The basics of covering a public meeting
The keys to fair, accurate and informative meeting coverage are preparation, careful note-taking, the use of multiple sources, and checking and rechecking your information.
- Do your homework. Read about the issue in advance. Public meetings generally produce a lot of advance material, agendas, backup memos, etc.
- Keep score. Often the most important thing to happen at a meeting is a decision by a government body to do something -- approve a budget, fire a principal, hold off on repaving a street. Make sure your notes are clear on the issues that came up, what was said about them. If there was a vote, mark down who voted yes and who voted no.
- Find your focus. You'll want to hone in on developments that are:
- New -- Last night's Local School Council meeting is news; last month's is not.
- Unexpected -- The fact that it snowed in Chicago is news in July; not so in February.
- Of general public interest -- Your Aunt Mary's marriage yesterday to an 30-year-old Greek shipping tycoon is certainly new and unexpected. But it doesn't impact the lives of most people in the general public, so it's probably not a good news story.
- Collect the full range of views. Make sure you speak with some of those voting yes as well as those voting no. Talk to government officials, citizens, and anyone else who's at the meeting.
- Listen for good quotes -- those that are particularly revealing, pithy or interesting. Get them down accurately in your notebook.
- Give readers background and context. What led to this? If you have time, seek out other relevant written records. Are there documents related to this story?
- Look to the future. What happens next?