6.1: Focus

The focus of a story, whether for print, online or broadcast, is quite simply the answer to the question, “What is this story really about?” This is probably the most important skill to learn when you are writing a news story. Really think deeply about what your story is about – usually, there is only one very important main point that you are trying to make with your story. Focus is important because this will determine the introduction of your story. The introduction of your news story is the first paragraph of the story where you should provide the most important information – the news. To determine the focus, Poynter Institute writing instructor Chip Scanlan suggests asking a number of questions (Scanlan, 2002):

• What’s the news? In other words, what is new about this?
• What’s the story? So, what do I want to tell my readers, viewers or listeners? What is this really about?
• What’s the image? Imagine that you can picture the story in one image, what is it?
• What is the one thing I really want to tell my reader? This will really help you focus on just the main important point.
• So what? In other words, why am I telling this story, why is it important?

Let’s look at an example. Imagine that you covered a fast-moving veld fire in the town of Coligny in the North-West province. You have been out talking to people and observing the damage all day. The fire destroyed five houses along the edges of town, but the local high school, in the same area, escaped the fire. The families who lived in the five houses all survived, without any injuries.

The five houses were completely destroyed in the fire, and the families lost all their possessions. This happened in October just before the start of the final matric exams. Now, you need to focus your story before you begin writing. Here is how you might use Scanlan’s questions to find your focus:

• What’s the news? A fire destroyed five houses along the edges of the town, but no one was injured, and the high school, in the same area, was spared.
• What’s the story? Five families survive fast-moving veld fire.
• What’s the image? Grateful family members hugging each other after escaping the fire.
• What is the one thing I want to tell my reader? No lives lost in fast-moving veld fire.
• So what? Community members will be happy that their neighbours and fellow residents of the area were not injured or did not die in the fire, and the community will be happy that their school was not damaged.

The journalist now knows that the introduction of the story should be about the families who lost their homes but survived and the school that was not damaged. The rest of the story would probably contain a quote from a family member expressing gratitude that everyone survived, and there would be general information about property damage. The journalist also knows that some information – such as the houses on the far other side of town that were not damaged because they are simply far away from the affected area – can be excluded. The focus would only be on the events in that particular area where the fire destroyed houses.

A possible introduction (usually, journalists just talk about an intro) for this story could be:

A veld fire destroyed five houses in one street in Coligny, but the residents managed to escape unharmed, and the town’s high school in the same street escaped the fire. This intro provides the most important information in the story in just a few lines.

A bad intro for this story would be:

There was a veld fire near Coligny yesterday. This intro does not say anything about what actually happened. Here one could ask, “So what?” It is not clear why this is news.

Can you see the difference?

The example above is not meant to show that every story has only one acceptable focus. On the contrary, journalists for different news organisations and different platforms may take the same basic facts and compile their stories quite differently because they have decided on a different focus. In the case of the veld-fire story, a journalist could use the same five questions to come up with a different focus, depending on their audience and their publication. For example, a journalist who focusses on education, will find different answers to the five questions.

• What’s the news? The town high school escaped damage in a veld fire that destroyed houses in the same street.
• What’s the story? Teachers, parents and learners are happy that the school was spared, because matric exams are approaching.
• What’s the image? Learners looking at their undamaged school.
• What is the one thing I want to tell my readers? Matric exams can continue.
• So what? Learners who have worked hard for many years to earn matric certificates can still complete their final matric exams.

This version of the story would start with the relief of teachers, parents and learners and use a quote high up from the headmaster whose school was spared. Both stories would include the same basic information – i.e., that five houses were destroyed, all families survived, the school was unaffected – but their emphasis would be quite different. The education journalist would focus on the important matric exams that can still continue.

Experienced journalists do not wait until the end of the day, after they have done all their research, interviews, and observation, before seeking a focus for their story. They may actually start the reporting process with a focus in mind which helps them decide where to go and whom to interview. Of course, the focus can change as they collect more information, and it often does. The most important thing is for the journalist to have decided on a focus for the story before sitting down to put the story together.

Having a focus in mind is just the first step in planning your story. The second is to organise the story so you know what information goes where. This will depend on the story structure you use. There are various story structures (discussed in the “Story structure” section below). As highlighted earlier, in the past, the inverted-pyramid structure was dominant in news writing, but digital media have led to the emergence of other structures.

• Begin by listing the basic facts of the story, and decide what should be at the beginning, at the end, and in the middle.
• Select the best quotes or sound bites from your interviews and decide where they should go in the story.
• Make note of any details you want to be sure to include.
• Before you begin to write or compile a story, it can be useful to create an outline on paper that you can use as a kind of road map for the story.