A Reporter's Guide to Covering a Town Meeting

Deadlines, Town Meetings and You - the Reporter

If you are a newspaper reporter, chances are you will need to cover a town meeting, whether it be the Board of Education, Planning and Zoning or some other governing body. The first time you cover a meeting as a reporter can be difficult, particularly if you are unprepared and on deadline.  But with the right knowledge you can meet your deadline and get the meeting story done right.

I still remember the first meeting I covered as a reporter. It was a City Council meeting in Torrington, Connecticut that I attended with a veteran reporter. I was a very green reporter with barely a few weeks on the job. Like a deer in headlights, I wasn't quite sure what the role of the journalist was in that setting or what I should be doing in the meeting. I picked it up quickly by watching what she did and filed just before deadline. 

It was a few years later before I covered another meeting due to the nature of my beat (I was a crime reporter for the first two years of my career as a journalist). Again, I was nervous, but after two years in the field I was also prepared for working on deadline. 

No matter where you are in your career as a journalist, you too can be prepared to be the best reporter possible at your first town meeting. 

Know The Board 
As a reporter, before you even step out of the office you should know who the members of the particular board or commission you'll be covering are. This information is frequently available on town websites these days, so that is a great place to start. 

It's helpful to print out a list of the board members and take note of whom the chairperson is - they'll be the one doing the most talking during the meeting. If you have the list with you, keep your ears open for clues as to who is who. For instance, during the meeting role call you can often get everyone's name. Sometimes a board will even have name plates (very helpful to us reporters).