PUTTING A STORY TOGETHER

The Children’s PressLine training process is a collaborative one. The kids work in teams with the support of staff to produce their stories.

After children attend a New Member Training session, they join a news team that best suits them.

PREPARATION

What’s the Big Idea?
Every story starts with an idea. Each idea should:

• Be current
• Give kids leverage with decision makers
• Challenge an assumption, stereotype or current perspective
• Have relevance
• Have a point of view
• Have appeal
• Be a topic journalists are passionate about

RESEARCH

The news team researches their ideas using online and primary sources. With the help of staff and volunteers, the journalists identify key individuals and/or groups to interview.

Teamwork and Timeline in Brief
The news team is made up of three reporters, ages 8 to 13, and two teen editors, ages 14 to 18. The news team meets weekly for 3 weeks to research, report and do some early editing of the story. From there, the editors take over often spending another 3-4 weeks writing while the reporters move on to the next story.

BRIEFINGS AND INTERVIEWS

At briefings, the news team, led by the teen editors, reads through background material, discusses their own experiences with the topic and writes at least 20 questions. The questions are based on journalism's "5W and an H" but also delve into personal experiences and how the issue at hand affects kids of all backgrounds.

Interviewing is the next step in the process. Some interviews are conducted in-person while others take place over the phone. All interviews are digitally recorded.  During the interviews, the reporters ask questions and gather the necessary information. The editors' facilitate the process by handling the recording equipment, taking notes and guiding the reporters.

Look Who’s Talking?
For each story, the journalists interview a handful of their peers, at least one community advocate and one policy maker.

DEBRIEFING

After all the interviews for the story have been conducted, the team meets to talk about the information they’ve gathered and to discuss their various perspectives on the topic. This is called the debriefing.

EDITING AND WRITING

As a group, the news team reviews transcripts, highlights relevant quotes and finds a story lead. Next, the teen editors take responsibility for writing a 400-700 word professional news story to be published by one of CPL’s media partners. Each story takes anywhere from 8 to 30 hours to write.

To get an in-depth view of our process, visit Supporting Teen Editors as Mentors and Leaders at Children's PressLine