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How to adjust the scope of public health stories for national versus local audiences
By Jennifer Nehrer, NPCJI Intern
As a reporter, Tracy Jan understands that almost every part of a story is important. But as a senior editor for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, she knows the value of highlighting specific details to make sure the audience understands an issue.
As part of its Public Health Reporting Fellowship, the Institute hosted Jan to speak on how and why reporters should be localizing national stories, and nationalizing local stories, to help audiences better understand the issues in front of them.
Why nationalize a local public health issue, or vice versa?
Jan said giving a reader a better understanding of where they fit into an issue will make them more invested in the reporting and the situation at hand. Nationalizing a local issue will give more political context to a story, while localizing a national issue can show the closer-to-home impact of a decision being made far away. Jan said this is especially important when the decision makers are using incorrect information to make their points.
“Right now, with medical misinformation being spread from the leaders of our country, it’s really important for local communities to understand what the science says,” she said. “If you’re writing about vaccination rates falling, you should be writing also about the consequences of that and diseases like measles that were once eradicated, you know, flourishing back into our lives.”
How can journalists contextualize their reporting based on local or national audiences?
When it comes to widening or narrowing the scope of a story, the execution isn’t much different from the best practices journalists should be doing in all of their reporting. Jan said to start, look at previous coverage to understand what has been written about. Then, journalists should make sure they are speaking with experts and looking at relevant datasets to put the issue in larger or smaller contexts.
Jan acknowledged there can be some challenges to doing this, including not knowing exactly where to start with building context. She recommended finding a source with whom the audience can empathize and seeing if there is any data or information related to that person’s story that can be useful as a peg.
Jan also recommended keeping a list of experts and resources and building professional relationships with the experts by getting coffee and checking in regularly. Like with developing sources, these experts will eventually come to the reporters with their news.
In crafting the story, Jan recommended using the nut graf to explain why an issue should matter to the audience. Jan said she sometimes uses two to three nut grafs, building what she calls a “nut-region” to tackle the issue.
How can journalists remain respectful while reporting?
Reporting on public health can often involve very sensitive topics and communities, and journalists should always be respectful of the people they involve in their stories. Jan recalled being frustrated when she was a local reporter and saw how national media behaved when reporters swooped in on her town to cover an issue that had captured country-wide attention.
For reporters going to an unfamiliar location, Jan said to make sure they find and gain the trust of local guides and activists who can show them around and be a gateway to other sources.
“Sometimes I’ll be driven around by two different people just to see how they say things differently or how they experience things differently,” Jan said.
Watch the full conversation here:
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