Where do marine writers like me get their story ideas from?
The answer is a million-and-one places, but one of the most important sources is people who research or work in the ocean sphere. If you have something in the works or are aware of a situation with an ocean or environmental/sustainability angle, you may have a story that needs to be told.
Not sure if what you have is newsworthy? Here are some things I and the editors I work with consider when deciding whether to run with a story.
Why should we care?
Did you spot a nice shell on the beach? Cool! Share a photo on your favourite social media platform. Unfortunately, as beautiful as your shell is and as much as I and others may like looking at it, it’s not enough to make a story… unless the shell happens to be from a rare or unknown species.
For something people care to be newsworthy, about generally has at least one of the following aspects:
There’s something strange
There’s something very unexpected
There’s something quirky
There’s mystery or intrigue
There’s some conflict
There’s a resolution or solution to a problem
It invokes an emotional response
It impacts their lives or the lives of people they are close with, or a large number of people
Global or local relevance?
When thinking about who cares, one of the key things publications focus on is proximity. Is this something that has broad or global relevance, or is it only important to people in a particular location?
Many publications favour stories that have global or broad relevance. In fact, some will only cover stories with global or broad relevance. This doesn’t mean your research must be one of those global meta-analyses or your project tackling something absolutely everywhere. What it means is that the implications of your work should be broadly relevant.
If a story doesn’t have global or broad relevance, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth telling, but it will influence who picks up on the story.
Why are we talking about this now?
If you’ve just had a paper accepted for publication, are about to release a new report, or are about to start a new project, this is a pretty easy question to answer - it’s something new! Pick up any publication, and you will see that it is filled with the latest developments. Newness is something editors love.
What about something that’s been going on for a while? A project, an old event or piece of research, or an ongoing situation, for example? Many things can suddenly make “old news” timely:
There has been a change in the status quo.
It relates to something else in the world right now that is getting media attention.
Despite promises to rectify a particular situation, six months on, nothing has changed.
Is everyone already talking about it?
If everyone is already talking about it, selling the story to an editor is much harder.
This is one of the reasons why giving me a heads-up before your paper/report is published, project launches etc., is important (the other reason is to have everything ready so that the story goes out in a timely fashion, such as when a paper goes public). I always respect formal and informal embargos, so don’t worry that the story will “leak!”
What if everyone is talking about it, but only from one particular angle, when another needs to be brought into the light? Then that could be newsworthy!
You have something newsworthy - now what?
Tell me about it! You can message me on this website or through LinkedIn, Twitter, or Mastodon.