Journalism Notes

 Account of an event  Fact or opinion that interests people  Presentation of current events  Anything that enough people want to read is news, as long as it meets “good taste” standards and isn’t libel

 News must be factual, yet not all facts are news.  News may be opinion, especially the opinion of a prominent person or authority.  News is primarily about people, what they say and do.  News is sometimes a report of a recent event.

 What is news for one school or community may not be news for another.  What is news today may not be news tomorrow.  What is news for one person may not be news for another person.  Two factors necessary to news – interest and importance – are not always the same.

 Hard News  Serious news of widespread interest  Concerning politics, foreign affairs, education, labor, religion, courts, etc.  Not routine  tJYKiHw tJYKiHw  Soft News  Does not deal with formal or serious topics and events  Less important because it entertains  viJc viJc  Feature News  Not meant to be breaking news, but to take an in-depth look at a subject  Appeals more to emotion than to the desire to be informed.  DWMc DWMc

 Attractive to fewer people because it might not be as interesting and may be difficult to understand  Readers may not understand the significance  Reporters must include information to help the reader understand what the story means

 Entertainment  Journalism that focuses on the entertainment business and its products. Like fashion journalism, entertainment journalism covers industry specific news while targeting general audiences beyond those working in the industry itself.  Sports  Form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events  Opinion  Journalism that makes no claim of objectivity.

 Proximity – location. If the event is happening close by, readers will care more.  Timeliness – If it 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.  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.

 News stories must be concise so they can pack as much information in as possible.  Space is a premium so your writing has to mold to this medium.  Most common structure is called an inverted pyramid.  Goal is to answer all the basic questions about any particular event in the first two or three paragraphs  Purpose of journalism is to inform, explain, describe, or define his or her subject to the reader

 Must be accurate  All facts, statements, names, dates, ages, addresses, quotes  Difficult to achieve because there are so many facts that go into stories  Must be balanced.  Needs to be complete and correctly emphasized  Each fact must be put into the best place to establish importance in relation to the main idea or focus of the story  Must be objective  News must be a factual report, not what the reporter thought  Must be reported impartially and honestly

 Must be concise and clear  Follow the inverted pyramid and write concisely so that the meaning is clear to the average reader  Must be recent  Timeliness is of major importance because of the era of fast communication  Timing may alter the value of a news story. All news is in competition with the news available at the moment

 Lead Paragraph – most important structural element of a story is the lead, the story’s first, or leading, sentence. The lead is usually the first sentence, or in some cases the first two sentences, and is ideally words in length. Answers 5Ws/  Copy or Body – paragraphs between the lead and the conclusion. The body of a story holds the important facts  Conclusion – the conclusion paragraph wraps up what is told in the story and ends the article.

 5 Ws and H  Least Newsworthy  Less important details  Most Newsworthy

 Leave out the fluff  Get the key information and quotes in the article, leave everything else out

 Lead summarizes the entire article in one sentence.  Should attempt to answer all 5 Ws and H

 Shortened version of English class paragraphs. No paragraph should be longer than 3 sentences. (adds punchiness, looks better in skinny columns of newspaper)  Grafs that follow the lead should pick up on elements of the lead and elaborate on it.  Avoid repeating facts because space is valuable  Each graf should have logical sequence

 Journalistic writing has short, concise sentences.  Simple, understandable words  Short paragraphs, often only one or two sentences  “English class” has longer, more complex sentences  ECW uses more multi-syllable words  ECW often has paragraphs of 100 words or more, including a topic sentence and its support.

 Newswriting is traditionally arranged in an inverted pyramid.  First paragraph is the lead with 5Ws and H.  A summary lead is usually one sentence.  Additional paragraphs are short and contain less and less important information  Essays traditionally five paragraphs.  First paragraph is the introduction and thesis statement.  Second, third, and fourth paragraphs develop the topic using  Compare and contrast  Definition  Classification, etc.  The final paragraph is the conclusion.

 Media writing uses lots of primary sources.  Interviews with:  Experts  Spokespersons  Newsmakers  “people on the street”  Secondary sources include:  Official records  Reference materials  Other media  Essays often require material from  Reading a particular work  Drawing on insight and information from previous readings or lectures  Applying personal experience

 Media writing works attribution into the context:  “The result is dangerous,” Mayor Fred Norton said.  According to the Health Commission's survey, 27 percent of the participants lost weight.  This is also necessary when using secondary sources the reporter didn’t interview.  “The result is dangerous,” Mayor Fred Norton told the Sylva Herald.  Essays use various citation forms.  MLA  APA  Chicago  This could include:  Footnotes  In text citations  Bibliography

 Not every assignment in English class is a five paragraph essay. Not every story in the media is a traditional news story. Today’s publications – especially student media – often use news features.  These start with a “softer” lead  Anecdote  Description  Suspended interest, etc.  Organization varies but generally has  An interest-catching beginning  An ending that makes it feel “finished”  Plenty of short, interesting quotes  Transition to tie all the parts together

 While all readers would agree, it is not a “tragic fire.”  Without a survey or other way to show this, it’s not accurate to say “everyone owns an iPod.” What is the source? Who researched this?  And even if “Greenville High School is better off because she won the award,” the reporter shouldn’t be the one to say it.

 The basic writing process  Brainstorm for ideas  Gather information  Organize and select appropriate information  Write the first draft  Share with a coach  Using coaching suggestions and insight for a second draft  Tweak as many times as necessary, polish and submit

 But when students have become journalists, they have to remember they have  A different audience  A different purpose  And that means leaving some of their English class behind.