Thinking context and impact

Catalina Camia (of USA TODAY) and Laura Rehrmann (of Gannett News Service) gave a fast-paced and fun analysis of four elements every story should have near the top of the story -- news, impact, human dimension and context. I think news and human dimension come naturally since we write about things that involve people. Impact and context take a little more work but can make a huge difference when combined with the previous two. This means that we have to be better reporters. It seems we journalists get so used to talking about the news that we just assume readers will figure out why it’s important. They won’t, though, so figuring out and reporting context and impact will show that we reporters are smarter than we may seem. We’ll show why news makes a difference in readers’ lives.

-- Adam Kealoha Causey, Louisiana State University, St. Louis Post-Dispatch