PUTTING A PULSE BACK IN POLITICS

Politics is a dirty word in many television newsrooms. There's an assumption that viewers don't want to see political stories, and there's some truth behind the assumption. Surveys have found that viewers are turned off by the political coverage they see now. But those same surveys tell us that viewers care a lot about issues like education and health care that are top political issues. The challenge for journalists is to report on those issues in an interesting way.
Try these strategies and consult our guide to Internet resources on covering campaigns for links that can add context to your reporting.

Bring Candidates to Life

• Add texture to candidate profiles by following them on the stump, up close, using small DV cameras. Consider running profiles as nat-sound pieces, without narration.
  
  
• Take candidates where they might not go--to dinner with a family, for example, or on a "mystery tour" of the district--and observe how they talk with individual voters.
  
  
• Conduct a "master interview" with each candidate early in the campaign. Try to have the conversation at the candidate's home; failing that, choose a location that is significant in the candidate's life. Cover the waterfront in the interview, and save material on specific issues for later stories.
  
  
• Find strong supporting characters with different angles on the candidates: old friends, new campaign volunteers, relatives, rivals, schoolmates, former employees, etc.
  
  
• Provide a sense of place in profiles; tell where candidates come from and how that shaped them.
  
  
• Use file tape and home video, where available, to provide background and context.

Treat Issues as Problems

• Tell stories about people's problems, not "issues" as debated by the candidates. Let those people serve as the experts in these stories. Then ask the candidates to explain what they'd do about the problem.
  
  
• Immerse the candidate in the problems he or she seeks to solve. If the big issue is traffic and transit, ride with the candidates in rush hour and discuss their proposed solutions.
  
  
• Show how people's personal situations would be affected by the different actions proposed by the candidates.
  
  
• Find people with problems they want the candidates to solve by soliciting questions from citizens. One option: add an "Ask the Candidate" tab to your Web site. Get their questions on tape and play the questions for candidates to get a direct response.

Get Graphic

• Draw attention and interest to political coverage by developing a fresh graphic look and theme for these stories. Involve promotions in planning how to highlight your coverage.
  
  
• Create animated graphics to illustrate "process" stories.
  
  
• Use side-by-side graphics to compare candidates' positions.

Stay on Track

• Know what video you have available by logging and archiving your stories and raw tapes. Build archive reels for each candidate and keep them in a special "politics" section.
  
  
• Save and log all network feed material on candidates and issues. You never know when you'll need it.
  
  
• Create a master list of stories and a timeline for airing them. Be sure you also keep it up to date.