Journalism 133: Prof. Craig: Follow-Up Stories Exercise

Follow-Up Stories Exercise

Follow-up stories are news stories that build upon an original story in subsequent days with new information, new angles and/or new developments related to the subject.  These commonly flow from stories which affect many people, involve actions to be taken at a later date, or which contain few details in their original publication.  Often a single editor and a single reporter will provide continuing coverage of the topic with many follow-ups.   

Your assignment today is to meet in the groups assigned below and come up with follow-up story ideas based on the material provided here.  When coming up with these ideas, think about these questions (and any others you may come up with in the process):

• Who will this story affect?  Are there angles you could take that would reflect affected people's concerns?
• What do you not know about the story beyond the information you've been given?  What are the most important omissions or unanswered questions?
• What types of experts might you interview about the subject?  How might they change the focus of a follow-up story?
• What implications might this have beyond the obvious?  What might be some ripple effects?
• Might anyone (locally or elsewhere) object to the policy announced?  What recourse might those people have?

Here is a quick summary of your original story, adapted from existing coverage:

With many schoolteachers leaving Silicon Valley for more affordable areas, San Jose State University is weighing how to create affordable housing for educators on land owned by local school districts. The university envisions partnering with public school districts across Santa Clara County to combat the housing crisis and the soaring cost of living. SJSU is also considering how it can use the Alquist building, acquired in January 2020, to house its faculty, staff and graduate students, plus teachers and employees from various school districts. The university would build housing on district-owned land, then sublease or lease units to teachers and their families. Local school board leaders were enthusiastic about the concept, which might reduce the need for local districts to find other affordable housing for educators. University officials shared a scenario for a future collaboration with K-12 school districts on educator housing but said there isn’t a firm plan or commitment in the works yet.

I will divide you into the groups below (subject to change due to absences), where you will come up with as many feasible follow-up story ideas as you can.  You won't need lots of details about them, but they should all be ideas on which you could base a news story.  We will reconvene in a few minutes and discuss everyone's ideas.

Groups for exercise: