JOUR 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: News Values, Herd Mentality, Agnosticism
18 Aug 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Jour 1
David Nguyen
Writing for News Media
Fall 2018
College of the Sequoias
Rules of journalism
1. Fair and accurate
2. Don’t be boring
Important news value
● Unique, and unusual
Other news values
● Unusual
● Timely
● Topical
● Proximate
● Prominent
● Significant
● Impactful
● Controversial
● Emotional
● Useful
6 fundamental questions
● Who, what, when, where, why, how
What does attribution mean
● Informing readers where information came from
When you need attribution, and don’t
● CAN
o The info could be disputed
o Not general knowledge
o Statement is opinion
● DON’T
o Is indisputable
o General knowledge
o Direct knowledge of the facts by observation
o Context is clear where the info originated
● Goes at the end of a sentence
Document Summary
Rules of journalism: fair and accurate, don"t be boring. Can: the info could be disputed, not general knowledge, statement is opinion. Don"t: is indisputable, general knowledge, direct knowledge of the facts by observation, context is clear where the info originated. Goes at the end of a sentence. Someone with direct/personal knowledge of the situation. Someone with indirect knowledge or expertise, or someone who can offer informed opinion. Questions should be, open ended, complete, neutral, lean (short) Short concise summary of topic or main point of story. Describes specific event that occurred at a specific time and place and illustrates the story"s larger complication . Make people keep reading towards the end especially as feature story. Second wave: already had interest in story. Third wave: can relate to universal human theme in story. The universal human tendency to ignore or reject info that seems to contradict our pre- existing beliefs or worldview.
