Your First Fundamentals:

Truth
Accuracy
Speed
The First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution

Protects 5 freedoms the nations founders

considered essential to a democracy:
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion
Freedom to Petition
Freedom of Assembly
Freedom of the Press
Journalists Role in a Democracy

To provide people with the information they need

to be free and self-governing.
To monitor powerboth in government and in
private companies/citizens
To uncover injustice
To tell compelling stories that shed light on the
human condition
To connect and sustain communitiesboth
physical and virtual
To curate information.
A Journalist:

Provides a first draft of history

Serves as a government watchdog
Searches for the truth
Informs and entertains
Verifies before publishing
Remains independent and unbiased
Everyone who publishes or provides information to
the public is not necessarily a journalist!
What Is News?

Main criteria for deciding what is news:

Relevance
Usefulness
Interest
More specific elements found in most stories:
Impact
Conflict
Novelty
Prominence
Proximity
Timeliness
Engagement
Solutions
3 Types of News Stories

Straight News Story

Inverted Pyramid format
5 Ws and 1 H
Second-day or Follow-up Story
New twist in ongoing story
Provides context or analysis
News Feature/News Profile
Creative approach to hot topic
Paints a picture of a newsmaker
Finding the Lead

First, answer the 5 Ws (and sometimes H). WHO,

WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and sometimes HOW?
Second, use news judgment to figure out what to
put in, what to leave out. Dont try to cram
everything you know in the lead!
Some details are best left for further down in the
story. Dont bog down the lead with too much
information.
Writing the lead

Nice and easy! Writing should be plain and simple, easy

to understand. Avoid jargon and legalese.
Get right to the point! Keep the lead concise; no
secondary information or unimportant details.
Keep it short. Generally limit the lead to one sentence,
but in some cases, it can be two sentences to avoid a
long, run-on sentence or to convey all the important info.
Says who? Dont forget to attribute the information if you
didnt witness it firsthand.
Just the facts, maam! Dont insert your opinion. Use
third-person for news stories in almost all casesno
me, my, I or we.
Journalism Terms

Lead/Lede
Slug
Nut graf or so-what graf
Folo
Cutline
CQ
Heds
-30- ##
Moving Beyond the Lead

Once you identify the 5Ws, youll need to gather

more information to flesh out the story.
All sources of information are not created equal.
Journalists must evaluate the quality of sources
and weed out those that arent credible.
Good reporting requires accuracy, fairness and
professional detachment.

Accuracy Trumps
Go over your notes All!
at the end of every interview. Read back the
quotes and the facts as you have written them down. Dont
assume ANYTHING! Always ask how to spell names.
Check your completed story against your notes and any
documents you have collected to make sure you didnt introduce
any errors while writing. Everyone makes mistakes!
When sources give you facts, check them whenever possible. If a
professor tells you the School of Communications was started in
1970, check the school website or call the university public
affairs office to confirm. The professor may have his facts wrong.
Fairness

Dont write stories in which you play a role, are

related to the principals or have a vested interest.
Dont take sides in your reporting or your writing.
Present the facts without bias, and let readers
make up their own minds.
Cover not just one side of the story, or even two
sides, but ALL sides.
Beware of libel. Telling the truth is the best
defense.
 Gathering Information
Interview participants in an event or witnesses to it; if possible,
see it for yourself.
Dont rely solely on Internet search engines. Treat Wikipedia as a
tip sheet. Beware of unsubstantiated blogs.
Check the validity of web pages. Always check the About Us or
About link to find out who runs the site and what their goals
are. Be wary of sites that dont have an About link.
Learn to use the library. Old-fashioned reference books are still
important sources. Examples: Phone directories, state manuals,
the Congressional Directory, Biographical Dictionary, Whos Who,
World Almanac.
The morgue, or a news organizations archives, is usually a
good place to start researching a topic to find out if its been
reported on before.
Interviewing Basics

Always introduce yourself as a reporter and say

how the information will be used.
Always ask the spelling of a persons name.
Always get contact info in case you need to ask
follow-up questions or confirm any information.
Always prepare questions in advance and have
more than you think youll need.
Assembling the Story

After the lead, introduce additional important info

that you were not able to fit in the lead.
Where possible, provide the so what factor: Why
should readers care?
Next, elaborate on the info presented in the lead.
Continue introducing new info in order of importance.
Develop those ideas in the same order in which you
introduced them.
Generally, include only one new idea in each
paragraph.
Important Dates

Live Tweeting Assignment: Thur., March 2.

eGumpp Modules 1 and 2: Wed., March 1.
Midterm Review: Mon./Tues., March 6/7.
Midterm Exam: Wed./Thur., March 8/9.
Last Day to Withdraw: Friday, April 7.