One of the best school newspaper ideas is just getting back to the basics. The best way to start gathering information is the 5 Ws (+H). As a journalist “Who”, “What”, “When”, “Where”, “Why” and “How” will become synonymous with breathing. While just about everyone can agree that these concepts are the basics to telling a good story, a deeper, more diversified angle can be taken.
Aly Colon a member of the Ethics and Diversity Faculty at the Poynter Institute suggests that in addition to the traditional 5 Ws, we ask:
• Who: Who’s missing from the story?
• What: What’s the context of the story?
• Where: Where can we go for more information?
• When: When do we use racial or ethnic identification?
• Why: Why are we including or excluding certain information?
Here’s 2 worksheets that can help your staff answers all these Ws!
