Planning a simple story structure
Google conference
Context
You have been to a conference on climate change organised by Google. The first speaker talks about how they overcame censorship by collaborating across borders. The second speaker talks about how climate change coverage has changed at the BBC.
Abstract: reporting on climate change. The conference is not about what climate change is, more so how it is being reported. The two speakers both have their own experiences and viewpoints on how the issue is being covered in the media.
Orientation
Who: Google is the host of the event, alongside two speakers. We don’t know who the speakers work for, just that speaker two is coming from a BBC angle.
What: the conference is about climate change and the reporting of it. Other topics include censorship and collaboration. You could also tie in media ownership.
When: we have not been given a date for the conference.
Where: as with the when we are unsure on the locality of the event.
Why: the topic of climate change in general, and also less journalistic freedoms to report on the issue.
How: all we know is that speaker one collaborated across borders and that speaker two is highlighting a change in the BBC’s coverage.
The emphasis should be on the cross-border collaboration of speaker one. This is mainly because we don’t have that much information on speaker two. At the moment, we can focus in on the who, where and when based on speaker one.
Complication: censorship. Speaker one talks about the difficulties they overcame and this is the primary issue. We don’t know if the changes to the BBC’s reporting is a problem or not. The complication is not entirely clear at this point.
Evaluation: how speaker one was able to collaborate across borders to report on climate change. This is the ultimate result of the information we have been given.
Coda: looking ahead at how the collaboration can be a staple in reporting climate change. Censorship is hard to overcome so the story of speaker one should be able to inspire others to report in this particular way when faced with the same obstacles. In addition, what research took place, and what were the findings.
If this is a recurring event that would be good to know. Also, the background into the speakers and what work they have planned after the conference.
Extra elements needed
- Overall, we need more details from both speakers. For speaker one, we need information on the censorship faced, why the decision to collaborate and how it could be used by others in the future. We also need locations and timings.
- More information on speaker two. We have been told that the BBC’s coverage has changed, but how has it? Changed for the good or bad? There could be a different complication that arises or even similarities with speaker one. Right now, it is difficult to incorporate the changes in the BBC coverage. Does it need addressing? This could have a big impact on the main story.
- Quotes from the BBC would be useful in showing what will happen next. Or even provide a possible explanation in the change of coverage.
- What is the overall aim of the conference? Raise awareness for climate change? Show the countries imposing censorship?
- Without the details on the BBC, right now this story should just focus on speaker one. Chunking can be used here. The BBC’s change in coverage could be a story on its own, whether the change has been positive or negative. Both are newsworthy enough.
