How We Got The Story: The value of backgrounding, prewrites and folos on the Bears beat

During a recent interview on his WLS afternoon radio show, host John Howell asked me if I had read all nine pages - along with 34 pages of attached exhibits - of the predevelopment agreement between the Chicago Bears and village of Arlington Heights.

It was easy reading, I told him, compared to some of the tedious documents - oftentimes single-spaced, and numbering hundreds of pages - that we have to read during the normal course of reporting and researching the news.

Whether it's the possible Bears-to-Arlington Heights relocation - probably the biggest story I've covered during my career at the Daily Herald - or any other story, I'm often reminded of my high school and college teachers' lessons.

One, especially for math tests, was always to "show your work."

And the other, from one of my veteran professors at J school at Marquette, is to do as much research as you can ahead of time before you call sources to interview and quote. This exercise in what we call "backgrounding" - reading the old news clips and other materials - helps inform the reporter, so as not to go into any story cold. And, your sources appreciate it, too.

While pouring over documents takes some time - for which we are often pressed in the newsroom, with our tight daily newspaper deadlines - it helps when the clock actually strikes on that deadline.

Reading the Bears agreement hours before the first village board meeting where it was to be discussed in October helped me with another trick of the trade: the prewrite.

Many - if not all - of our stories about the proposed Bears move to Arlington Heights run in all print zones of the Daily Herald, so that readers in Antioch and Sugar Grove are getting the same news as the ones who live near Arlington Park.

Granted, that makes it more stressful for me to hit the early Lake County deadline just hours after an evening board meeting begins at Arlington Heights village hall. Thanks to a laptop, Wi-Fi and some quick writing, the prewrite is combined with fresh quotes from the meeting discussion and a vote tally, and newspapers hit the driveways just hours later.

Some call it the daily miracle.

But my favorite journalism prof also emphasized covering a story fully and completely, making sure all of your editor's and readers' questions are answered.

Amid the business realities of newspapers - in this case, early deadlines and tight newsprint space - there's the opportunity for something else (get ready for more newsroom jargon): the folo.

And that's what our coverage on the Bears beat has largely been: folo upon folo upon folo. Taking tidbits that you couldn't get into that first meeting story and using them in a next-day piece. Following up weeks or months later on other curiosities left in your reporter's notebook. (Another journalism professor regularly carried two notebooks: one for the daily story, and the other for long-term pieces.)

Since the sale of Arlington Park was announced in early 2021, the home page of the Daily Herald website has had a button linking to a page featuring all of our coverage about the racetrack and its possible redevelopment. If you missed something or want to read it again, visit dailyherald.com/topics/Arlington-Park.