AC The Process for Writing Original Multimedia Articles Newsworthiness Discussion

I’m working on a writing discussion question and need a sample draft to help me study.

This one to two page paper is a reflective recap for the end of the class.

(A) Describe your process for writing the original multimedia article for this project. How did your process demonstrate what you’ve learned this semester?

– Talk about the definitions of Inverted Pyramid, 5Ws + H questions, aspects of newsworthiness (FOCII) readers would care most about with this story and say you used them in this project.

What did you do differently than you might have done before or early in the semester (if anything)? How did you apply course concepts to your process of imagining, reporting on, writing, and editing the story?

– Here, you can just elaborate on the importance or course concepts and the importance of time management and other things of that nature for “things I would change”.

(B) What observations can you make about your Reporting Practice activities? Specifically, address the strengths/weaknesses of the drafts you completed earlier in the semester and how you applied course concepts to improve them for these final submissions.

– Here talk about how my first reporting practice activities were vague and dismissive and as time went along I started to use course concepts and elaborate. Define FOCCI elements again here as well as leads, and different types of quotes.

(C) How do you imagine or expect that the skills, concepts, or takeaways from this course will come into play in the future for you? What goals or plans do you think will be well-served by the work you did in this course? How might you continue to develop the skills you encountered in this course and apply them in your life beyond this classroom?

You can talk about how this will help in the work force etc.

HERES DEFINITIONS OF WORDS I WANT YOU TO INCLUDE 🙂

News Values:

1. Accuracy

• “On point” “narrowly focused” “Telling the whole story”

1. 5w’s + H, with a focus on VALUE to audience

• Who, what, when, where, why? & How?

1. Fairness

• Without bias.
• Equal opportunity to have their own opinions.
• No favoritism and discrimination

1. Objectivity

• Approach things with an open mind. Hope and expect for the truth.

1. *Efficiency

• Time slot, there is only X amount of time to press the information into the media.
• Stories can be dropped quickly with time restraints.

Newsworthiness (interest elements):

(F) FAME

• Popularity, recognition

(O) ODDITY

• Rare, “biggest” “Oldest” “Tallest” “first time or Last time”

(C) CONFLICT

• Disagreement or argument

(I) IMMEDIACY

• Relevant and recent
• Urgency and excitement

(I) IMPACT

• Things that affect you
• “What about me?”

5 W’s + H:

WHO?

• A story on who is person based!
• What did that person do? Is this person famous?

Or

• What group of people does this person’s story affect?

WHAT?

• Events such as a fire, storm or something as simple as a meeting

WHEN?

• Recency
• Anniversary

WHERE?

• Natural disasters and their exact locations (california or australia for example)
• New businesses, or renovations

WHY?

• Why is this happening?
• Why are they upset?
• Why does it matter?
• Getting to the bottom of the issue

Leads/Lede:

• A lead is either the first sentence or the first couple of sentences.
• If all the most important information isn’t presented in the lead, people can feel lost and confused with what the writer is trying to present.

Inverted pyramid:

??? By the end of the pyramid, the info shouldn’t be super important

• Be upfront with times, dates and damage.
• Start with the most important then trickle into the most broad.
• Beginning with the point and the main focuses in journalism.

Reporting:

• Research for reporters
• Being present at something
• Investigation around a recent topic
• Telling the facts of a situation
• “snitching”

How do you reporters get their information?

1. Police scanner, word-of-mouth, gossip, tips
2. Observation, Attendance
3. Statistics
4. History – research in libraries
5. Capturing media- Photos, videos, audio
6. Public records
7. Interviews

What does a good interview consist of?

• Conversational – follow up questions, good flow
• Avoid yes or no questions
• Access the candidate of the interview
• Well-prepared questions
• Polite – understanding, non-confrontational, convenient
• Photographic evidence
• Play it safe
• Fair, balanced – not leading questions
• Organized and complete

Interview vocab:

• On background = No sources named
• Deep background/of the record = You CANNOT put this in your story
• Embargo = You can release this information, but not yet.

Types of interviews:

• Interviews for FACTS
• Interviews for PERSPECTIVE
• Direct quotes:

• Beyond facts
• Interesting phrasing
• A direct quote has quotation marks and is word for word correct

EXAMPLES:

“Quote”, Name said.

Name said, “Quote.”

“Quote,” Name said, “and then more quotes.”

Indirect quote:

• Not someone’s exact words
• A paraphrase
• Ideas
• Basic information
• Things you can say better/ shorter/ easier to understand

Partial quotes:

• Key phrases, unique word choice
• Sensitive language

EXAMPLES:

It was a “key phrase,” the name said.

Words journalists use frequently:

• Said. *Used most frequently
• Stated.
• Wrote.
• Tweeted.
• According to.