EN2120: MEDIA STUDIES

MONDAY 1PM – 3PM

AM112

MS JESSICA THOMPSON

NEWS WRITING AND

REPORTING

Journalists work in many areas of life,

finding and presenting information.

Journalists are men and women who

present that information as news to the

audiences of newspapers, magazines,

radio or television stations or the Internet.

WHAT IS A JOURNALIST?

TYPES OF JOURNALISTS

Print Journalists

Photo Journalists

Broadcast Journalists

Multimedia Journalists

BY MEDIUM

Reporters

Sub-editors

Photo Journalists

The Editor

The News Editor

Feature Writers

Specialist Writers

BY TASK

Current Affairs

Sports

Business

Politics

Crime

Arts and Culture

Education

Lifestyle

BY MESSAGE

WHAT IS NEWS?

…interesting

…informative

…new Information

…recent or Current

…what interests the reader

…what’s important to the reader

…factual and accurate

…fair (both objective and balanced)

NEWS IS…

CHARACTERISTICS OF

NEWS STORIES

…factual

…accurate

…unbiased

…objective

NEWS MUST BE…

Fact can be proven or verified as true or

false, i.e.: the graduation ceremony was

held in the Baily Allen Hall.

Opinion is a person’s point of view and

is open to interpretation, i.e.: the

ceremony was extremely boring and the

speeches were far too long.

FACT VS OPINION

Your personal opinion or preference for

or against something.

Selectively revealing or holding back

information that is pertinent to the story.

BIAS

Make sure you understand the event.

Make sure you double check the names of the

people and their titles.

Make sure dates are correct.

Make sure you record the facts – not your

opinion.

Don’t write until you know what you want to

say.

Put good quotes and human interest high in

the story.

TIPS FOR ACCURATE REPORTING

AND WRITING

Verify each fact and quote.

Put relevant illustrations or anecdotes high in

the story.

Avoid adjectival exuberance.

Avoid judgements. Let the facts talk.

Don’t raise questions you cannot answer.

Write simply, honestly and quickly.

TIPS FOR ACCURATE REPORTING

AND WRITING

Subjective: emphasis in on opinion, bias,

personal attitudes

Objective: based on fact, unbiased, not

personal feelings or opinions, not a

personal interpretation

SUBJECTIVE VS OBJECTIVE

When you use your own opinion in a story it is often referred to as editorialising.

If you comment on how people felt, you are editorialising. “Everyone thought the movie was great”. This is editorialising because you can’t prove that the movie was great.

Report the facts, not what you think or feel. Give your reader the facts and let them decide.

EDITORIALISING

Cover all sides of an issue.

If you state an opinion, balance it with other

opinions. Balance facts with other facts.

Make sure to interview many people involved in the

story so that you get a true balanced story.

Sources: the person that provides you the

information for your story.

Make sure you interview experts on the issue or

story.

Make sure that the people you are talking to know

the facts so that you get accurate information

BALANCE

Objectivity is being true without including an individual’s biases, feelings, interpretations, and imaginings

Accuracy is reporting the factual, truthful information.

OBJECTIVITY AND ACCURACY

WHAT MAKES NEWS

NEWS?

Timeliness/immediacy

Proximity

Impact/Consequence

Conflict

Prominence/Celebrity

Oddity/Rarity/Novelty

Human Interest/Emotion

Currency

News Value

WHAT MAKES NEWS NEWS?

Audience

Policy

Competition

Presentation

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

5 WS AND A H

Who?

What?

When?

Why?

Where?

How?

5 WS AND A H

LEADING WITH THE 5WS

AND H

A 3-year-old boy shot and wounded his father and pregnant

mother with a 9-mm handgun that he pulled out of the

woman's purse while searching for an iPad, police in New

Mexico said on Sunday.

Thousands of people braved wintry conditions in Derry on

Sunday to mark the 43rd anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Scientists will conduct an autopsy today to determine the

cause of death of a killer whale that washed up on a beach

near Co Waterford.

WHO?

Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as

Russian-backed separatists used artillery fire to try

to dislodge government forces from a strategic rail

hub after peace talks collapsed.

Gunshots are sounding in Maiduguri Sunday morning

as soldiers and Boko Haram terrorists engage in

battle over the control of Maiduguri, the Borno State

capital.

WHAT?

More than three decades after two Irish

soldiers were killed on a mission in Lebanon,

a man accused in their deaths has returned to

the scene of the alleged crime.

On 31 January 1985, a debate took place on

BBC Radio between Sinn Féin President Gerry

Adams and the then SDLP leader, John Hume.

WHEN?

In a bid to deny youngsters an opportunity to ape all their parents’ and grandparents’ worst habits from their youth, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a report (pdf) warning against a serious health threat posed by e-cigarettes and called for action to restrict their use.

With the weather downright awful and the excitement of Christmas festivities a distant memory by now, many of us might just feel like hibernating during the Irish winter.

WHY?

Outside Vladimir Moroz's snug little brick

home, winter and hardship grip war-stricken

eastern Ukraine.

A Dublin pub had the last laugh after they

tracked down three customers who did a

runner on a €300 bill this weekend.

WHERE?

Killing at least four climbers and leaving more

than two dozen others unconscious and feared

dead, the eruption of Mount Ontake is

considered Japan’s first fatal volcanic

eruption in 14 years.

HOW?

Every effective news story will have

quotes from someone involved.

Quotes must be accurate. Inaccurate

quotes can get you in trouble!

If you can’t get the whole quote,

paraphrase.

QUOTES

THE INVERTED PYRAMID

GROUP WORK

Write a news story based on the fairy tale of

the Three Little Pigs.

Use the Inverted Pyramid.

Ask the relevant questions at an in-class

‘press conference’.

Write up a news story based on the facts.

GROUP WORK

THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

ASSIGNMENT: 5%

Using the points discussed in class, select a Fairy Tale and turn it into a 300 word news story.

You can make up quotes but ensure you stick to the basic storyline.

Email to jessicathompson152@gmail.com by 12pm next Monday.

TURN A FAIRY TALE INTO A

NEWS STORY

Hansel and Gretel

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Beauty and the Beast

Cinderella

The Little Match Girl

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Snow White

Little Red Riding Hood

Rumplestiltskin

FAIRY TALES

Jessica Thompson

Email: jessicathompson152@gmail.com

Sin Newspaper: editor@sin.ie

Twitter: @Jess__Thompson (two underscores)

CONTACT ME