Introduction to Journalism
Download as PPT, PDF7 likes5,275 views
This document provides an introduction to journalism concepts like the inverted pyramid structure and 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why). It explains that most news stories are written in an inverted pyramid format, with the most important information at the beginning. This puts the key details in the lead paragraph and allows for easy editing. The document also defines common journalism vocabulary like leads, headlines, captions and reviews.
Introduction to Journalism
- 1. Introduction to Journalism Inverted Pyramid & Journalism Vocabulary
- 2. What is News? An account of an event, or a fact or an opinion that interests people. A presentation of current events based on the 5 news values (as discussed in the previous lesson): 1) Timeliness 2)Proximity 3)Conflict & Controversy 4)Human Interest 5)Relevance
- 3. Basic News Reporting Most news stories are written in a very concise way in order to pack as much information into every line on the page. In journalism, space is of a premium so the writing must lend itself to this medium or form. The simplest and most common structure of this kind of writing is called the Inverted Pyramid.
- 4. Inverted Pyramid To understand what the "inverted pyramid" name means, picture an upside-down triangle -- one with the narrow tip pointing downward and the broad base pointing upward. The broad base represents the most newsworthy information in the news story, and the narrow tip represents the least newsworthy information in the news story. Most Newsworthy Least Newsworthy
- 5. Inverted Pyramid When a journalist writes a story in inverted pyramid format, they put the most newsworthy information at the beginning of the story and the least newsworthy information at the end. Why does this format lend itself well to journalism, especially news reporting?
- 6. Why does the Inverted Pyramid lend itself well to journalism? It gets the point of the story to the reader in the fastest way possible. It provides the facts without all of the “fluff” of normal writing. It lends itself to quick editing of story length. For example, even if the journalist cut off the last few sentences of a story to fit in a column on a page, in this form the story is still complete. It only lacks some of the specifics which may not be that important.
- 7. Gathering Information for News Report One basic form for gathering information is answering the 5w’s and H as shown below: Who What When Where Why How
- 8. The Lead To write an inverted-pyramid story from the facts, the journalist would first write a lead that summarizes the most important information. This summary should attempt to answer all 5w’s & H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) If the lead paragraphs does not answer all 5W’s & H, the journalist needs to revise it.
- 9. Important News Report Vocabulary 5W'S & H- the essentials of any story: who, what, when, where, why, and how BY-LINE- indicates who wrote the story; often includes the writer's title CAPTION- the portion of the layout which explains what is happening in a photograph. Also called cutlines. Often includes a photo credit. EDITOR-has overall responsibility for the publication EDITORIAL- a type of story which serves to express an opinion and encourage the reader to take some action ETHICS- a standard of conduct based on moral beliefs
- 10. Important News Report Vocabulary FACT- a statement that can be proven. Not an opinion FEATURE- a story written with some interpretation that goes beyond just reporting the facts FLAG- the name of the paper that usually appears at the top of page one PARAGRAPHS- a combination of 2-3 sentences. HEADLINE- large type designed to summarize a story and grab the reader's attention
- 11. Important News Report Vocabulary HUMAN INTEREST An element of news that includes people or events with which the audience can identify; stories that are just interesting INVERTED PYRAMID A style of writing most commonly applied to news stories in which the most important facts appear early in the story and less important facts later in the story KICKER A short (one or two word) statement at the beginning of a caption that serves to grab the reader's attention LEAD The beginning of the story which serves to summarize the story and/or grab the reader's attention
- 12. Important News Report Vocabulary LIBEL-written defamation; damaging false statements against another person or institution that are in writing or are spoken from a written script QUOTATION- a statement made by another person included in a published story. A direct quotation is exactly what the person said and appears inside quotation marks. An indirect quote is a paraphrase of what a person said and does not appear in quotes. REVIEW- a form of editorial written to comment on a play, movie, piece of music or some other creative work SLANDER- spoken defamation; damaging false statements against another person or institution that are spoken