JOURNALISM 101 YOUTH AND GOVERNMENT - MEDIA

LESSON 1: THE BASICS

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

ESSAY WRITING

• Idea

• Preliminary Reading

• Thesis

• Research

• Writing & Revision

JOURNALISITIC WRITING

• Assignment

• Original Research

• Interviews

• Surveys/Reports

• Writing

• Editing

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DETAILED ANALYSIS CONCISE SUMMARY

JOB OF JOURNALISTS

• Report the News “rough draft of history”

• Monitor Power (i.e. government, business, etc.)

• Uncover Injustice “bring to light”

• Tell Stories “delight & amaze”

• Sustaining Communities “conversation with itself”

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READER WANTS TO KNOW…

• How does it affect me?

• Why should I care?

• What can I do about it?

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JOURNALISTIC WRITING IS…

• Concise

• Documented

• Fair & Balanced (unbiased)

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INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE

The inverted pyramid is a metaphor used by journalists and other writers to illustrate how information should be prioritized and structured in a text.

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BEING CONCISE

• Use minimum words to say maximum

• Tips:

• Avoid articles (a, an, the) unless necessary

• Eliminate “that” & “which”

• Don’t be repetitious with information

• Avoid prefacing ideas or re-stating facts

• Avoid introductory clauses (“at first”)

• Use adjectives sparingly

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JOURNALISM BASICS ACTIVITY

Answer questions about Journalism by choosing from multiple choice answers. Not all questions are directly covered in the material above, but use contextual information to choose the right answer.

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QUESTION 1

What is inverted pyramid style?

A. Top heavy news story because the beginning contains the most important information.

B. Bottom heavy news story because the conclusion contains the most important information.

C. A style of writing that emphasizes the human interest angle

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QUESTION 2

What is a lead paragraph?

A. The last paragraph of a news story

B. The first paragraph of a news story

C. A paragraph containing interview questions

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QUESTION 3

What does it mean to write concisely?

A. Use active voice as much as possible

B. Get right to the point

C. Both A and B

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QUESTION 4

What is a feature story?

A news story with a human interest angle

B. An article based on the writer's opinion concerning an important issue

C. Fluff material such as horoscopes and crossword puzzles

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QUESTION 5

What does it mean to be objective?

A. Include your opinion in your story

B. Use personal pronouns (such as I, you, we)

C. Reporting just the facts

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LESSON 2: CITING SOURCES

DOCUMENT & VERIFY

• Prove what you are saying

• Quantify adjectives and assertions

• Back up with facts (statistics, examples or quotes)

• Or OMIT

• Descriptions need detail

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CITE SOURCES INTERNALLY

• Do not use footnotes, end notes, parenthetical attributions

• Works cited page not necessary

• Examples

• According to a December 2007 Gallup Poll, 65 percent of Florida college students prefer Mountain Dew over Sprite

• “For years it’s been profitable being a mechanic in this city,” Logan Green said. “They said training could take up to six months.”

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JOURNALISTIC WRITING INCORPORATES

• Sources

• Quotes

• Headlines

• Leads

• Visual Elements: graphics, photos, cut lines, etc.

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SOURCES

• Journalistic style relies on first hand research

• All data (statistics, examples, information & quotes) MUST be attributed to a source

• Types of sources:

• Documents & reports

• Other publications

• People

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QUOTES

• Refers to exact words of a source

• Indicated by “quotation marks”

• Quotes should be direct

• Listing a quote infers you spoke to that person

• Don’t list second-hand info as quotes.

• Use for opinions and reaction, not hard facts

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ATTRIBUTION

• Indicating source of quoted material

• First reference should include full name and title

• Second reference just last name

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FORMATTING QUOTES

• For partial phrase quote:

• The elections turnout was “disappointing for all the publicity,” said Mayor Jones.

• For single sentence quotes:

• “It was a significant outcome,” John Smith, YG director, said.

• For Multiple sentence quotes:

• “The day was a success,” said Thomas. “We plan on making it an annual event.”

• Quotations should only include “said.” Not “exclaimed” “stated” or any other exclamations.

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SOURCES + QUOTES ACTIVITY

Answer the multiple choice questions about sources and quotes with the information you learned in the above lesson.

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QUESTION 1

What does a direct quotation look like? Discuss

A. Obama vowed change and roared about “the fierce urgency of now”.

B. “He loves to buckle,” MSNBC host Clark Urban declared in a July. “Obama’s not going to give us real change.”

C. Obama has asserted the authority to assassinate American terror suspects abroad and has tried to block court challenges of that authority by invoking “state secrets.”

D. Obama teased Michelle saying that she was an only good with kids when playing Poker with them.

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QUESTION 2

What does a paraphrase look like?

A. Obama vowed change and roared about “the fierce urgency of now”.

B. “He loves to buckle,” MSNBC host Clark Urban declared in a July. “Obama’s not going to give us real change.”

C. Obama has asserted the authority to assassinate American terror suspects abroad and has tried to block court challenges of that authority by invoking “state secrets.”

D. Obama teased Michelle saying that she was an only good with kids when playing Poker with them.

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QUESTION 3

What is a source?

A. A published news source, such as the Chicago Tribune

B. A person that a reporter interviews for his story

C. A reporter resource that lists all of the rules of writing

D. A published online news source, such as austintalks.org

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QUESTION 4

Why is it important for reporter’s to talk to sources?

A. Sources help publish a reporter’s story

B. Sources are the people that help edit and revise copy

C. Sources give a story balance by offering different perspectives

D. Sources buy newspapers

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QUESTION 5

How does a reporter “balance” his/her story?

A. By writing five paragraphs

B. By quoting several different sources

C. By including pictures with his story

D. By publishing a story and a follow-up story

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QUESTION 6

What is attribution?

A. Giving a source credit for a quote

B. The description of what a photo is about

C. A mistake a reporter can get sued for

D. The best qualities of a news story

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QUESTION 7

To avoid libel changes, a journalist__________________.

A. Should check all sources carefully

B. Should avoid confidential content in notes

C. Should distinguish accuracy from truth

D. All of the above

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LESSON 3: WRITING A STORY

GENERAL GUIDELINES

• Do not write in first person

• No “I” --- reporter is invisible

• Do not reveal interview “When asked about how she felt…”

• Avoid questions

• Do not use in leads & headlines or text

• Do not be a cheerleader/PR person

• Do not promote “LSCC has a wonderful faculty...”

• Do not tell reader what to do “Please come support our athletes...”

• When quoting a source, all punctuation should be inside the quotation marks. Ex: “I like apples,” Turner said.

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HOW TO WRITE A NEWS STORY

• Assignment

• Background Research

• Interviews

• Write

• Lead

• Story

• Headline

• Proof

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TIPS FOR HEADLINE WRITING

• Headline should reflect info in the lead

• Summarize and grab reader’s attention

• Don’t promise what you can’t deliver

• Don’t editorialize or sensationalize

• Use verbs with “punch”

• Active

• Present Tense

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PHOTOJOURNALISM + CUTLINES

Photo captions and cutlines are the most read body type in a publication. It follows that standards of accuracy, clarity, completeness and good writing are as high for captions and cutlines than for other type.

Questions that need to be answered in the cutline:

• Who is that? (And, in most cases, identify people from left to right unless the action in the photograph demands otherwise.)

• Why is this picture in the paper?

• What's going on?

• When and where was this?

• Why does he/she/it/they look that way?

• How did this occur?

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INTERVIEWING ACTIVITY

Activity 1:

Writing Interview Questions/Conducting the Interview

Students will write 10 interview questions to ask the instructor. These questions will require more than just a yes/no answer.

The students and the teacher will hold a mock press conference, and the students will practice asking the questions and taking notes.

Notes will be divided into two separate sections: quotations and paraphrased statements. After the interview students will divide their notes from the most important details to the least important.

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WRITING ACTIVITY

Activity 2:

Writing the Lead

On the overhead the instructor will lecture on leads using several examples of leads. The students will then write a lead based on their interviews.

Handling Quotes

Students will select the most important quotes from the interview and will write the quote on the chalkboard. Then the instructor will explain how to use attribution and how to set up the quote.

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LESSON 4: AP STYLE

AP STYLE

Associated Press Style provides guidelines for news writing. Many newspapers, magazines and public relations offices across the United States use AP Style.

Purpose: the content of newspapers and other mass media is typically the result of many different writers and editors working together. AP style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of punctuation, spelling and language uses.

• Consistency

• Clarity

• Accuracy

• Brevity

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AP STYLE TIPS

Addresses

• For numbered addresses, always use figures.

• Ex: 101 N. Grant St.

• Abbreviate Ave., Blvd., and St. and direction cues when used with a numbered address.

• Ex: 102 S. 10th St.

• Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road.

• If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out

• Ex: Northwestern Avenue

• If the street name is a number, spell out first through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher.

• Ex: Ninth Street

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AP STYLE TIPS:

Ages

• For ages, always use figures.

• Examples:

• A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.

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AP STYLE TIPS

• Books, periodicals, reference works, etc.

• Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art.

• Examples:

• Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.” They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.

• Do not use quotations around the names of magazines, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogues of reference materials.

• Do not underline or italicize any of the above.

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AP STYLE TIPS

Dates, months, years, days of the week

• For dates and years, use figures.

• Spell out the month unless used with a date.

• When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

• Examples:

• Classes begin Aug. 25. Purdue University was founded May 6, 1869. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The ‘90s.

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AP STYLE TIPS

Numerals

• Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year.

• For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth, and use figures for 10th and above when describing order in time or location.

• Examples: second base, 10th in a row

• When referring to money, use numerals.

• Examples: $26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.

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AP STYLE TIPS

States

• When the name of a state appears in the body of a text, spell it out.

• When the name of a city and state are used together, the name of the states should be abbreviated (except for: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah).

• State abbreviations in AP style differ from the two-letter ZIP code abbreviations.

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AP STYLE TIPS

Times

• The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories.

• In cases where the time is important, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight.

• Examples:

• Right: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m.

• Wrong: 1:00 p.m., 1PM, 12 a.m., 4:25 pm

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AP STYLE TIPS

Titles

• Generally capitalize formal titles when the appear before a person’s name, but lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by commas.

• Examples:

• President Obama; President-elect Roosevelt; Sen. Harry Reid; Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana; the senior senator from Indiana, Dick Lugar; former President George H.W. Bush; Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of homeland security.

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AP STYLE TIPS

Technological terms

• Download

• eBay Inc.

• e-book

• email

• cellphone

• Facebook

• Google, Googling,

Googled

• hashtag

• Internet

• iPad, iPhone

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

• social media

• smartphone

• Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet

• webmaster

• YouTube

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AP STYLE ACTIVITY

Using an up-to-date AP Style book and the information you learned above, answer the following questions.

If the sentence is correct, place a C in the blank. If you find errors, use the copyediting symbols to correct it.

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AP STYLE ACTIVITY: NUMBERS

_____ 1. 172 students received National Honor Society invitations.

_____ 2. Election day is the second Tuesday in November.

_____ 3. When she was eight, the family moved to Chicago.

_____ 4. The required reading was more than 35 pages.

_____ 5. The American placed 1st in the race.

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AP STYLE ACTIVITY: ABBREVIATIONS

_____ 1. “Gov. Rick Perry is in it for himself,” candidate Bill White said.

_____ 2. Quill and Scroll has an office in Iowa City, IA.

_____ 3. The last day to buy a yearbook for 65 dollars is Oct. 8.

_____ 4. The couple vacationed in Honolulu, Haw.

_____ 5. Dr. Chris Lawrence relocated his offices to Craig Ranch.

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AP STYLE ACTIVITY: TITLES

_____ 1. Mrs. Sally Smith teaches creative writing in the afternoons.

_____ 2. “I really like Mr. Smith. He’s a cool teacher,” Bob Jones said.

_____ 3. Senior twins Janet and Jane Jones take different elective classes. Janet takes pottery, and Jane takes band. “Pottery is my favorite class,” Jones said.

_____ 4. At the assembly, former President of the student body, Jesse James, handed over the microphone to his successor, Shawna Stevenson.

_____ 5. On Monday, Principal Robert Richards read the letter from the president, Barack Obama, to the students.

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LESSON 5: JOURNALISM ETHICS

JOURNALISM ETHICS

Five Core Principles of Journalism

Truth and Accuracy

Journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism.

Independence

Journalists must be independent voices; we should not act, formally or informally, on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or cultural.

Fairness and Impartiality

Most stories have at least two sides. While there is no obligation to present every side in every piece, stories should be balanced and add context.

Humanity

Journalists should do no harm. What we publish or broadcast may be hurtful, but we should be aware of the impact of our words and images on the lives of others.

Accountability

A sure sign of professionalism and responsible journalism is the ability to hold ourselves accountable. When we commit errors we must correct them and our expressions of regret must be sincere not cynical

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JOURNALISM ETHICS ACTIVITY

You are the editor of your school’s newspaper. In each of the following scenarios, you are asked to consider a situation. Make a decision about who you will cover, what your angle will be and what you will publish. Will yours be an ethical decision? Include in your answer whether accuracy, fairness or clarity is in question.

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SCENARIO 1

A student at your school is highlighted on the local TV news. A reporter for the school newspaper uses information from the TV newscast without giving credit to the station. It turns out that several facts from the news report are wrong.

• Do you admit the mistake? Do you tell how you got the incorrect information?

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SCENARIO 2

A well-known musician is filming an anti-smoking PSA (public service announcement) at your school. The school newspaper photographer gets pictures of him smoking a cigarette during a break. Your photo editor wants to run the photograph with the cutline “Rock Star Filmed AntiSmoking PSA on Tuesday.”

• Do you reword the caption?

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SCENARIO 3

The owner of a local business has refused to buy an advertisement in your newspaper. He graduated from your school, so you are really ticked that he won’t support his alma mater. Later that day, as you look at the sports spread, you notice that the photo of the cross country track event that the sports editor plans to use has a billboard in the background with the local business’s name prominently displayed. It would be easy to remove the billboard with photo-editing software.

• Do you alter the photograph?

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SCENARIO 4

The daughter of the principal at your rival high school has been arrested on drunken driving charges.

• Do you report it?

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SCENARIO 5

One of your best friends says she saw the new basketball coach using illicit drugs at a rock concert. You tell the newspaper adviser that someone told you about seeing him and that you plan to report it in your concert review. The coach tells you he wasn’t even at the concert.

• Do you report the allegation?

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FINAL PROJECT

FINAL PROJECT (FOR ALL SECTIONS):

• Write one 500-word story.

• Angle can be any current school activity.

• Must include 2 sources with full interview notes.

• Sources should not be friends or family members.

• Must be written in AP Style.

• Must be self and/or peer-edited.

• Turn assignment in by October 30th on the YG website.

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THANK YOU