As a medium, the Web allows us to go beyond the few forms of information presentation that confine other media. We are not limited to prose, whether it is in the inverted pyramid or some other structure. The Web lets us think laterally about what information a reader might need or want and what form that information should take. Editors and writers for the Web, if they are to take full advantage of their medium and if they want to attract and hold a large audience, must consider these forms and must tailor their reporting, writing, and editing efforts to produce them when necessary. Lateral reporting, then, is the natural product of the backpack journalist.

Just what forms are we talking about? The following is a partial list of forms, some of which are very much part of other media (pictures in printed media and video in broadcast, for instance) and some of which are particularly applicable to the Web. (Parts of this list repeat what has been introduced in other part of this book, but they are included here so that readers can form a complete picture of what is meant by lateral reporting.)

Background, details, and lists. Most reporters have far more information than they can appropriately put in their inverted pyramid stories. This kind of information includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail and website addresses of people and organizations that are involved in the news. A reporter who had covered previous events that have led up to a story may not be able to put all of that in a straight inverted pyramid structure but could build a timeline. The possibilities for this kind of information are many and vary from situation to situation. What a reporter or writer should do is to consider what would be useful to the website’s visitors.

Pictures. Photographs allow readers to visualize the subjects of a story. They are popular in the print media and are just as effective on a website. In addition, a website is not confined by the same space considerations that newspapers, magazines, and newsletters have, so pictures can be used much more extensively. More and more, the profession of journalism is demanding that the reporter report not just with words but also with a camera.

Graphics. As mentioned previously, some information is better suited to a graphic form than to a text paragraph. Graphics help readers to visualize information. Graphics are particularly suitable for presenting numerical information. They can also illustrate events, processes, and procedures that cannot be photographed.

Maps. Location is an important concept for many people in understanding information. We like to know where things are and where events occur. Providing maps, either geographic or illustrative, can give a reader a greater sense of understanding about a story.

Documents. A reporter who covers a speech for a newspaper is generally confined to writing an inverted pyramid–style story about that speech. If there is space in the paper, an editor may run a photograph along with the story. But what if the reader reads the story and then wants to read the full text of the speech? A newspaper generally does not have the space to do that, but it can be put on a website.

Court opinions, laws, policy statements, organizational reports—all of these can be included with a news report. Some book review sections are including the full text of the first chapter of books they review. (This must be done with the permission of the publisher, of course, but many publishers consent because they believe that this will help to sell copies of the book.) A set of instructions on how to use, assemble, or build a product referred to in a story is another type of document that might be included on a site.

Previous stories. One of the easiest things to produce is a list of previous stories that a website has published about an event. This list, appropriately linked, gives the reader some background and context without a great deal of effort on the part of the writer or editor.

Audio and video clips. The Web allows a true merger of broadcast and print journalism by letting reporters and editors include audio and video with their stories. Thus, a reporter covering a city council meeting can write a full story on the meeting and include a clip of some of the debate on the most important issues. Currently, the practice is to keep these clips relatively brief—usually less than two minutes—because of their size (they can take up a lot of room of a server) and because readers may not have computers that allow them to download and view large audio or video packages.

Links to other websites. A good website on a particular topic can provide a great deal of information for the reader, but editors and writers should be careful about linking to other sites for the following reasons: First, links can take readers out of the news website, and they might not return. This tendency can be limited somewhat with pop-up windows and frames, but sometimes these devices are irritating to readers. Second, another website may not be as substantial as it appears. You do not want to promise the reader something and then not deliver it.

Figuring out where to put links is another issue in placing links on a page. Some people prefer that links be within the text so that the reader can have instant access to them. Others maintain that a list of links at the side of an article is less distracting and just as useful. Still other editors and writers prefer a list of related links at the end of the story so that once a reader finishes reading the entire piece, he or she can go somewhere else.

Wherever they are, links are an essential part of Web journalism. They take advantage of one of the Web’s strengths, and they allow the user to participate in choosing the information that he or she wants to see. A good set of links with any story shows that the writers and editors of a site have taken the time and effort to provide the reader with a wide range of information 

E-polls. An e-poll or online survey offers readers a question and a set of responses. The reader can click on a response and submit that to the site. Readers can also see how others have responded to the same question. E-polls are not scientific samplings of general public opinion or even the opinions of those who have visited the site, but they are highly popular items for many news sites because they are a quick and easy way of allowing readers to respond to what they read.

Discussion forums. These, too, are popular interactive devices for readers, and many news sites are finding ways to take advantage of them. A discussion forum allows readers to respond to an event, issue, or topic of current debate. Those responses are posted on a part of the website where everyone can see them and add their own responses. The responses may be monitored by an editor (although not always), and inappropriate or irrelevant responses should not be allowed.

A chat room allows users to enter into an e-mail-type discussion with others who are interested in the topic at hand. The chat room is usually conducted on a real-time basis. That is, statements and responses can be seen immediately, and the discussion can be ongoing.

A variation on the discussion forum is the question-and-answer forum that a site may conduct. This involves a reporter or someone familiar with an event or topic who can answer questions about that subject. Discussions can be viewed live (that is, text can be read as it is created), giving viewers an added sense of participation. The text can then be preserved so that it can be read later.

Setting up the forms of information and presentation that we have discussed in this section is not particularly difficult technically. The hard work is thinking about what information might be helpful to a visitor, gathering that information, and putting it into a form that would be useful. News sites find themselves limited not by the technology it takes to present information, but by the personnel and brainpower that are required to gather, organize, and prepare it.