Power point from hell - Journalism Textbook Digitized

On becoming ajournalist

aka

Active Index• Understanding news• Gathering news• Leads• News story structure• Writing news• Layout• Interviews

• Features• Sports• Editorials• Reviews• Surveys and opinion polls• STYLE

Understanding news

Understanding News

• Hard News = significant events

• Soft News = less significant but larger audience

Three factors to all news:

•facts•interest•audience

Six qualities to all news. It must be:

•Accurate•Balanced•Objective

•Concise•Clear•Timely

News Values• Timeliness• Proximity• Consequence• Prominence• Drama

• Oddity• Conflict• Progress• Emotions• Sex

Gathering news

GATHERING NEWS•Research = 70%•Writing = 20%•Proofreading = 10%

Sources of news:• Beats• Handbook• Press Releases• City newspaper• Magazines• Tips• Snack, lunch• Club activities• Extra-curricular

activities

• Twitter• RSS Feeds• Class Site Portal• Personal Site Portal• City hall• Chamber of Commerce• City Bulletin Boards

To succeed...•You must have a Nose for News

Characteristics of a good reporter

• curiosity• sincere concern and sense of justice

• Objectivity

Characteristics of a good reporter

• Ability to interview strangers• Ability to inspire confidence

and make people feel at ease• Wide educational background

Characteristics of a good

reporter • Resourcefulness and persistence• Ability to write and speak

standard English• Keen observation• Extensive vocabulary

5 Ws and H are basic requirements but not

enough to make someone remark, "Wow! Great

story."

• Dig deep • Make facts interesting

Leads

All About Leads• Feature the feature• Clothesline WWWWHW• Colored Clothesline -- quote,

eye-catcher, comment;• Include as many wwwwwh as

possible as soon as possible• Hold one back as a tease

Begin by determining which

of the 5Ws&H is the feature to feature

Leads

• "Fire raged through a Chicago elementary school on Sunday, injuring two firemen and destroying a brand new auditorium."

Start by featuring the feature with strong words

"Two firemen were injured in a Chicago

elementary school fire that destroyed a

brand new auditorium last Sunday."

"The brand new auditorium of a Chicago elementary school was gutted Sunday by a fire

that left two firemen injured."

Avoid starting with articles like The and A or dates(“When” is seldom the lead)

Finding the lead• Yuck! The Benicia High School band

won first place in state competitions.• Yuck! On Tuesday, October 9, the Benicia

High School blah blah blah”• Better! First place went to the Benicia

High School band in state competitions.• Better! Benicia wins first place in the state

band competition.

News structure

News article structure:•The Inverted Pyramid

News article structure:•The Inverted Pyramid

Most important Followed by

Least im- port- ant

First things first: Push the facts to the front and cut the crap

Be precise

Make every word count

Brevity doesn't excuse reporters

from being accurate and thorough

To complete the pyramid

• End the story in the last two paragraphs

• This way the last paragraph can be cut without affecting the conclusion

Writing news

WRITING NEWS

• Why is this story important?• Is it an advance or a follow-up story?• Do not editorialize• Remain objective• Balance the interviews -- pro con, or

authority and reaction quote

WRITING NEWS

• Why is this story important?• Is it an advance or a follow-up story?• Do not editorialize• Remain objective• Balance the interviews -- pro con, or

authority and reaction quote

WRITING NEWS No Mr., No Mrs., No Ms.

• Introduce every person with a title or description. Then use only the last name

• Never use Ms. Miss. Mrs. Or Mr.

Layout

Layout: dummy up• Dummy the entire newspaper

& each dept• Place ads first

Headlines

Text

Pictures

Ads

Layout: ad placement• Place ads across the bottom to

rise toward the inside

Layout: Master Pages•Design Master Page with repeating elements: folios, flags, logos, ads

Layout: headlines•The headline is the purest

condensation of the story’s key focus

• It must capture the eye, lure, entice, intrigue reader

Layout: headlines• Headlines must have a strong verb• They must be sentences, not labels• Verb “to be” is omitted: is, was,

were, are• We do not say: • President is coming to Benicia

Layout: headlines vs labels

•HL: Earthquake in Turkey kills 20,000

Label: Turkish earthquake

• HL: Terrorists bomb Children’s Hospital

•Label: Terrorist bombing

Layout: headlines•Point size should decrease

as you go down the page• Headlines must fit over the entire

story• Use down style

Layout: standards• Folio contains “Page” #, month

& year, dept name IN CAPS• Save fancy fonts for ads• Don’t jump more than once• Jumps should NOT continue at

the top of the page (if possible)

Layout: photos•Pictures must have borders and captions

•Pictures must be light and well defined

Layout: consider breaking up large blocks of text with something…

SubtitlesSidebars

Pull quotesBold facing

Interviews

INTERVIEWS•Types: •News•Personality•Symposium

Steps in conducting INTERVIEWS:

• Schedule early!• Learn all you can beforehand• Write any and every question

you can think of before you go


• If important, take note of person's dress, surroundings, mannerisms

• Bring a recorder if you can• Always ask permission to use recording

device and put it in plain view• Do not stick it in your person's face• Write down counter-numbers when good

lines are spoken


• When notetaking, maintain a balance: don't bury your nose in your notebook and don't expect to memorize everything.

• Jot down the essentials for paraphrasing, and capture precise sentences for quotes

• Open-ended Vs close-ended questions


• End by asking if the person has anything to say that you haven't asked

• Advise that you may condense quotes for clarity, but that you will not change meaning


• Get permission to follow-up with a phone call or a drop by if you need any more info

• Offer to give them a proof of the story if it's warranted

Writing the Interview:•Avoid Q & A•Stay out of the picture

Writing the Interview:•Use "said" synonyms sparingly

•Use a quote early•Use plenty of quotes

Writing the Interview:•Alternate between quotes and paraphrases

•Use quotes from other people

Features

FEATURES• They may inform, instruct, advise, but

their primary purpose is to entertain• They are factual, and can relate to

current news/news story• They allow for creativity and individual

curiosity• Written in a casual style

Types of Features:• News feature• Human interest• Character sketch• Writing the Feature:• All the other rules of news writing apply

except the feature writer is permitted more creativity in expression and layout

Sports

Writing Sports Stories:

• Don't editorialize, but you have more freedom than regular news reporters.

• Support opinions with facts and quotes

• Coach quote• Opposing coach quote -- before/after

the game. Ask who to watch.

Sports Layout:

• Sports can have hard, soft news, interviews, surveys, all the elements of the entire paper

• Special Note: Triple check name spellings and grade level

Editorials & Personal Opinion


•Editorial = staff opinion

•Personal = author’s opinion


•Opinions based on fact and reason

•Opinions with some mass appeal


•Avoid over generalization

•Use examples and specific, concrete details

•Quote sources

Reviews

REVIEWS• Goal is to introduce people to good

entertainment and protect them from crap

• Reviews are critical analysis• They are sort of like book essays in

English class, except the primary question is Did you Like the Book or Not? Why?

Steps in reviewing:

•Take notebook•Take notes•Get all names: actors, characters, performers, hosts

Film review: Analysis

•plot, •conflict, •setting, •tone, •character,

•actor, •editing, •cinematography,

•sound track,

•popularity,

•director,

•background information,

•similarities to other films,

•cost, •genre

Steps in reviewing:•Write review immediately

after the performance•Support all critical analysis

with example

Steps in reviewing:•Don't write a PLOT SUMMARY!

•Write a CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Steps in reviewing:• Summarizing a story is O.K., but

it shouldn't be more than 20% of the story…

• …and don’t give away the ending or any other surprises

Surveys

SURVEYS•Two kinds:•Opinion Polls•Questionnaire Survey

Opinion Polls:• Ask one open-ended, controversial

or entertaining question to a balanced variety of individuals

• Get equal males, females, 9, 10, 11, 12, from different walks of life

• toss in an occasional teacher, administrator, janitor or parent

Opinion Polls:• Gather twice as many responses

as you intend to publish• Extract the best quotes and

organize them• Check name spelling and grade

level

Questionnaire Surveys:

• Devise a topic• Create a list of opinion and value questions

on a related topic• Agree/disagree, for/against, most/least

important

• Format the questionnaire so two fit on one 8x11 paper

• Distribute across campus in an organized fashion


•Statistical Significance begins at 10-percent

•Distribute enough questionnaires to gather 15-percent


•Survey of just freshmen would require 20-percent of freshmen only

•Survey of teachers would require 30-percent


• Finish early because you must• Tabulate the results and

determine percentages• Submit your survey results to

me


•Edit in the questions that elicited the best responses

•Layout the page yourself

Questionnaire Surveys:• Write an intro paragraph that

explains the nature and purpose of the survey and how many votes you tabulated. Interpret the results. What was the overall outcome of your findings, and were there any surprises

Style

Every newspaper sets a style for consistency of design and word use

• In many ways it simply follows traditional grammatical, mechanical rules

Titles of apposition

• Short titles go before a name in caps: Principal Bob Jones

• Long titles go after a name, in low case: Mike Bowers, director of personnel relations

Capitalize the

following:

All titles that precede names

•Principal Jones•Coach Hayes•President Smith

First and all words in titles except for articles, prepositions of one to

three letters, and conjunctions

• The Holiday Collection of Songs and Poems -- book

• “The Man With Time to Spare” -- short story

Holidays•Christmas•Labor Day•Valentine's Day

Special Events•Homecoming•Homecoming Game•Prom

Sections of the Country but not directions

•She lived in the South•She moved south for the winter

College Degrees when abbreviated

•M.A.•Ph.D.•B.S.

Clubs

•Backpacking Club•Chess Club•Computer Club

Grade levels ONLY WHEN followed by the word Class

•The Freshman Class has closed campus

•(but The freshmen have closed campus)

Specific Buildings•World Trade Center•Pentagon•The Chrysler Building•The Bay Bridge

Departments•English Department•Math Department•Science Department

Schools(not simply middle school or high school)

• Benicia High School competed in the games against Benicia Middle School

• The high school competed in the games against the middle school.

• Mary Farmar Robert Semple

Colleges•Brigham Young•William and Mary•Brown University

Streets•1st Street•West Way•Bingham Avenue

Geographical names•Hudson River•Mt. Shasta•The Osarks

Names of specific courses (usually followed by number or letter)

•American History I (but American history)

•History 101 (but history)•Math B ( but math)

Languages•French•Spanish•English

Words or abrev. Like • No. Fig. Chart Chapter when

followed by a number• No. 7• Chart 16• Chapter 1• Fig. 32

DO NOT CAPITALIZE:

Titles that follow names

•Ron Wheat, vice principal

•Ron Wheat, athletics director

Parts of time

•a.m. p.m.•o'clock

Seasons•winter spring summer fall

•(but Old Man Winter)

Rooms, offices, buildings, unless they have a proper name

• The journalism lab• The Gibbs Memorial Journalism

Lab

• The gymnasium• The Annette O'Connor Memorial

Gymnasium

Committees•entertainment committee

• refreshment committee

Descriptive or occupational words used as titles

•comedian Jerry Sienfeld•pitcher Nolan Ryan•actress Reese Witherspoon

Title modifiers•Such as former President Clinton, the late Princess Diana

College degrees when spelled out

•master of arts degree•bachelor of science

ABBREVATIONS•Avoid all but standard abbreviations

Abbreviate the

Following:

Names that are well known as abbreviations

•YMCA, PTA, FBI, BHS, NASA

• (remove the periods and write it as a word)

Certain titles when they precede names

•Dr.•Rev. (always preceded by

"the" if spelled out)•The Reverend Jessie

Jackson

All military titles•Sgt. •Lt. •Pvt. •Gen.

Names of states when they follow names of cities

• (except short states like Ohio or Utah)

•Madison, Wis.; Buffalo, N.Y.; but Des Moines, Iowa

Names of months when followed by a date (except short

months -- April, May, June, July)

•Jan. 27, 1954

College Degrees•B.A. •Ph.D. •D.D.

Do Not Abbreviate the Following:

• State names• Titles following a name• Days of the week• States when used without a

city• Use the word percent (use %

only in tabular material or in headlines following a number)

Do Not Abbreviate the Following:

• Department• Christmas• 1999 not '99 (But Heather Deal, '99)• United States as a noun, abbreviate it

as an adjective• U.S. history

DEALING WITH NUMBERS

•Spell out numbers up to and including nine. Then use digits

•Seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13

Exception: always use digits to write

• Dates• Scores• Addresses• Ages• Time• Money

• April 7, 2000• Benicia 26,

Concord 2• 9 Pine Street• 7 years old• 4 o'clock• 5 cents

Do not begin a sentence with digits

• Don't say: 25 students missed the deadline

• Say: Twenty-five students missed the deadline

• Or: A total of 25 students missed the deadline

Do not use d, rd, st, or th in dates

• Dec. 11, 1941, not Dec. 11th, 1941• June 3, 2000 not June 3rd, 2000• Streets are OK. 3rd Street, 11th

Avenue

When two numbers are used together, avoid

confusion by spelling out the first, whether the

number is above or below nine

• Don't say: 14 4-year-old kids• Say: fourteen 4-year-old

kids

In a list using numbers below and above nine, use

digits for all:

•Attending were 2 from the elementary school, 13 from the middle school, and 9 from the high school

For sums of money below one dollar, use digits and

the word "cents"

•10 cents, not $.10

Do not use zeros when giving the exact

hour or an even number of dollars

•4 o'clock, not 4:00 o'clock

•$6 not $6.00

For numbers of four or more digits, use a

comma

•1,000 64,500

PUNCTUATION

Comma•Do not use a comma before

the word and in a series•Red, white and blue.

Members included Lewis, Clark and Upton

Do not use a comma before Jr. in a name

•William Strunk Jr.

Use the semicolon in lists where the individual items contain

commas.

• The committee included Mary Ladd, chairperson; Oliver Greenwood, treasurer; and Nellie Kim, secretary.

• They brought with them from New Orleans a box of gumbo; a large, green suitcase; and a change of clothes.

Quotation Marks• Periods and commas always go

inside the quotation mark.• The quarterback said, “That last

tackle hurt.”• “That last tackle hurt,” said the

quarterback.

Quotation Marks• Colons and semicolons always

go outside the quotation mark.• Here are the “Articles of

Confederation”: blah blah blah• He played “Yesterday”; it was

off-key.

Quotation Marks• Question marks and exclamation marks

go inside or outside, depending…• John asked, “What are you doing?”• Who said, “What are you doing”?• Run when you hear the word “Fire”!• We ran when someone yelled, “Fire!”

Use quotation marks around short things: one-act plays, song titles, short stories, speeches,

sit coms, 1/2-hour T.V. shows. poems.

• “The Misfit” one-act play• “Yesterday” song

• “To Build a Fire” short story• “I Have a Dream” speech

• “Just Shoot Me” sit-com• “America” poem

Use italics on large things: three- and five-act plays, novels, motion pictures, newspapers,

ships,CDs

• Hamlet• Gone with the Wind• Saving Private Ryan• The White Album• USS Port Royal• The Paw

Italics• Use them on foreign words that have

not become an integral part of English• The de facto standard was followed.

• Use them on photo captions

Do not put quotation marks around popular slang

expressions like "groovy."

Apostrophes• Use ' after plural nouns to show

possessionoThe students' handbook

• Use 's after singular nouns to show possession.oThe student's handbook

To ALL sports writers: It's the girls' basketball

team, not the girl’s basketball team.

Use apostrophe when you omit a letter

• I'm from the class of '71.• I like rock 'n' roll.•Don't forget the

contractions.

Use 's to form plurals of single letters and

numbers

•She got all a's and b's.

Do not use the apostrophe for plurals of numbers or multiple-

letter combinations

•1960s•ABCs

Omit the apostrophe in names of organizations when the possessive

case is implied and in certain geographic designations

•Citizens League•Actors Guild•Pikes Peak

HYPHEN•Use hyphens in compound

numbers and fractions•Forty-five, three-fourths

Use hyphens in such words as

•Vice-principal•vice-president

Use a hyphen on compound adjectives used to modify a noun

• The two-sided issue; the double-edged sword; the 8-year-old boy

• (not for multiple adjectives. The old, tired argument. The late, exhausted student)

• (not for adverb ending in ly • The smartly dressed man

Use two hyphens with spaces at each end -- to represent a dash.

• Use a dash to show long apposition.

• The quarterback -- a man short on energy but long on determination -- finished the game with a touchdown pass.

POLICY

Big no no:Slander, Liable,

Profanity, Incite to Riot

extra school-news precautions: no flippant,

positive or enticing references can be made to the use of drugs, alcohol,

tobacco, or illicit sex

Say all the positive you want about a person. Negative comments

require you to show the story to the person and

give them an opportunity to respond

The End

News & Politics

Power point from hell - Journalism Textbook Digitized