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
Steps in conducting INTERVIEWS:
• 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
Steps in conducting INTERVIEWS:
• 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
Steps in conducting INTERVIEWS:
• 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
Steps in conducting INTERVIEWS:
• 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
Editorials & Personal Opinion
•Editorial = staff opinion
•Personal = author’s opinion
Editorials & Personal Opinion
•Opinions based on fact and reason
•Opinions with some mass appeal
Editorials & Personal Opinion
•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
Questionnaire Surveys:
•Statistical Significance begins at 10-percent
•Distribute enough questionnaires to gather 15-percent
Questionnaire Surveys:
•Survey of just freshmen would require 20-percent of freshmen only
•Survey of teachers would require 30-percent
Questionnaire Surveys:
• Finish early because you must• Tabulate the results and
determine percentages• Submit your survey results to
me
Questionnaire Surveys:
•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