1. WRITING A NEWS STORY

2.  #1 How does the reporting of news affect people and history?  What is the structure of a new story? Why?  Are news stories slanted?

7.  In the next activity, you will apply what you have learned about reporting news to the writing of the news for an article.  The pictures may be unusual, but you are writing a believable headline and news article that answer the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions.  You will also write a headline that captures the message you are conveying in your article.

8.  1. A news article tells the truth. Journalists write only facts that are, to the best of their knowledge, true.  A careful journalist only states things that he/she can prove to be true, and will cite the source of any uncertain information.

9.  Example, “According to Mrs. Brown, principal of North Oaks High School, most high school freshmen take Spanish as a second language.”  In the statement above, even if it is later discovered that more high school freshmen take French, the journalist has not lied.

11.  #3. News articles are objective. They do not reflect the personal opinions of the journalist.  Quotes and opinions of witnesses and observers to events may be included in an article, but they must be cited.

12.  #4. News articles relate information that affects or is of interest to the public.  Some newspapers print articles that are of interest to a smaller audience.  When the audience is concentrated in a particular region, such as a particular city or state, the newspaper is known as a ‘local’ paper.

13.  #5 The purpose of a news article is to report the facts of a current event or a problem.  Although many people enjoy reading the news, the purpose of a news article is not entertainment.

14.  #6 The language used in news articles is often different from the language that is used in everyday conversation, or in stories or narratives.  The style of writing is impersonal, and the vocabulary is often more formal.

15. IDEAS  All necessary information needed to understand the story is present.  Ideas and actions are fully developed and explained

16.  ORGANIZATION  Ideas are organized logically.  Topic sentence introduces the topic.  Sufficient, appropriate details fully support the topic.  Concluding sentence ties the story together.

17.  VOICE AND AUDIENCE  Enough information is presented so the reader can understand the topic.  The story answers questions that the reader might have.

18.  CONVENTIONS  Vocabulary is appropriate for the topic.  Precise, appropriate, and descriptive language adds meaning to the story.  Variety of sentence structures  Spelling, grammar and punctuation errors are not present.

20.  Is my headline accurate?  Did I write all of my notes?  Did I write an accurate news article?  Did I re-write the fact and opinion statements?