[Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI]
When a photo gallery from China of a biodegradable urn burial ceremony came in it had one vague cutline for all 16 photos.
We knew our viewers would want an explanation as vivid as the gallery and so we turned to UPIU’s unique network of users and contacted several Chinese j-students.
We e-mailed them the photo gallery and captions and asked them to track down more info on the photo essay. Xixi Quan, a journalism student from Peking University in Beijing, China, agreed to tackle the assignment.
Xixi shared with us the steps she took to get the story (we edited the e-mail a bit for brevity and clarity).
“At first, I thought the guys in the photo were soldiers so I asked someone from the military. None of them knew anything about a funeral like this in the military. I was disheartened but I looked again at the e-mail Anna sent me, and keyed in on the word degradable instead of military.
I went online and found a news story. I contacted a reporter I knew and he gave me details through e-mail. ^_^”
Good job, Xixi!
Would you be interested in joining in on the fun? Sign up here for UPIU and join our team of mentored aspiring journalists.
Want to get 1,600+ hits on 1 story? A #Chinese #journalism student did through @UPIU: http://bit.ly/a71lo1 ^ay
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Maybe you would want to talk with the reporter or photographer first if you need more info. I was there. These burial attendants were also soldiers, unless they lied to me. Journalism is about facts, and fact checking. Not everyone tells the truth. Not every photo tells the truth. One source does not make a story or assertion real.