COMM-200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Content Management System, News Style, Global Warming
14 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
March 20, 2018
Writing for the Web
●Content management system (e.g. WordPress)
●Characteristics of the web: immediacy, flexibility, permanence, capacity, interactivity,
mobility
●Needs to be:simple, scannable, direct, “chunked” (breaking up content in paragraphs)
●Write like you don’t expect people to read
●Descriptive headlines; short summaries/blurbs; bullet points/lists; scannable section
headers/subheads; use visuals and graphics
●Use clear, concise, efficient language
●Talk with your audience, not at them
●Be timely and relevant
●Be part of the conversation
●Know your audience and platform
●Inverted pyramid!!
●You should completely summarize the entire story within first two paragraphs
March 23, 2018
Writing for the Web
●Quotations in writing for the web only use single quotation mark
●Using links:
○When creating links within story, only highlight a few words (typically 1-3).
Avoid writing stories with a “sea of blue” text
○Strategically link words that clearly indicate what reader will get when they click
the link
●Writing well for web means little if you don’t also master writing for digital platforms
●Many readers access content “sideways”- via social media/newsletters
●Fewer and fewer people visit homepages
March 27, 2018
Media Stereotypes
Stereotypes- broad and simplified ideas about an individual, group, or thing; whether positive or
negative
●Bias- prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person or group compared with another,
usually in a way considered to be unfair
○Muslims and terrorists
■Belief that Muslims must be connected to terrorism
■Media coverage of mass shootings committed by Muslims vs those
committed by white men. Most recent example: “Austin bomber was
frustrated with his life, authorities say”
■Muslim Pulse nightclub shooter called a “terrorist” but white church
shooter Dylan Roof called “mentally ill” n news coverage
○Profiles of welfare recipients
■Why only feature poor black/Hispanic people in story when data show that
majority of recipients are white?
○Asian moms as “Tiger Moms”
○Coverage of today’s opioid crisis vs coverage of 1980s crack
●Newsrooms should reflect the population they cover. Too often, they don’t
●News orgs that lack diversity have trouble telling a wide range of stories that impact
people in their coverage area
●It’s hard to build source networks in communities your reporters can’t relate to
●Reporters/ editors who don’t understand specific communities tend to rely on stereotypes
Media Ethics
●Journalists should:
○Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid
inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible
○Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to
respond to allegations of wrongdoing
○Identify sources whenever possible. The public is entitled to as much info as
possible on sources’ reliability
March 30, 2018
Media Law
●Defamation- communication of false statements about a person that injure their
reputation
●Libel- to publish in print (including pictures) or broadcast through radio, television, or
film, an untruth about another which will do harm to that person or his/her reputation
●To succeed in a libel case, a plaintiff must:
○Prove that a libelous statement about them was published
○Prove that he/she was identified in the story
○Prove that the story was false and that it harmed his/her reputation
○Prove that the writer was at fault in some way
Document Summary
Characteristics of the web: immediacy, flexibility, permanence, capacity, interactivity, mobility. Needs to be:simple, scannable, direct, chunked (breaking up content in paragraphs) Write like you don"t expect people to read. Descriptive headlines; short summaries/blurbs; bullet points/lists; scannable section headers/subheads; use visuals and graphics. Talk with your audience, not at them. You should completely summarize the entire story within first two paragraphs. Quotations in writing for the web only use single quotation mark. When creating links within story, only highlight a few words (typically 1-3). Avoid writing stories with a sea of blue text. Strategically link words that clearly indicate what reader will get when they click the link. Writing well for web means little if you don"t also master writing for digital platforms. Many readers access content sideways - via social media/newsletters. Stereotypes- broad and simplified ideas about an individual, group, or thing; whether positive or negative.
