Writing a News Story

Writing a News Story
1. What can I write about? What is news?

Stories are normally selected because of their importance, emotion, impact, timeliness and interest.

2. Identify what kind of a story it is
Hard news (+/- 600 words): This is how journalists refer to news of the day. It is a chronicle of current events/incidents and is the most common news style on the front page of your typical newspaper.It starts with a summary lead.

Keep the writing clean and uncluttered. Most important, give the readers the information they need. If the federal government announced a new major youth initiative yesterday, that's today's hard news.

Soft news (+/-600 words): This is a term for all the news that isn't time-sensitive.

Soft news includes profiles of people, programs or organizations. As we discussed earlier, the "lead" is more literary.

Feature (+/-1500 words): A news feature takes one step back from the headlines. It explores an issue. News features are less time-sensitive than hard news but no less newsworthy. They can be an effective way to write about complex issues too large for the terse style of a hard news item. Street kids are a perfect example.
They're full of interesting people, ideas, color, lights, action and energy. Storytelling at its height! A good feature is about the people in your community and their struggles, victories and defeats. A feature takes a certain angle (i.e. Black youth returning to church) and explores it by interviewing the people involved and drawing conclusions from that information.

Editorial: The editorial expresses an opinion. The editorial page of the newspaper lets the writer comment on issues in the news. All editorials are personal but the topics must still be relevant to the reader.

3. Structure for your article
The lead

One of the most important elements of news writing is the opening paragraph or two of the story. Journalists refer to this as the "lead," and its function is to summarize the story.

In a hard news story, the lead should be a full summary of what is to follow. It should incorporate as many of the 5 "W's" of journalism (who, what, where, when and why) as possible.

In a soft news story, the lead should present the subject of the story by allusion. This type of opening is somewhat literary.

The body

The body of the story involves combining the opinions of the people you interview, some factual data, and a narrative which helps the story flow. Not allowed to state your opinions.

STEPS
1. Find a topic
2. Find an angle
3. Collect information
4. Gather interviews
5. Write the story
6. Edit

Law and Ethics Notes

The Five Rights of the First Ammendment:
Press, Religion, Speech, Assembly, Petition

The Tinker Standard

• Tinker vs. Des Moines School District
• Black Armbands in 1965
• Students speech cannot be censored as long as it doesn't " materially disrupt class work or involve substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others"

The Fraser Standard

• Bethel School District vs. Fraser
• Innapropriate speech for class president
• Because school officials have an "interest in teaching students the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior," they can censor student speech that is vulgar or indecent, even if it doesn't casue a "material or substantial disruption."

The Hazelwood Standard

• Hazelwood School District vs. Kuhlmeier (1988)
• Censor stories in student newspaper about teen pregnancy and divorce
• Censorship of school-sponsored student expression is permissable when school officials can show that it is "reasonably related to legitimate pedogogical concerns."

The Frederick Standard (June 25, 2007)

• January 2002, Olympic torch travels through town
• Principal Morse cancels school
• Senior Frederick unveils banner on the sidewalk across street which reads "Bong hits 4 Jesus"
• Suspended for 10 days

Elements of Libel

• A defamatory statement
• Published to at least one other person
• Has to be false (opinions are not libel)

Elements of Slander

• Similar to libel but spoken

Journalism Notes

Advantages to print journalism

• control over what type of news to read
• control of when you get the news
• stories are more in-depth

Advantages of broadcast journalism

• video and audio
• ability to be live/updated
• more accesible

Why has online journalism (convergent media) become so popular?

Easily accesible, can be accessed at anytime. Includes articles, and videos. Always available.