Reframe the five W’s

Go beyond the basics of news reporting

These questions are journalistic tools that can help us find stories — or condemn us to a lifetime of cranking out just-the-facts-ma’am pieces.

To do more of the former and less of the latter, shift focus. When you’re interviewing for story, Richard Zahler of The Seattle Times suggests, reframe the five W’s. Let:

• Who become character
• What become plot
• When become chronology
• Where become setting
• Why become motivation

Using this approach, “what,” for example, is transformed into questions like:

• “What happened next?”
• “What were you thinking when …?”
• “What made you say that?”

Those questions can lead beyond just the facts to fascinating anecdotes.