Water Stories for Print Media

It does not take more than a text edit programme on your laptop to produce water stories for print media. This section presents a range of journalistic formats ranging from objective news stories, over subjective commentaries, to comprehensive feature stories that allow to capture the complex nature of water challenges and solutions. A big advantage of print media is that facts, data, terminology and important references can be presented in a structured way. More comprehensive articles can be used to explain complicated relations or underlying causes for poor water and sanitation management. Moreover, longer articles like feature stories can be used to cover the multitude of arguments and aspects of a specific water-related topic. Articles for print media are also a very favourable for investigative journalism, because sources only need to be references in writing and e.g. do not need to become part of a visual or audio story. A downside is that print media are often controlled or influenced by government institutions or are associated with political parties or companies with their own political agendas. As a result, independent journalism for print media in the Middle East is often only possible through outlets with a limited audience.

The tool sheets in this section cover a range of formats for print media. Explore them to find the right format for your water or sanitation topic and use the guidance and checklists to make sure your story reaches the reader.