Most of us might catch the Scotch tape. A week after I talked to reporters working for the Cariboo Press chain of newspapers in British Columbia, Betsy Trumpener, a reporter at the Quesnel Observer , tried the 360-degree turn, described earlier by the former Hamilton Spectator police reporter. The turn occurred when Trumpener covered the disappearance of a diver in the effluent pond of a local pulp mill. I had a great story which I think conveyed the horror of dying in a pipe in the effluent pond. On a breaking news story that was hard to get, she used her eye to record the event.
Editors can also help reporters develop their observation skills.
They can draw out the details and help reporters figure out how best to use them. Then editors should listen carefully to how reporters answer those questions. Flesh out the visual images and words and tell them to write it the way they saw it. Don Gibb teaches reporting at Ryerson's School of Journalism.