Write a news story with the follwing comment “I should have known that horse was going to end up in my driveway,” said star Steve Carell.

Introduction to Journalism Inverted Pyramid & Journalism Vocabulary

What is News? An account of an event, or a fact or an opinion that interests people. A presentation of current events Anything that enough people want to read is news, provided it meets the standards of “good taste” and isn’t libelous.

What makes News “News”?: 6 main reasons Proximity: Location. Location. Location. If the event is happening close by, it will have a greater impact on your readers. Timeliness: If something is happening NOW, it has more impact on the reader. The most recent development in a story can be used as a feature. Prominence: If the people in the story are well known, the story will have more impact on the reader. Most people are not as impacted if the story involves people they do not know.

What makes News “News”?: 6 main reasons Conflict: Readers are interested in rivalries, arguments, fights, and disagreements. Novelty: If something is unusual, original, or unique, readers want to know what it is and why it happened. Human Interest: If the story evokes (inspires) emotion in the reader such as anger, sadness, or happiness, the reader will have a greater connection with the story and the story will have a greater impact.

Qualities of a Good Journalist 1.Resourcefulness- a good journalist is supposed to be resourceful in order to gain access credible sources of information and to gain success to all important event. 2. Critical- in order to separate truth from propaganda and dogmas that may distort truth.

Qualities of a Good Journalist 3. Objective- a journalist is supposed to put aside personal biases and should not let his emotions cloud his judgment. 4. Conscientious- a journalist is not supposed to use his influence in order to meet personal objectives and should be well aware of the consequences that may result from his actions.

You need to be thinking “ I want to be the best” and be prepared to take all the necessary steps to get this. *Specific skills: articulate, confident and be good at working to strict guidelines. *Compare yourself to real broadcast journalist- take notes of what they do well ( and what they aren't doing well ). *Learn from your mistakes.

Basic News Reporting Most news stories are written in a very concise way in order to pack as much information into every line on the page. In journalism, space is of a premium so your writing must lend itself to this medium or form. The simplest and most common structure of this kind of writing is called the Inverted Pyramid.

Inverted Pyramid To understand what the "inverted pyramid" name means, picture an upside-down triangle -- one with the narrow tip pointing downward and the broad base pointing upward. The broad base represents the most newsworthy information in the news story, and the narrow tip represents the least newsworthy information in the news story. Most Newsworthy Least Newsworthy

Inverted Pyramid When you write a story in inverted pyramid format, you put the most newsworthy information at the beginning of the story and the least newsworthy information at the end. Why does this format lend itself well to journalism, especially news reporting?

Why does the Inverted Pyramid lend itself well to journalism? It gets the point of the story to the reader in the fastest way possible. It provides the facts without all of the “fluff” of normal writing. It lends itself to quick editing of story length. Even if you cut off the last few sentences of a story in this format to fit in a column on a page, the story is still complete. It only lacks some of the specifics.

Create a Fact Sheet One basic form is just using the 5w’s and H as shown below: Who What When Where Why How Use this form to create a fact sheet for the previous information.

Checklist for News Stories Are the most important and recent facts first? Is the story accurate? Are the sources identified fully? Are the paragraphs short? Is the sentence structure varied in the story? Is the story neat and double-spaced so that it is easy to read? Does your story flow? Did you use the transition/quote formula? Did you use active voice?

Pitfalls to Avoid Editorializing - Keep your opinion out of the story Using first and second person - Keep yourself out of the story. Common error “our school” Missing the news peg Messy handwriting, poor grammar and spelling Paragraphs too long Misspelling names in the story Trying to use all of the information

Let’s start at the beginning with … LEADS.

Let’s talk about Leads

Leads Most straight news leads should be summary leads. That means they summarize the 5 Ws and H of the story, starting off with the most important W or H.

Who lead Not so good… Principal Joe Blow announced Tuesday that students will no longer be allowed to leave campus for lunch due to excessive tardies. Better… President Barack Obama will make a brief appearance at the high school Thursday after giving a speech at the County Expo Center.

When lead Not so good… On Tuesday Principal Joe Blow announced that students will no longer be able to leave campus for lunch. Better… On Saturday President Barack Obama will speak to the senior class about how important community organizing and volunteering are to the country.

Where lead Avoid where leads Maybe … probably yes. At the school board meeting on Tuesday, Principal Joe Blow announced that he has ended the off-campus lunch policy. Maybe … probably yes. In the principal’s office, the senior class dumped 30 pounds of sand to protest the cancellation of the senior trip to Cancun.

Now that we know the type of lead we are looking for, how do we write a good lead? • read the entire prompt • find the newest information in the prompt • beware of older, more controversial news • write one to two sentences summarizing the “new” news including as many other Ws and H as possible

How lead Through a grass roots voting effort, senior Gilbert Castillo won the mayoral election to become the youngest mayor in the city’s history.

Why lead Because they wanted to carry on the tradition, four seniors streaked across the football stadium during the homecoming pep rally wearing a paper leis and tennis shoes.

What lead The Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings series will be removed from all school libraries this fall.

Let’s talk about Direct Quotes

Direct Quotes: Should be linked to the transition/lead before them. The quote should elaborate on the transition. For example: President Barack Obama will make a brief appearance at the high school Thursday after giving a speech at the County Expo Center. “He is coming as a favor to me,” Principal Ike Sumter said. “We worked together in Chicago as community organizers. I hope he gets a chance to speak to some seniors about what they can do for their country.”

Direct Quotes: Should not repeat the transition/lead before them. For example: President Barack Obama will make a brief appearance at the high school Thursday after giving a speech at the County Expo Center. “ After speaking at the Expo Center, the candidate will come to the high school for a short appearance,” Principal Ike Sumter said.

Direct Quotes: Can be longer than one sentence. Should have attribution after the first sentence of the quote. Attribution should be: Noun then verb. For example: Correct - senior Bob Rodriguez said. Incorrect - said senior Bob Rodriguez. (unless you have an unusually long title) Do not place two people’s direct quotes next to each other without a transition.

Let’s talk about Transitions

Transitions Can be fact, indirect quote or a partial quote. VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. Hold the story together. Link the paragraphs together. Can be fact, indirect quote or a partial quote. For example - FACT TRANSITION: (lead) Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain will speak to seniors Friday about his experience as a prisoner of war. (Direct Quote)“Seniors will learn a lot about duty and commitment when they hear Sen. McCain,” Principal Ike Sumter said. “We are so excited that he agreed to come.” (Fact Transition) During the Vietnam War, Sen. McCain was a prisoner of war for five years.

Transitions Can be fact, indirect quote or a partial quote. For example - INDIRECT QUOTE TRANSITION: (lead) Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain will speak to seniors Friday about his experience as a prisoner of war. (Direct Quote)“Seniors will learn a lot about duty and commitment when they hear Sen. McCain,” Principal Ike Sumter said. “We are so excited that he agreed to come.” (IQ Transition) Sumter said he was moved after hearing Sen. McCain speak about his imprisonment.

Transitions Can be fact, indirect quote or a partial quote. For example - PARTIAL QUOTE TRANSITION: (lead)Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain will speak to seniors Friday about his experience as a prisoner of war. (Direct Quote)“Seniors will learn a lot about duty and commitment when they hear Sen. McCain,” Principal Ike Sumter said. “We are so excited that he agreed to come.” (Partial Quote Transition) Sumter said he “had tears in his eyes” when he heard Sen. McCain speak about his imprisonment.

What comes next?? (lead)Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain will speak to seniors Friday about his experience as a prisoner of war. (Direct Quote)“Seniors will learn a lot about duty and commitment when they hear Sen. McCain,” Principal Ike Sumter said. “We are so excited that he agreed to come.” (Partial Quote Transition) Sumter said he “had tears in his eyes” when he heard Sen. McCain speak about his imprisonment.

The T/Q formula Sumter said he “had tears in his eyes” when he heard Sen. McCain speak about his imprisonment. “It is amazing what this man survived,” Sumter said. “He was tortured daily, but every day he told his fellow soldiers to hold their head high. Someone was coming for them.” Sen. McCain said the experience was a “living hell,” but he never gave up hope. “I knew I would make it back to American soil one day,” he said. “Hope is always alive, and that was part of my message as a presidential candidate, too.”

Transitions Use transitional words to help with the flow (as needed): After all, Also, Finally, In addition, However, Otherwise, Then For example: In addition to speaking about his experience as a prisoner of war, McCain also plans to talk to students about the importance of voting.

Let’s Review … What types of leads should you use more? Following a transition, what should a direct quote do? Where should you place the attribution for a direct quote? What can a transition be? What is the purpose of the transition? How many sentences can a direct quote be?

What went wrong? During the 2010-11 school year, our school has reported 22 fights so far. Last year, the school had 18 total fights. “One of my friends got in a fight, but he didn’t start it. He was defending himself,” said freshman Andy Opel. In response to the escalating fights, the school district hired the Teen Conflict Resolution Team to help students solve disagreements through non-violent solutions. After March 23, any student caught fighting on campus must complete a TCRT non-violence workshop, in addition to normal disciplinary actions. “Students have to learn how to solve life’s problems without violence, and this program will teach our students just that,” said Mr. Brown. “Now students will get suspended and be forced to attend this program,” Opal said. “That’s just too much.” Lead not most recent. spelling of opel Full id of brown. Quote attribution When lead Stacked quotes Our in the lead

Prompt Activity Read the entire prompt. Review it again, looking for the newest information. Underline that information. Highlight or underline the 5Ws and H. Highlight or underline the most important people interviewed. Highlight or underline the most essential quotes. Scratch out stupid, inane quotes. Pay attention to the “Additional Information.” Write your lead. How, why or what lead.

Prompt Activity 8. Write an additional info. paragraph if needed. 9. Use a direct quote (more than one sentence is okay). 10. Write a transition about the next most important thing. 11. Use a direct quote directly related to the transition above. If it’s an indirect quote transition, use a direct quote from that same person. 12. Write another transition about the next most important thing. 13. Another direct quote. 14. Keep going.

Let’s practice! Follow the steps from “Prompt Activity” Write as much as you can. Edit. Write. Edit.

The Lead To write an inverted-pyramid story from the facts, you first would write a lead that summarizes the most important information. This summary should attempt to answer all 5w’s & H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) Does your Lead answer all 5W’s & H? If not, revise.

Inverted Pyramid Exercise The next graf or paragraph of the story should pick up on some element of the lead and elaborate on it. One way is to elaborate about the victim, so your next sentence would give details about him. Try to create your next sentence. Keep referring to your fact sheet. Avoid repeating facts because space is at a premium or vary valuable.

Inverted Pyramid Exercise Each graf must have a logical connection to the preceding graf. These links are called Transitions, and they're essential to keeping the "flow" of the story smooth and logical. Also, each graf must be very short, usually only one or two sentences long. All English instructors, like myself, rightly hammer into your head that paragraphs in an essay should be 5-7 sentences. In news writing, though, grafs are kept short. Why? Short grafs add punchiness. They also look better when typeset into a long, skinny column in a newspaper.

Inverted Pyramid Exercise 2 Take notes (Collect Facts) and then write up a new fact sheet for a story from your life. Try to make sure each of the 5W’s & H have about 3 details.

Vocabulary 5W'S & H The essentials of any story: who, what, when, where, why, and how BY-LINE Indicates who wrote the story; often includes the writer's title CAPTION The portion of the layout which explains what is happening in a photograph. Also called cutlines. Often includes a photo credit. EDITOR Has overall responsibility for the publication EDITORIAL A type of story which serves to express an opinion and encourage the reader to take some action ETHICS A standard of conduct based on moral beliefs

Vocabulary FACT A statement that can be proven. Not an opinion FEATURE A story written with some interpretation that goes beyond just reporting the facts FLAG The name of the paper that usually appears at the top of page one GRAF A paragraph in news writing. These are often short, around 2-3 sentences. HAMMER A form of headline consisting of a few very large words over a smaller subheadline HEADLINE Large type designed to summarize a story and grab the reader's attention

Vocabulary HUMAN INTEREST An element of news that includes people or events with which the audience can identify; stories that are just interesting INVERTED PYRAMID A style of writing most commonly applied to news stories in which the most important facts appear early in the story and less important facts later in the story KICKER A short (one or two word) statement at the beginning of a caption that serves to grab the reader's attention LEAD The beginning of the story which serves to summarize the story and/or grab the reader's attention

Vocabulary LIBEL Written defamation; damaging false statements against another person or institution that are in writing or are spoken from a written script QUOTATION A statement made by another person included in a published story. A direct quotation is exactly what the person said and appears inside quotation marks. An indirect quote is a paraphrase of what a person said and does not appear in quotes. REVIEW A form of editorial written to comment on a play, movie, piece of music or some other creative work SLANDER Spoken defamation; damaging false statements against another person or institution that are spoken