Intro into Journalism

Interviewing your Peers Yearbook class requires that you actually talk to other humans. Treat this like a job, there is no need to be embarrassed when asking questions to your peers. As a journalist, you have to get the truth from who you are interviewing. You have to record it well. Never make up information about a person, people will know. Avoid favoritism. You may feel the urge to just interview your close friends. As a journalist, you have to talk to people that are strangers to you. It may seem uncomfortable at first, but remember, these people are kids like you. You may discover new friends the more you talk to other people. This may be obvious, but always ask for permission before interviewing another person. It’s the polite thing to do. Some people will be willing to do it, but other people might have an appointment or something important to do. Be respectful!

Asking Open Ended Questions As a journalist, the best thing to do is to avoid yes/no questions. Instead, it’s better to ask questions that give you good quotes. As a journalist, you need to know the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY of a situation or event. Poor Question: ‘Do you like swimming?’ Better Questions: ‘Why do you like swimming?’ ‘What made you get into swimming in the first place.’ ‘Describe what you were feeling as you were swimming in the race’ You are more likely to get better information when you ask questions that force a person to talk about their passion. Also, a lot of people feel opinionated and like to talk about themselves, exploit that.

Social Media Sometimes a good story can come in the form of social media. Our yearbook class will have a facebook and twitter account that can help us get information about people as well as pictures. We can also update students about yearbook sales. Replay App will also allow other students to upload images to jostens. We will talk about this later in the photography unit.

Use a Voice Recorder When interviewing someone, it can be hard to write down everything they say on paper. Instead, professionals record their interview and then save it for future reference. The Voice Recorder App is free on Itunes, you can easily download it onto a phone and use it. If not, use a ‘Who, what, where, when, why’ interview sheet. Just jog down the important bits!

We Are Change https://youtu.be/mhqcuxl9 DyU http://wearechange.org/cha nge-media- university/?doing_wp_cron =1440211716.089601039886 4746093750 These classes will teach you how to become an actual professional journalist. They are free for High School Students if you are interested in journalism as a carreer!

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW, DESCRIBE It’s important as yearbook staff that we know about each other and all get along. Today, we will be interviewing each other to practice journalism. Using the sheet, create questions that start with WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW, DESCRIBE. Form the questions in ways that get your peer to open themselves to you. Interview your partner. Ask the question using eye contact (meaning look at them, not at your sheet). When your partner is answering the question, jot down the important information. After you are done, switch with your partner and do the same thing again. If you both finish, find a new partner from a different group. Your exit ticket will be the information on the sheet!