Tips for journalists: Your job is to figure out what’s true

Advice from some of the best in the business.

Journalism is too opaque and misunderstood. Chills gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made. 

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Don’t be like these people. Or do. (Getty Images)

Over the course of a couple of years teaching at NYU’s graduate program in journalism, I’ve heard a lot of fantastic advice from the guest lecturers I’ve brought to class. Here, I’m sharing with you some of their thoughts that have stuck with me, whether they are about writing or reporting.

Without attributing specific words to specific people, know that these pieces of advice come from some of the best in the business, including Adam Penenberg (director of NYU’s online journalism program), Glenn Thrush (political reporter at The New York Times), Jamila Bey (editorial director of WHYY), Matthew Shaer (cofounder of Campside Media and contributing writer to the The New York Times Magazine), Thomas Ross (former editor at Tin House), Julia Dahl (journalist, fiction writer and professor at NYU journalism), and on and on. A few are from me. For even more j-advice, see these posts.

I’ve also included at the end of this a few short writing exercises that will definitely help your writing. Here’s one, with an example I wrote during class alongside my students:

Look out your window and write what you see.

There’s a sliver of lake beyond my desk — it’s small and inky like a Bic-blue pen, flat and wistful, the kind of pond you read about in fairytales. Surrounding the water are northern-style trees whose scents hit your nose with a tickle. Their pine needles smell more like sap than anything you would expect from the color green. The sun is dropping slowly, illuminating an angle of the landscape, revealing small cottages that hold people who are resting, jealous, crying, satisfied or lonely. Within these ranch houses people are feeling any one of who knows how many emotions we’re capable of enduring. Within them, we are alive.

Writing tips (in no particular order)

When showing different sides of an issue, think about whether you are offering a “false equivalency,” which is a better way to think about what’s often called “bothsidesism.”

Not everything needs to be all neat and tidy, wrapped up in a bow. The best stories are often unsure at the end.

If you need to look something up, assume your readers don’t know about it either.

Think about “braiding” your stories — i.e. weaving different storylines throughout. Moving back and forth in time or through points of view can make a story more compelling.

Write about something small that says something bigger. Also, profiles are a story confined to a human vessel. Use them indirectly to show something bigger.

When you have action, slow it down and dig into it. This can make for an incredible read.

There’s a journalism-related quote I’ve seen attributed to various sources that’s been circling for a while: “If someone says it’s raining and another person says it’s dry, it’s not your job to quote them both. Your job is to look out the window and find out which is true.”

End each section (even ones you create temporarily to help you structure a piece) with a mini punch-you-in-the-face kicker. And use sections as a break for yourself to regroup.