Putting the Story in the Black Box

The Black Box is a system Reed designed to help reporters handle unruly information. It aids them in sorting through and prioritizing the information they have and helps reporters quickly and clearly make the case for their stories to their editors. With the system, writing a story is essentially boiled into four phases:

1. Reporting Phase

• Gather
• Search
• Ask
• Interview
• Sort

2. Black Box Phase

• What is this information?
• What does it mean?
• What does it signify?
• What is the headline?
• What is the lead?
• What is its context - with what does it connect?
• So what?
• Who cares?
• How can you quickly tell it to the clueless and make it count?

3. Editor Phase

• Succinctly tell your editor what the story says.
• Tell your editor the headline that captures the story.
• Be prepared to defend your thinking.

4. Writing Phase

• You've got a lead; now order a sequence in telling: organize.
• Write quickly, staying on track - you can go back and tweak.
• As you write, periodically ask yourself: Who cares?
• As you write, periodically frighten yourself: The audience is leaving.
• When you finish, go back and ruthlessly cut words and sentences.
• Before last reading, say "no one cares"; let the story change your mind.