JOUR 1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Patent Leather, News Values, Rolex
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Basic News Reporting and Writing
-What is news
-The basic news story
-Some writing tips
-General assignment reporting
-Covering speeches, meetings, and news conferences
-May seem old fashioned, but that’s because it is
Reporting and News Writing
-A cycle
-Not quite chicken and egg
-Have to understand one to do the other
-Both happen in tandem
-Should you report and then write your story? You can’t do one without
understanding the other. Teaching it- you can’t teach one without talking about
the other
-It is a circle- you write while you report, quick at your job, very good skillset
-You will never be able to write everything that should be written, you will have to
narrow it down- focus on what you are writing on
What is news?
“News: an account of shift in the state of things in the material world, or the world
beyond our sense.” – G. Stuart Adam
-It may have shifted right in front of you (accident), or it may have shifted a long
time ago but nobody knew about it
Allan’s rules of reporting:
-Look for people who are doing something, not just people who are saying
something
-Find the trend, the development, the action
-Answer the question: what is happening
-Get people to talk to you about what they are doing, and what is happening
-The best way to figure out what is happening is to tell it to someone (your editor)
News values:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
-Timeliness
-Impact
-Prominence
-Proximity
-Conflict
-The unusual
-Human Interest, entertainment
-Explanatory
-Currency, trends
-Necessity
-All relative
Hard news and Soft News:
Hard News: breaking news, timely, focus on who, what, where, when, why and how,
competing against other stories, more likely to be “3 people die in shooting on St.
Patrick’s Day”
Soft News: feature stories, can allow for more latitude in writing and presentation, still
timely, but not as time-dependent as breaking news, more likely to be “Drunk people
throwing up on streets on St. Patrick’s Day”
Hard News
-Classic News Story
-Stock in trade
-Upside down- the ending first
-Easy news, not hard news
-Most important info in first graphs
-Mystery novel on its head
-Shoot the sheriff
-Should be called easy news- it has to be easy to read, not a lot of effort to read,
clear, concise, simple
-First sentence has to the best
The reporting:
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find more resources at oneclass.com
-Reporting skills
-Preparation- get all the information you need before you start
-Equipped for the job- pens, notebook, recorder
-Verification and accuracy- doing it right, getting the information, observation
Observation example: Allan interviewing someone in the Congo- he is wearing a
suspiciously new military uniform, a Rolex watch, and patent leather shoes.
Report like you grocery shop: get extras, things you might need
-Interviewing
-Observation
-Like a trip to the supermarket
What is the story you are telling:
-Zillions of things are happening every second- what little thing are you going to
write about?
-Find a focus, narrow it down
Get to the Point:
-Pregnant Letter
-Jack and the Beanstalk- news doesn’t start with “Once upon a time there was a
boy…”
Our version: Giant plummets to his death, Giant fell from the sky…
-The Three Little Pigs Video- The guardian newspaper, all the different ways to tell
a story
-Narrative Report: telling the big point at the end
Focus:
-Focus, focus, focus
-What is the story?
-News, trend, surprise
-Headline, six words, bus leaving- telling your story quickly
-Tell your story to someone to see if it is well summed up, if you can explain it
shortly and quickly
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
May seem old fashioned, but that"s because it is. Have to understand one to do the other. You can"t do one without understanding the other. Teaching it- you can"t teach one without talking about the other. It is a circle- you write while you report, quick at your job, very good skillset. You will never be able to write everything that should be written, you will have to narrow it down- focus on what you are writing on. News: an account of shift in the state of things in the material world, or the world beyond our sense. g. stuart adam. It may have shifted right in front of you (accident), or it may have shifted a long time ago but nobody knew about it. Look for people who are doing something, not just people who are saying something. Find the trend, the development, the action.
