How can digital journalists keep on top of the news in big regions?
Between social media and the internet, journalists today can be inundated with a variety of sources. So how can journalists keep on top of the news in the region that they’re covering? Below are some tips based on my experience covering the Middle East for over a decade:
Mainstream media
In the age of social media, it can be very easy to overlook traditional media sources. However, it is important to remember that traditional news sources like TV remain an essential source of news.
Watching the morning news bulletins of the top two or three channels in your region, would help you start your day with a clear idea of the regional agenda.
Also, make sure to check regional newspapers or their websites. A quick skim through the front page and the paper’s editorial is enough to give you a sense of the top stories of the day.
(Extra tip: Pick one or two talk shows to follow on a weekly basis. They provide useful insights into how specific issues are perceived in the country/region you cover.)
It is all about lists
If you are a journalist or aspiring to be one, you must have heard many people say that Twitter is a key platform.
Twitter is useful in many ways for journalists and one way it can help you stay up to date with news of your region is through its lists feature.
I have Twitter lists of key sources and people for each of the countries I cover and I can’t stress enough how useful they are.
Lists allow you to have a concise feed of tweets from or about one country/region, so you don’t have to keep scrolling through endless irrelevant tweets until you finally find one.
(Extra tip: You can add people to your lists without following them. You also can keep your lists private or make them public for anyone to subscribe to them.)
Subscribe to newsletters
I only recently started subscribing to newsletters and, so far, I am loving it!
I wake up to find a collection of interesting articles gathered in one e-mail with a synopsis that gives me a broad idea of the content of each.
It is an excellent way to start your day feeling informed.
(Extra tip: Ask journalists covering the same region for their preferred newsletters and try them out. If you don’t like it, unsubscribe!)
Know your sources
It is more crucial than ever for journalists to understand the media scene in countries that they are covering.
“Each news source tends to have its own slant or bias so it’s best to read a number of sources on the same subject, or at least acknowledge where it’s coming from” says Sarah Fowler, a senior journalist on the Middle East desk of the BBC News website.
As an objective journalist, you should always aim to check that the sources you are using represent the different players in the region/country, and that you are giving the correct balance to those who are more or less important.
So take some time to familiarise yourself with the media scene in the area you are covering when you start your job and check the reliability of sources before using them.
For social media, it is important to understand which social media platforms are popular in your area.
In Egypt, for example, Twitter is mainly a platform for activists. To follow what ordinary Egyptians discuss online, you should be on Facebook.
(Extra tip: Facebook groups are a gem of a source for stories and if your target audience is women — Instagram must be on top of your list!)
Use available tools
There are plenty of free tools out there to help with the newsgathering process, so make the most out of them.
BBC Arabic’s women affairs’ journalist, Alma Hassoun, says Google Trends — which helps you find the top search queries in countries/regions — is one of the tools she relies on.
Followerwonk is another interesting tool which lets you search by Twitter bio, and then organise users by “social influencers” to quickly find local authorities during breaking news events, for example.
Tweetdeck helps you manage twitter accounts. I use it to see tweets from my different lists all on one screen.
And I can just keep going on!
(Extra tip: There are plenty of tools that do pretty much similar things, experiment and then stick to two or three of them. Don’t overwhelm yourself!)
Collaborate… collaborate… collaborate
If you are working for a big organisation make use of other teams available. This sounds quite obvious but you’ll be amazed how often this simple advice is forgotten.
Alma Hassoun, says she relies a lot on input from the various BBC bureaus across the world, as well as the Trending team, which follows conversations on social media.
It makes no sense spending time doing the same thing another person or team is doing. Benefit from the help available by using your colleagues’ work.
(Extra tip: Acknowledge the efforts of other teams/people when you publish a story, even if by a simple thank-you e-mail! Next time you need help everyone will happily offer it.)
Originally published at www.interhacktives.com on February 8, 2019.
