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 Subject matter—a variety of subjects, a variety of formats  Purpose—three main purposes: ◦ To inform ◦ To entertain ◦ To persuade  Audience—Often directed to a wide audience, which affects subject matter and format  Circumstances of Writing ◦ Deadline pressure ◦ Editors

 Credibility counts ◦ Be accurate, fair and objective  Mind your manners ◦ Avoid profanity, bad grammar and slang. Show respect for your interviewees and your audience.  Meet your deadlines or “fuhgeddaboudit”  Be versatile

 Accuracy in reporting information-the writer’s first and foremost duty  Efficient presentation of information  Processes of the organization  Individual and corporate integrity

 Spell names correctly.  Quote sources correctly.  Get information from more than one source.  Don’t assume a source has told you the truth (even a government source).  Don’t assume another media outlet is correct.  Make sure the numbers in a story add up.

 9 out of 10 readers prefer short stories to long stories.  44% of Americans watch TV and read magazines or newspapers at the same time.  “We think people want serious and they do, but they only want about 3 inches of serious on most issues.” Dawn Dressler, executive editor, Amarillo Globe-News  About 75% of Americans want news every single day and go to four or five different sources for their news needs.

1. Who are the important people in the story. Has everyone been included? Has everyone been identified? 2. What is the major action or event of the story? Should be able to state in one sentence. 3. When did the event occur? Rarely the best way to start the story. 4. Where did the event occur? 5. Why did the event occur? 6. How did it happen?

 Sources  Research  Observation

Mission & Purpose CivicsCulture Audio- visuals TechnologyNumeracy JudgmentStorytellingCritical Thinking Evidence

 Mission & Purpose--A clear sense of the purpose of journalism in society  Civics—Understanding of how government works  Culture—Understanding that society is made up of all types of people whose points of view should be represented in the news  Audio-visuals—Being versatile with audio and visuals gives journalists the ability to improve storytelling

 Technology—Provides different ways to gather, organize and disseminate information  Numeracy—Knowing how to adjust for inflation, break down budgets, and understand spreadsheets enables journalists to perform their watchdog role  Judgment—Recognizing the stories that matter and making those stories relevant to audiences

 Storytelling—Describing events in a way that makes the audience feel like they’ve actually witnessed them  Critical Thinking—Giving context to facts by stepping back and looking at patterns and trends  Evidence—Gathering and verifying information through triangulation (using more than one source)

 Byline—Name of the journalist who wrote the story  Copy—written version of draft of the story  Dateline—City where the story took place  Graph or graf—Shortened form of paragraph  Headline—Title that summarizes the story, usually written by the editor  Lead or lede—First sentence/paragraph of a story that summarizes what the story is about  Slug—Two or three words placed in the top left corner of the first page to describe the story  Nut graf- States the central point of the story

Fire Hero Jason T. Greene July 14, 2015 Slug The city fire chief awarded yesterday a fast-thinking teenager who saved her neighbors from a fire that destroyed their home during the night. Rachel D. Morgan, 17, was up late doing homework when she noticed bright lights flickering across her window, said Fire Chief Richard Ellis at a special ceremony at City Hall. ### Symbol to indicate end of story. Can use -30- as well. Start story one-third of the way down the page Lead Indent paragraphs

 Hard News—Serious, timely stories about important topics, such as accidents, major crime, fire, politics. Also called spot news, straight news or breaking news  Soft News—Feature or human interest stories that make readers laugh, cry, love, hate, envy or pity. Stories such as unusual hobbies, “how to” stories, history, first person experiences

 Offensive details (graphic or bloody pictures, details of sexual assault, etc.)  Sensationalism (exaggeration of stories dealing with crime, sex and oddities)  Rumors (journalists investigate; may run a story exposing a prevalent untrue rumor)  Sexual assault—(names of victims are typically not published)  Names of juveniles involved in crimes unless they are tried as adults  Trade names—Don’t want to provide free advertising

 Is it hard news or soft news?  Is it written in first person or third person?  Who is the source?  Does the story take you there?  Does it have a strong lead?  Does it have a conclusion?  Does it use quotes? Are they good quotes?  Why did you read it? (Headline/photo/topic that interests you/someone you know)  What did you learn from it?