News in the 20th Century

Why has the power of print faded? First radio, TV, now Internet News is more accessible, engaging than ever

before Advertisers, readers have moved to the web Loss of revenue, lower circulation, lower

readership among young people Corporate ownership

Solutions

Raise prices

Charge for on-line access

Charge aggregators like Google, Yahoo

Find benefactor

Become a consortium

Government bailout

Stop publishing

What is news? News usually contains at least one of the following:

Impact: Does the story matter to readers? Will it effect their lives or their pocket books

Immediacy: Has the story just happened?

Proximity: How close is the story?

Prominence? Does the story involve a well-known public figure?

Novelty: Is something new, odd or surprising going on?

Conflict: Is there a clash of power?

Emotions: Does this story make us sad, happy, angry?

Types of News

Hard News. Serious and timely. It deals with topics and events, such as crime, politics, economics, and war, along with certain aspects of law, science, and technology.

Feature/Soft News. These are stories are about people and things that interest people. They are not timely and try to bring a fresh perspective to ordinary stories. May or may not be about serious topics.

Types of News - Examples

Examples

http://buswk.co/ogPVLF

http://usat.ly/qfOq5j

http://bit.ly/r45fgs

http://bit.ly/oVtA9d

http://bit.ly/oDrDZ2

So where do Opinions Belong in Journalism?

Opinion & Editorial pages. The editorial page is where the newspaper sets aside its objective news-gathering role to explain, applaud or champion an important issue of the day. Letters to the editor from readers also are run on this page. Editorials may also be in the form of cartoons. The page opposite this page is called the opinions page and frequently contains opinion pieces by columnists that can be partisan and passionate.

In TV or radio, opinions pieces are known as commentary.

Story structureThe Inverted Pyramid

The inverted pyramid is news writing format in which the most important facts are presented in descending order of importance.

Advantages: (a) It condenses information efficiently so readers can grasp facts quickly, and (b) it allows editors to trim stories from the bottom.

Disadvantages: (a) It gets repetitive, and (b) it doesn't always organize the story material logically or engagingly.

The Journalism Formula

The facts of a story fall into these main groups:

(The five W's & H)

Who: Who's involved? Who's affected? Who's getting screwed?

What: What happened? What's going up?

When: When did it happen? When will it happen?

Where: Where will they build the new airport? Where were five children found decapitated?

Why: Why is the new law necessary?

How: How will this plan work? How did the prisoner escape?

Exercise

Story StructureThe Basic Lead

It's the essence of journalism: the key facts told in the most concise way. Summarizes the story's most important facts. Usually contains the 5 W's and H. Grabs reader or viewers attention. Most use fewer than 25 words.

EXAMPLES

http://trib.in/pP6Say

http://trib.in/p6YmR7

http://trib.in/nNL98j

http://bit.ly/qir1Ud

How to Write an Effective Lead?

Be concise. Streamline your ideas, sentences. Thinks subject-verb-object.

Be accurate. Get your facts and spelling right.

Don't name names. Don't say John Smith was hit by a bus, unless everyone know who John Smith is.

Use strong verbs. Instead of saying a man was killed, think active, not passive voice: A bus struck and killed an elderly man Monday night.

Ask “Why do I care?” Write from reader's point of view. Try to explain things.

Sell the story. Find out what makes this story different or special. Use that to punch up the lead.

Lead Writing Exercise

Writing a lead for a fire story.