Reading: Where to Find a Story

Where does news come from?

• take an initial piece of information and add to it.
• update it
• show the story from another angle
• interview those involved
• take pictures, audio clips and video, when appropriate
• Important to determine if the addition of video to a story will speak volumes or detract from the report.
• Sources of News
• Court Cases
• Local & National Government
• Stock Market & Company Reports
• Emergency Services
• Police, Fire, etc.
• Product Launches
• Press Realeases
• Anniversaries
• Campaigns & Opinion Polls
• etc.
• On-Diary Story
• a story we already know of or can see coming.
• Off-Diary Story
• a story that cannot be predicted
• vox pop
• voice of the people
• News goes to the web first and then to other media outlets.

Week 2 Discussion Handout

Heads & Intros Week 1

Headline 1:

Foreclosure FORCED on Home Seller

Introduction 1:

A 60-year-old homeowner faces foreclosure and eviction after his lender JP Morgan/Chase refused to communicate with his selling agent.

Headline 2:

Students Turn Old Technology Into Interactive Art

Introduction 2:

In a celebration of analog technology, design students create an ambitious interactive art installation at a North Hollywood campus.

Headline 3:

New Bar Breaths History Into NoHo Arts District

Introduction 3:

The Federal bar recently opened its doors in the historical bank building in the North Hollywood arts district.

Headline 4:

Committee Clarifies Grammy Nomination Categories

Introduction 4:

After an extensive review the Grammy Awards and Nominations Committee calls for a re-categorization to eliminate confusion.

Impressions On What Is News & Reporting

The interview with Tim Walters, Internet News Editor of the Wolverhampton's Express and Star, broke down which reporters are sent to which news scenes. Print news stories are usually accompanied with an online version, which may contain photos, videos or interactive graphics. It seems video journalists more often are sent to cover featured and well planned stories, unless there are major breaking news reports where as photo journalists are sent to document a news scene that must be reported very quickly and may be of less importance to a general reading audience.

Many successful news stories use the element of fear to hook a reader. With media moguls and investors pushing the profitability of their reporting agencies they are damaging the quality of their stories and occasionally angering their reporters. MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski refused to report on Paris Hilton's release from jail a few years back. She went as far as ripping up the story on camera and attempting to light the paper remnants on fire. This example is extreme, but it is important to retain integrity as a professional reporter, as so many of today's news anchors have thrown theirs out the window. Good reporters pay attention to detail and don't make assumptions. They will research their subject(s) before meeting them for an interview and they won't attempt to impose leading questions guiding someone into telling a "version" of the story instead of the actual story.

What Is Reporting?

• 6 questions that must be answered to complete a report are:
• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?
• How much? How many?
• Clean cut statistics are useful in introductions and headlines.
• Specific
• Enable the reader to assess the importance of the story.
• Attribution
• Who is telling us the information?
• Essential to a news story.
• The presentation of information is often split in a specific way.
• Who did what/had what done to them?
• Then comes the when, where, why and how.

What is News?

• New
• something that is new, just happened, relative in time
• Factual
• actual witnesses, true, facts, statistics, chronological details, etc.
• It's about people
• Relevant to people and could possibly effect them
• Could also be relevant to you
• Dramatic and out of the ordinary
• great emotions and will spark awareness
• Involves a conflict