Finding news tips with journalist and presenter Steph McGovern

Hello I’m Steph McGovern, I’m a journalist and I work on programmes like BBC Breakfast, Shop Well for Less on BBC 1 and Watchdog, which is made here in Media City in Salford.

So basically I have two jobs here at the BBC.

One is as a presenter where you will see me on television delivering the news to you or talking about what’s going on in the world.

The other job is as a journalist and that’s where I am trying to find stories and guests which will help me to explain the news to everybody who’s watching. I do that job with a team of producers and they are people who work hard finding guests and stories and unearth all the information that will help us to explain things to you.

Some of the first places we look for stories are websites, social media and newspapers. So you will often see me on my phone, and

I’m not just chatting to my friends I’m looking for stories.

I have to think about the kinds of stories that will work well on the programmes that I’m on because different programmes have different types of audience.

Then we have to make sure we have all the facts right before we take it to the editor of the programme to see what they think about the idea.

I also look at different news and business websites all the time to see how other media organisations around the world are reporting on the news.

Social media is a great place to look for guests and stories. I follow lots of journalists and organisations on Twitter and Facebook as they often get the stories first.

I also follow normal people too to see what they’re talking about and what’s trending as this can spark great ideas!

It’s really important when you do a job like mine to always be a journalist. That means keeping your eyes and ears open at all times, so you could overhear something at a supermarket checkout and think: “That’s quite interesting; there’s something in that.” Or you could be on the bus on the way home from school.

If we decide we want to run a story, we have to make sure the facts are correct by checking the original source and also with the people involved. We never run something we don’t know is true and neither should you.

The whole Breakfast team are always on the look-out for interesting and original stories and then we have to find guests to come in and talk about them or sometimes we go to the location of the story and report from there.

As journalists we do a lot of research so I know about the topics I’ll be talking about on air.

For example, if I’m interviewing a business owner I need to know everything about that business, or an actor who has just been in a film I need to watch the film that they are in, that’s a nice part of the job.

My top research tip: Find a different angle – the audience doesn’t want to hear the same story again and again.

Tell them something new and that they haven’t heard before or tell the story in a different way.

To sum up – Always check your facts including numbers and statistics.

Don’t take it for granted that what you read online is true.

Remember you can find stories anywhere. The internet and newspapers are good but don’t forget to talk to people and listen to what’s going on around you.

So you’ve found out how we find stories for BBC News. Now it’s your turn to have a go!