Prepare & Report
Prepare & Report is where an approved pitch becomes a fully reported story. After the Pitch Meeting, reporters must turn the editor’s decision into an organized plan and gather the accurate information, interviews, visuals, and sound needed to complete the assignment.
This stage is not simply about going somewhere, asking a few questions, and recording a collection of clips. It is a structured reporting process. Every interview, fact, photograph, video shot, and piece of natural sound should serve the approved angle and help the audience understand the story.
Before reporting begins, your team will identify what must be learned, choose the right sources, prepare interview questions, plan the visual coverage, assign responsibilities, confirm equipment and access, and build a schedule that works backward from the deadline. You will then carry out that plan while listening carefully, asking follow-up questions, verifying information, and gathering complete and purposeful coverage.
The work does not end when you return to the newsroom. Your team must review every interview, clip, photograph, document, and set of notes; confirm that important facts are accurate; identify anything missing or unusable; complete necessary follow-up reporting; and organize the material so it can be found quickly during production.
This page will teach you how to:
• Build a complete reporting plan from the approved pitch
• Prepare purposeful questions for each interview
• Plan the pictures and sound that will visually tell the story
• Conduct interviews and gather accurate, usable reporting
• Review, verify, and organize everything you collected
• Determine whether the story is ready to move into Write & Package
Prepare & Report is the second working stage of the BVP Two-Week News Cycle. When it ends, your team should have a verified, complete, and organized body of reporting—not merely proof that you worked on the assignment. You should know exactly what the story is, what evidence supports it, where the strongest material is located, and whether anything still needs to be gathered before writing and editing begin.
Section 1: Build The Reporting Plan
Once your pitch has been approved, it becomes a newsroom assignment. Before conducting interviews, taking photographs, or recording video, your team must turn that assignment into a practical reporting plan.
Begin with the decision made during the Pitch Meeting—not the original version of your pitch. Record the approved story, its angle, required sources and visuals, any changes requested by Mr. G, and the final deadline.
Your reporting plan should identify:
• What information is already confirmed
• What facts, claims, and details still need to be verified
• Which sources should be interviewed and what each should contribute
• What documents, records, observations, photographs, video, and natural sound are needed
• When and where each reporting activity will happen
• Who is responsible for completing each task
• What access, permission, transportation, and equipment are required
• What backup options are available if part of the plan fails
Work backward from the final deadline. Your schedule must leave enough time to review the material, complete follow-up reporting, write or edit the story, receive feedback, make corrections, and prepare the finished work for publication. Difficult sources, restricted locations, one-time events, and other uncertain parts of the assignment should be handled early.
Every essential task needs one clearly identified owner, even when the entire team is helping. “Someone will contact the coach” is not a plan. State who will make contact, what must be confirmed, and when it must be completed.
Do not confuse assumptions with confirmation. A message that has been sent is not a confirmed interview. Equipment that “should be available” has not been reserved. Permission that will “probably be granted” has not been received.
Before active reporting begins, ask:
Can our team explain exactly what story we are reporting, what we still need to learn, who will provide it, what we need to record, who is responsible for each task, and when everything must be completed?
If every task has an owner, a time, and a deadline—and the team has realistic alternatives for likely problems—your reporting plan is ready.
Section 1: Build The Reporting Plan
Once your pitch has been approved, it becomes a newsroom assignment. Before conducting interviews, taking photographs, or recording video, your team must turn that assignment into a practical reporting plan.
Begin with the decision made during the Pitch Meeting—not the original version of your pitch. Record the approved story, its angle, required sources and visuals, any changes requested by Mr. G, and the final deadline.
Your reporting plan should identify:
• What information is already confirmed
• What facts, claims, and details still need to be verified
• Which sources should be interviewed and what each should contribute
• What documents, records, observations, photographs, video, and natural sound are needed
• When and where each reporting activity will happen
• Who is responsible for completing each task
• What access, permission, transportation, and equipment are required
• What backup options are available if part of the plan fails
Work backward from the final deadline. Your schedule must leave enough time to review the material, complete follow-up reporting, write or edit the story, receive feedback, make corrections, and prepare the finished work for publication. Difficult sources, restricted locations, one-time events, and other uncertain parts of the assignment should be handled early.
Every essential task needs one clearly identified owner, even when the entire team is helping. “Someone will contact the coach” is not a plan. State who will make contact, what must be confirmed, and when it must be completed.
Do not confuse assumptions with confirmation. A message that has been sent is not a confirmed interview. Equipment that “should be available” has not been reserved. Permission that will “probably be granted” has not been received.
Before active reporting begins, ask:
Can our team explain exactly what story we are reporting, what we still need to learn, who will provide it, what we need to record, who is responsible for each task, and when everything must be completed?
If every task has an owner, a time, and a deadline—and the team has realistic alternatives for likely problems—your reporting plan is ready.
Section 2: Prepare The Interviews
A strong interview begins before the camera or recorder is turned on. Before meeting with a source, you must understand the approved angle, research the subject, determine what that person can contribute, and prepare questions designed specifically for that interview.
Do not create one generic question list and use it for everyone. Each source has a different purpose. An official may confirm decisions and facts, a participant may describe a firsthand experience, and an expert may explain why something happened or why it matters.
Your interview preparation should include:
• The approved angle and purpose of the interview
• The source’s correct name, spelling, title, role, and connection to the story
• Background research from reliable sources
• Facts, claims, dates, statistics, and details that must be confirmed
• Open-ended questions written specifically for that source
• Questions asking for examples, explanations, experiences, and specific moments
• Possible follow-up questions and requests for clarification
• The scheduled date, time, location, format, and expected length of the interview
Arrange your questions in a useful order. Begin with comfortable background questions, establish what happened, explore the central angle, ask for specific examples, discuss what happens next, and finish by asking what you may have missed.
Most questions should be open-ended and neutrally worded. Ask one clear question at a time. Your purpose is to learn what the source actually knows and experienced—not to lead the person toward the answer you want.
Prepared questions provide direction, but they are not a script. Listen carefully to every answer. When a source reveals a new fact, gives a vague response, mentions an important experience, or says something unexpected, be prepared to leave your written list and ask a follow-up question.
Before the interview, ask:
Do I know why I am interviewing this person, what information the story needs from them, which facts must be confirmed, and what questions could produce specific, complete, and meaningful answers?
If the same question list could be handed to every source, the interviews are not fully prepared. One story may require several sources—but each source needs a distinct purpose and a question set built around what that person can contribute.
Section 2: Prepare the Interviews
A strong interview begins before the camera or recorder is turned on. Before meeting with a source, you must understand the approved angle, research the subject, determine what that person can contribute, and prepare questions designed specifically for that interview.
Do not create one generic question list and use it for everyone. Each source has a different purpose. An official may confirm decisions and facts, a participant may describe a firsthand experience, and an expert may explain why something happened or why it matters.
Your interview preparation should include:
• The approved angle and purpose of the interview
• The source’s correct name, spelling, title, role, and connection to the story
• Background research from reliable sources
• Facts, claims, dates, statistics, and details that must be confirmed
• Open-ended questions written specifically for that source
• Questions asking for examples, explanations, experiences, and specific moments
• Possible follow-up questions and requests for clarification
• The scheduled date, time, location, format, and expected length of the interview
Arrange your questions in a useful order. Begin with comfortable background questions, establish what happened, explore the central angle, ask for specific examples, discuss what happens next, and finish by asking what you may have missed.
Most questions should be open-ended and neutrally worded. Ask one clear question at a time. Your purpose is to learn what the source actually knows and experienced—not to lead the person toward the answer you want.
Prepared questions provide direction, but they are not a script. Listen carefully to every answer. When a source reveals a new fact, gives a vague response, mentions an important experience, or says something unexpected, be prepared to leave your written list and ask a follow-up question.
Before the interview, ask:
Do I know why I am interviewing this person, what information the story needs from them, which facts must be confirmed, and what questions could produce specific, complete, and meaningful answers?
If the same question list could be handed to every source, the interviews are not fully prepared. One story may require several sources—but each source needs a distinct purpose and a question set built around what that person can contribute.
Section 3: Plan The Visual Story
Before taking out a camera, your team must decide what the audience needs to see and hear. A video package is not an article with random pictures placed over it. The pictures and sound must help explain, prove, and strengthen the approved story.
Begin with the approved angle—not a list of attractive or easy shots. Every important visual should serve a purpose by showing action, providing evidence, establishing a location, introducing a person, explaining a process, capturing a reaction, or connecting one part of the story to another.
Your visual-story plan should include:
• Visual evidence that directly supports the approved angle
• Meaningful B-roll showing people, places, actions, interactions, and details
• Complete sequences using wide, medium, close-up, and detail shots
• Establishing shots, reactions, cutaways, transitions, and closing shots
• Natural sound that helps the audience experience the activity
• Interview locations with appropriate backgrounds, lighting, and clean audio
• A practical shot list organized around the major parts of the story
• The cameras, microphones, support equipment, batteries, media, and accessories required
• Assigned responsibilities for camera, audio, interviews, permissions, notes, and file protection
• Truthful backup options if the preferred source, action, or location is unavailable
Do not return with several disconnected clips that merely prove you attended the event. Record the beginning, middle, and end of important actions. Gather different shot sizes, angles, reactions, details, and natural sound so the editor has enough material to build a complete visual story.
Plan your interview picture and sound just as carefully. Choose a location with a meaningful background, usable light, enough room to compose the shot, and limited noise. Record a short test and play it back before beginning the full interview. Beautiful framing cannot rescue unusable audio.
A visual plan provides direction, but it is not a script for reality. Remain alert for truthful and useful moments that could not have been predicted. Never stage an event, ask someone to pretend an action occurred, or use unrelated footage in a way that misleads the audience.
Before leaving to report, ask:
What must our audience see and hear to understand this story? Do our planned visuals show the approved angle, or do they merely identify the general topic?
If your team can explain what needs to be shown, how each major action will be covered, what natural sound should be recorded, which equipment is required, and who is responsible for every task, your visual-story plan is ready.
Section 3: Plan the Visual Story
Before taking out a camera, your team must decide what the audience needs to see and hear. A video package is not an article with random pictures placed over it. The pictures and sound must help explain, prove, and strengthen the approved story.
Begin with the approved angle—not a list of attractive or easy shots. Every important visual should serve a purpose by showing action, providing evidence, establishing a location, introducing a person, explaining a process, capturing a reaction, or connecting one part of the story to another.
Your visual-story plan should include:
• Visual evidence that directly supports the approved angle
• Meaningful B-roll showing people, places, actions, interactions, and details
• Complete sequences using wide, medium, close-up, and detail shots
• Establishing shots, reactions, cutaways, transitions, and closing shots
• Natural sound that helps the audience experience the activity
• Interview locations with appropriate backgrounds, lighting, and clean audio
• A practical shot list organized around the major parts of the story
• The cameras, microphones, support equipment, batteries, media, and accessories required
• Assigned responsibilities for camera, audio, interviews, permissions, notes, and file protection
• Truthful backup options if the preferred source, action, or location is unavailable
Do not return with several disconnected clips that merely prove you attended the event. Record the beginning, middle, and end of important actions. Gather different shot sizes, angles, reactions, details, and natural sound so the editor has enough material to build a complete visual story.
Plan your interview picture and sound just as carefully. Choose a location with a meaningful background, usable light, enough room to compose the shot, and limited noise. Record a short test and play it back before beginning the full interview. Beautiful framing cannot rescue unusable audio.
A visual plan provides direction, but it is not a script for reality. Remain alert for truthful and useful moments that could not have been predicted. Never stage an event, ask someone to pretend an action occurred, or use unrelated footage in a way that misleads the audience.
Before leaving to report, ask:
What must our audience see and hear to understand this story? Do our planned visuals show the approved angle, or do they merely identify the general topic?
If your team can explain what needs to be shown, how each major action will be covered, what natural sound should be recorded, which equipment is required, and who is responsible for every task, your visual-story plan is ready.
Section 4: Conduct Interviews and Gather the Story
This is the field-reporting stage. Your team will carry out the approved plan by interviewing sources, observing what happens, verifying information, recording video and natural sound, taking photographs, and gathering the supporting material needed to tell the story.
Attending an event, completing one interview, or recording several clips does not automatically mean that you have gathered enough material. Your goal is not merely to prove that you were there. You must return with accurate facts, meaningful answers, strong sound bites, complete visual coverage, and enough verified evidence to write the article and assemble the video package.
During the reporting assignment, your team should:
• Confirm each source’s name, spelling, pronunciation, title, and connection to the story
• Test the camera, microphone, audio levels, focus, exposure, framing, and recording media
• Conduct professional interviews using clear, open-ended questions. ***Review the “Conducting Interviews” page before interviewing a source.***
• Listen carefully and ask follow-up questions based on each answer
• Obtain specific examples, complete explanations, and usable sound bites
• Verify dates, figures, statistics, claims, quotations, and other important details
• Record complete visual sequences using wide, medium, close-up, and detail shots
• Gather relevant B-roll, photographs, reactions, cutaways, and natural sound
• Take notes about observations, names, facts, documents, and anything the camera cannot explain
• Track what has been completed and what is still missing
Your prepared questions are a guide, not a cage. If a source says something surprising, unclear, important, emotional, or contradictory, pause your planned list and follow the answer. Ask for an example, clarification, explanation, or evidence. The strongest question is often the one you could not have written before hearing the previous answer.
Do not accept a weak answer merely because it was recorded. If an answer is vague, incomplete, confusing, interrupted, or technically unusable, ask the source to explain it again. Recorded answers should make sense after the reporter’s question has been removed.
Verify information while the source is still available. Confirm exact spellings, titles, dates, scores, statistics, program names, and important claims. Distinguish personal opinion from verified fact. If two sources disagree, do not choose the version that sounds best—identify the conflict and find the person, document, or record that can resolve it.
Before leaving the location, review the material. Play back part of every interview through headphones, check the focus and exposure of the footage, confirm that important actions were captured as complete sequences, and make sure you gathered enough B-roll, photographs, details, reactions, and natural sound. It is much easier to correct a problem while the source and location are still available.
Before packing up, ask:
Do we have usable audio, meaningful answers, verified facts, complete visual coverage, and enough evidence to explain what happened and why it matters?
If the answer is yes—and your material still supports the approved angle—you are ready to return to the newsroom. If something essential is missing, gather it before leaving or create a clear follow-up plan immediately.
Section 4: Interviews and Gather the Story
This is the field-reporting stage. Your team will carry out the approved plan by interviewing sources, observing what happens, verifying information, recording video and natural sound, taking photographs, and gathering the supporting material needed to tell the story.
Attending an event, completing one interview, or recording several clips does not automatically mean that you have gathered enough material. Your goal is not merely to prove that you were there. You must return with accurate facts, meaningful answers, strong sound bites, complete visual coverage, and enough verified evidence to write the article and assemble the video package.
During the reporting assignment, your team should:
• Confirm each source’s name, spelling, pronunciation, title, and connection to the story
• Test the camera, microphone, audio levels, focus, exposure, framing, and recording media
• Conduct professional interviews using clear, open-ended questions. ***Review the “Conducting Interviews” page before interviewing a source.***
• Listen carefully and ask follow-up questions based on each answer
• Obtain specific examples, complete explanations, and usable sound bites
• Verify dates, figures, statistics, claims, quotations, and other important details
• Record complete visual sequences using wide, medium, close-up, and detail shots
• Gather relevant B-roll, photographs, reactions, cutaways, and natural sound
• Take notes about observations, names, facts, documents, and anything the camera cannot explain
• Track what has been completed and what is still missing
Your prepared questions are a guide, not a cage. If a source says something surprising, unclear, important, emotional, or contradictory, pause your planned list and follow the answer. Ask for an example, clarification, explanation, or evidence. The strongest question is often the one you could not have written before hearing the previous answer.
Do not accept a weak answer merely because it was recorded. If an answer is vague, incomplete, confusing, interrupted, or technically unusable, ask the source to explain it again. Recorded answers should make sense after the reporter’s question has been removed.
Verify information while the source is still available. Confirm exact spellings, titles, dates, scores, statistics, program names, and important claims. Distinguish personal opinion from verified fact. If two sources disagree, do not choose the version that sounds best—identify the conflict and find the person, document, or record that can resolve it.
Before leaving the location, review the material. Play back part of every interview through headphones, check the focus and exposure of the footage, confirm that important actions were captured as complete sequences, and make sure you gathered enough B-roll, photographs, details, reactions, and natural sound. It is much easier to correct a problem while the source and location are still available.
Before packing up, ask:
Do we have usable audio, meaningful answers, verified facts, complete visual coverage, and enough evidence to explain what happened and why it matters?
If the answer is yes—and your material still supports the approved angle—you are ready to return to the newsroom. If something essential is missing, gather it before leaving or create a clear follow-up plan immediately.
Section 5: Review, Verify, and Organize
Reporting does not end when your team returns to the newsroom. Interviews, video clips, photographs, documents, and notes are only raw ingredients. Before writing the article or editing the video package, you must determine what you have, what is true, what is usable, and what is still missing.
Begin by transferring and protecting every piece of reporting. Check every camera, recorder, phone, memory card, shared folder, and team member. Keep the original files intact, confirm that the transferred files open correctly, create a backup, and organize everything so another team member can find it.
During this stage, your team should:
• Transfer, back up, label, and organize all original files
• Review every interview from beginning to end
• Log the strongest quotations and sound bites with filenames and timecodes
• Watch every video clip and inspect every photograph at full size
• Evaluate audio, focus, exposure, stability, composition, and storytelling value
• Identify useful B-roll, sequences, reactions, details, photographs, and natural sound
• Verify names, titles, dates, locations, scores, statistics, quotations, and claims
• Compare the completed reporting with the approved angle
• Identify missing information, perspectives, visuals, or technically unusable material
• Assign and complete any necessary follow-up reporting
• Prepare the organized material for Write & Package
Do not rely on memory or assume that a clip is usable because its thumbnail looks good. Watch and listen to the actual recordings. Mark the strongest material, record where it is located, and flag anything that is unclear, incomplete, misleading, repetitive, or technically unusable.
Verification means confirming information through an appropriate source, document, record, or direct observation. Repetition is not verification. If several people repeat the same rumor, it is still a rumor. Record who or what confirms every important fact so it can be checked again.
Return to the approved angle and ask what the reporting actually proves. The evidence may strengthen the original angle, complicate it, or show that the story has changed. Follow the evidence rather than forcing the material to support the story you expected to find. Discuss any major change in direction with Mr. G before writing or editing begins.
Create one shared list of everything still missing. Each necessary follow-up needs a specific task, an owner, and a deadline. Resolve problems involving accuracy, fairness, essential sourcing, context, and technical usability before spending time on optional improvements.
Before moving into Write & Package, ask:
Can we accurately explain the story and why it matters? Is every important fact verified? Are the essential sources and perspectives represented? Is the media technically usable? Can every important quote, fact, photograph, sound bite, and video clip be located quickly?
Being finished gathering is not the same as being ready to produce. Your team may move forward only when the story is accurate, supported, complete enough to tell fairly, technically usable, and organized so the next stage can begin without guesswork.
Section 5: Review, Verify, and Organize
Reporting does not end when your team returns to the newsroom. Interviews, video clips, photographs, documents, and notes are only raw ingredients. Before writing the article or editing the video package, you must determine what you have, what is true, what is usable, and what is still missing.
Begin by transferring and protecting every piece of reporting. Check every camera, recorder, phone, memory card, shared folder, and team member. Keep the original files intact, confirm that the transferred files open correctly, create a backup, and organize everything so another team member can find it.
During this stage, your team should:
• Transfer, back up, label, and organize all original files
• Review every interview from beginning to end
• Log the strongest quotations and sound bites with filenames and timecodes
• Watch every video clip and inspect every photograph at full size
• Evaluate audio, focus, exposure, stability, composition, and storytelling value
• Identify useful B-roll, sequences, reactions, details, photographs, and natural sound
• Verify names, titles, dates, locations, scores, statistics, quotations, and claims
• Compare the completed reporting with the approved angle
• Identify missing information, perspectives, visuals, or technically unusable material
• Assign and complete any necessary follow-up reporting
• Prepare the organized material for Write & Package
Do not rely on memory or assume that a clip is usable because its thumbnail looks good. Watch and listen to the actual recordings. Mark the strongest material, record where it is located, and flag anything that is unclear, incomplete, misleading, repetitive, or technically unusable.
Verification means confirming information through an appropriate source, document, record, or direct observation. Repetition is not verification. If several people repeat the same rumor, it is still a rumor. Record who or what confirms every important fact so it can be checked again.
Return to the approved angle and ask what the reporting actually proves. The evidence may strengthen the original angle, complicate it, or show that the story has changed. Follow the evidence rather than forcing the material to support the story you expected to find. Discuss any major change in direction with Mr. G before writing or editing begins.
Create one shared list of everything still missing. Each necessary follow-up needs a specific task, an owner, and a deadline. Resolve problems involving accuracy, fairness, essential sourcing, context, and technical usability before spending time on optional improvements.
Before moving into Write & Package, ask:
Can we accurately explain the story and why it matters? Is every important fact verified? Are the essential sources and perspectives represented? Is the media technically usable? Can every important quote, fact, photograph, sound bite, and video clip be located quickly?
Being finished gathering is not the same as being ready to produce. Your team may move forward only when the story is accurate, supported, complete enough to tell fairly, technically usable, and organized so the next stage can begin without guesswork.