What is news?

1. What is news?

2. Criteria to judge news • Relevance • Interest • Usefulness • You can determine those by knowing your audience. Who are you writing for?

3. More elements to judge news • Impact • Conflict • Novelty • Prominence • Proximity • Timeliness (previews)

4. Gatekeepers vs. navigators • Gatekeepers: traditional approach • Navigator: for now and the future

5. What are readers looking for? • Visual • Densely layered information • Interaction • Relevance • Diversity • Give the readers a package. • News you can use.

6. How involved in the story should the media be? • “Civic” journalism or “public” journalism: Offers more than reporting. Offers a solution.

7. Journalism keys • A free, independent press is necessary to democracy. Fourth estate • Professional journalists must be accurate and fair. • Objectivity? Framing stories?

8. How is news writing different? • From an English composition paper? • From a letter? • From a narrative story?

9. News format • Inverted pyramid: Arrange news from the most important to the least important. Save the readers’ time and editors’ space.

10. Inverted pyramid • Puts the most important information first • Arranges the paragraphs in descending order of importance. • Requires the writer to rank the importance of information. • If master inverted pyramid, then you’ve mastered making news judgments.

11. What is a lead? A simple, clear statement consisting of the first paragraph or two of a story. The lead advertises what is coming in story and conveys the most important information.

12. Leads — The “so what?” or “who cares?” • Who? • What? • When? • Where? • Why? • How? • All news is local.

13. Lead length • Usually 25 words or less.

14. Inverted pyramid examples??? • The Streator/St. Bede game opened with a kickoff. • A fire broke out in downtown Tonica at 5 a.m. yesterday. • The Ottville National Bank was robbed early this morning. • The Ottawa City Council met yesterday. • IVCC President Jean Goodnow spoke to the Peru Rotary yesterday.

15. Other factors • Slug • One idea per paragraph • Objective • Attribution • Checking and rechecking information • -30-

16. Tips from textbook • Always check names • Keep the lead short • Attribute opinion • Answer the six questions • Write a sentence or paragraph telling readers what the news means to them. • Report basic information even if its routine.

17. One idea per paragraph • Keep your paragraphs short. • Paragraphs are usually no more than one or two sentences long. • Short paragraphs are hallmarks of newspaper, broadcast and online news writing.

18. Avoid editorializing • Don’t allow your opinion to creep into your news stories. • Attribute opinionated information to a source.

19. Facts • Something that has occurred • Something that actually exists • Something acknowledged as true or real • Something verifiable

20. Opinion • A conclusion • A judgment • A thought • A view • An estimate falling short of positive knowledge.

21. Avoiding editorializing • Statements of fact, if undisputed, can be printed without attribution to a source. • The score of the game was 98-87.

22. Avoiding editorializing • Statements of opinion must be attributed: • The season looks promising. • This is an opinion, not a fact, and must be attributed to a source. • The coach said the season looks promising. • This sentence should be followed by a direct quote from the coach about the season looking promising.

23. Editorializing examples • Everywhere on campus things are changing. • Switching to the Arrowhead Conference should be beneficial to the IVCC teams. • The musical includes a talented crew of singers. • The new phone system will save money and be more convenient for students and staff.

24. Fact or opinion? • A storm that dropped as much as five inches of snow in the Illinois Valley forced the college to cancel classes on Oct. 27. • Parking lot No. 5 will be resurfaced in March. • The work in parking lot No. 5 will not cause any parking problems. • Attendance at the Students in Free Enterprise Program was low.

25. Fact or opinion? • More than 200 people attended the Honors Colloquium program on Jan. 25. • The Student Senate has had a busy year. • Nearly $120,000 has been allotted to student organizations from student fee money. • The Senate makes the allocations based on how active student groups are.

26. Provide attribution • Make sure the reader knows what sources you have consulted for your stories. • The best attribution is simple – someone said.

27. Checking and rechecking • Use all means at your disposal to verify a story is accurate. • Always check names. • Most stories should have more than one source. • If your mother says she loves you, check it out.

28. Format • Use common copy editing symbols from first page of workbook. • Rather than giving your stories a title or headline, give them a slug. A brief two or three word description of what the story is. • -30- indicates a story has ended. Use this at the end of stories you turn in for class.

29. The Truth About Reporting? • News organizations have to be fair. If someone complains that “you have to print (or carry) my side of this story,” the newspaper/station has to. • Editorials shouldn’t be biased. • News organizations must publish responses to editorials/columns when requested to.

30. The Truth About Reporting? • Newspapers can edit letters to the editor before publishing them. • If a story source demands to see a story before it appears in print, the reporter must allow the source to see it. • If a source demands changes to a story before it appears, the reporter must make those changes.

31. The Truth About Reporting? • Members of the public can legally prevent their names or pictures from appearing in a news story. • Members of the public can sue a news organization if their names/photos appear against their will. • Reporters have First Amendment protection. • Reporters make a lot of money on newspapers, radio or TV stations.