To understand: The ingredients of the news;  The difference between fact and opinion;  How to keep news safe and legal;  How to use appropriate questions;

 Resources, such as public documents and records, reports, studies, reference works, newspaper clippings or articles and direct observations, that can be sued to gather information about a topic ◦ Clippings/archives (can often be found on internet) ◦ Encyclopedias ( ◦ Telephone, City, State, & Cross-Directories ◦ Facts on File World News Digest, Libraries, etc. ◦ Public Records (Freedom of Information Act)

 A law enacted in 1966 requiring government records except those relating to national security, confidential financial data, and law enforcement be made available to the public on request.  Many states and agencies require you to submit a written request that detail the information or documents you need.

 A person who was directly involved in an event ◦ Relationships/reliability ◦ Anonymous sources ◦ On-the-record information ◦ Not for attribution ◦ Background information Interviews!

 Watch the Huw Edwards Vidio on how to gather your news.  /newsid_ / stm?bw=b b&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws= /newsid_ / stm?bw=b b&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

 Create a grid with two columns.  Match the top tips below with Huw’s advice. Top Tips:  5 Ws  Plan open questions  Listen  Follow-up questions  Balance opinions  Stills, video, sound and Graphics Advice: Gather additional material to make your report more lively and interesting  Pay attention to the answers  Get an alternative view, particularly if there’s a lot of debate about the issue  Gather these facts and check them carefully  There will be some questions you haven’t prepared that you will want to ask  Prepare questions that will get you good answers, not just “Yes” or “No”

 Journalists then start the process by collecting two types of information:  Facts And  Opinions  Do you know the difference?

 A fact is a statement that is true and can be backed up with evidence.  Ex: Cats have four legs.  An opinion is a statement based on a belief or view.  Ex: Cats are annoying.

 How can you tell which is a fact and which is an opinion?  prisoners.html?_r=1&hpw prisoners.html?_r=1&hpw

 Quotation marks: In text-based news, opinions are often inside quotation marks, in other words, they clearly belong to someone other than the journalist, who should remain impartial. Impartiality is one of the BBC News values.  Balance: A journalist should balance one opinion with an opposite view, particularly if there is a lot of debate around the issue.

 Paired work:  Ask your partner to answer the below questions without answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Questions:  Do you like school?  Do you meet your friends during break?  Is homework set every day?  Do you eat school dinners?  What do you like about school?  Where do you go during break time?  How much homework do you receive?  What do you think of school dinners?

 Which questions generated the best answers? Why?

 Closed questions – which only have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, usually give the shortest responses.  Journalists often use open-ended questions because they encourage people to give more information.

 Open-ended questions are the questions which begin with: ◦ Who ◦ What ◦ Why ◦ Where ◦ When ◦ How

 Imagine that school has been cancelled for next week…  What questions do you need to ask (and to whom do you need to ask them) to find out:  1. The Facts of the situation.  2. The Opinions of those involved.

 When you choose an image to go with a news story, it must be a legal image. In other words, you need to know it comes from a trusted source and that it is available for you to use.  There are probably billions of pictures on the internet, but they may be faked or the creator may require payment for their use – something we CANNOT do!  When you look for a picture you must do the following things to ensure it is ok to use: ◦ Use ‘advanced search’ on an image search system – like the BBC website itself. ◦ When you find the photo you want, look at the bottom right hand corner: Here is a marking which shows whether it can be used or not – it tells you, essentially, where the picture comes from. ◦ You are allowed: AP, AP, AFP or GETTY IMAGES

 Partner work:  Log onto a news website (BBC, MSNBC, NYT).  Find one news article—print it out.  Highlight three facts and two opinions in the article.  Be prepared to share your findings with the class.

 Using the story you found on the internet earlier,  Work backwards to come up with a list of open or 5 Ws questions which the journalist might have needed to ask in order to get the information needed to get that news article. Then decide who you would ask that question to to get the best information.  This is not 5 questions, but a list of as many as you can come up with.

 Find a legal photo which you think would accompany your news story well.  Print the photo and the web address you found it at.  Remember: Any unauthorised copying of audio, video, graphics or pictures could result in a heavy fine – which the publication would be liable for in this case – so think carefully and follow the instructions! ◦ When you look for a picture you must do the following things to ensure it is ok to use:  Use ‘advanced search’ on an image search system – like the BBC website itself.  When you find the photo you want, look at the bottom right hand corner: Here is a marking which shows whether it can be used or not – it tells you, essentially, where the picture comes from.  You are allowed: AP, AP, AFP or GETTY IMAGES  Right click on it and save as.