JOURNALISM 112 NOTES
Journalism is the business or practice of
producing and disseminating information about
contemporary affairs of general public interest
and importance.
Journalism is the business of a set of
institutions that publicizes periodically (usually
daily)
information
and
commentary
contemporary affairs, normally presented as
on
true and sincere, publicly include the audience in a
discourse taken to be publicly important.
 The core purpose of journalism is and should be about
producing and distributing serious information and
debate on central social, political, and cultural matters.
 Journalists regulate much of what the public gets to
know about the world the inhabit, and this activity is vital
to a functioning democracy.
DEMOCRATIC EXPECTATIONS OF JOURNALISM
Journalism is presumably animated by certain
democratic expectations.
Some of these concern the relationship of
journalism to government- e.g. the proposition that,
acting on behalf of the citizenry, the press should
guard against abuses of power by office holders.
Others concern the relationship of journalism to
diverse opinion sources-e.g. the proposition that
the press should provide a robust, uninhibited,
and wide-open marketplace of ideas, in which
opposing views may meet, contend, and take each
other’s measure.
Others concern the relationship of journalism to
the public at large-e.g. the propositions that the
press should serve the public’s right to know and
offer options for meaningful political choices and
nourishment for effective participation in civic
affairs.
WHAT IS NEWS?
Many attempts have been made to define news. Here
are some of them
 News is the unusual: “When a dog bites a man, that is
not news; but when a man bites a dog, that is news”.
 News is anything that interest us: “News is something
you didn’t know before, had forgotten or didn’t
understand”.
 News is the latest information: “News is the
earliest intelligence of events with a bearing upon
the lives of the mortals”.
 News is a valuable record of events: “News is the
first draft of history”.
 News is a form of creative writing: “Journalism is
literature under pressure”.
 News is about people, especially famous people:
“Names make news”
 News is an objective picture of the world: “Facts
are sacred; comment is free”
 News is what people try to keep hidden: “News
hurts. The rest is advertising”
NEWS VALUES AND NEWS PRODUCTION
News values, sometimes called “news criteria,” are
commonly held to be active at several stages in the
gate-keeping process. News values are used in two
ways:
(1) They are criteria of selection from material
available to the newsroom of those items worthy of
inclusion in the final product.
(2) They are guideline for the presentation of
items, suggesting what to emphasize, what to
omit, and where to give priority in the preparation
of the items for presentation to the audience.
NEWS VALUES
1. Guideline for presentation of news
2. Criteria for news selection
WHAT MAKES NEWS?
1. FREQUENCY—Events that unfold conveniently within the
production cycle of a news outlet are more likely to be
reported.
2. THRESHOLD—The larger the event, the more people it
affects, the more likely it is to been reported.
 Events can meet the threshold criterion either by being
large in absolute terms, or by marking an increase in the
intensity of an ongoing issue.
3. UNAMBIGUITY—The fewer ways there are of interpreting
an event, the more likely it is to be reported.
4.MEANINGFULNESS—The
more
culturally
proximate
and/or relevant an event is, the more likely it is to be
reported.
5. CONSONANCE—If a journalist has a mental pre-image of
an event, if it’s expected to happen, then it is more likely to
be reported. This is even more true if the event is
something the journalist desires to happen.
6. UNEXPECTEDNESS—If an event is unexpected, it is more
likely to be considered newsworthy and to be reported.
7. CONTINUITY—Once an issue has made the news once,
future events related to it are more likely to be reported.
8. COMPOSITIONAL BALANCE—News editors will attempt
to present their audience with a “balanced diet” of news. An
event that contributes to the diversity of topics reported is
more likely to be covered than one that adds to a pile of
similar news items.
9. ELITE NATIONS—Events that involve elite nations
are more likely to be reported than those that do not.
10. ELITE PEOPLE—Events that involve elite people
are more likely to be reported than those that do not.
11. PERSONIFICATION—Events that can be discussed
in terms of the actions of individual actors are more
likely to be reported than those that are the outcome
of abstract social forces. By the same token, social
forces are more likely to be discussed in the news if
they can be illustrated by way of reference to
individuals.
12. NEGATIVITY—An event with a negative outcome
is more likely to be reported than one with a positive
outcome.
TYPES OF NEWS: HARD NEWS AND SOFT NEWS.
News stories are basically divided into two types:
Hard news generally refers to up-to-the-minute
news and events that are reported immediately,
e.g. Politics, war, economics and crime
Soft news is background information or humaninterest stories e.g. arts, entertainment and
lifestyles.
News Features- this is a term for news that is not
necessarily time-sensitive.
• A good feature might be about the people in your
community and their struggles, victories and defeats,
• A feature usually focuses on a certain angle,
explores
it
through
background
research
and
interviews with the people involved, and then draws
conclusions from that information.
WHERE THE NEWS COMES FROM
Journalists find news in all sorts of places, but most stories
originate in one of three basic ways:
 NATURALLY OCCURRING EVENTS, like disasters and
accidents;
 PLANNED ACTIVITIES, like meetings and news conferences;
 REPORTERS’ ENTERPRISE
 UNPLANNED EVENTS frequently become major news stories
e.g ship sinking, plane crash, tsunami, or mudslide.
THE JOURNALIST’S ROLE
Journalism is more than just the distribution of
fact-based information.
Unlike a propagandist, the journalist sorts
through the information available and determines
how much of it is valuable and reliable before
passing it on to the public.
Propaganda may be based on facts, but those
facts are presented in such a way as to influence
people’s opinions.
Public Relations Professionals use facts, but
may tell only one side of a story. Journalists, on
the other hand, strive to be fair and complete.
PR professionals writing about their organizations are
unlikely to include information that might make the
organization look bad.
On the other hand, a journalist will attempt to provide a
complete picture, even if it is not entirely positive.
Another distinction between journalism and other
forms of information is that journalists strive for
independence from the people they cover.
THE CONCEPTS OF OBJECTIVITY AND FAIRNESS
1. The ideal of objectivity holds that facts can be
separated from values or opinions and that journalists act
as neutral transmitters who pass along events to an
audience.
2. Journalistic ideal of objectivity stresses factual
(especially investigative) reporting over commentary, the
balancing of opposing viewpoints, and maintaining a
neutral observer role for the journalist.
3. The journalistic ideal of objectivity prescribe that
reporters should stand above the political battle, serve the
public rather than politicians with partisan axes to grind,
and do so with due regard for all the interest at stake in
the issue.
 The journalist has an obligation to meet high
professional
standards
of
informativeness,
accuracy, objectivity and balance in news reporting.
truth,
THE ELEMENTS OF JOURNALISM
 Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.
 Its first loyalty is to citizens.
 Its essence is a discipline of verification.
 Its practitioners must maintain an independence
from those they cover.
 Journalism must serve as an independent monitor
of power
 It must provide a forum for public
criticism and compromise.
 It
must
strive
to
make
the
significant interesting and relevant.
 It
must
keep
the
news
comprehensive and proportional.
 Its practitioners must be allowed to
exercise their personal conscience
METHODS OF NEWS GATHERING
The four most commonly used met
hods
in
news gathering used by
journalists are:
 Observation
 Telephone conversations
 Research
 and Interviews.
1. OBSERVATION
 Observation consists of your actually seeing of an
event taking place and then reporting what you have seen
in the form of a news story.
 The difference between a good story and a poor one is
often in the skill of the observer.
 Skilled observers use their eyes, ears, mind, notebooks
and tape recorders.
 They make sure they get the concrete facts,
specific figures and accurate information.
 They look for the colorful, the dramatic or the
unusual in any situation.
2. TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS
The telephone plays an important role in your
daily work as a journalist.
 It saves time, legwork and
 it enables you to reach people who are
ordinarily too busy to see you in person.
 Telephone conversations may range from full
-scale interview to brief queries to verify or
amplify information.
 But regardless of how often you use this
method of news gathering, you should keep
the following points in mind:
Know what information you want
keep your pencil and paper handy.
Speak politely indistinct, well-modulated tones.
Be cheerful and businesslike.
Make sure you get your facts straight.
Ask the other person to repeat figures or spell
out names.
Avoid three-way conversations among yourself,
the person on the telephone and somebody else in
your office.
Recheck your information by reading it back to
the person who has given it to you.
 Record
the
conversation
using
a
“tele
phone pick-up”
 Be sure to inform the person on the other
end
that
you
are
recording
the
conversation for note-taking purposes only.
 Do not discuss classified information.
3. RESEARCH
Research is nothing more than digging out
information from files and reference works.
Research is used to verify or amplify facts in
news stories and to give depth to features stories
and magazines articles.
4. INTERVIEWS
About 90 percent of everything in a news story is based
on some form of interviewing.
 Journalist in search of information must learn how to
get along with people and
 How to treat people with tact and understanding while
still accomplishing his/her purpose.
TYPES OF INTERVIEWS
NEWS INTERVIEW
The news interview is based on “hard news,” some
event or development of current and immediate interest.
TELEPHONE INTERVIEW
The power of persuasion is often necessary to elicit
information from a reluctant person
CASUAL INTERVIEW
An accidental encounter between a journalist and a
news source on the street or at a social gathering can
often result in a tip that arouses the curiosity of a
writer.
PERSONALITY INTERVIEW
In the personality interview an effort is made to let
the reader see the appearance, mannerisms,
background and even the character of the subject.
SYMPOSIUM INTERVIEW
News developments of current interest require a
journalist or a team of journalists to seek information not
from one or two sources but from a dozen.
NEWS CONFERENCE: The person interviewed at a
news conference may be:

President, Managers, Movie Star or

Any other person promoting what is believed to
be a news story of interest to the public.
PREPARED QUESTION INTERVIEW
When direct person-to-person questioning cannot
be arranged with an important source, journalists
occasionally resort to giving that source a set of
prepared questions to which a reply is requested.
GROUND RULES
1. ON THE RECORD
 Journalists are free to use all material from the
interview, including information and quotations,
and to identify the source.
2. NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION
 Journalists are free to use information and
quotations, but they agree not to identify the
source. "Not for attribution" is an acceptable
method of gathering information.
3. OFF THE RECORD
Journalist agrees not to use information
from the source or journalist may agree not
to use the information unless he/she
checks with the source before publication.
4. DEEP BACKGROUND
The information can be used in or to inform a
story and it can lead a journalist to other sources
for confirmation.
 Nonetheless, the source providing information
on Deep Background may not be identified in any
way, nor can the reporter say how the information
was obtained.
BASIC NEWS WRITING
 Journalists don’t want their stories told from the
beginning of a news event.
– They focus on the end result, and then may go back to
the beginning.
– They like giving away the ending.
– They are more interested in the outcome.
 News writing is about the only form of writing in
which you start with the climax.
 This story form is widely known as the inverted
pyramid.
 The inverted pyramid has a “news summary lead” that is
followed by series of paragraphs arranged in descending
order of importance.
 This movement from greater to lesser information can be
demonstrated in a geometric shape – the pyramid.
 After
the
information
news
and
summary
quotes
lead,
provide
the
subsequent
background
and
explanation, present facts and color, explore other issues,
clarify conflict, speculate on cause and effect.
STORY ORGANIZATION
1. The lead.
2. Material that explains and amplifies the lead.
3. Necessary background material
4. Secondary or less important material.
5. Descending pyramids. Narrative.
6. Transitions
7. Quotes
8. Ending.
HOW TO WRITE A NEWS LEAD
1. Condense story into one or two words. Put those words
as close to the beginning of the first sentence as possible
without destroying the flow of the lead sentence.
2. Keep leads short — 20 to 30 words for the first sentence
or fewer.
3. The news lead should tell the reader what the story is
about and be interesting enough to draw the reader into the
rest of the story.
4. Find the action in the story. Put the action in the lead.
5. Always double-check names and numbers.
Check spelling, style and grammar. Put everything
in order.
6. Attribute opinions. Stick with the facts.
7. Details, description. Report first, then write.
Learn all, tell 10 percent.
8. Decide which of the news values best applies to the
lead of the story. Write a lead that emphasizes that
news value.
9. Write in the active voice.
10. Don’t lead with a name, time or place unless that
is the most interesting/important thing in the story.
THE LEAD
 The lead is the first word, sentence or paragraph of the
story. Sometimes it can be two or three paragraphs.
 The Leads answer the 5 Ws and the H (who-what-whenwhere –why and how) elements of the story.
 The rest of the story should support and elaborate on
the lead and also provide the information that didn’t make
the cut up top.
THE RULES FOR A GOOD LEAD
 KEEP IT SHORT. News writing is always tight, but
the lead calls for special care.
 GET TO THE POINT. What is the story about?
 FOCUS ON THE ACTION. Use the "active voice.“
 HOOK THE READER. Put the most important, the
most interesting, the most exciting thing in the lead.
ELEMENTS OF GOOD WRITING
1. PRECISION. Use the right word. Say exactly what
you mean. Be specific. Avoid sexism in your writing.
Use generic terms: firefighters
2. CLARITY. Use simple sentences. Noun, verb.
3. PACING. Movement of sentences create a tone,
mood for the story.
4. TRANSITIONS. Progress logically from point to
point. Put everything in order.
5. SENSORY APPEAL. Appeal to one or more of our
five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
6. USING ANALOGIES. Describe it as being “like” or
“as” something that is familiar to readers.
Attribution
• The practice of identifying all sources in a
story
• A phrase that tells readers the source of
the a quote or information used in the story
• It identifies the source of the information
reported, particularly in any controversial
statements or questionable information.
Attribution can be explicit or implied.
Example of explicit or direct attribution:
“The man was arrested and charged with
murder, police sergeant Antonio Costa
said.”
Example of implied or indirect
“Police arrested the man and charged him
with murder.” Police Sergeant Antonio
Costa said
Quotes and Sound Bites
 Quotes
provide
a
personal
connection to the story.
 Quotation must be attributed so the
audience knows who said it.
 Direct
quotes
are
at
least
one
sentence long and are in the exact
words of the speaker.
 E.g. "We will build nothing lasting
without fighting discrimination, which
is a poison for society.” Zuma said
 Partial
quotes,
primarily
used
in
print, can be just a word or a phrase
the speaker said.
 E.g
“Jacob
Zuma…
launched
an
appeal to combat the ‘poison’ of racial
discrimination.”
Endings
 Endings often echo beginnings, in that
they return to an important place or a
person.
 In a chronological narrative, the ending
is what happens last.
 Endings
frequently
look
toward
the
future.
 Occasionally a story may end with a
strong quote or a sound bite.
WRITING AND EDITING
News Managers, the Editors, and
Producers decide what to run, what to
drop, and what to hold
 They choose and change the stories
of
the
day
based
on
importance,
interest, new developments, and the
time or space available.
 The editor’s job is to ensure that the
stories presented to the public are
well written and presented, as well as
accurate, complete, and fair.
NEWSPAPER JOBS
 Newspaper editors assign the stories, they
edit the written text or “copy,” and they
supervise the design and layout of pages.
 In addition, newspapers may have a photo
editor who oversees a staff of photographers,
as well as a graphics editor who supervises
the work of artists creating maps, charts, and
other informational graphics.
BROADCAST JOBS
• Broadcast newsrooms are not organized
like newspapers.
• Most
broadcast
reporters
do
not
specialize in covering a particular type of
story, but may instead be assigned to
specific news broadcasts like the early
morning news or the late night news.
 Each of these broadcasts is put together
by a producer, who decides what stories
will air, at what length, and in what order.
 Broadcast newsrooms have presenters
or “anchors” who appear on the air and
introduce the stories the reporters have
covered that day.
 Radio and television anchors usually
appear on more than one newscast
per day.
THE EDITOR’S ROLE
 Editors need good news judgment
because;
they serve as assignment
managers, responsible for deciding
what stories will be covered and by
whom
 They must be good writers in order
to help to shape the story as it is
developing,
discussing it with reporters in the
field and deciding where to deploy
more
people
to
cover
additional
angles.
 Editors
are
directly
involved
in
decisions about story presentation,
writing
or
choosing
headlines,
captions, photos, and illustrations.
 Newspaper editors check copy, choose
illustrations — either graphics or photos —
and decide how the story will be laid out
on the page as well as the headline.
 In most broadcast newsrooms, reporters
do not record their scripts or assemble
their stories until a producer has approved
the content.
 Producers also decide the order of
stories
in
the
newscast
and
the
amount of time to be allocated to
each story.
COPY EDITING
 Good
writing,
by
definition,
requires
rewriting. An accuracy check is the first
level of copy-editing.
 Editors look for grammatical and usage
errors, as well as for spelling mistakes.
 Editors make sure that all numbers in a
story are correct: addresses, telephone
numbers, ages, date, and time references.
 They confirm that the reporter has
used proper titles for everyone who is
quoted, and they review the use of
attribution throughout the story.
HEADLINES, CAPTIONS, AND TEASES
 In newspapers and online newsrooms,
editors write headlines for stories and
captions for photos. A headline is both a
summary and an advertisement.
 A caption is more of a label, telling
readers what the photograph or graphic
shows.
 In broadcast newsrooms, producers
may write headlines and also what
are called teases.
 Teases, are short descriptions of
stories designed to make listeners or
viewers want to stay tuned to get the
full report.
LEAD WRITING EXERCISES
At least 15 dead, 175 injured in worst
accident
following
in
Amtrak’s
three
132-year
Conrail
history
locomotives’
collision in Baltimore, Maryland yesterday.
Or
At least 15 dead in worst accident in
Amtrak’s 132-year history following three
Conrail locomotives’ collision, leaving 175
injured in Baltimore, Maryland yesterday.
A
nuclear
weapon
with
a
yield
equivalent to 150,000 tons of TNT
detonated 40 miles from a meeting of
pacifists and 2,000 feet beneath the
surface of Pahute Mesa in the Nevada
desert on Tuesday.
A
27-year
old,
Ellen
Lynn
Conner,
was
arrested and charged with Oregon charges of
kidnapping and interference with a custody
warrant following the three years missing of
the 7-years old boy in Brick Township, NJ
The
arrest
followed
the
neighbor’s
recognition of the child’s picture when it was
shown after the movie Adam on Monday.
Fourty passengers were evacuated
from a Northwest Airlines jet, Flight
428 at the LaCrosse, Wis. Municipal
Airport
after
a
landing
tower
employee spotted smoke near the
wheels
following
a
flight
from
Minneapolis to LaCrosse on Monday.
 The
smoke
was
due
to
the
hydraulic fluids leaking onto hot
landing
brakes
and
injuries were reported
no
fire
or
HEADLINES
 Three Conrail locomotives collision
claimed 15 lives
 Nuclear testing weapon detonated
in Nevada desert
 Mother faces Oregon charges
 Fourty passengers evacuated from
Northwest Airlines jet
HARD AND SOFT LEAD
Former rebel leader Joshua Smith was
elected
prime
minister
tonight/yesterday, winning more than
80 percent of the vote in the country’s
first democratic election since 1993.
SOFT LEAD
Growing up in Youngtown, Joshua
Smith
was
a
little
boy
with
big
dreams. Always small for his age, he
says the bigger boys at school bullied
him. When he told his grammar school
teacher he’d be prime minister some
day, she laughed.
• No one is laughing now. Smith
won yesterday’s election with more
than
80
becoming
percent
the
of
the
vote,
country’s
first
democratically elected leader since
1993.