EL 119: Chapter 3 - Campus News Writing

A comprehensive vocabulary review of core concepts, ethical standards, news elements, and writing structures from Chapter 3: Campus News Writing.

Campus journalism

A form of responsible communication through which students document events, explain issues, provide useful information, and give members of the academic community a meaningful avenue for expression.

Republic Act No. 7079

Also known as the Campus Journalism Act of 1991; a Philippine law that recognizes campus journalism as a means of strengthening ethical values, encouraging critical and creative thinking, developing moral character and discipline among Filipino youth, and protecting campus press freedom.

Campus news

Timely, relevant, and verifiable information concerning the school community and matters that affect its members.

Newsworthy

Possessing qualities that make an event or story relevant, significant, or interesting to the intended audience rather than merely something that occurred.

Direct observation

A news-gathering method in which the reporter personally witnesses an event to document facts such as date, time, location, participants, scores, and major developments.

Official documents

Authoritative institutional records—such as memoranda, announcements, resolutions, schedules, reports, and minutes—examined by reporters to verify decisions and policy facts.

Press release

An official statement or announcement issued by a school, organization, or government agency that serves as a starting point for reporting rather than a finished story.

Flight of campus news

The recognizable progression of news from inception to publication: Event/Issue → Tip/Observation → Initial Verification → Source Gathering → Interviews → Fact-checking → News Judgment → Lead → Story Development → Editing → Publication → Correction/Follow-up.

Timeliness

An essential element of news indicating that the information is connected to something recent, newly developing, or immediate.

Relevance

An essential news quality requiring that the reported information matters directly to and impacts the intended campus audience.

Accuracy

The standard requiring that all factual elements—including names, dates, numbers, titles, quotations, statistics, and event descriptions—are correct.

Verification

The journalistic process of establishing whether an assertion, tip, or claim is supported by reliable, confirmed evidence prior to publication.

Objectivity and fairness

The practice of distinguishing factual evidence from personal opinion and presenting verifiable statements rather than reporter judgments.

5Ws and 1H

The traditional framework of reporting questions—Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How—used to guide information gathering and identify key facts.

Seek Truth and Report It

A foundational SPJ ethical principle directing journalists to verify information, use reliable sources, provide context, identify uncertainty, correct errors, and avoid distortion.

Minimize Harm

An SPJ ethical principle requiring journalists to weigh the consequences of publication and avoid unnecessary humiliation, private exposure, sensationalism, and stereotyping.

Act Independently

An SPJ ethical principle mandating that journalists avoid and manage conflicts of interest so personal relationships or interests do not dictate reporting.

Be Accountable and Transparent

An SPJ ethical principle requiring a publication to acknowledge mistakes, issue corrections, explain major changes, distinguish opinion from reporting, and cite sources.

Accuracy before speed

The core professional journalism principle asserting that being first to publish is not more important than being correct.

Inverted pyramid

A traditional hard-news writing structure that arranges information by descending order of importance: the lead, supporting details, additional details, and background/minor information.

Lead

The opening element of a news article that presents the most vital facts and defines the primary angle of the story.

Direct quotation

A word-for-word reproduction of a source's exact statement enclosed in quotation marks that preserves the speaker's original meaning.

Indirect quotation (Paraphrase)

A restatement of a source's information without using their exact wording while maintaining factual accuracy.

Attribution

The identification of the source of facts, claims, or statements directly within the prose using speech verbs such as said, reported, or according to.

Primary source

An origin of firsthand information, such as eyewitnesses, event participants, original documents, public records, and direct interviews.

Secondary source

An account that reports, reviews, summarizes, or interprets information originally obtained and published elsewhere.

Multiple-source verification

The practice of cross-checking important or controversial claims with multiple relevant authorities, documents, and offices rather than relying on a single claim.

Source balance

The practice of seeking responses from all sides of an issue or dispute to avoid presenting one-sided allegations as established fact.

News angle

The specific perspective, central focus, or most significant aspect of an occurrence chosen to frame a news story.