How to pitch, conduct interviews, and use secondary sources

Pitching a story is the first thing any reporter does to their editor. It's informing the editor of two things, what you plan to write and how much pre-reporting you've done before running said story to them.

Here is how a pitch works:

You have an idea for a story idea based on what you have been noticing and decide to pitch it to your editor after doing some research and talking to a few people. You put your unique narration as to why this story idea is newsworthy, peak public interest, and or should be told to the public. Your editor will look over the pitch and give their reasons to approve or deny your pitch. If denied, listen to your editor's reasoning as to why it was denied and continue to work on another story idea. If approved, congratulations! You now have the okay to continue with your story.

During my time at college, my professor would act as our editor and we students were his reporters. One assignment we had was to pitch to the editor our story ideas for an article. Depending on how well-structured they were, said pitch would be approved by the editor, and it would be our task to complete said story.

A good story pitch has newsworthiness, a unique angle to the story, more than 2 sources, and a deadline. What stories you write will be up to you, like news stories like event coverage or feature stories like personal profiles or trending topics.

I learned how to contact sources for interviews and interviewing etiquette. Transparency is key when reaching potential primary sources. Emails are good at replaying information, but it is always best to call their number if one is available. Once contact is made and the interviewee agrees to talk, the next step would be the interview. Schedule a day to speak with the source over the phone or face-to-face, whichever is safer and more comfortable with you and the interviewee, and keep it professional but relaxed. Too much professionalism can intimidate your interviewee, so it's best to have a good mix of professional and human beings.

And lastly, I learned how to utilize academic data in my story telling. Emails, books, academic data, public records, and scholarly sources are your secondary sources that add to the story. Quotes from your interview with your information from secondary sources add credibility to your story.