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1. Plan the assignment before the journey
Write down what the visit must produce: the interview you need, the scene you need to describe, the document you need to see, the images you need. Then work backwards through access. Some places require permission from an owner or operator, some require an appointment, some require nothing but courtesy. Establishing which applies is part of the reporting, not an administrative afterthought.
Check the practicalities that quietly ruin days: opening hours, transport at both ends, whether the person you are meeting will be there, whether the event is happening at all, and whether you need identification to be admitted. Note the name and role of whoever granted access. Where an assignment involves private property, a hospital, a school or a court, settle the ground rules with the operator and with your editor before you travel.
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2. Safety planning and check-in
Every assignment away from the desk deserves a short written assessment: what could go wrong, how likely it is, what would reduce it, and what you will do if it happens anyway. Crowds, roads, water, weather, animals, machinery and hostile reception are the ordinary hazards, and they injure far more reporters than dramatic events do.
Agree a check-in protocol with a named colleague: when you will make contact, through which channel, and what happens if you do not. Carry the means to charge a phone and a second way to reach somebody. Note the nearest medical facility for remote assignments. Where you are working alone at night or in an unfamiliar place, tell somebody the address and the expected finish time before you set out.
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3. Kit for a working day
The realistic kit is smaller than the ideal one and must be carried for hours. A working set is two notebooks and three pens, a phone with storage cleared and power banked, a small recorder as backup, headphones for checking audio in noise, a clip microphone if speech matters, and something to keep paper dry. Everything else is specific to the assignment.
Test recording equipment before leaving, with the actual memory card and the actual batteries you will use. Label files at the point of capture where the device allows it, because a folder of untitled clips is a day's work you cannot search. Keep one pocket for used cards or filled notebooks and never mix it with empty ones.
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4. Observation discipline
In the field, the notebook holds three kinds of material and they should be visually separated: verbatim speech in quotation marks, direct observation, and your own inferences. Mixing them produces a draft in which you can no longer tell what you saw from what you concluded, which is precisely the distinction a sub-editor or a lawyer will ask about.
Record the mundane specifics: the time, the number of people present and how you counted them, the weather, the surfaces, the sounds, the signage, what people were wearing and doing, what was written on the notice on the door. Sensory detail is what makes a scene usable later, and it is unrecoverable once you have left. Note also what was absent, because an empty car park or a closed shutter is often the fact of the day.
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5. Approaching people, and consent in public
Identify yourself, say who you are reporting for and what the story is about, before you ask anything. That is both an ethical baseline and a practical one: people who understand the request give better and more usable answers. Ask for the spelling of a name and a way to check a detail afterwards, and note the exact words of any refusal.
Being in a public place does not settle every question about photographing or recording somebody, particularly where the person is identifiable, distressed, a child, or in a setting that carries an expectation of privacy such as a hospital or a funeral. Vox pops require the same identification as any interview. Where somebody asks not to be recorded, stop recording, and do not treat a shrug as agreement.
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6. Filing from a difficult place
Assume the connection will fail. Draft in a local application that saves as you type, keep the running file short and structured, and send material in pieces rather than waiting for one perfect send. If dictation is the only option, dictate in short sentences with punctuation spoken aloud and spell every proper noun.
Send the most consequential material first: the top three paragraphs, then the quotes with attribution, then colour, then images with captions. Include a note on what is still to come and by when, so a desk can plan around you. Where images are involved, send one usable file early rather than a set later, and caption it in the same message so the two cannot be separated.
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7. Photographs, video and the caption problem
Every image you send needs a caption written while you can still see the scene: who or what is shown, where, on what date, and any qualification the reader needs. A caption written at the desk two days later is a guess, and a wrong caption is a factual error even when the photograph is accurate.
Keep the original files unaltered. Cropping for composition is normal; removing, adding or moving content is not, and staging a scene while presenting it as observed is a serious breach. Where you have set up a portrait, say so in the caption. Technical minimums for audio, stills and video are set out in the multimedia basics chapter.
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8. Debrief and preservation
Within a day, transfer and back up every file, transcribe the passages you intend to use, and write a short note of what you did not get and why. That last note is the most valuable one: it tells an editor what a follow-up would need and it prevents a gap being filled from memory later.
Preserve the notebook. A field notebook is a contemporaneous record and may matter if the story is disputed, so store it where you can find it and where a confidential source could not be identified from it. Note the retention period you have chosen. Then close the assignment properly by thanking whoever granted access, which costs nothing and is the reason you will be admitted next time.
Assignment types and what they demand
| Assignment | Preparation | Dominant hazard | Note format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public meeting | Agenda read, seat and power found | Missing the decisive vote while writing | Timed running notes |
| Street reporting and vox pops | Route planned, identification ready | Consent and misidentification | Short verbatim blocks with names checked |
| Site visit by arrangement | Permission recorded, contact named | Being shown only what the operator chose | Observation plus questions asked |
| Unfolding incident | Safety assessment, check-in agreed | Physical hazard and unverified rumour | Time-stamped observation only |
Checklist before leaving the desk
- One-page brief naming the interview, scene, document and images required.
- Access permission confirmed and the granting person's role noted.
- Short written hazard assessment and an agreed check-in with a named colleague.
- Recording kit tested with the cards and batteries you are taking.
- Notebook ruled for verbatim, observation and inference kept separate.
- Filing plan for a poor connection, with the order of material decided.
Questions readers ask
Do I need permission to report from a public street?
Reporting in a public place is generally unrestricted, but photographing or recording identifiable people can still raise privacy and data-protection questions, and private land, hospitals, schools and courts have their own rules. Check the specific setting.
Should I always record as well as take notes?
Where the person agrees, yes. Notes give you a searchable index and a fallback; audio gives you exact wording. Each covers the other's weakness.
What if I am asked to leave?
Leave, note the time, the name and role of the person who asked, and the reason given. Being asked to leave is itself reportable and is not worth a confrontation that ends the day's work.