NEWS BASICS

--or--

EVERYTHING YOU (should have) LEARNED IN J-SCHOOL, IN 10 MINUTES OR LESS

Point 1: News is ancient and universal.
—All societies have it. Since the dawn of humankind, people have told it, sung it, beat it on drums. When you cover a car wreck or a council meeting, you’re doing basically the same thing the Ancient Romans did when they posted the acta in the forum.
—The human need to know hasn’t changed.
—What has changed: These days, it’s generally agreed that free-flowing news helps people in free societies govern themselves and live their lives.

Point 2: For that reason, news stories need to meet certain professional standards.
—No matter what style, no matter how long or short, whether hard-edged or soft, good news stories have:

Fairness
Accuracy
Context
(in pursuit of)
Truth
F*A*C*T

Point 3: The Internet, the age of multimedia, has not changed that.
-- In fact, because of the information deluge, because of digital speed, because everything is out there for the taking and/or hurtling, it is more important than ever for you as a reporter to adhere to these standards.
-- Position yourself as a purveyor of journalistically vetted information versus someone just adding to the noise.

Point 4: News happens. Anyone with a recording device can cover an event, blow by blow, start to finish. That is called stenography. Journalism is not stenography.
-- “Committing the act of journalism,” as my teaching colleague Jacqui Banaszynski calls it, requires a specific set of learned skills.
-- In a nutshell, here is what journalists do:
They ferret out facts.
They verify facts.
They clarify information.
They provide context.
—This is true no matter what medium you work in.

Point 5: Being a reporter is as much a frame of mind as it is a job.
-- Just being in the world is an invitation to report.
-- The best reporters keep their antennae tuned all the time.
-- Information you use in a news story will generally come from one or more (usually more) of four places:
< Direct observation
< Interviews with people involved
< Documents
< Experts and officials.

Point 6: Journalism is the art of selection.
—In a good news story, you will use only a sliver of the universe of information in your notebook.
—Knowing which five pieces of data (as opposed to the other 300) to use, which two quotes (as opposed to the other 30), etc. doesn’t happen overnight. It is a learned skill. It comes with time and practice.
—Here is an exercise to help you learn the skill more quickly:

< Ask yourself: What happened? Who was involved?
< Then: Who wins, who loses, who cares? That will give you a rough overview of the basic story dynamic—a primary sorting system.
< Under who wins: What do they win? To what end/ benefit? How have they fought, thought, endured, planned, etc …?
< Under who loses: What do they lose? What cost to them, their town, their family, their values, their emotions, their school, their pet, etc. What’s at stake?
< Under who cares: Will people read this because the information will affect/ enhance/ save/ entertain/ educate them? How? Will it provide them with inherent news value (an important story)? Provide them with inherent human interest (an interesting story)?
< Ask yourself: If you had to write the story in only four grafs, which pieces of information would you use to adequately address the points above? Why?

Point 7: News connects.
-- No matter what topic or style, all good news stories do this:
They make people want to
— Read them
— Think about them
— Talk about them

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Mary Ann - 22 January 2008 06:15 PM

Under who cares: Will people read this because the information will affect/ enhance/ save/ entertain/ educate them? How? Will it provide them with inherent news value (an important story)? Provide them with inherent human interest (an interesting story)?

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Its so obvious to realize that your work will be read by different people and it is your job to find a way that relates the topic to all of them. I’m sure everyone realizes that we have been given a great power. As the old Spiderman saying goes, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Our job is to make sure that we do not forget that.

Carlos - 28 January 2008 09:51 PM

your work will be read by different people and it is your job to find a way that relates the topic to all of them ...

Carlos—love the Spiderman quote… This topic, above, how to broaden a story for a wider audience, will be one of the Discussion Questions coming up ... thx!

P.S.: EVERYONE—tip on posting!!! If you want to quote from a previous post, highlight it, click on QUOTE, and then DELETE everything in between the (quote parameters) that is NOT the quote you want to cite. Does that make sense? Otherwise, you will be quoting whole posts, rather than a line or a thought, which would get long and tedious...

Mary Ann - 22 January 2008 06:15 PM

Point 7: News connects.
-- No matter what topic or style, all good news stories do this:
They make people want to
— Read them
— Think about them
— Talk about them

This is why I want to be a journalist. I want to have the responsibility of bringing what is important to people through clear and accurate reporting and writing. I’ve always had a curiosity of the world, and I pride myself on being well-rounded. I think journalism can accomplish both tasks.

[

[Point 3: The Internet, the age of multimedia, has not changed that.
-- In fact, because of the information deluge, because of digital speed, because everything is out there for the taking and/or hurtling, it is more important than ever for you as a reporter to adhere to these standards.
-- Position yourself as a purveyor of journalistically vetted information versus someone just adding to the noise.

This sticks out in my mind.  Today on the internet plenty of people put out information that is often not true, or heavily one sided.  This reminds me of my responsibility of a journalist, to be fair and accurate, even if the digital medium is changing.

Argenis Villa - 29 January 2008 08:40 PM

We’re just like rappers. Only we actually walk the walk-and use more profanity.

lol’d…

Matt Coop - 30 January 2008 04:09 AM

Today on the internet plenty of people put out information that is often not true, or heavily one sided.  This reminds me of my responsibility of a journalist, to be fair and accurate, even if the digital medium is changing.

Yep. In fact, it’s interesting to see how more and more news companies (papers, web sites) are looked upon as places to get the balance, vetting and analysis of the noise that’s out there…

Point 1: News is ancient and universal.
—All societies have it. Since the dawn of humankind, people have told it, sung it, repeated it, beat it on drums. When you cover a car wreck or a council meeting, you’re doing basically the same thing the Ancient Romans did when they posted the acta in the forum.
—The human need to know hasn’t changed.
—What has changed: These days, it’s generally agreed that free-flowing news helps people in free societies govern themselves and live their lives.

This is probably true but nowadays the reporting has to be completely true. People have been always been inclined to wanting to know the truth but it has always been hear-say. By the time the original version of the story gets to the thirtieth person the story is completely garbled and different from the original version.

Stories have to know be accurate and filled with expert opinion, advice and comments. If none of these are present then it is completely hear-say again.

Fairness
Accuracy
Context
(in pursuit of)
Truth
F*A*C*T

My Input: Definitely rules to live by.  At least if you want to keep your job.

Point 3: The Internet, the age of multimedia, has not changed that.
-- In fact, because of the information deluge, because of digital speed, because everything is out there for the taking and/or hurtling, it is more important than ever for you as a reporter to adhere to these standards.
-- Position yourself as a purveyor of journalistically vetted information versus someone just adding to the noise.

My Input: It’s nutty how we’re taught to embrace multimedia, but at the same time be wary of the information it contains.  It’s fair to say there is a balance somewhere in the middle.  I hope. 

Point 4: News happens. Anyone with a recording device can cover an event, start to finish. That is called stenography. Journalism is not stenography.
-- “Committing the act of journalism,” as my teaching colleague Jacqui Banaszynski calls it, requires a specific set of learned skills.
-- In a nutshell, here is what journalists do:
They ferret out facts.
They verify facts.
They clarify information.
They provide context.
—This is true no matter what medium you work in.

My Input: Everyone is a self proclaimed journalist nowadays, especially since the rise of YouTube (where every amateur posts his/her caught on tape moments).  It is, however, a relief to know that my tuition money paid for an education, which validates me as a legit journalist.  Yes, I am the real deal.

Point 5: Being a reporter is as much a frame of mind as it is a job.
-- Just being in the world is an invitation to report.
-- The best reporters keep their antennae tuned all the time.

My Input: This is so true!  My antenna is constantly on overdrive.  I don’t think it has an off switch.

Point 6: Journalism is the art of selection.
—In a good news story, you will use only a sliver of the universe of information in your notebook.
—Knowing which five pieces of data (as opposed to the other 300) to use, which two quotes (as opposed to the other 30), etc. doesn’t happen overnight. It is a learned skill. It comes with time and practice.

My Input: This point hits close to home.  I believe that many reporters tend to cringe at the idea of having to cut their stories, whether it’s because they believe all of the information provided in the story is essential or simply because of pride/ego (and boy do journalists have both).  Either way, I want to to get to that level (of writing shorter, tighter, yet still great stories) preferably sooner than later. 

-- No matter what topic or style, all good news stories do this:
They make people want to
— Read them
— Think about them
— Talk about them

My Input: I want to gain a reputation of the reporter whose stories are a must read.

Martha Ramirez - 01 February 2008 06:06 PM

I believe that many reporters tend to cringe at the idea of having to cut their stories, whether it’s because they believe all of the information provided in the story is essential or simply because of pride/ego (and boy do journalists have both).  Either way, I want to to get to that level (of writing shorter, tighter, yet still great stories) preferably sooner than later. 

Martha et al: This is interesting. I think you are right: AAAAaaaaauuuughhhhh! don’t cut my story! Don’t delete my (beautiful) words!!! Again, learning how to get over that is a learned skill, something that comes with time and experience…

To quote (once again) Hemingway: “Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.”

This is not to be pimping Hemingway at every turn, but the quotes of his I have used thus far all come from a beautiful book “BYLINE: Ernest Hemingway,” a collection of the Nobel Prize-winner’s early journalistic writing from both newspapers and magazines.
His journalism is a real study in simplicity and selection ...

Thing to think about: when you write something, are the words adding muscle (i.e., “architecture"), or are they adding on flab (i.e., “interior decoration"), something that we were too lazy or self-absorbed to get rid of? (Trust me—as a young reporter, I wrote many a flabby story ... I will swallow my pride and try to dig a few out to share....)