Newswriting Let’s talk about … Information from : Jeanne Acton, UIL & ILPC Journalism Director

Newswriting … gives the reader information that will impact them in some way. It usually flows from most important to least important. “What is news? It is information only.” - Walter Cronkite, former CBS News anchor

Vocabulary 5W'S & H The essentials of any story: who, what, when, where, why, and how BY-LINE Indicates who wrote the story; often includes the writer's title CAPTION The portion of the layout which explains what is happening in a photograph. Also called cutlines. Often includes a photo credit. EDITOR Has overall responsibility for the publication EDITORIAL A type of story which serves to express an opinion and encourage the reader to take some action

Vocabulary ETHICS A standard of conduct based on moral beliefs FACT A statement that can be proven. Not an opinion FEATURE A story written with some interpretation that goes beyond just reporting the facts GRAF A paragraph in news writing. These are often short, around 2-3 sentences. HEADLINE Large type designed to summarize a story and grab the reader's attention

Vocabulary HUMAN INTEREST An element of news that includes people or events with which the audience can identify; stories that are just interesting INVERTED PYRAMID A style of writing most commonly applied to news stories in which the most important facts appear early in the story and less important facts later in the story KICKER A short (one or two word) statement at the beginning of a caption that serves to grab the reader's attention LEAD The beginning of the story which serves to summarize the story and/or grab the reader's attention

Vocabulary LIBEL Written defamation; damaging false statements against another person or institution that are in writing or are spoken from a written script QUOTATION A statement made by another person included in a published story. A direct quotation is exactly what the person said and appears inside quotation marks. An indirect quote is a paraphrase of what a person said and does not appear in quotes. SLANDER Spoken defamation; damaging false statements against another person or institution that are spoken

What makes News “News”?: 6 main reasons Proximity: Location. Location. Location. If the event is happening close by, it will have a greater impact on your readers. Timeliness: If something is happening NOW, it has more impact on the reader. The most recent development in a story can be used as a feature. Prominence: If the people in the story are well known, the story will have more impact on the reader. Most people are not as impacted if the story involves people they do not know.

What makes News “News”?: 6 main reasons Conflict: Readers are interested in rivalries, arguments, fights, and disagreements. Novelty: If something is unusual, original, or unique, readers want to know what it is and why it happened. Human Interest: If the story evokes (inspires) emotion in the reader such as anger, sadness, or happiness, the reader will have a greater connection with the story and the story will have a greater impact.

Basic News Reporting Most news stories are written in a very concise way in order to pack as much information into every line on the page. In journalism, space is of a premium so your writing must lend itself to this medium or form. The simplest and most common structure of this kind of writing is called the Inverted Pyramid.

Inverted Pyramid To understand what the "inverted pyramid" name means, picture an upside-down triangle -- one with the narrow tip pointing downward and the broad base pointing upward. The broad base represents the most newsworthy information in the news story, and the narrow tip represents the least newsworthy information in the news story. Most Newsworthy Least Newsworthy

Inverted Pyramid When you write a story in inverted pyramid format, you put the most newsworthy information at the beginning of the story and the least newsworthy information at the end. Why does this format lend itself well to journalism, especially news reporting?

Why does the Inverted Pyramid lend itself well to journalism? It gets the point of the story to the reader in the fastest way possible. It provides the facts without all of the “fluff” of normal writing. It lends itself to quick editing of story length. Even if you cut off the last few sentences of a story in this format to fit in a column on a page, the story is still complete. It only lacks some of the specifics.

Let’s start at the beginning with… LEADS.

Let’s talk about Leads

Leads Most straight news leads should be summary leads. That means they summarize the 5 Ws and H of the story, starting off with the most important W or H.

Types of News Leads Use these rarely… “Who lead” — begins with a person. The person is not usually the most important fact of the story. “When lead” — begins with time. Rarely is time the most crucial element of the story. “Where lead” — begins with the place. The location is hardly ever the most important factor.

Types of News Leads Use these often… “How lead” – begins with the how of the story. “Why lead” — begins with why the story occurred. “What lead” — begins with the facts of the story.

Who lead Not so good… Principal John Smith announced Tuesday that students will no longer be allowed to leave campus for lunch due to excessive tardies. Better… President Barack Obama will make a brief appearance at the high school Thursday after giving a speech at the County Expo Center.

When lead Not so good… On Tuesday, Principal John Smith announced that students will no longer be able to leave campus for lunch. Better… On Saturday, President Barack Obama will speak to the senior class about how important community organizing and volunteering are to the country.

Where lead Avoid where leads At the school board meeting on Tuesday, Principal John Smith announced that he has ended the off-campus lunch policy. Maybe … probably yes. In the principal’s office, the senior class dumped 30 pounds of sand to protest the cancellation of the senior trip to Cancun.

How lead Through a grass roots voting effort, senior Ben Wyatt won the mayoral election to become the youngest mayor in the town’s history.

Why lead Because they wanted to carry on the tradition, four seniors streaked across the football stadium during the homecoming pep rally wearing paper leis and tennis shoes.

What lead The Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings series will be removed from all school libraries this fall.

Now that we know the type of lead we are looking for, how do we write a good lead? • read the entire prompt • find the newest information in the prompt • beware of older, more controversial news • write one to two sentences summarizing the “new” news including as many other Ws and H as possible

Create your own lead There was an accident occurring in Chino Hills at 7:10 this morning at the intersection of Pomona Rincon Road and Soquel Canyon Parkway. Charles R. Lyndon was driving south on Pomona Rincon and proceeded to enter the intersection in his van at a speed estimated at 40 mph. His van struck a fire engine responding to an emergency call, with its lights and siren in operation. Two firemen aboard the vehicle were hospitalized; however, their condition is not known at this point in time. Lyndon was killed instantly in the serious and tragic accident. Authorities have not yet determined who was at fault. The truck was traveling an estimated 25 mph and responding to a report of a store fire. However, it was a false alarm. Lyndon’s van was totally destroyed. Damage to the truck was estimated at $50,000.

Now for the eternal struggle between active and passive voice.

Active vs Passive Voice Active voice is a key to good journalistic writing. In active voice, the subject is doing the action. Steve loves Amy. Steve is the subject, and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the object of the sentence. Another example is the title of the Marvin Gaye song “I Heard It through the Grapevine.” "I" is the subject, the one who is doing the action. "I" is hearing "it," the object of the sentence.

Active vs Passive Voice In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Passive voice sentences often use more words, can be vague, and can lead to a tangle of prepositional phrases. Amy is loved by Steve. The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn't doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient of Steve's love. For example, if you wanted to make the title of the Marvin Gaye song passive, you would say “It was heard by me through the grapevine,” not nearly as catchy.

Active vs Passive Voice Active: The candidate believes that Congress must place a ceiling on the budget. Passive: It is believed by the candidate that a ceiling must be placed on the budget by Congress. Active: Researchers earlier showed that high stress can cause heart attacks. Passive: It was earlier demonstrated that heart attacks can be caused by high stress. Active: The dog bit the man. Passive: The man was bitten by the dog.

Active vs Passive Voice Make the following passive sentences active. The book is being read by most of the class. Mistakes were made. The entrance exam was failed by over one-third of the applicants to the school. The brakes were slammed on by her as the car sped downhill. Your bicycle has been damaged. By then, the soundtrack will have been completely remixed by the sound engineers. 1. Most of the class is reading the book. 2. We made mistakes. 3. Over one-third of the applicants to the school failed the exam. 4. She slammed on the brakes as the car sped downhill. 5. I damaged your bicycle. 6. By then, the sound engineer will have completely remixed the soundtrack.