1. How Newsrooms Work

2. What Is News?
News Judgment: the ability to determine which stories are most interesting and important to readers
Identifying our readers:
Old?
Young?
Peers?

3. What Makes a Story Interesting?
Impact
Immediacy
Proximity
Prominence
Does it matter? Does it have an effect
Did the story just happen? Is it about to happen?
How close is this story?
Is someone important involved? Students? Teachers? Principal?

4. More Interests Novelty Conflict Emotions
Something new, odd, or surprising?
Clash of power? Sports rivalry?
Will the story make us sad? Happy? Angry?

5. How Do We Know What Readers Want?
We ask them
Surveys
Focus groups
We watch them
What are they buying?
Where are they going?

6. 5 things to remember about readers
Readers are in a hurry
Readers have short attention spans
Readers wants stories that personally connect
Readers want stories told in a compelling way
There’s more than just one type of reader