Follow-Up of News Story: Page - 1

Follow-up of News Story

A follow-up is a news story in which you add details to an already published or
broadcast story.
You can give new facts, developments, reactions or raise some new issues in
the follow-up stories.
Journalists have to be selective while reporting events for the newspaper
readers and TV viewers, because they have limited space in the newspaper, or in
the broadcast bulletin. Therefore, events cannot be described completely in a single
report.
Hence follow-ups are required to give comprehensively cover an event.
‫ کو جامع طور پر پیش کرے۔‬2‫ ہے کہ وہ کسی پروگرام‬2‫ اپس کو ضروری‬2‫لہذا فالو‬
Often there are issues which may remain untouched, or there are
future events which will need to be reported as well.
Nevertheless, ‫ بہر حال‬it must be noted that there is a difference between a
breaking story and a follow-up. Breaking stories are reports of events which are
still happening while these are being reported, for example hourly reports on a
hijacking are part of a breaking story. ‫ایک ہائی جیکنگ کے بارے میں گھنٹہ کی خبریں ایک‬
‫توڑ کہانی کا حصہ ہیں۔‬
Later, if the hijackers are arrested then the news story of their trial is called a
follow-up.
Similarly, if an aircraft crashes and its black box is found. You can do a follow-up
on the black box’s report.
Follow-ups are used for many reasons:
a) To satisfy readers curiosity:
Reporters have the duty to satisfy the curiosity of the readers or listeners,
raised by a news story. For example, some news reports may raise a question,
"What will happen now?"
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Every time you believe that you have done your story, ask yourself: "Is there
anything else you could write about the event. If there is, you should write a
follow-up.
b) To add balance:
Due to shortage of time, or because the sources were not available when you
called them, you are forced to run stories which are imbalanced. The follow-up
provides you an opportunity to add balance to your story.
For example, if the Law Minister announces a controversial law, you have to
report what the people affected by it think.
If you cannot add the reaction to your initial story, you must write a follow-
up. The follow-up should concentrate on the reaction rather than the law itself.
Similarly, big events or controversies produce large amounts of information.
Giving all the information in a single story can confuse your readers, so you should
split it up into a series of follow-up stories, which may be run over many days.
c) To cover missed stories:
Often a journalist may miss stories and he finds that out only when he reads
it in a newspaper or hears on the radio or TV.
For example, if the government decides to deport 2‫جالوطنی‬
somebody and you miss this story. As a follow-up, next day you may try to talk to
that person or one of his family members to get their reaction.
Structure of follow-ups:
Although the news value of follow-ups is based on previous stories, yet they
should be treated as separate stories and written in the inverted pyramid style, or
with the most important information placed in the intro.
You may say that a follow-up gives new information about an old story in a
refreshing way.
For example, in the original story Finance Minister may have imposed a 10
per cent consumption tax and the opposition may criticise the tax. Then in the
follow-up story, you may write:
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The opposition Monday declared the government's new consumption tax was
infeasible. ‫ناقابل استعمال۔‬
The opposition leader said the 10 percent tax would be impossible to collect.
Background:
All the follow-ups must have at least one paragraph of background to let the
reader know about the actual situation.
Although the background can be added anywhere in the story, but it is
preferable ‫ قابل ترجیح‬to place it higher up in the story.
However, if the follow-up contains a lot of new and very important
information, the background may be placed near the end of the story or even in the
last paragraph. While reporting important events, you may need to do many
follow-ups over some period of time.
Sources for Follow-ups:

For follow-ups, you have the choice to either use the same source, or a new
one. For example, a reaction story requires a different source to the one used in the
first story. While some follow-ups may be require contacting the original source
again for getting more information.
Yet, it is preferable to find new sources for follow-ups. A new name or voice
can add variety to your story, besides giving a different view. This happens even
when your new source could be another spokesman from the same company or
department.
The diary for Follow-ups:

A reporter must keep a diary, which helps him in planning ahead and in
keeping track of the current events and issues.
If a reporter wants to write a follow-up in the coming days, he should note it
down in his diary to remind himself. He should look at the diary every few days to
keep himself updated or reminded.
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For example, police may charge a man with murder. If you file the story,
you should also note down when and where he will appear in a court.
Similarly, if an organization launches a charity drive, ‫ خیرات اکھٹا کرنا‬you may
later report how much money they raised from it, who contributed the most etc.
A diary entry may look like this: Check Akhtar Ali appears in high court in
murder case. See story of July 12, 2020.
Anniversary follow-ups:
You can also do follow ups on old stories. For example, if a politician
promised some action a year ago, you may ask him what has been achieved after
one year.
Similarly, if the police were looking for a rapist during last month, ask them if
they had found any new clue by now.
Ends
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