1. News Reporting and Writing Lecture 2:Ingredients of News Lecturer:Dr. D. A. Oti Course:MAC201/THA214

2. Lecture Outline What is news treatment? Hard and soft news The need for flexibility Civic journalism The Gate-keeping process What makes news? Criteria for Newsworthiness Other factors affecting news treatment Pitching news stories to editors

3. What is News? The definition of news is elusive. News today may not be news tomorrow. News in one geographic area is not necessarily news in another. Internet and new media often value speed and sensationalism over accuracy.

4. Hard and Soft News Hard news events are timely and are reported almost automatically by the media. Soft news events are not usually considered immediately important or timely to a wide audience. These events still contain elements of news.

5. The Need for Flexibility New media compete with newspapers Media convergence facilitates flexibility. Convergence is the ability to present print, video, and audio content over one medium – the Internet.

6. The Role of Civic Journalism At the heart of civic journalism is a belief that journalism has an obligation to public life – and obligation that goes beyond just telling the news or unloading lots of facts. The way we do our journalism affects the way public life goes. Journalism can help empower a community or it can help disable it.

7. The Gate-Keeping Process Selection of news for print or broadcast is subjective; it is based on a journalists feelings, thoughts, and experiences. People who make news decisions are called gate-keepers. Gatekeepers can open the gate to let news flow, close the gate to keep news from oozing out. Sources an also be called gate-keepers.

8. Criteria for Newsworthiness Timeliness Proximity Conflict Eminence and Prominence Consequence and Impact Human Interest

9. Other Factors Instinct of editors and reporters Availability of news Philosophy of the medium Pressure from the publisher Influence of advertisers News mix Competition among media Changing demographics

10. Pitching News Stories to Editors The following are some ingredients in the successful pitching of stories: Specificity Succinctness Enthusiasm Monitoring the media

11. Summary Newspapers include hard news, soft news, and civic journalism. The need for flexibility and gate-keeping process affects coverage. Criteria for newsworthiness are universal. However, other factors affect what makes the news. Reporters are more likely to succeed when pitching news stories if they are specific, succinct, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about the media.