Whether your beat is sports, politics, the environment or national security, bringing the human element into a story, I think, is necessary and what truly makes a story interesting. From what I’ve observed, people like to talk, hear and read about other people and by showing how people are affected by news or their involvement in it gives your audience something they can relate to or not relate to for that matter.

Granted, adding the human element simply isn't suitable for some news stories. I don't think my editors at National Mortgage News would have encouraged me to report the human element when I reported on national housing starts. However, there were definitely some stories where I could've stressed the human effect or human involvement. I'm sure if I had than I wouldn't have fallen asleep while reading my own story.

I will admit though, finding that “special someone” for news stories whether it's a victim, expert or character is conceivably one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. Here are some tips I've learned on my own or from colleagues and editors mostly while working at Natural Resources News Service.

1. See if a reporter or organization has already done the work for you

My editor always says, “see if the work has already been done for you and if it hasn’t see if you can get someone to do it for you.”

At first I thought my editor was lazy since he prides his reporting abilities on producing great stories without much work, but he’s right. Chances are there’s probably a reporter who has already reported on some aspect of your story.

Search Google Web, News, Scholar or Lexis-Nexis

My first set of victims for my vibrio story came from local news stories I came across about people who had lost a limb or died from the flesh-eating bacteria. Luckily, most of those stories listed the person's name and location.

Once you have the name and place, it's easy. You can search Accurint or if you don't have Accurint, you can use Whitepages. Note Accurint and Whitepages aren't always accurate or they will only list the address and not a phone number.

All is not lost. You know the street, city and zip code of your “special someone” from the first search. This means you can get a list of neighbors who then may be able to put you in touch with the person you are looking for.

Google Scholar is great for finding experts. Use the same search criteria you would when searching the web. Instead of the search results returning a bunch of bogus sites, they return published material on the subject or at least the abstracts. Don’t bother paying for the material. Contact the author and ask for a copy of his or her work.

Ask a Reporter

Don't let your pride or fear of another reporter scooping your story get in the way of finding that “special someone.” Ask reporters for help. Most of the time, they are more than willing to help out another reporter.

After Roberta Baskin at ABC's WJLA broke her vibrio story and Al Tompkins with Poynter Online interviewed her about it, local reporters from Florida to Massachusetts called me for help finding victims.

I was more than happy to help. I put them in touch with people I had already contacted in addition to finding new victims in their coverage area. It was great. My story not only received more play, but it also made their lives easier.

Organizations

There are millions of organizations out there and chances are there is probably one involved or following some aspect of your story.

I had to find an "interesting" average Joe who tested water and air quality. I had over 50 prospective "interesting" average Joe's, but I didn’t have the time. I contacted an organization involved in air and water quality testing for help. Within a couple of days, I had the names and contact info for ten to fifteen people. This saved me a lot of work and time.

2.) Word of Mouth

The truth is the world is a very small place. To view the world in this way has been advantageous for me as a reporter. Generally, there is someone out there who knows the person you're looking for or who knows someone who does. You just have to be creative when searching for them.

I needed to find victims for my vibrio story who had contracted the bacteria north of the Gulf of Mexico. I knew the number of cases in each state along the Atlantic coast and maybe the name of a hospital that treated a case, but that was it.

My editors and colleagues told me to call hospitals, which I did for a while, but then ignored them after the first couple of responses. They were all the same. "What is vibrio?" or "it's going to take three to five week to go through the records.”

I didn’t have much time and had to be creative. I figured if anyone had heard of someone who contracted a vibrio infection, it would be at a marina or bait shop. I googled all the marinas in Maryland and Virginia and within one hour of making phone calls, I had the name and location of a vibrio victim or the name and contact info for someone who knew a vibrio victim.

3.) Knocking on Doors and Cold Calling

Hopefully, you will find that “special someone” before you get to this point. This has only worked for me if I know the general area of where to look. You can use a computer program called Delorme Street Atlas or Accurint or actually go there and knock on doors.

I needed to find a farmer who would show me how a type of "toxic" fertilizer was spread on his field. I knew the location of where the fertilizer was spread, but not a farmer. I used Delorme Street Atlas to retrieve phone numbers of people living in the area. I cold called them and asked if they knew of any farmers who used the manure in addition to driving there and knocking on doors. Both worked.

I got names, phone numbers and addresses of numerous farmers. Unfortunately, the farmers I found were reluctant to talk about spreading toxic fertilizer. I will keep trying though.

I hope these tips are useful and I'm always interested in learning new ones, especially one's that will save me time. Email them to me and I will add them to this post.