Chapter One Summary:
Chapter one provides readers with the history of journalism. Journalism
began early with the first regularly published newspaper in what is now northern
Germany and the first weekly newspaper was published in 1610 in Cologne and
Vienna. America’s first newspaper was produced in 1690, although there was only
one issue of it. Technical advances in the 19th century like the emergence of the
penny press, innovations in printing and the rise of the modern newsroom lead to
the advancement of journalism. In the 20th century, radio and television brought an
end to newspaper’s media monopoly. Today though, with the use of online
journalism and new technology, newspaper reading has declined.
Chapter Two Summary:
In conclusion, this chapter gives a very goof overview of how the newsroom
works. By beginning with the simple question of, “What is news?” the readers see
how and why certain stories make it into the news by using news judgment. Once
the reader understands this, the chapter backtracks to how reporters pick stories
and conduct interviews, how a story gets written till finally the news comes together
creating what readers then see on the headlines.
Chapter Three Summary:
Chapter three was about news writing basics. It covered every aspect of what
a writer needs to know so they can write a news story. A main focus of this was on
the structure of the story. The chapter stressed using facts instead of opinions. It
said, “When you select them carefully and arrange them skillfully, you can
communicate without inserting your own opinions.” The five W’s are the facts that
should be included in a news story. This includes, the who, what, when, where, and
why. The text focused on the inverted pyramid as the best way to take these facts
and makes them into a story. The inverted pyramid is a writing style that has the
lead summarize the most important facts and the following paragraphs continue to
add more detail and background. The main focus of the inverted pyramid is placed
on the lead. The lead needs to be a summary of the 5 W’s but needs to be interesting
enough to make readers want to read on. There are many types of leads. Some of
these include the basic news lead, which is either a summary of what the story is
about or one that is a summary but withholds a significant piece of information that
will make readers want to keep reading. There are anecdotal/narrative leads that
unfold slowly. The scene setter leads sets the stage for what the story is about. A
more creative way of writing leads can be with beginning with a startling statement
or a play on words. After the lead, the next paragraphs should expand on what has
already been said and add more detail. A brief, a brief version of a story, is a good,
way to begin to learn to write. After the story is complete, the writer should reread
it and rewrite it to make it better. Also it should be edited with the AP style book to
make sure everything is correct.
Chapter Four Summary:
Chapter four covers the basics of reporting. This includes, where stories
come from, information on sources, ways to take notes, the proper use of quotes,
and how to use charts to display data correctly. Smaller focuses included how to
write a follow up second day story, which further analyzed what happened, what it
means and what is next as compared to an advance. In an advance, the author
explains the who, what, where, why for readers ahead of time. Another focus
included the importance of diversity. This section made sure to inform future
writers that focusing a story on Hindus doesn’t fully make it diverse but instead the
author should use a Hindu family, like it does a white family, when interviewing
them on an average story about hybrid cars for example.
Chapter Five Summary:
Chapter five is about covering the news. It gives descriptions of how to cover
beats, obituaries, accidents and disasters, fires, crime, courts, speeches, meetings,
politics, and sports. Most reporters are assigned to beats, which covers schools,
crime, sports and business. Obituaries should be written like mini biographies, it
should be about life, not death so that it honors and inspires. This means past
personal problems should not be brought up, flowery phrases should be avoided
and the cause of death should only be included if it is not embarrassing. Accident
stories should include the victims, the extent of injury or cause of death, cause of
accident, location, time, circumstances, vehicles, arrests or citations made by the
police, comments from police and witnesses and acts of heroism. Disasters should
be covered by going to where the action is and talking to victims and eyewitnesses.
Fires should include a lot of the same details that would be included in an accident
story. The bigger the fire, the bigger the story. Crime should also include
information about the time, place, victims and severity and police and eyewitnesses
and victims. When covering courts, the writing should remain neutral and know the
background of the case. Speeches and meetings should involve note taking during
them and research before to understand the background of what is going on. When
covering politics, key aspects the reporter should cover include decision-making,
the election process and money. Facts that you can trust should come from
speeches, meetings, news releases and conferences. Finally, when covering sports,
the writing can be more casual but still requires accuracy and insight.
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