By Shahid Shah
Daniel Pearl Fellow
Reporter, The News International
Karachi, Pakistan
Hosted by the Washington, DC bureau of The Wall Street Journal

I witnessed two major components of journalism at The Wall Street Journal:
1-Practices
2-Values

PRACTICES:
A-Investigation: At The Wall Street Journal I learnt that news is not only day to day coverage of events. But, as one reporter said, it is all investigative stories. News is based on the following:

B-Research: Background research remains the most important part of stories. At The Journal most background research was conducted by using in-house software called Newsnet, which also contained the Factiva search engine. Background research not only provides information, but sometimes you find another angle for your stories. Besides research, talking to experts and officials provides the full update. Discussing with fellow beat reporters is also good, as they know day-to-day activities.

C-Pursuing a contact: I got the contact numbers of sources through searches or through fellow reporters. WSJ has a nice database of contact persons in major organizations. Collaboration with the editor helped me to keep the story objective and accurate. Check, re-check and cross check.

D-Human Interest: “Think as if your grandmother is reading the story.” These were the words most of my editors said when they were looking for the human angle in the story. Use simple phrases that a person sitting at home like grandma can understand easily without an explanation from a third person. “Hook up the reader,” said another editor. They argued that when there are online newspapers, satellite channels and FM radios, the most important thing for the newspapers is to hook up the reader and provide factual details.

E-Editing: Editing remained the most important work at The Journal. My stories, which were published globally, went through various layers of editing. They passed through at least four editors, and each had their own questions and queries, which made the stories more reliable and accurate. I think the WSJ is more popular due to its editing than its reporting.

VALUES:
A-Courage: The job of a journalist is not just reporting day-to-day activities and covering press conferences. The most important thing is to find the truth, which someone is trying to hide. Finding the truth is the most difficult and dangerous job in this world especially in developing nations, where corruption remains high. In order to find the truth, a journalist has to be courageous. American journalists are some of the most courageous journalists in the world.

B-Ethics: I learnt that a journalist is an ordinary citizen and he/she is doing his/her job like other professionals. A journalist is among the most responsible persons of a society, so they have to be objective in reporting.

C-Objectivity: A reporter should not be biased and should not take sides with anyone either. Although my reservations about the objectivity of the American press remain, I think it is one of the important tasks of the story. Get the views of all the stakeholders.

D-Freedom of press: American newsrooms enjoy freedom of the press, which rarely exist in developing countries. The job of a journalist in America would be more difficult if the First Amendment didn’t exist.

At Home:
Although I learnt a lot during the fellowship of five and half months, I think it is not an easy job to get everything implemented easily. Many journalists in my newsroom don’t like change. In order to avoid any confrontation or misunderstanding with my fellow colleagues, I’ll pass my skills to them through my editor.

PRACTICES:
A-Resource material: I am trying to build a resource centre for my newspaper. I will work with the tech guys on a software development for my newspaper. The model will be Newsnet of the WSJ. I will build some databases that will save reporters time in their research.

B-Training: There is a need for continuous training in our newsroom, which I will start with the support of my editor. I will play the role of a moderator and will invite senior editors as well as academics who can share their experiences with everyone in general and with new comers in particular. The skilled editors would be invited to deliver their experiences to new comers. This would multiply the skills.

C-Technology: The use of technology, especially the Internet, will be encouraged. An investigative journalism unit already exists in my home newspaper and I will share my knowledge with them. I’ll deliver the techniques.

D-Style: I will work with my editor to prepare a stylebook, which will be implemented across the board. I’ll get help from the AP and The Wall Street Journal stylebooks.

E-Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR): CAR will help all journalists especially business and crime that mostly need data analysis. I’ll conduct training with my fellow colleagues on the use of spreadsheets and how to analyse data. This would be a continuous process.

F-A-head: I am very impressed by the A-head or middle column of The Wall Street Journal. In the beginning we will start with a few stories per week then it will be extended to one story per day on the front page. These stories will not contain daily reporting but human-interest stories, which will touch hearts. Narrative story writing style will play a major role in it. In order to hook up the readers and create enthusiasm for reading more stories, I think the narrative storytelling style will be very helpful. I will pass on this style through my stories and the stories published in American media.

G-Ethics: Journalism is for pursuing the truth. Its purpose shouldn’t be to harm anyone. So, I’ll discuss libel law with our legal advisor and my editor in order to prepare some guidelines for our reporters. We will fulfil ethical requirements in our stories and will not try to harm individuals. For each story, we will discuss security measures, and will chalk out some guidelines for the journalists.

H-Feedback: Reporters in my home newspaper do not get feedback on their stories. So, I will discuss with my editor that it should be necessary to put email addresses of the reporters at the end of stories, so they may directly get the response of the readers. It will not only keep the reporters in touch with the readers but will also help us to correct the record, if there are any mistakes. Readers are the best editors.

I-Freedom of press: In order to access information, freedom of the press is an important component. I will continue my struggle for the establishment of a free press in Pakistan. Beyond discussions with my editor and fellow colleagues, I will discuss this issue with other journalists at various forums. I’ll share my experience of working in a free press and a free society, where the free press has played an important role in its construction. I will discuss the First Amendment and will also have a dialogue with the members of the legislative assemblies in order to put a bill for freedom of the press. Most of the journalists in my country are not aware about press laws. We’ll discuss the laws and will try to proceed accordingly.

J-Coaching: I will be coaching the new comers and interns in my home news organization with approval of my editor.

K-Personal effort: I’ll keep myself engaged in learning new tools of training and will be passing these to my fellow colleagues through training. I’m also planning to start my personal web page, where I’ll put all material I received through my training.