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?
• 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 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority announced that President Joe Biden has earmarked an additional $200 million for the Silicon Valley BART Extension Phase II in his upcoming proposed budget. The project will extend BART alignment from the North San Jose Berryessa station through downtown San Jose to Santa Clara, adding four more stations and six more miles of track, the agency said. This will be the third allocation of funds for the project after the Federal Transit Authority authorized $125 million in 2019 and another $100 million in 2021. The VTA had said in February that it would not update its anticipated cost and schedule for the project until it awards four major contracts, including one for tunneling and trackwork slated to be finalized this summer. Phase II is estimated to carry 54,600 passengers each weekday to destinations throughout the Bay Area by 2040, according to the VTA announcement.

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: