1. Think of a beat as a topic, not an agency
In general, most beats are topic-oriented, such as “health.” So the reporter needs to focus on stories about health, not just about the local hospital or health center. Don’t focus on the institutions – focus on the issues. Some beats are exceptions, such as your local police department. But that doesn’t mean stories have to be process-oriented or meeting-oriented. Readers want depth and perspective.

2. Know the people

• Develop a list of people connected with your beat. Get name spellings, titles and home phone numbers. Know exactly what they do. Then use the beat folder to pass it on to the next reporter who gets the beat.
• Meet with people often. Have a soda with them at the CUB. Be nice to the staff.
• Hand out your name, phone number and e-mail address to everyone you run into on your beat. Encourage them to call if they have any story ideas or comments.
• Do features on people on the beat. You’ll build contacts, trust and more story ideas.

3. Know the institutions

• Find out the institution’s mission, operating rules, and how it’s supposed to work.
• Know who makes the decisions and when the decision-makers meet. Get a calendar of when the groups meet.
• Get a budget to see where money comes from and how it is spent.
• Read archived stories in the Evergreen (www.dailyevergreen.com) to find out what’s happened in the past.

4. Know the experts

• Tap into the professional associations affiliated with your beat. Find out what stats they keep and experts they have on staff to lend perspective in stories.
• Use ProfNet and WSU prof expert services to find professors who can provide information for your beat stories.
• Check out journalism “beat” pages on the Internet that list useful Web sites.

5. Find the news

• Listen to all news tips on your beat. Ask everyone what’s going on. Do not accept “No, nothing’s happening” as an answer. Find out for yourself.
• Get out of the office. Don’t interview everyone by phone all the time. Get out and talk with people in their environment. To know your beat you must be the beat.
• When monitoring meetings, look closely at the agendas and write stories before the meetings happen so readers can participate. Also, read the meeting minutes.
• Find problems in an area by tapping into other sources, such as lawsuits against the agency, regulatory agencies and opposition groups.
• Write a variety of stories at all levels. Do briefs, news stories, features and in-depth trend stories or investigative stories.

6. Follow up
Keep tabs on ongoing issues for follow-up stories. You are responsible for that. Come up with a tickler system or future file, such as writing down the need to check up on an issue on a calendar or filing a story away in a file system.

7. Be flexible
If you need help on the beat, ask for it and get a buddy reporter to chip in. Budget a quarter of your time for stories off the beat as assigned by your editor. If someone does a story on your beat without you knowing don’t get territorial. Work it out.