What Is News - JNL-1102, Reporting and Writing I, Professor Austin, National Management College,...
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Transcript of What Is News - JNL-1102, Reporting and Writing I, Professor Austin, National Management College,...
Where Americans get news
TV is still No. 1.
Internet
growing
fast.
newspapers
losing
ground.
Radio 4th
and up
slightly.
Where young Americans get news
Your news 1. Write down your definition of news.
2. Write down a sentence or two about a news
story you remember reading, viewing or
hearing in the last few days. What made it
memorable?
WHAT IS
NEWS? With your audience in mind,
use these questions to
assess the newsworthiness
of a story.
Definitions of news
“News is the first rough draft of history,”
– Phil Graham,
Washington Post publisher
Definitions of news “News is anything that makes a reader say, ‘Gee whiz,’”
– William Randolph Hearst,
American newspaper tycoon
Definitions of news “News is anything that will make people talk.”
– Charles Dana,
editor of The New York Sun
Me
tro
po
lita
n M
use
um
of A
rt,
Ne
w Y
ork
Definitions of news “News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress. All the rest is advertising.”
– Lord Northcliffe,
British newspaper tycoon
Definitions of news “When a dog bites a man, that is not news. But when a man bites a dog, that is news.”
– Charles Dana,
New York Sun editor
Definitions of news “When a dog bites a man, that is not news. But when a man bites a dog, that is news.”
– Charles Dana,
New York Sun editor
Definitions of news “News: stories about events that have just happened and should be told to readers right away”– Writing and Reporting News
Definitions of news “News is information that is important or interesting for a large number of people.”– Writing and Reporting News
News depends on the audience
Students at the National Management College
Audience determines news
Adult Yangon residents
Audience determines news
Younger Yangon residents
Different geography, different audiences
Shan
Herald
By W
ag
ner T.
Cassim
iro
"A
ran
ha
"
Different geography, different audiences
For a
national,
not
regional,
audience
How is the audience different?
How is the audience different?
8 questions to ask in search of news 1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
8 questions to ask in search of news
1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
1. Is it unusual?
8 questions to ask in search of news
1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
2. Does it impact many people?
8 questions to ask in search of news 1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
3. Are prominent people involved?
“I don’t know all the
acronyms that NGO
workers know. But
that’s a good thing
when it comes to the
average Joe watching
TV in America.” –
Actor Matt Dillon
From Coconuts Yangon
NAMES
make
NEWS
3. Are prominent people involved?
8 questions to ask in search of news 1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
4. Is it timely?
“News is
anything you
know now that
you did
not know 15
minutes
ago – or 15
seconds ago.”
Mario Garcia,
news-design
expert 8 minutes after the bombing!
8 questions to ask in search of news
1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
5. Is it about a conflict?
8 questions to ask in search of news 1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
6. Is it local?
What if
the cruise
ship had
sunk on
the Hlaing
River in
Yangon?
HATCH them.
MATCH them.
DISPATCH
them.
6. Is it local?
HATCH them.
6. Is it local?
MATCH them.
6. Is it local?
DISPATCH
them.
6. Is it local?
8 questions to ask in search of news 1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
7. Is it useful?
NEWS
you can
USE
8 questions to ask in search of news 1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
8. Is it interesting or entertaining?
• Often,
sports
news.
• Also,
well-
written
stories
• “Human
interest”
• “Soft
news”
8. Is it interesting or entertaining?
• Often,
sports
news.
• Also,
well-
written
stories
• “Human
interest
• “Soft
news”
“Hey,
MARTHA” test
8. Is it interesting or entertaining?
By B
en
Ga
rne
y
Hard news vs. soft news Hard or breaking news
Timely stories about events that have just
happened or are about to happen.
Examples:
• Crime
• Accidents
• Disasters
• Government reports
• Parliament passes a law
• One company buys another
• Results of a badminton match Photo by Steven Taschuk
If it
BLEEDS,
it
LEADS.
Hard news
Hard news vs. soft news
Soft news or features News that entertains or informs with an
emphasis on human interest and novelty and
less so on immediacy. Often, inspires warm and
fuzzy feelings.
Examples:
• Animals
• Children
• Celebrities
• Humor
• Holidays Photo by Nathan
Hard news or soft news?
Hard news or soft news?
Hard news or soft news?
Hard news or soft news?
Hard news or soft news?
Hard news or soft news?
Your turn!
News judgment is the
ability to determine which
stories are most
interesting and important
to readers.
News judgment is a
muscle that you must use
to develop.
Ph
oto
by E
ne
as
De
Tro
ya
8 questions to ask in search of news 1. Is it unusual?
2. Does it impact many
people?
3. Are prominent people
involved?
4. Is it timely?
5. Is it about a conflict?
6. Is it local?
7. Is it useful?
8. Is it interesting or
entertaining?
Photo by sskennel
From page 18 of textbook
Your turn!
A story that tells parents about the elimination of school fees for high school students relies most heavily on which element of news?
a. Impact
b. Timeliness
c. Prominence
Your turn!
A story that tells parents about the elimination of school fees for high school students relies most heavily on which element of news?
a. Impact
b. Timeliness
c. Prominence
Your turn! Last week, a football player in Thailand suffered a
concussion, and he will be unable to play for the rest of
the season. The Myanmar Times ran a paragraph about
him. Now, a football player in Yangon has suffered the
same injury with the same result, and the paper is
devoting a full page to him and his injury.
What element of news is causing this different
treatment?
a. Useful
b. Local
c. Conflict
Your turn! Last week, a football player in Thailand suffered a
concussion, and he will be unable to play for the rest of
the season. The Myanmar Times ran a paragraph about
him. Now, a football player in Yangon has suffered the
same injury with the same result, and the paper is
devoting a full page to him and his injury.
What element of news is causing this different
treatment?
a. Useful
b. Local
c. Conflict
Your turn! Burma says it has found a rare, white elephant in
the jungles of the western Ayeyarwaddy region.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Unusual
c. Impact
Your turn! Burma says it has found a rare, white elephant in
the jungles of the western Ayeyarwaddy region.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Unusual
c. Impact
Your turn! Two celebrities, vocal stars Lynn Lynn and Chit
Thu Wai, get married in Yangon.
The story is newsworthy
because it has
a. Usefulness
b. Conflict
c. Prominence
Your turn! Two celebrities, vocal stars Lynn Lynn and Chit
Thu Wai, get married in Yangon.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Usefulness
b. Conflict
c. Prominence
Your turn! Myanmar and Bangladesh disagree on where
nearly 1,000 people rescued in May from boats off
the Myanmar coast are from.
The story is newsworthy
because it has:
a. Usefulness
b. Conflict
c. Prominence
Your turn! Myanmar and Bangladesh disagree on where
nearly 1,000 people rescued in May from boats off
the Myanmar coast are from.
The story is newsworthy
because it has:
a. Usefulness
b. Conflict
c. Prominence
Your turn! Myanmar President U Thein Sein promises to set a
minimum wage for workers before the election.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Unusual
c. Timely
Your turn! Myanmar President Thein Sein promises to set a
minimum wage for workers before the election.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Conflict
c. Timely
Your turn! Four people died in a landslide following heavy rain
in the ruby-mining town of Mogok.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Prominent
c. Timely
Your turn! Four people died in a landslide following heavy rain
in the ruby-mining town of Mogok.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Prominent
c. Timely
Your turn! The Irrawaddy does a feature story on the few
dozen photojournalists in Burma and the dangers
they face.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Interesting
c. Timely
Your turn! The Irrawaddy does a feature story on the few
dozen photojournalists in Burma and the dangers
they face.
The story is newsworthy
because it is:
a. Useful
b. Interesting
c. Timely
How news judgments get made Every day in newsrooms worldwide, editors make
news judgments about what runs on the front page.
Here’s how those decisions get made at:
Hold your own news meeting • Pick your top 3 stories
based on these elements:
1. Unusual
2. Impact
3. Prominence
4. Timeliness
5. Conflict
6. Local
7. Useful
8. Interesting or
entertaining
1. Thousands of migrants
missing in the Andaman Sea.
2. Strong monsoon forecast for
Yangon in June
3. Villages along the Chindwin
River are disappearing due to
illegal gold mining
4. Disabled Myanmar soldiers
will be entitled to four kinds of
pensions
5. Parliament approves a $138
million loan for a bridge to be
built between Yangon and
Dala
6. Parliament delays 5% tax on
top-up cards for cell phones
in Myanmar
Homework for June 15
• Read Chapter 3 in the text: Basic Story Structure
• Read the news: BBC Burmese Facebook and Irrawaddy
• Study for quiz on June 15 on Chapter 4, lectures from this
week and the news from this week.
• Study for vocabulary quiz on June 22 using text and/or
Quizlet. On Quizlet, search “Reporting and Writing
News: A Basic Handbook”
• OPTIONAL: Be a Reporter Game on Newsu.org:
http://www.newsu.org/courses/be-reporter-game Free, but
requires registration.