The follow-up: neglecting or misusing a journalism tool

The “follow-up” takes the story further, an essential device in journalism where details and understanding don’t come for a single report on one day. The follow-up allows new disclosures and corrections of errors in facts or focus.

IT’S a journalism jargon that news consumers understand: the story or feature that follows the reporting of an event. The follow-up may be the second-day, third-day and so-forth piece on the same or related subject.

It’s often neglected -- unused or misused. A pity since it serves purposes other than giving an update on the story or what they call “continuity”; satisfying readers’ curiosity (the “abangan” syndrome); or filling the gaps in the previous stories.

Other purposes

More than that, it provides the newspaper or broadcast station the chance:

To change focus on the story when editors got it wrong the first time, without formally acknowledging the error;

To add balance when it failed to do so when it broke the story; and.

To tie knots and sort out contradictions and help settle hanging issues.

Most editors want to use the follow-up but cannot do so more extensively than they want or need. News organizations have limited resources: few reporters and harshly demanding deadlines. And other breaking stories, bigger or more interesting, which distract coverage because audience attention also shifts to the fresh event or issue.

The good thing about the follow-up is that it can be used anytime. All it requires is a “peg” -something that just happens or is done -- on which it can hang. An anniversary of a tragedy, controversy or scandal is often an excuse for resurrecting the story, reporting on its status or revisiting the disputed issues.

What consumers hate

Many people hate the incomplete picture or the solved puzzle that lacks a few pieces. In the random survey that I used to ask a U.P. journalism class to do almost every year, the list of media consumers’ complaints against newspapers and broadcast stations always included this: “lack of a follow-up.”

The promise of “abangan” is often not met.