Topics covered
What to consider before collecting questions
A step-by-step guide to collecting breaking news questions
Examples from our partners
Answer timely questions through your general prompt
When a big story hits, it can be hard to know exactly which angles to focus on, and collecting audience questions can help you know what your audience needs from you. You can work up specific forms before, during, and after breaking or major news events — whatever makes the most sense for your organization.
We’ve seen partners collect questions around severe weather, forest fires, protests, gun laws, legislative special sessions, immigration, and a fatberg (a giant blockage of fat in the London sewers). A list of examples can be found at the end of this help doc.
What to consider before you collect questions for breaking news
Before collecting questions around a breaking news situation, ask yourself the following:
Will this be going on long enough for taking questions to make sense?
Is there a reporter / editor who can manage questions as they come in?
Do you have time to answer questions?
Step-by-step guide
Once you've decided this is something you want to do, create a special form embed. By creating a new embed, it'll also generate a new list, which will help keep your regular Hearken questions and breaking news questions separate.
Make sure someone from your reporting/editing staff will look at the questions coming in, and make decisions about which questions should be answered and how you'll do it (roundup, liveblog, on air, on social, as separate stories if needed, etc.). Depending on how quickly you intend to respond to questions, this could be more than one person to ensure every shift has involvement.
Decide where you want to embed it. Maybe you want to embed it only in stories related to the issue / event. Maybe you want it on the homepage. Maybe both. Embed in those places, and get the code to the people who will need it.
Set up notifications. Determine whether you want a designated staff member to get emails when questions come in through this embed or if you want questions to go into a specific Slack channel.
Go live. Tell your audience that you're looking for their questions. Do some social promo (at least one Facebook post specifically calling for questions, and then perhaps mentioning it as part of other posts). You can also potentially mention it in any news alerts or newsletters going out during this time.
Go through questions as they come in and answer them as you see fit.If you do answer someone's question in a web post, it's a good idea to send them that link asap so they can share it. It can be a short, one-sentence email if you're in a crush, something like "Thanks for sending this question in. We had a chance to find the answer, check it out here:" or if you know you'll answer it on air, give them a heads up about what time to listen (just the hour is fine, doesn't need to be the exact block). It's also OK to just email question-askers back directly with a link to resources elsewhere when it's something outside your wheelhouse, if you feel so compelled.
Optional: Some of these may be good to turn into a question round-up for use online, in print or on the air, particularly once you get out a day or two from the event itself.
Examples from partner newsrooms
Here are some examples from our partners who created specific breaking news prompts:
The Dallas Morning News collected its audience's questions during flu season in early 2018, and rounded up those answers in a single post.
After several bombings in an Austin neighborhood in 2018, The Dallas Morning News invited and addressed its audience's questions on the situation, including about the victims, the police, the bombs, and how authorities were trying to keep people safe.
KPCC in Southern California invited and received more than 100 questions about ongoing wildfires in late 2017.
KQED in San Francisco also collected questions about wildfires in Northern California. They presented what they learned in a Q&A format.
KQED collected questions around far-right and counter protests, again presenting the answers in a roundup.
Immediately following Hurricane Harvey, the Texas Tribune retooled its Texplainer form to collect questions related to the hurricane. They reported stories on several of those:
BBC collected and then answered several questions about a giant sewer blockage dubbed “the Fatberg.”
WAMU’s 1A asked what people wanted to know about the immigration ban, and answered the questions on-air and in a web post.
Utah’s KUER asked what people wanted to know about Utah’s gun laws following the mass shooting in Las Vegas. They then put the questions to the audience for a vote.
#TXDecides, a collaboration on Texas politics between several public radio stations, asked for questions about a special session of the Texas Legislature. Among the questions they answered were “What is the special session and who pays for it?” and “Why can’t the Texas Legislature work faster to avoid special sessions altogether?”
A related use: Answering timely questions submitted through a general prompt
When something big happens in your community or around the country, people will often go to a familiar spot for more information and ask their questions about that big event right in your existing form(s). Here are a few examples from our partners:
Austin American-Statesman: Why did the bathroom bill become such a big deal this year?
St. Louis Public Radio: Do you have the right ID to vote?
Michigan Public Radio: If the EPA was eliminated, what would Michigan lose?