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CHAPTER 14 Speeches, News Conferences and Meetings
Overview
You might want to spend a good deal of time on this chapter, which focuses on three things:
(1) preparing to cover speeches, news conferences and meetings; (2) covering them; and (3)
structuring and writing the stories.
All three tasks are important. But particular stress must be placed on preparation perhaps
to stress that students should use their imagination and write well, even for these bread-and-
butter stories.
Teaching Tips
The chapter lends itself to having students actually go out to cover a local speech, a news
conference or a meeting. You can make use of online collections of speeches and news
conferences, such as those at www.c-span.org
Lecture Notes
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Different approaches to covering
news conference formally announcing his candidacy.
B. Reporters need to be prepared to cover speeches, news conferences and meetings.
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II. DISTINGUISHING AMONG SPEECHES, NEWS CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
A. A speech is a public talk.
B. A news conference is intended as two-way communication with the media.
C. A meeting allows communication among members of a group or organization, with
the public perhaps in attendance.
III. GETTING READY TO COVER THE STORY
A. Preparing well makes the story much easier; do your homework.
B. Preparing for the speech story:
1. Identify speaker correctly.
2. Contact the group sponsoring the speech to get topic.
3. For important speeches, contact speaker in advance.
4. Arrange for post-speech interview.
C. Preparing for the news conference story:
1. Do background research on person holding the news conference.
2. Consult editors and prepare questions in advance.
3. Ask for an interview before or after the news conference.
D. Preparing for the meeting story:
1. Who (people, organization) is holding the meeting?
2. Get an agenda if one exists, and do background research on issues to be addressed.
IV. COVERING SPEECHES, NEWS CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
A.
possible consequences.
B. News conferences are the most challenging reporters are participants; Obama press
conference anecdote.
C. The medium matters.
1. Print might require just notes; broadcast might require online posts, digital
recording, updating, tweets, etc.
2. Become a multimedia journalist.
D. Getting the content correct.
1. Know how to use digital audio recorders.
2. But still take notes; learn or create a shorthand system.
3. Quotes must be accurate and in context.
E. Describing the participants.
1. Volume, tone of voice, inflections, pauses, emphases and audience reaction.
2. Background of the speaker.
3. Physical description when appropriate.
F. Being observant.
1. Pay attention to the audience, its size and its reaction.
G. Arriving, positioning yourself and staying on.
1.
2. , and listen for a good story.
3.
V. STRUCTURING AND WRITING YOUR STORY
A.
B. Writing the speech story.
1. Get reactions to the speech, perhaps for a sidebar.
2. Video reporters introduce the speaker, cut in video snippets of the speech, end with
reaction interview.
C. Writing the news conference story.
1. Somewhat different from a speech.
2. Leads will vary by reporter.
3. Organize most newsworthy subject first, then deal with others in order of
importance.
4. Lists can be helpful; transitions are important; sidebars can help keep the story
focused.
5. Cover the event.
D. Writing the meeting story.
1. Find the focus, but cover the event.
2. Use your creativity (be interesting, get people to read the story), and write well.
Class Activities and Discussion Questions
Activity 1: In a computer lab with Internet access, pair up students and assign them a famous
individual to research. Tell them that the famous figure is coming to town to give a speech
and they need to prepare a one-page background memo on the speaker. They should include
Activity 2: In a computer lab with Internet access, have students go online and watch a
formal political speech, such as a presidential State of the Union address. (For the State of the
Union, try www.whitehouse.gov or www.c-span.org.) Alternatively, read the speech aloud in
class or play a recording of the speech. Have students take notes and then write the lead for a
they have written and to choose a representative lead. The writers of those leads will then
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Activity 3: Provide students with copies of one or more professional stories written about the
political speech they watched for activity 2. Ask students to analyze the professional stories
and compare the leads with their own leads. Discussion questions: How do the professional
Activity 4: Invite a public figure from your community to come to your class and participate
in a news conference. Have students do appropriate research in advance, and then allow the
news conference to proceed for 20 to 25 minutes. (You might ask your guest to change his or
her demeanor from open and cooperative to closed and combative at some point along the
way.) Ask students to then write their leads for the press conference story. Put students in
Activity 5: Divide students into small groups of two or three, and give each group the agenda
for a different public meeting on or off campus. In five to seven minutes, groups should
determine what the key issue is for the meeting, identify the key players and discuss anything
they think a reporter should focus on in preparation for the meeting. Students should then turn
in that agenda and retrieve a new one and repeat the process. Have each group of students
examine three or four meeting agendas, and then have them present the results from the last
agenda they study to the class. Discussion questions: How easy or difficult was it to identify
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Solutions to Textbook Exercises
1. Have each student cover the event and write a story. Then have them compare their
stories. We find that students learn a lot from one another in this process. Rewriting the
stories after this kind of collaboration ultimately results in better stories.
2. You may very well wish to use a different public figure for this exercise, but a
presidential inaugural speech is easy to access online. Students should come to class with
two or three different ideas for the lead.
3. Students need to understand that reading a speech and listening to a speech live are two
very different experiences. The kind of concrete details that only come from watching a
speech are
often the difference between a compelling news feature and a speech transcript.
Garrett was born Aug. 24, 1962.
He is the Chief White House Correspondent for CBS News and Correspondent at Large
with National Journal. Before coming to CBS, he was the Senior White House
Correspondent for the Fox News Channel. He graduated from the University of
students present the stories should be different. Recording the audio also gives students
7. Your journalism blog. This blog assignment can be tremendously valuable for those
students who will end up covering speeches as a professional journalist. Tell students that
8. You may wish to send two or three students to each meeting. That way you will be able to
compare their stories. This exercise provides another opportunity for students to write two
stories about one event: one for the Web and one for radio.
Solutions to Workbook Exercises
1.
different meetings. (You might have a problem if you send a dozen or more students to
the same people for a class assignment.) Students should obtain an agenda for the meeting
and prepare for it by getting background information on each agenda item. They should
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2.
She was born in Lorain, Ohio, in 1931 and christened Chloe Anthony Wofford.
Her family was poor and close-knit; she grew up during the Great Depression of the
1930s.
She entered Howard University, was interested in theater and joined a drama group.
She received an M.A. in English from Cornell University in 1955.
She taught at Texas Southern University from 1955 to 1957 and at Howard University
from 1957 to 1964.
While at Howard, she married Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect; they had two
children and were divorced in 1964.
After leaving teaching, she worked as an editor at Random House.
Her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970) an expansion of a short story was an immediate
success.
3. The U.S. Department of Transportation website (www.dot.gov) would be a good place for
students to start looking for background information. Students also might do an Internet
search for stories about new highway construction in your state and nationwide. If
available, LexisNexis also would be a good source.
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He graduated from Bradley University in Peoria in 1971 with a B.S. degree in education
and sociology.
He is a Republican and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who
4. We think it is important for students to read newspapers regularly at least their local
newspaper. Making them find particular types of stories forces them to do that. However,
in order to make comparisons, you may want to assign a particular story. If possible, have
5. Most of your students are probably quite adept at posting tweets on Twitter, but tweets
appropriate for a reporter require some practice. This is a chance to get some of that
practice.
6. Again, the old cliché applies: Failing to plan is planning to fail. In their memos, students
should talk about the background research they would need to do to be prepared to cover
nal experience? What is his or her political
party? Does the candidate have any elective office experience, especially in the
7. In doing this exercise, students will be forced to consider the varying approaches taken by
8. A possible lead:
Jessica Jergens, dean of the School of Journalism, resigned today after five years on
the job. She said the university has failed to provide adequate funds for the school to
function properly.
In announcing her resignation, Jergens issued a stinging rebuke of the campus
administration.
9. A possible lead:
Mayor James Alton called for a stronger crackdown on drunken driving yesterday,
saying he will continue to push for a tougher ordinance on first– and second-time
offenders.
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Third and more frequent offenders in jail for six months and revoke their licenses
for five years.
In other matters, the mayor said:
The crowded jail is a disgrace to the community.
T
10. As an alternative for this exercise, you can assign the same event for all students to cover.
After reviewing the stories, you might hold a class discussion in which students explain
the rationale for their approaches.
CHALLENGE EXERCISE
11. This exercise is an excellent demonstration for students of how professionals can handle
the same speech or news conference differently. It also makes students read newspapers.
We suggest you send students to different events to avoid overcrowding in any one venue
and to permit them to ask questions afterward without overwhelming the participants.