I found the idea for my story when reading articles on the county council website. The article I read was announcing that the council was erecting

On speaking with a council representative I found out that the council had launched the 'Butts Out' campaign on the 22nd November. This campaign focuses on highlighting the problems of smoking and encouraging the correct disposal of cigarette rubbish. I enquired further to find out who was involved in the organisation of this campaign. I made several points of contact as I was aware that not all would respond to my enquiries. I contacted the council via three different routes and also the Preston Primary Care Trust who I had found were involved after researching. Initially I received no response so I followed up my initial

e-mail and received two replies from council representatives, one of whom re-directed my enquiry to the PCT. The other contact, Sonia Scowcroft had been the chief organiser of the 'Butts Out' campaign and is employed at the County Hall Offices. I called the council office and asked to speak with Ms Scowcroft however I was told that she was busy.

Because of her significant involvement with the council's policies and campaigns I felt that I did not want to pass up the opportunity to interview Ms Scowcroft so suggested that I could e-mail my questions to her. Ms

To further develop my story I used online sources and newspaper archives to find facts about smoking and results of bans imposed around the world. I also looked in the library for information but this did not yield anything particularly useful.

I set about writing my article once I had gathered all the information I could.

I began by concentrating on an introduction to grab the readers attention whilst also providing the essential facts of the story. I spent time editing and re-writing the introduction so that it was concise and informative.

I used the pyramid technique to write this story. Beginning with the most important information, I supported this with quotes and then followed with less imperative information. To demonstrate the argument for banning smoking in public I used facts from places where bans have been imposed. I was careful to ensure these facts were simple and would not overload the reader with information.

I made an effort to keep my sentences short and therefore easy to read and intake.

I think I have been successful in my newsgathering experience. I learnt that it pays to be persistent when trying to find the information you need and especially when attempting to get an interview. In future I may seek a person to person interview rather than conducting it by e-mail. However, in this instance I was specifically looking to interview this person and it was only convenient for her to respond to my questions by e-mail.