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 is still unknown 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?
• How might actions taken elsewhere affect or change the outcome of this announcement?  Who might take those actions?
• Who might object to the policy announced?  What recourse might those people have?

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

The union representing faculty at all 23 California State University campuses has declared an impasse in contract negotiations with CSU management, which could lead to a faculty strike next year if the sides remain at odds. The California Faculty Association is bargaining for a 4% retroactive raise for 2020 and a 4% wage increase for the year 2021 and 4% for 2022, while the most recent counterproposal from the CSU would give faculty a single 2% raise for 2021-22. Negotiations began 18 months ago and still no agreement has been reached.  Declaration of an impasse -- a deadlock -- means that both parties will work with an independent mediator to try to reach a contract agreement.

I will put you in breakout rooms in 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: