COM 260 Quest #1

What is the purpose of journalism?

guaranteeing liberty and maintaining civilization is challenged by those who make news and those who need it

Convergence

efforts to use the strengths and differences of different media to reach broader audience and tells stories in different ways

What is news?

the sharing of information’ relevance, usefulness, and interest

What makes something newsworthy?

impact, conflict, novelty, prominence, proximity, and timeliness, engaging, and solution-oriented

Citizen Journalism

Occurs when those not employed by traditional organizations (or professionally trained) use technology and social media to report and comment on the news

Agenda setting

The placing of specifically chosen issues before the public discussion

Framing

The viewpoint of perspective. What happens when a story is framed in only one way from one point of view? Limits what the reader sees and dictates how they see it

Crowdsourcing

the practice of inhibiting unpaid readers and viewers to submit their own stories, photos and videos, as well as lend their expertise to issues or to solve problems

Watchdog

type of investigative reporting that monitors the activities of government, corporations, and other powerful entities to expose wrongdoing and hold them accountable

Bias

use neutral language and leave your opinion out of the story

Objectivity 

Expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortions by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations

Neutral wording

reporting information in an unbiased, objective, and impartial manner to allow the audience to form their own opinions based on the facts

Accuracy

Freedom from mistake or error and correctness in facts and context

Fairness

Avoiding own biases, allow ample numbers to respond. Requires that you allow ample opportunity for response to anyone who is being attacked or whose integrity is being questioned. Make every effort to avoid asking trick questions

Legacy Media

platforms that have withstood the test of time (ex: TV, magazine, print)

How people consume news

• social media

• TV broadcasts

• websites/apps

• radio

• newspapers

Types of news audiences

Traditionalists, integrators, net-newsers, and the disengaged 

Primary Source

firsthand account or direct evidence of an event, person, or phenomenon created by someone or something with a direct connection to it, such as an eyewitness testimony, original documents, or a person's own writings

Secondary Source

using and analyzing second-hand information, such as analysis, interpretation, or commentary on primary sources, to provide context, background, and deeper understanding of a story

How to prepare for or set up an interview

do research, figure out who to interview, plan out first few questions

Email and interviews

talk in person, take notes and record if possible; stay away from asking questions and getting answers over email 

Open ended questions

Subjective; not just yes or no

Close ended questions

definitive response; yes or no, good or bad

Follow up questions

don’t stick to just the questions you wrote, ask more based on their prior responses

Direct quote

the exact words that a source says or writes

Paraphrase

putting a quote in your own words

Properly puncutating a quote

puncutatio inside quotation marks

When to use quotes

when you need to present someone’s opinion, personality, or convey their emoions

Pulling quotes from social media

need to verify information, identify the person who is saying it and where you got the information; try to find out more info if possible, attribute them to the name or profile where you found the information (never simplify) 

Is it ever Ok to change (or clean up) a quote?

Remove like, um but do not change the content of the quote. Paraphrase if needed

Vulgarity and profanity in quotes

do not use them in stories unless if they are part of a direct quote and there is a compelling reason for them; if you need to use it add- ex: f—-, s—-

Properly attributing quotes; when is attribution unneeded?

giving credit to a source who gave you the information; almost always attribute quotes, not for ex: quoting a speech, or an interview/news conference and only if the speaker is mentioned in the story; don’t be redundant

Off the record

people do not want to named or have their information/interview used; you may not use this information 

Press release

A company that writes for free publicity purposes

Types of press releases (3)

announcements, cause-promotin, and image-building

Who is the audience for a press/news release?

media professionals/journalists/outlets

Inverted pyramid

importance of order; lead has most important info (1-2 sentences) then answer the 5 W’s and H in the rest of the story (1-3 sentences per paragraph)

Lead/lede

the hook; the most important things in the audience

Types of leads

summary, multi-elemental, you , immediate ID, and delayed ID

Bias-free language

using precise, neutral, and inclusive wording that avoids perpetuating stereotypes or prejudice based on characteristics like sex, race, age, disability, or sexual orientation

Traditionalists

• Older, less affluent and not as well educated as the typical news consumer

• Television all day

• Strong interest in weather; less in science

• Use computers, but not for online news

• 46%  (slowly decreasing)

Integrators

• Well-educated, affluent and middle aged

• Use legacy media and Web and mobile media 

• Public affairs

• In high demand by advertisers (have money to spend, know what they want)

• Interested in government and politics

• 23% (slowly growing)

Net-Newsers

• Affluent, well-educated and young

• Read political blogs

• On the Web all day

• 13% of the audience; 58% men

The Disengaged

• Low interest and low consumption 

• 14% 

• Out of touch with what is happening/uninformed

Anouncements

the event is on x day at y time

Cause-promoting

we’re hotsing a 5k that benefits a non-profit

Image-building

celebrity does something wrong, then they want to fix their image

Summary lead

summary of key facts

Multi-elemental lead

works more information into the first paragraph (still be consice)

Immediate ID lead

least common, writing about someone famous or well known; says name in the lead

Delayed ID lead

not a well known person, says name in second or third paragraph; ex: A 25-year-old Kingston man announced Saturday he is running for mayor

You Lead

allows the writer to tell the reader why they should care