
a window is broken and left, then soon all device used to spray some kind of flammable
around it other things go wrong because substance.
people have less respect and care for their
environment. So New York authorities Look behind the scenes. We usually feel
started making sure that broken windows our greatest sympathy for the suffering
were fixed immediately and that graffiti of people (or their loved ones) who are
were cleaned off subway trains and the victims of violence. We also feel sorry
that small crimes were subjected to zero for people whose homes are broken into
tolerance. Many people think the theory or whose motorcycles are stolen. But
helped bring down New York’s crime rate. often we feel a sense of moral outrage
Look for the unusual. A normal crime when we read about crimes in which
could turn out to be a page one story if there are no apparent victims, what we
there was something strange about it. call white-collar crime. These are cases
Perhaps a man held up a bank but left involving mostly financial fraud, such
his business card, or a thief got stuck in as tax evasion and false accounting.
a window as he tried to leave a house. There are, of course, victims: sometimes
Perhaps a man tried to steal a motorcycle they are investors or even pensioners,
— from an undercover police officer. These sometimes companies; often they are
are “stupid” crimes, and we can’t help but taxpayers or, when politicians or officials
enjoy reading about other people’s follies. steal from the state, everyone in the
There are also horrifying and bizarre country. Often the crime itself and the
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Does the press feed on disasters or make them less frequent?
Reinhard Siekaczek was half asleep in bed

evidence, if it ever comes to court, is so when his doorbell rang here early one
complex we find it difficult to follow morning two years ago.
and even more difficult to write about. Still in his pajamas, he peeked out his
But these kinds of stories can be greatly bedroom window, hurried downstairs and
rewarding if we are able to pursue flung open the front door. Standing before
them. Sometimes we need patience him in the cool, crisp dark were six German
because we have to build up a full police officers and a prosecutor. They held a
picture from many sources. One such warrant for his arrest.
case involved one of the world’s leading At that moment, Mr. Siekaczek, a stout,
companies, Siemens. The German graying former accountant for Siemens A.G.,
electronics and engineering firm ran the German engineering giant, knew that his
a special department with a staff and secret life had ended.
budget all aimed at paying bribes “I know what this is about,” Mr. Siekaczek
to government officials in countries told the officers crowded around his door. “I
where the company was trying to have been expecting you.”
win contracts. The New York Times
pieced the story together from court From 2002 to 2006 Siekaczek was in
documents, testimony in the trial and charge of an annual bribery budget
from interviews afterwards, including of about $40 million to $50 million.
with the man found guilty of running During this time Siemens concluded
the operation: 2,700 “business consultant agreements”
— bribes to well-placed officials around
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the globe. According to the New York to stories that capture the attention of
Times, the countries included Vietnam, readers right around the world.
Venezuela, Italy, Israel, Bangladesh, Take this example of an amazing civil
Nigeria, China, Russia and Argentina. case in Washington DC in which a judge
“Bribery was Siemens’s business (not acting in his capacity as a judge, but
model,” according to one law as an ordinary citizen), sued a small “mom
enforcement official. and pop” dry cleaner for $54 million
Siemens was found guilty and paid because they mixed his trousers up with
$1.6 billion in the largest fine for bribery someone else’s.
in modern corporate history. Siekaczek This first bit, which paints a vivid
was sentenced in Germany to two years’ picture of the scenes inside the court, is
probation and a $150,000 fine. from the New York Times during the case:
But the New York Times story did
not focus entirely on the crimes and the A pair of charcoal-colored pants at the center
numbers. It also looked at the man: of a $54 million lawsuit was unfurled in a
courtroom here on Wednesday, introduced
Mr. Siekaczek isn’t a stereotype of a white- into evidence by a defense lawyer who called
collar villain. There are no Ferraris in his the lawsuit a “nightmare” for his clients.
driveway, or villas in Monaco. He dresses “It’s a story of how one man has ruthlessly
in jeans, loafers and leather jackets. With abused the legal system and one statute and
white hair and gold-rimmed glasses, he caused a great deal of suffering for what
passes for a kindly grandfather — albeit one was essentially a hardworking mom-and-pop
who can discuss the advantages of offshore business,” the lawyer, Christopher Manning,
bank accounts as easily as last night’s soccer said, referring to Roy L. Pearson Jr., a District
match. of Columbia administrative law judge who
is suing the owners of a neighborhood dry-
And it explained his role as follows: cleaning shop here.
Mr. Pearson is alleging that the shop,
To handle the business side of bribery, Custom Dry Cleaners, returned the wrong
the executives turned to Mr. Siekaczek, a pair of pants to him, and along the way broke
man renowned within the company for his promises made in signs saying “Same Day
personal honesty, his deep company loyalty. Service” and “Satisfaction Guaranteed.”
Judge Judith Bartnoff is hearing the case
These are only some of the extracts of a and is expected to make a ruling by the end of
story that ran to 2,800 gripping words, next week.
an outstanding example of how to In emotional testimony, Soo Chung, one
reconstruct a story centered on a person of the business’s owners, said the case had
and at the same time give the details created an ordeal for her and her family, who
of an extraordinary case of the corrupt sat in the front rows of the courtroom.
world of business and government with The pants were introduced before
which we are all familiar but seldom see. Mrs. Chung took the stand. Fingering the
Perversion of justice. Sometimes cloth, Mrs. Chung told the court that she
people try to use the courts for their own remembered — because of the unusual
strange and petty reasons, giving rise configuration of the belt loops — that these
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were the pants Mr. Pearson had brought in for and Mrs Chung won the case. After the
a $10.50 alteration. verdict ABC News reported:
But Mr. Pearson has said the pants are
not his; he sued after Mrs. Chung and her “It’s not humorous, not funny and nobody
husband, Jin Chung, did not respond to his would have thought that something like this
request for $1,150 to buy a replacement suit. would have happened,” Soo Chung told ABC
“Economically, emotionally, and health- News through an interpreter [the couple had
wise as well, it’s been extremely hard for us,” recently settled in the US from South Korea].
Mrs. Chung said, breaking into tears. “He Her husband agreed.
would just come into the store as he pleased, “It’s affecting us first of all financially,
taking pictures as we were running the because of all the lawyers’ fees,” Jin Chung
business.” said. “For two years, we’ve been paying lawyer
In cross-examination, Mr. Manning asked fees and we’ve gotten bad credit as well,
Mr. Pearson whether it was reasonable for and secondly, it’s been difficult mentally and
someone to sue a merchant for millions physically because of the level of stress.”
of dollars for not receiving the satisfaction Soo Chung later broke down in tears.
guaranteed by a sign. “I would have never thought it would have
“Without regard to the law, as a human dragged on this long,” she said. “I don’t want
being, as a person, don’t you think it makes to live here anymore. It’s been so difficult. I
sense to interpret merchant signage in a just want to go home, go back to Korea.”
reasonable way?” Mr. Manning said. “I’ve been in the dry-cleaning business
Mr. Pearson, who is representing himself, for 14 years, but this has never ever
eventually responded, “No.” happened before. If anything happened to
our customers’ clothing, we would always
In addition to the court drama (including compensate them accordingly and fairly,” Jin
the verbatim dialogue contained in the Chung said through a translator.
cross-examination), the story provides
the necessary details of the case and the Associated Press went further in trying to
lawyers and judges involved. help the reader understand the case. It
In another report of the same trial, this reported during the trial that:
time by ABC television (carried on their
website), we learn more about the strange An attorney for the Chungs portrayed
Mr Pearson during his court appearance: Pearson as a bitter man with financial troubles
stemming from a recent divorce who is taking
Pearson became visibly emotional when he out his anger on a hardworking family.
recounted a confrontation with Soo Chung.
“These are not my pants,” he said he And after the verdict AP reported:
told her. “I have in my adult life, with one
exception, never worn pants with cuffs.” The case garnered international attention and
Pearson testified that Chung insisted, renewed calls for litigation reform.
saying, “These are your pants.” “This case was giving American justice
Pearson then rushed from the courtroom, a black eye around the world, and it was all
overcome with emotion. the more upsetting because it was a judge
You might be relieved to know that Mrs and lawyer who was bringing the suit,” said
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Paul Rothstein, a Georgetown University law One such case was that of a man who
professor. had a movie based on his life, Viktor Bout.
Rothstein said Monday’s ruling “restores Here is how The Guardian newspaper
one’s confidence in the legal system.” reported his appearance in a court in
Calls have come from around the world Bangkok:
for Pearson to lose his position on the bench
and be disbarred. The man popularly known as the Merchant of
Death for masterminding what is alleged to
As it turned out, Pearson did lose his job. be the world’s biggest gun-running business
When ABC learned this might happen, it made his first public remarks on Monday in a
reported cleverly: Thai courtroom since being arrested in March
to face extradition to the US on terrorism-
First he lost his pants. Then he sued in court related charges.
and lost his shirt. Viktor Bout has spent his 16-year business
Now it appears the plaintiff in the career trying to keep out of the limelight,
infamous $54 million pants lawsuit may be but he has emerged as a legendary figure,
about to lose his black robe. the subject of books and the inspiration for
a 2005 Hollywood blockbuster, Lord of War.
Sometimes governments use the courts Yesterday, standing in court in shackles and
to make big political statements. These an orange prison jumpsuit, the 41-year-old
are usually called show trials. Examples Russian shrugged off his larger-than-life
are anti-corruption trials in China and reputation as an American-inspired myth, and
Vietnam. described himself as a businessman in the
Put a human face on the story. How aviation and construction trades.
did the suspect go wrong? There’s often a Bout has been held in Bangkok since
fine line between law-abiding citizens and March, when he was seized in his room at
law-breaking ones. What drove the man a luxury hotel in a US-led sting operation,
to steal money, or lie or cheat? (The killer in which federal agents said they posed
Santa wanted to punish his ex-wife and as members of the Revolutionary Armed
her family for the divorce. And the judge Forces of Colombia (Farc) seeking to buy
who lost his trousers appears to have been sophisticated weapons. The US is seeking
distressed by his divorce too. No excuse, his extradition on the grounds that he has
of course, in either case, but part of the supplied arms to terrorist groups.
explanation for the events.) Bout, fluent in at least five languages,
At the same time, some people who spoke in Russian to deny the charges and say
come to court are celebrities, so their he had come to Bangkok “to relax” and hold
behavior is of double interest to readers. talks with “a Thai businessman who wanted
We are often gripped by the sight of to buy aeroplanes.” “I never met or talked to
someone who was once a banker or a anyone from Farc. I didn’t do anything wrong
high-ranking government official (even in Thailand. I have never been to Colombia or
a former prime minister or president) the United States.”
appearing in court, perhaps even in He explained his predicament by
handcuffs. In cases like this, make sure the suggesting: “The US is trying to use this to
reader “sees” everything. cover up its internal problems and prevent
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good relations between Thailand and Russia.” with doctors and medical personnel.
Another might check with police and fire
Accidents and disasters. Accidents are officials for formal accounts of the rescue
the bread and butter of many news and recovery effort. Reporters at the
organizations. When they are spectacular scene might look for compelling stories
or involve many people, such as a plane from witnesses or “heroes.” A reporter at
or train crash, or a building collapse, they the office might check with the company
become disasters. Always try to get to the that owned the aircraft or bus or vehicle
scene of an accident as soon as possible involved in the crash, while background
to talk to people who witnessed it or research can be conducted on the safety
survived it. You can also see with your own record of the company — when the
eyes what has happened — the sounds, vehicle was last maintained or inspected,
smells and sights you observe will provide for instance. The graphics department can
important descriptions for readers. But being preparing to tell the story visually.
do not interfere with rescue workers Newsrooms can be prepared with a list
and make sure you are not endangering of emergency personnel and experts to
yourself. contact in case of disasters. Meteorologists
Editors can assign reporters to cover can discuss the role of weather and
different aspects of a major tragedy. climate. Aviation experts can provide
Someone might be sent to the hospital to context on other airline disasters. Scientists
check on injuries and conduct interviews and safety experts can provide possible
Pillaging can turn a disaster scene into a crime scene.
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explanations. Geologists can talk about Not only could it be an invasion of their
possible reasons for natural disasters such privacy and cause them shame, it could
as earthquakes and tsunamis. also lead criminal suspects to identify their
Talking to survivors. One of the most victims and seek revenge.
difficult parts about covering disasters, Good journalists don’t use names
accidents or crimes is talking to survivors. of victims unless people are willing to
Some might not want to talk, while others speak on the record and understand that
might be experiencing trauma. Journalists intimate details of the crime could be
must be careful not to make survivors published. Respect the privacy of people.
feel any worse than they already do. But Give them a pseudonym or identify them
many survivors are willing to discuss what by age and gender but not by name.
happened, and family members often Home addresses of victims should never be
want to talk about a lost loved one. reported.
Some general guidelines: Approach The names and photographs of
survivors carefully. Offer a few words of children involved in crimes should only
condolence, such as “I’m sorry about what be used when identifying them helps the
happened.” If people don’t want to talk, public understand an important situation
leave them alone, but politely leave your and does not endanger the children or
name and number in case they change cause them embarrassment or harm.
their mind. Explain how you will use the
information they give you, and tell them Some final tips
their account may help others understand
what happened. Listen, show empathy Do not use police and court jargon.
and be respectful. Of course, some technical terms have
The Dart Center for Journalism & to be used, but wherever possible use
Trauma encourages reporters to take care plain language: “sentenced to a term of
of themselves as well. Covering disaster imprisonment” is really “sent to jail” and
and tragedy is stressful for reporters, too. when police say “a male of approximate
Some journalists covering the tsunami age 30 years,” say “a man aged about 30.”
of 2004 broke down because they were Be very good at note-taking. It is
overwhelmed by the scale of death and vital that what you report from a court is
grief and because they were working absolutely accurate.
around the clock with little sleep. The Dart Say where the case has got to.
Center — based in the US and Australia Make sure that all your crime and court
— recommends journalists take time to stories makes clear what stage of the
exercise or relax a day or two after a investigation or the trial has reached and
tragedy. If the stress doesn’t disappear when it might be concluded.
after a few weeks, journalists should
consider seeking professional help.
Protect victims of crime. Victims also
have rights. Journalists should consider
carefully whether to publish the full
names or photographs of people who
have experienced and survived crimes. ■
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CHAPTER 11
journalists and the law
Chapter 11: law-abiding citizen do in this case?

While your professional conscience
might on rare occasions encourage
JOURNALISTS you to break a law, do not assume
that the authorities (or your boss) will
AND THE LAW be sympathetic if you are caught.

2. Civil defamation, slander and
libel. The laws and practices relating
Depending on where they are, journalists
to these things vary from country
work according to many different rights
to country. But at the heart of them
and responsibilities and a variety of
all is the idea that everyone has a
restrictions. Some operate in genuine
“reputation” – what other people
constitutionally-protected freedom, others
(the public) think about him/her. As
in only nominal freedom with many
we all know, what other people say
shifting and indistinct limits. Some live
about us can influence this reputation,
with self-censorship and others even with
whether it is true or not. Bad things
total pre-publication controls. Maximising
said about us cause damage to our
the service we provide to our readers and
reputations. Here is one formal legal
surviving in these different political and
definition: “An act of communication
security environments can’t be adequately
that causes someone to be shamed,
explored in this book, but we can remind
ridiculed, held in contempt, lowered
journalists of the more general legal
in the estimation of the community, or
principles and pitfalls that they all face,
to lose employment status or earnings
wherever they are. The most important
or otherwise suffer a damaged
are:
reputation.” If this is done by word
1. You are a citizen under the law
of mouth it is called slander. If it is
of your land. In some countries
put into print, it is called libel. You
journalists have some small privileges,
might have to pay cash to the person
but in most cases we are subject to
you defamed, known as damages and
the same laws as everyone else. So
print a correction and an apology.
don’t be blinded by the fact that you
The amount is determined by the
are “chasing a story” and think that
extent of the damage inflicted on
somehow this will mean you can’t be
the person’s reputation as well as
prosecuted for a crime. This includes
the person’s rank or status in society
everything from breaking traffic laws
or earning capacity. Of course that is
to falsifying documents, concealing
difficult to estimate, but courts try to
your identity, trespassing on private
do so.
property or entering restricted public
areas. You might also be called to be Some things to keep in mind:
a witness in a trial if you know or saw • If someone else says it but you
something a court believes could be repeat it on air or in print, you are
evidence. While thinking of the best equally responsible. You will be
way to pursue a story, at the same guilty of repeating and spreading the
time ask yourself: What would any defamation more widely.
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• If you are taken to court by someone • It is possible to defame someone even

who claims you have defamed him/ if you do not name them. A court
her (the claimant), they do not have can rule that the person can be easily
to prove what you said is false. Nor do identified from other information
they have to prove that you intended either in your story or together with
to damage their reputation. The other stories on the same subject.
burden of proof is on you and in a Also, you can defame a number of
defamation court the standards of people at the same time – for example
proof are high. the board of directors of a company
• Even if you can prove something is or the members of a council, who
true, it does not mean you are free act together on many things. If you
to publish it. You can still be guilty of accuse the company or council of
defamation. You have to persuade doing something bad, the directors or
the court that it is in the public councillors can bring what is known as
interest for this truth to be known a class action against you and you will
or for this comment to be made and have to pay damages to all of them.
that it was fair comment. That is also • In most countries there is a system
difficult to do. (In some countries of what is known as privilege, which
you might be lucky enough to be let means that whatever is said, true or
off because you had good reason to not, can be published. This usually
believe something was true, even if it applies to debates in parliament and
wasn’t, and it was indeed in the public evidence in court. This is to ensure that
interest. But this doesn’t happen both freedom of speech and justice
often, even in the most liberal legal are not only done but can be seen to
systems.) If the story you write is an be done. Make sure you know what
account of an event or meeting, you is privileged in your country and what
will also have to prove that what you the limits are of that privilege.
wrote was a fair and accurate account Do not think you are safe from libel
of what happened. action because what you wrote was on
• Courts have little sympathy for the Internet rather than in a newspaper.
journalists who do not try very hard You might be even more at risk because
to give the person they are writing the Internet is global publishing and so
about a chance to answer the what you say about someone can be read
allegations against them. So, if you everywhere in the world and the damage
are writing a story that says someone done to their reputation might be greater
lied about something, make sure that than if it was limited to the circulation
in your story they get to be able to area of your newspaper. Also, you can be
deny it and give a full account of their sued for defamation in other countries
side of the story. This makes a big if the aggrieved party believes what you
difference to a court’s decision about broadcast or wrote was disseminated
what to do with you. Even if they find widely in that country (including on
you guilty of defamation, they might the Internet) and not just where your
order you to pay less in damages. publication is based.
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While this is not completely foolproof, defamation, in which the defamed

the best way to avoid defamation is to person can ask the state to charge the
follow the highest professional reporting person or journalist with committing
standards that should apply to everything a crime, is still used in many countries
you do, and ask: by governments and politicians to try
• Is my story in the public interest? to silence critics. People found guilty
• Am I completely satisfied that it is of criminal defamation are often jailed
true? as well as having to pay damages.
Most of what we said above about
• Have I written a fair and accurate
defamation, libel and slander applies
account of it?
to criminal defamation, but the most
• Have I given the person a chance to important difference is that it is
give their side of the story? often used as a threat in advance of
3. Criminal defamation. Because they publication or to stop the publication
value freedom of expression, most of further details about something or
free societies do not use the state someone.
to act against people who defame 4. Lèse-majesté. Most countries with
other people, even though the laws a monarchy have laws designed to
to do so still exist. They leave that to protect their dignity. Meaning “injury
the civil courts in which the defamed to the majesty or dignity of the
person seeks redress. But criminal sovereign,” these laws date back to
Some of the most daunting minefields for journalists are legal ones.
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Roman times when they were in fact has been said or reported might be
designed, ironically, to protect the considered to threaten the security of
Roman republic. However, in medieval the state. The problem with such laws
times the state became synonymous is that they usually allow for detention
with the crown, and ever since then without trial, so those accused of
the law has been used to protect endangering state security seldom get
monarchs from criticism. Most modern an opportunity to plead in court that
constitutional monarchies disregard they were merely reporting something
the law. In Thailand the relevant law is or exercising the freedom of the
Article 112 of the Criminal Code, which press. Seek advice from experienced
states: “Whoever defames, insults senior colleagues about how to avoid
or threatens the King, Queen, the landing in trouble on national security
Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be grounds.
punished (with) imprisonment of three 6. Contempt of court. Most countries
to fifteen years.” In Cambodia Article try (or claim they try) to protect the
7 of the Constitution states, “The King system of justice by ensuring a fair
shall be inviolable.” In addition, Article trial for anyone accused of a crime.
13 of the Press Law of 1995 forbids This means that once someone is
journalists to “publish or reproduce charged in a court, what can be said
false information which humiliates about them should not prejudice their
or contempts national institutions.” upcoming trial. This means it should
These include the monarchy. It is not influence the views of judge or
very difficult for journalists to know jury about the people involved or
when such laws might be used against the facts of the case. In countries
them. While in Thailand there is much where this is strict, once a charge is
discussion about the law itself, there brought against someone, the case
is no doubt that everyone takes it becomes sub-judice (under judicial
seriously and journalists steer clear process) and thereafter only official
of anything that might be deemed exchanges, documents and statements
to damage the reputation of the can be quoted until the case is over.
royal family. Critics of the law say it This includes all the proceedings of
is used not by the royal court but by the court, which are privileged and
politicians and activist individuals to therefore everything can be quoted,
try to silence criticism and attack their regardless of whether in other
opponents by associating them with circumstances it might be defamatory.
anti-royalist views. In Cambodia, lèse- However, court reporting has to be
majesté has not been used against a fair and accurate summary of the
journalists for some time. proceedings (so don’t add context and
5. National security. Most countries analysis as you might in other kinds
have a range of laws designed to of stories). If you write a story with
protect national security. They are sources from outside the courtroom or
usually very broadly defined and it is one about the court proceedings that
often purely at the discretion of the is not fair and accurate, then you can
authorities whether something that be charged with contempt of court
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CHAPTER 11
and could be sent to jail. In less strict fakes, journalists should be guided
countries, lawyers and commentators as much by their ethical standards as
are often quoted outside the court by the law. If you don’t like others
saying what they think about it. stealing your work, don’t steal theirs.
In most places, there are limits,
sometimes very strict, on what
anyone can say about judges and the
influences on them. If you are going
to write anything that involves court
action, be sure you know as much as
you can about how contempt of court
is applied in your country.
7. Copyright and plagiarism.
Journalists make a living from so-called
intellectual property — the product
of our mind’s work. If someone takes
what we write and puts it in a story
with their name on the top, we don’t
like it. We call it plagiarism. If they
sell our stories in their name to other
publications and make money, we
start feeling very unhappy about it.
The same is true of many other forms
of intellectual property – books,
plays, art, music, television and radio
broadcasts, film and photographs,
computer software, product brands.
Journalists who copy other people’s
work can be charged with breach of
copyright and can be fined, jailed
and forced to pay compensation
to the owner of the copyright. It is
not necessary for the person who
claims copyright to have to register it
formally. They just have to prove that
it is original and it is their work. While,
copyright laws do not protect facts,
news, ideas or information, they do
offer protection in the way they are
expressed. While copyright protection
is very weak in developing countries
and tends to be limited to cases
involving multinational corporations
acting against piracy, counterfeits and ■
164
CONclusion
Since 1945, the total

number of journalists
who perished on all
sides in the various
wars that have
wracked Indochina
exceeds 320. The
IMMF was created
in the early 1990s to
honor the memory of
these brave people
by contributing to
the development of
a new generation
of journalists in
Southeast Asia.
This handbook is a
tangible product of
The fall of Phnom Penh in April 1975 ushered in a ‘peace’ more terrible than the preceding war.
that initiative.
At about the time numbers in comparison to the more than
it was going to press, a “unique band of three million Vietnamese and over 300,000
brothers and sisters” met up in Phnom Laotians who died, the estimated two
Penh to mark the 40th anniversary of million Cambodians who perished during
Cambodia being irrevocably drawn into a the Democratic Kampuchea period, and
devastating war. The group was composed the more than 58,000 members of the US
of some of the surviving journalists who armed forces killed in action. Their deaths
covered Cambodia’s agony in the run-up nevertheless illustrate that journalism can
to the fall of Phnom Penh in April 1975, sometimes be a dangerous profession,
and the installation of the Khmer Rouge’s and that there was no shortage of people
brutal Democratic Kampuchea regime. willing to take serious risks in its pursuit.
The Khmer Rouge killed just about Many journalists active in the 1970s
everyone without prejudice, including have passed away, most of natural causes,
journalists — and later even their own a few tragically. The celebrated Australian
cadres. At least 37 foreign and Cambodian cameraman Neil Davis, who chronicled
journalists were confirmed dead or never Indochina in the 1960s and 1970s with
seen again during the war, two thirds such passion, was killed by wild gunfire
of them Japanese, French or American. during a failed coup in Bangkok in
Five Cambodian journalists are known September 1985. Bill Latch, his American
to have died during the fighting and soundman, also died.
another 31 were executed in its aftermath. Other journalists have died in
Some are virtually anonymous in death, more recent turbulence. Japanese
remembered only by a single credit on a photojournalist Kenji Nagai was shot
photograph. by troops during the September 2007
These are, of course, very small uprising in Yangon. Nagai’s fellow
165
countryman and cameraman Hiro ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Muramoto was shot dead during political
disturbances in Bangkok in April 2010. Jeff Hodson is a journalist and media
In 2009, 33 journalists were killed in trainer from the US who has taught
the Philippines alone, easily giving it widely in Asia, from Afghanistan to
the highest tally by country in a year in Vietnam. He has conducted numerous
which a record 71 journalists were killed regional and in-country courses for the
worldwide. IMMF since he was first assigned to it in
“This has been a year of 2000 as a Knight International Journalism
unprecedented devastation for the world’s Fellow. He is a co-author of the IMMF’s
media, but the violence also confirms Reporting and Writing News – A Basic
long-term trends,” noted Joel Simon, Handbook, first published in 2001 and
executive director of the Committee to in a second edition in 2009. In 2003, he
Protect Journalists in New York, which has was a visiting professor at the Indian
logged over 800 journalist deaths since Institute of Journalism & New Media,
1992. “Most victims were local reporters and from 2001 to 2002 taught at the
covering news in their own communities.” Royal University of Phnom Penh. He has
With so many journalists today worked extensively with Internews, the
concerned for their livelihoods and the Independent Journalism Foundation
future of their profession, it is worth and other international agencies. He is a
remembering those who literally gave former deputy editor of The Cambodia
their lives for it. Being killed did not make Daily, and has conducted in-house training
them better journalists, but it did prove for a variety of media groups, including
that the pursuit of a story can come at the the Bangkok Post and The Nation. For
highest cost. more than a decade, he was an award-
Many traditionalists in the media winning reporter and writer for several
are naturally skeptical of journalists who daily newspapers in the US, including The
become too much a part of the story, Seattle Times. Hodson earned a master’s
even unwittingly or in death, since they degree from Northwestern University’s
may serve as a distraction from the main Medill School of Journalism.
tale. Looking to the future, perhaps a
greater concern should be the danger Graham Watts is a South African based
of undervaluing the real contribution in Bangkok as an independent media
good journalists can still make to consultant, trainer and editor. He edits
global wellbeing and understanding by academic research reports and books, and
informing, educating and sometimes even has been a consultant to the Bangkok
entertaining the public. This advanced Post. He has been involved in training
journalism manual is intended as a small journalists in Asia, Europe and Africa
investment in that future. for the past 30 years – at universities in
the UK, South Africa and the US and for
Dominic Faulder several international journalism training
Editor organizations. He worked for 21 years at
Bangkok, May 2010 the Financial Times in London where he
was an editor on the world news desk
166
2001, reporting mainly on Myanmar and
Cambodia. He has held numerous board
positions at the Foreign Correspondents’
Club of Thailand, including president for
two terms, and was co-president of the
IMMF from 1994 to 2008. Faulder was
educated at St Paul’s in London and the
University of Warwick.
Getting teeth pulled in Mandalay is always quicker than

producing a journalism manual.
responsible for coverage of economics,

trade and global policy issues. Later he
was made editor of the FT Magazine.
He played a leading role in training
journalists at the Financial Times, and
has continued to do so since leaving in
2006. In 2000, he founded a business
journalism training website hosted by
the German government development
agency known as InWEnt. He has also
contributed to business and economic
journalism textbooks, one of which he co-
authored for Fudan University in Shanghai
for the Chinese market. Watts studied
journalism and political philosophy at
Rhodes University in South Africa and
the University of Wisconsin-Madison
journalism school in the USA.
Dominic Faulder is a British journalist

who has been based in Bangkok since
the early 1980s, contributing articles,
photographs and commentaries to a wide
range of news organizations. He was a
special correspondent for the regional
newsweekly Asiaweek until its closure in ■
167
Further Reading
Except for Getting the Story and the Publishing, 10 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA
IMMF’s basic handbook, all of these 94002, USA.
resources are written in English that may
be difficult for non-native speakers. They A Writer’s Coach: The Complete Guide
also deal mostly with situations in the US. to Writing Strategies That Work, by Jack
Still, they all provide excellent information Hart, published in 2007 by Anchor Books
for advanced reporting and writing. and in 2008 by Paw Prints.
Books Writing Tools, 50 Essential Strategies for

Every Writer, by Roy Peter Clark, published
The AP Broadcast News Handbook, by in 2006 by Little, Brown and Company.
Brad Kalbfeld. Published in 2000 by
McGraw Hill Professional Publishing. Booklets
The Associated Press Guide to News The International Center for Journalists
Writing (3rd edition), by Rene J. Cappon. has produced the following:
Published in 2005 by ARCO.
Ten Practical Tips for Environmental
Getting the Story. This is a textbook and Reporting, by Peter Nelson.
a video tape produced in 1990 by the
International Center for Journalists, 1616 Ten Practical Tips for Business and
H Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington DC Economic Reporting in Developing
20006-4999, USA. Countries, by Paul Hemp.
A Handbook for Cambodian Journalists, by Ten Steps to Investigative Reporting, by

Huw Watkin. Published in Phnom Penh in Lucinda Fleeson.
1998 by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Free and Fair: A Journalist’s Guide to
News Reporting and Writing (11th edition), Improved Election Reporting in Emerging
by Melvin Mencher. Published in 2007 by Democracies, by Lisa Schnellinger.
McGraw Hill College Division.
Environment
The Newspapers Handbook (3rd edition),
by Richard Keeble, published in 2001 by A Land on Fire, The Environmental
Routledge, London and New York. Consequences of the Southeast Asia
Boom, by James David Fahn, published in
Reporting and Writing News, A Basic 2004 by Silkworm Books.
Handbook (2nd edition), by Peter Eng
and Jeff Hodson for the Indochina Media Environment Words, a dictionary in plain
Memorial Foundation, published in 2009. English, published by Images Asia (no
date).
Writing and Reporting News, A Coaching
Method (6th edition), by Carole Rich. The Rough Guide to Climate Change, The
Published in 2009 by Wadsworth Symptoms, the Science, the Solutions by
168
Further Reading
Websites
The Columbia Journalism Review

(www.cjr.org) provides guides for
covering specific beats, including
crime, climate change, health and
other resources.
The American Journalism Review

(www.ajr.org) provides guides for
the Internet, research, statistics, press
freedom, etc.
The Poynter Institute (www.poynter.
Robert Henson (2nd edition), published
org) provides discussion of a wide
in 2008 by Rough Guides, a division of
range of issues in journalism as well
Penguin.
as instructional guides including very
helpful “tip sheets.”
Feature writing and in-depth
reporting
The Initiative for Policy Dialogue
based at Columbia University (www2.
The Art and Craft of Feature Writing,
gsb.columbia.edu/ipd/j_intro.html)
Based on the Wall Street Journal Guide, by
runs a website for journalists covering
William E. Blundell. Published in 1988 by
finance and economics in developing
Plume (Penguin Books USA).
countries.
Writing for Story, Craft Secrets of Dramatic The International Center for
Nonfiction by a Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Journalists (www.icfj.org) has links to
Winner, by Jon Franklin, published in 1994 training tips and online training tools.
by Plume Printing (an imprint of Dutton It also runs www.ijnet.org, the
Signet, a division of Penguin Books USA). International Journalists’ Network.
Follow the Story, How to Write Successful

Nonfiction, by James B. Stewart, published
in 1998 by Touchstone.
On Writing Well, the Classic Guide to

Writing Nonfiction, by William Zinsser, 30th
edition published in 2006 by HarperCollins.
Interviewing
Interviewing for Journalists, by Sally

Adams with Wynford Hicks, published in
2001 by Routledge.
169
Acknowledgements
A number of people generously shared manager Thanutra Teerasuphaset for their

their time and expertise to help make this help in co-ordinating use of some award-
project possible, including commenting on winning images from the FCCT’s third
drafts of the manual, proofing, making annual Photo Contest in 2009. We would
reading suggestions, going through also like to thank Peter Charlesworth and
archives and reviewing photographic Yvan Cohen of OnAsia for their assistance
selections: in retrieving high quality images from
their extensive archive (www.onasia.com).
Mick Elmore, IMMF board member.
Mikel Flamm, IMMF board member and Photography Credits

photography trainer.
Cover, clockwise from top left: Andrew
Denis D. Gray, IMMF co-president, 1994-
Biraj (FCCT 2009, Migrants, First
2009, and bureau chief for The Associated
Place); Richard Humphries (FCCT
Press in Bangkok.
2009, Photo Essay, Honorable Mention);
Sarah McLean, IMMF project director, John Javellana (FCCT 2009, Spot
1994-2009. News, Honorable Mention); Sandipan
Majumdar (FCCT 2009, Migrants, First
SuSanne Robinson, IMMF supporter
Place); Dannyboy Pata (FCCT 2009, Spot
Lance Woodruff, IMMF board member. News, Third Place); Richard Humphries
(FCCT 2009, Photo Essay, Honorable
We are grateful to everybody who
Mention).
helped find the story examples for this
manual, and to all the news organizations Nicolas Asfouri 30.
which gave permission for the use of Andrew Biraj 132. (FCCT 2009, Migrants,
excerpts from their stories, particularly The First Place)
Associated Press. Nic Dunlop 93,
Various publications were helpful in Mick Elmore 17, 38, 98
the writing of this manual, most of which Dominic Faulder 20, 72, 76, 88, 106,
are listed under Further Reading. They 110,128,136, 140, 144, 162, 167.
also include publications and instructional Mikel Flamm 26, 34, 82, 114, 151.
guides provided by the International Anat Givon 158.
Center for Journalists and the Knight Heng Sinith 51.
International Press Fellowship Program. Richard Humphries 56, 62. (FCCT 2009,
We would also like to thank the Photo Essay, Honorable Mention)
Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand Brent Lewin 68. (FCCT 2009, Photo Essay,
(FCCT) for its continued support of the First Place)
IMMF’s manual projects, particularly the Roland Neveu 165.
club’s past president, Nirmal Ghosh of Nick Nostitz 48, 122.
The Straits Times, and current president, Manit Sriwanichpoom 148.
Marwaan Macan-Markar of Inter Press Tang Chhin Sothy 29.
Service, and all other members of their Thiti Wannamontha 154. (FCCT 2009,
respective boards. Special thanks are due Spot News, Honorable Mention)
to FCCT board member Patrick Barta of Tran Quang Tuan 166.
The Wall Street Journal and FCCT club Lance Woodruff vii, xi, xiii, 41, 135.
170
Feedback from IMMF Alumni
Several of us were poor, others were rich, some were very good at English,
some were not, some [lived] in countries where there was still war, some lived
in more peaceful places … We learned to understand others step by step,
learned about journalism in their countries, their own cultures, their characters,
their difficulties, and the way they still continued their work as journalists ...
Interestingly, we didn’t need much English to understand what others wanted.
We were like brothers and sisters living happily under the same roof.
– VCG, Vietnam
After the training, I found that I developed my writing skills a lot ... Many
Cambodian journalists and others in the region owe you a lot and will never
forget.
– LN, Cambodia
I’m standing here with my dream as [a] photojournalist and IMMF was [the] first
door [that opened] to lead me here.
– VD, Thailand
It [is] quite difficult to explain how IMMF’s support to me was important for my
nation – a country where there is [no journalism] school.
– YNM, Myanmar
I must say that in all my journalistic experience, the trip to northern Thailand has
been the most valuable and meaningful. And this is made possible thanks to you
and other diligent, considerate members of the IMMF family.
– LJ, China
The five years of contribution of the IMMF in the development of radio in

Laos have been extremely important and effective … managers, editors and
producers have been trained and have gained lots of precious skills.
– VP, Laos
I want to say that IMMF is part of my life and inscribed in my heart forever.
– CWM, Myanmar

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BEYOND BASICS — AN ADVANCED JOURNALISM MANUAL

JEFF HODSON AND GRAHAM WATTS

PRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF

THE OPEN SOCIETY NETWORK MEDIA PROGRAMME

THE MCGEE FOUNDATION

Copyright 2010 by Indochina Media Memorial Foundation (IMMF) and

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

IMMF journalism training manuals have been produced in English, Burmese,

The Indochina Media Memorial Foundation

Tel: +66(0)2652 0580-1 | Fax: +66(0)2652 0582

CHAPTER 1: BEYOND THE FIVE Ws AND H 16

CHAPTER 2: FEATURE WRITING – PART I 25

CHAPTER 3: FEATURE WRITING – PART II 35

CHAPTER 4: OTHER ADVANCED FORMS OF JOURNALISM 49

CHAPTER 5: COVERING SPECIALIZED TOPICS 71

CHAPTER 6: BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 83

CHAPTER 7: ENVIRONMENT 106

CHAPTER 8: POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 125

CHAPTER 9: INVESTIGATIVE AND IN-DEPTH REPORTING 138

CHAPTER 10: COVERING CRIME AND THE COURTS 146

CHAPTER 11: JOURNALISTS AND THE LAW 160

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 166

FURTHER READING 168

CHAPTER 1: BEYOND THE FIVE Ws AND H 16

Chapter 2: Feature Writing — Part I 25

CHAPTER 3: Feature Writing — Part II 35

Chapter 4: Other Advanced Forms Of Journalism 49

Op-Eds And Commentaries 57

Chapter 5: Covering Specialized Topics 71

Chapter 6: Business And Economics 83

Chapter 7: The Environment 106

Chapter 8: Politics And Government 125

Chapter 10: Covering Crime And The Courts 146

Chapter 11: Journalists And The Law 160

About The Authors 166

Further Reading: Books, Booklets, Websites 168

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

CHAPTER 1: and explanation goes a long way in

5Ws AND H story, where the background has been

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

Putting a face in a story always makes it more interesting.

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

Include a diversity of voices Prove your point

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

charm of colonial French-styled villas but resembled a ghost

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

Whether you’re writing news or features, Anecdotes prove the point

BEYOND THE 5Ws and h

feature writing — part i

Chapter 2: into the story before discovering its main

WRITING — the story then becomes clear.

feature writing — part i

You won’t find interesting subjects sitting around the office.

feature writing — part i

Abandoned for a decade, Sathon Unique