Linda Carty
ENGL 668
April 15, 2013
Journalism
How to Write a News Story:
Associated Press Style
• When writing a journalism news
story, follow Associated Press Style
usage rules.
• www.apstylebook.com/online
• A newspaper story is written in the
shape of an inverted pyramid.
• The heavier, more important news is
at the top of the pyramid, at the start
of the story.
Writing a News Story
• Information gradually becomes lighter, less
important toward the end of the story, at
the point of the pyramid
• Inverted pyramid
Lead with a Lead
• Begin your story with a lead, a hook that
will catch your reader’s attention. The lead
is the introductory section of the news
story that is intended to entice the reader to
read the full story. The lead gives the
reader the main points of the story, and
gets the reader interested, in as few words
as possible, 34 to 40 words. Included in the
lead: who, what, where, when, why, how.
After you have written your lead…
• After you have written your lead, expand
on the information covered in the lead.
• While writing this story, you must
simultaneously write a follow-up story,
keeping in mind the causes and
consequences of this story.
• Your editor will give you a specific
number of words for the story.
• You will have to write this story and
submit it to your editor by a deadline.
News Services
• The Associated Press (AP) (www.ap.org) was founded in 1846,
by five newspapers, to bring news about the United States’
war with Mexico, via pony express, to its main office in New
York City. The Associated Press was the first to publish the
news of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and
the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Today, the A.P. has
journalists in 300 locations in 100 countries. Thirty A.P.
journalists have been killed while covering stories.
• United Press International (UPI) www.upi.org was founded in
1907 and has its main office in Washington, D.C.
• http://www.reuters.com/ Reuters, started by Paul Reuter
and established in 1851, is an international news service with
its headquarters in London.
Journalism/Journalist
• Journalism n (1828) The collection of news
and the editing of news for presentation
through the media.
• Journalism School concerned with training
journalists in the collection and editing of
news writing designed for publication in a
newspaper or news magazine.
• Journalist n (1693) A person who works in
the field of journalism collecting and editing
the news.
Two Important Schools of Journalism
• http://journalism.missouri.edu/
• http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/
Journalism 101
• Johannes Gutenberg, in 1578, invented the movable type
printing press, a machine that produced printed copies. It is
from the printing press that journalism gets its name,
press.
• Press n The act or process of printing. A printing or publishing
establishment.
• Freedom of the Press is protected in the First Amendment of
the Constitution of the United States.
• Freedom of the Press is essential in our democratic society
because journalists question authority and expose
corruption. If we did not have freedom of the press,
journalists would be silenced.
WHO? WHAT? WHERE?
WHEN? WHY? HOW?
• Journalism is nonfiction.
• Unbiased journalism news reporting is about the facts and
answers these questions:
• Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
• Journalists conduct research on their stories before conducting
any interviews
• To avoid bias, journalists need to interview as many people as
possible, for multiple points of view on their subjects. During
the interviews, journalists double check information for
accuracy by asking the persons interviewed if names are
spelled correctly and to clarify information for accuracy.
Journalists also write stories
about…
• In addition to writing news stories,
journalists also create political
cartoons; write opinions; write
stories about health and medicine;
the weather, the arts, sports,
business, the economy, politics,
education, science, and
technology.
Beat Reporter
• If you are a beat reporter, you are assigned to a
specific entity, such as the state legislature, the
local school board, the county court house, or the
city police station, and you will write breaking
news stories.
• People on beats usually develop reliable sources
within the entities they cover.
• Crime beat reporters develop sources within the
police department who will inform the reporter
about a crime scene, so the journalist is the first
reporter at the scene to cover the story.
Newspaper Publisher
William Randolph Hearst
• Yellow Journalism n Featuring sensational or
scandalous items or ordinary news sensationally
distorted.
• William Randolph Hearst, an American
newspaper publisher, with a reputation for
publishing yellow journalism, was known for his
quote: “You furnish me the pictures, and I’ll
furnish you the war.” Hearst reportedly said this
in 1897 to artist Fredric Remington while
Remington was in Cuba covering the Spanish
American war.
William Randolph Hearst
Quotes
Putting out a newspaper without promotion is like winking at a girl in the dark -well-intentioned, but ineffective.”
William Randolph Hearst quote
Try to be conspicuously accurate in
everything, pictures as well as text. Truth is
not only stranger than fiction, it is more
interesting.”
William Randolph Hearst quote
Newspaper Publisher Joseph
Pulitzer
• Joseph Pulitzer was a newspaper
publisher who began the Pulitzer
Prize to recognize outstanding
journalism.
• www.pulitzer.org
• Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they
will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and,
above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Joseph Pulitzer
Old Media Evolves into
New Media
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The Washington Post http://washingtonpost.com
The New York Times http://nytimes.com
The Wall Street Journal http://wsj.com
Time http://time.com
Newsweek http://newsweek.com
Newsweek is an example of how old media is becoming
obsolete: Newsweek, an old media/new media entity,
eliminated its old media/offline print version on December 31,
2012, and only has its new media/online version.
New New Media
• New new media had its origins online
• Huggington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
• YouTube http://www.youtube.com/
• Facebook www.facebook.com
• Twitter https://twitter.com/
News Satire at its Best
• http://www.theonion.com
News Article: Sink Hole in Florida
Follow-up Story:
Sink Hole in Florida
Political Cartoon:
Based On Sink Hole News Story
Health/Medical: Writer’s Cramp
Weather: Scientists Study a Tornado
Weather: Winter Storm Blows
Weather: 1961 Winter
(and Gasoline Prices)
Obituary: Stanley Karnow,
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist
Obituary: Mildred Dalton Manning,
World War II Army Nurse & Prisoner of War
Technology News
Technology News
Asteroid in the News
Meteor in the News
Follow-up on
Asteroid & Meteor
The Arts in the News
International News
• Malala Yousafzai http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/malalayousafzai-speaks-18405032
• http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12859
• On October 9, 2012, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head
and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while
returning home on a school bus In the days immediately
following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical
condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to
be sent to a hospital in the United Kingdom for intensive
rehabilitation.
Malala Writes Her Story
• By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News
• The memoir of 15-year-old Pakistani student Malala Yousafzai will be published
this fall, publisher Weidenfeld & Nicolson announced Wednesday. The deal is
reportedly worth about $3 million.
• Titled "I Am Malala," the book will tell the story of the young advocate for
women's education who was shot in the face at point-blank range by Taliban
gunmen on Oct. 9 in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.
•
Follow @NBCNewsWorld
• The bullet passed through her head, neck and stuck in her shoulder but
miraculously spared her life.
• Malala was treated in England following the attack, and last month she
underwent skull reconstruction surgery.
• "I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult
it is for some children to get access to education," Malala said in a news release.
"I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who
can't get education. I want it to be part of the campaign to give every boy and
girl the right to go to school. It is their basic right."
Reporting on Religion: Pope Benedict XVI Retires
Follow-up Story:
Pope Benedict XVI to be Emeritus Pope
Opinion: Peggy Noonan’s
Response to the Pope’s Retirement
Political Cartoon: Based upon
Pope Benedict’s Retirement
Follow-up Story:
Election of New Pope
Follow-up Story:
New Pope’s Name will be Francis
(after Saint Francis of Assisi)
Opinion Cartoon: Commentary on New Pope’s Name
Francis (Advocate for the Poor) vs. Goliath (Economic Inequality)
Opinion based upon the
Pope stories
How to Read a Newspaper
• When reading a news story, highlight the who,
what, where, when, why, and how. Look for bias
in the story.
• When reading an opinion/editorial piece, try to
determine the writer’s opinion; is the writer for
something? Against something?
• When reading a political cartoon, try to interpret
the cartoon. Upon which current event or person
is the cartoon commenting?
Can You Find These in Your
Newspaper?
• Byline: A byline in the reporter’s name who wrote the story.
The byline is placed at the beginning of the story
• Photos: Photographers take photographs that help tell the story
• Ads: Ads are created by people who know how to write them
to attract customers
• Index: Newspapers have an index on page one
• Jump: Find a jump that tells you where a story is continued
• Folio Line: Find the folio line at the top of each page, giving
the name of the paper and the date
• Headlines are at the beginning of stories
• Captions help us make sense of the photographs