Journalism- Unit 4News Basics

P. Denton

January, 2010

What is news?

•A report of a current event in a newspaper or on radio, TV, internet, or even word of mouth.

Sources of News

• Newspapers• TV• Magazines• Internet• Billboards• Radio• Letters/Notes

• Word of Mouth• Telephone• Texting• Email• Blogs• Books

You and the News

• Where do you get most of your news?• What source of news is the most

accurate?• Which of these is most entertaining?• Why do people provide the news?• Why are people interested in getting

news?• Who controls the news?

AdvertisingEditorial Content

What is in a newspaper?

Advertising Editorial Content

What is in a newspaper?

•Paid

•Classifieds

•Display Ads

•60% of the paper

•Ads get put in first!

•Controlled by the editor

•Written by reporters

•40% of the paper

•Articles fill up the rest of

the paper (News Hole)

3 Different Types of News

• Hard News– World news– State news– City news– Local news– Business– Events & Issues– Weather & Construction– Death Notices– Facts not opinions– Usually in the first

section of the paper

• Soft News– Sports– Entertainment– Food– Travel– Celebrity Gossip– Editorials (opinions)– Obituary

Features (type of soft)– Syndicated– Comics– Horoscopes– Reviews– Advice

In daily newspapers most hard news

stories are written in the Inverted Pyramid

style.

Reasons for the Inverted Pyramid:

•Makes reading easier and faster

•Enables the hurried reader to get all the important facts in a very short period of time

•Satisfies curiosity in a logical way

•Makes page makeup easier

•Makes the work of the editor easier

The first paragraph of a news story contains the most important information.

This is called the Summary Lead, because it summarizes the most important facts about the story.

Characteristics of a good Summary Lead

•Briefest possible summary of a story, usually no more than 25 words.

•Includes only those Ws and H that are important. These usually include the What, Who and sometimes When, and sometimes the So What.

What are the Ws and H •Who

•What

•When

•Where

•Why

•How

Characteristics of a good Summary Lead

•Usually only one paragraph but may be more. It is easier to read two short paragraphs than one long one.

•Usually starts with the feature of the story, the most important fact.

Characteristics of a good Summary Lead

•Quickly summarizes in the first few words the most important fact of the story.

•The What is usually the most used feature of a lead, followed closely by the Who. (The Who should be used only when the name itself is clearly the most important fact.)

The lead tells the most important part of the story, and the body of

the story gives the other facts in

decreasing order of importance.