Chapter 5 Notes

Chapter 5: Journalism

Why is news important?

News Culture

• Central point in society, brings us together (convergence, citizen journalism)
• Basic form of passing info

What makes something news?
Elements of news:

• Impact
• Timeliness (getting the news out before the event happens/ being the first to report breaking news)
• Prominence (i.e. George Bush choking on a pretzel)
• Proximity (tend to care more about things that happen close by)
• Conflict (sports)
• Bizarre/Unusual (when dog bites man- not news....but when man bites dog...)
• Currency (slow news cycle- some unimportant occurances can be elevated in slow times)

Answer these questions:

• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• Why
• How

Inverted Pyramid

• style in which we order the information
• most important info at the top, bottom of the story is least important info
• goal is to pass on the info quickly to reader, not get them to read through the whole thing
• Format
• first sentence = Lead
• 2nd paragraph = take an aspect of the lead and expand, give more info
• Body= more info, evidence, context, details, direct and indirect quotes
• ending= when you run out of things to say, dont dwell on ending-it's not important, just stop when you've said all info

Headline

• A good headline is clear and specific.
• It is an abstracted sentence of 5 to 10 (max) words.
• must contain a subject and verb or even better, a subject, verb, and object (joined by as, of, with, etc.)
• consider it a sales pitch for the story
• use specific information and concrete wording
• should not repeat the words used in the lead
• based on the main idea of the story
• for past or present occurrence, USE PRESENT TENSE.
• for future occurrence use the infinitive form of a verb (to run, to go)
• Do not use articles
• use comma instead of and conjunction
• no headline should start with a verb
• SEO (search engine optimization)- use words that can be picked up by people googling the topic

Lead

• Opening paragraph (lead) is ONE SENTENCE.
• It sets forth the theme of the story. 
• most important info
• will unify writing for the reader
• Look to answer: who, what, where, when

6 Styles of Leads

1. Straight News Lead: one sentence long, around 30 words *if ppl died, always include in first sentence*
2. Summary Lead: when there is more than one major fact to be covered (one sentence, 30 words)
3. Blind Lead: Names not used, revealed in 2nd paragraph *Never use someone's name in the lead sentence unless they are well-known; instead describe person in lead sentence and use name in second paragraph*
4. Direct address lead: reader is addressed, use sparingly (ex. If gardening is your
5. Question lead: asks ?, use sparingly
6. Direct Quote Lead: needs to be highly compelling and informative, use sparingly

Story
Developing the Story

• Think of the audience, "What would I want to know next?", put yourself in reader's shoes
• Rules for using direct quotes:
• Only quote if ppl need to hear exact words or if you cannot say it better
• first direct quote should appear close to tope of the story: 3rd paragraph (through 6th)
• avoid one quote after another
• direct quote should be ITS OWN PARAGRAPH
• paragraph begins with quotations marks then comma then close quotation marks, then name + said/stated.
• "My class is fantastic," Amy Bonebright said.
• name is before 'said' because it is more important

[How to tell a story that people will read:
How to tell a story that people will watch/ listen to:]