This article is part of a series called Backstory where I reveal how feature and in-depth stories were crafted. You can find more with the Backstory tag by searching “Backstory” in the search bar.
The original story was published here:
Everything COVID-19 in 2021 is still everything news. When Morgane and I were brainstorming ideas, we knew we had to do something related to the pandemic. After writing about Quebec’s vaccine certificate system in the rodeo story, we thought it might be timely to write about Ontario’s plans on developing a similar app. It would also be useful to demystify how the app works to readers.
We’ve worked together on several stories and developed a system of working that both of us find efficient. The first thing we did was to outline where we wanted to go with the article, then list the people we needed to interview. We needed to talk to local businesses about the impact of the upcoming certificate system, get a few voices from the government, and find out more from experts.
Morgane, with her usual navigation skills around government red tape, managed to get a few quotes from the provincial government by watching a very long and boring press conference. I sleuthed around and interviewed a tech developer who contributed massively to the voluntary fight against the pandemic. I knew he was media trained; he gave very succinct and direct answers to technical questions. I don’t mind people who are media trained. Often, being media trained doesn’t mean they weasel their way out of my questions, it means that they’re able to provide me with useful and quotable answers that readers will find interesting. I quite like it.
The problem came when the business sources we reached out to in Ottawa didn’t get back to us in time – the same issue as our rodeo story. Luckily, I keep a contact list of everyone I’ve ever interviewed in alphabetical order by last name in my Rolodex. All I had to do was to scan the handwritten tags to find out which ones owned client-facing businesses in Ontario.
I reached out to folks out in Newmarket in the restaurant industry and someone else in Ottawa who ran a gymnastics centre. I’ve interviewed all of them the year before. We were grateful that they pulled through for us by letting me interview them again. They all provided us with excellent photographs to publish online. I even went down to Newmarket to take a couple of photos for the story and meet with a restaurant owner in Newmarket! We’ve never met but had a cozy conversation after having spoken over the phone before.
Many politicians used to be journalists. Several Ottawa city councillors also graduated from Carleton’s journalism school. I think it might have something to do with the fact that journalists and elected representatives both have to build strong relationships with people. Journalists need to have the people they interview trust that they’ll be represented fairly, and readers need to know that the information will be delivered accurately. Politicians might have something similar to say about their relationship with constituents.
I want to help local businesses, I want people to get vaccinated, I want to go back to normal, but I can’t express any of these opinions in the article because traditional journalistic convention says that I can’t insert my opinion in reportage. I don’t think any rational person would fault me for having these opinions. In fact, I think most would even share them.
What I can do is rephrase the same question in multiple ways to try and get a quote I can use to express the opinion of others. So, if a journalist asks you the same question multiple times, they’re probably not looking for inconsistencies, they want to be on your side. They’re just looking for a way to do it without using their own opinion.
