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News Reporting & Writing

News Reporting & Writing. Week 4: News Sources & Story Structure Kevin Voigt. Sources. Human Officials, politicians, analysts, eyewitnesses Physical Documents you obtain Digital Information online or in electronic format. Dealing with human sources. Be nice, and respectful, to everyone!

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News Reporting & Writing

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  1. News Reporting & Writing • Week 4: News Sources & Story Structure • Kevin Voigt

  2. Sources • Human • Officials, politicians, analysts, eyewitnesses • Physical • Documents you obtain • Digital • Information online or in electronic format

  3. Dealing with human sources • Be nice, and respectful, to everyone! • Especially secretaries, janitors, the second- and third-in-command • Some people lie, but not everyone • All people have faulty memory • All people speak from self-interest

  4. Finding sources • Government officials, police, politicians • Experts • NGOs, universities, corporations, consultants • PR professionals (for a start) • The guy on the street (vox pop)

  5. Finding them online • Facebook • LinkedIn • Gorkana • Gerson Lehrman Group

  6. Review: Hard News Lede Writing Exercise

  7. Lede writing exercise 1 SUBJECT VERB OBJECT The wife of a retired Hong Kong civil servant yesterday sought the help of the city’s Security Bureau in a bid to locate her husband who went missing from the couple’s Dongguan home on December 12.

  8. Lede writing exercise 1 WHEN WHO WHAT WHY The wife of a retired Hong Kong civil servant yesterday sought the help of the city’s Security Bureau in a bid to locate her husband who went missing from the couple’s Dongguan home on December 12. WHERE WHEN

  9. Lede writing exercise 2 BASIC FACTS Mainland authorities arrested a 45-year-old farmer yesterday for allegedly hurling hand grenades at relatives and police in Guangxi Province. FACTS PLUS COLOR A manhunt involving 5,000 personnel came to an end in Guangxi Province yesterday when a 45-year-old farmer, accused of hurling explosives at his relatives and police, was arrested with a grenade in his hand.

  10. Lede writing exercise 2 A 45-year-old farmer raised concerns over the availability of firearms and explosives across mainland China after he allegedly threw live hand grenades at family and police near Fangcheng city on Monday. ((EDS: two days ago))

  11. Lede writing exercise 3 An underground gas-pipe explosion sent 15 manhole covers flying above a busy intersection in Pokfulam yesterday, but in what a bus driver called a miracle, only two people were hurt.

  12. Story Structure

  13. Four Steps to a Story • Conceive. • Report. • Write. • Rewrite.

  14. The Five Steps of Reporting • Identify the information you want. • Figure out who has it. • Go get it. • Take it down accurately. • Analyze it.

  15. Eight Steps to Story Construction • Identify the focus or main idea from notes. • Locate the material that supports the main idea • Prioritize the secondary material • Link the sections SOURCE: MELVIN MENCHER’S NEWS REPORTING & WRITING, 7TH EDITION

  16. Eight Steps to Story Construction • Read the completed story for substance • Read the story for accuracy & brevity • Read the story for grammar & style • Rewrite to fix problems

  17. Story Structure: 4 Steps • Lede • Expand the lede • Two to five paragraphs that explain, support and amplify the lede • Background • One or more paragraphs that tell the reader the significance of the story: why they should care, or what has happened before • More elaboration & amplification of news

  18. The Inverted Pyramid LEDE ELABORATION SUPPORT BACK- GROUND

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