1 Understanding
News 3
Variable factors 4
Hard and soft news 4
Factors essential to news 5
News qualities 5
News elements that add interest 6
Factors modifying news importance 10
Nose for news 12
Exercises 12
2 Gathering News
15
Characteristics of reporters 15
Newspaper news gathering 16
Radio and television news gathering 16
School paper news gathering 16
A reporter's news gathering 17
Exercises 20
3 Writing News Leads
22
Explanation of the inverted pyramid 22
Reasons for the inverted pyramid form 23
Reasons for the inverted pyramid becoming less important 23
Characteristics of a good summary lead 24
Use of grammatical forms to vary leads 27
Use of other types of leads 29
How to write a news lead 30
Testing a news lead 30
Exercises 31
4 Writing Basic
News Stories 33
The inverted pyramid story body 33
Planning the story 33
Understanding news style 36
Writing the single-feature or fact story 39
Writing the several-feature story 39
Writing the action story 40
Writing the quote story 40
Testing a news story 41
Exercises 41
5 Getting and Writing
Interviews 47
Defining an interview 47
Describing the kinds of interviews 47
Arranging the interview 47
Preparing for the interview 48
Conducting the interview 49
Writing the interview 50
Exercises 52
6 Writing Special
Types of News Stories 67
The academic story 67
Obituaries 71
The advance story 72
The follow-up story 76
The speech report story 78
The meeting story 81
Surveys 82
Exercises 85
7 Writing Feature
Stories 90
Characteristics of feature stories 90
Characteristics of a good feature writer 91
Types of feature stories 94
A. News-feature story 94
B. Informative feature story 95
C. Profiles 96
D. Personal experience or accomplishment story 98
E. Human interest story 98
F. Miscellaneous types 100
Exercises 101
8 Writing Sports
Stories 106
The changing nature of sports journalism 106
Understanding the requirements of sportswriting 107
Sportswriting versus newswriting 108
Writing the advance story 108
Writing the follow-up story 112
Writing the advance-follow-up story 116
Writing the sports feature 117
Exercises 122
9 Writing Effective
Editorials 128
Understanding the place of editorials 128
Purposes and types of editorials 129
A. Editorial of interpretation 129
B. Editorial of criticism or persuasion 130
C. Editorial of appreciation, commendation, or tribute 131
D. Editorial of entertainment 132
E. Photo-editorial 133
F. "Ten-second" or "one-punch" editorial 135
Preparing to write an editorial 135
Writing the editorial 135
Checking your editorial 136
Headlining your editorial 136
Exercises 136
10 Reporting in
Depth 143
Definition of in-depth reporting 143
Reasons for in-depth reporting 144
Analysis of an in-depth news story 148
Requirements for in-depth reporting 151
Writing an in-depth story 152
Exercises 154
11 Writing Reviews
156
What is a review? 156
Qualifications needed for reviewing 156
Parts of a good review 157
Analysis of some reviews 157
Exercises 163
12 Yearbook Reporting
169
The mission of the yearbook 169
Coverage of the yearbook 169
Fact gathering and reporting for the yearbook 174
The word story for the yearbook 176
Alternate text copy for the yearbook 177
The infographic in the yearbook 181
Checklist for the yearbook reporter 182
Exercises 182
13 Using Journalism
Style 184
Reasons for a style manual 184
Preparation of copy 184
Style for the student newspaper and other publications 186
A. Names 186
B. Capitalization 186
C. Abbreviations 187
D. Numbers 187
E. Punctuation 188
F. Italics 188
Spelling 189
Screening sexist expressions 189
Correct labels for identifying minority groups 190
14 Editing and Proofreading
Copy 191
Resources for effective copyediting and proofreading 191
Characteristics of a good copy editor 192
Duties of a copy editor 192
Procedure to follow in copyediting 193
Use of copy-editing symbols for on-page editing 194
Procedure to follow in proofreading 194
Use of proofreading symbols 194
Reading galley proof 194
Reading page proof 196
Copyediting exercises 197
Proofreading exercises 208
15 Writing Headlines
216
Purposes of headlines 216
Headlines written and paginated on a computer 216
Noncomputer headline counting 217
Kinds of headlines 217
Writing news headlines 221
Writing feature headlines 223
Marking headlines 225
Headline-writing schedule 225
Exercises 228
16 Understanding
Typography and Production 242
Reasons for understanding typography 243
Classification of type 243
Type sizes 244
Typefaces 245
Methods of type composition 247
The pre-press printing processes 248
A. Desktop publishing printers 248
B. Imagesetters 248
Printing for mass circulation 248
A. Offset 248
B. Letterpress 248
C. Gravure 249
Exercises 249
17 Newspaper Page
Design 250
Aims of newspaper page design 250
Basic newspaper page design principles 251
Page elements 255
Makeup of page 1 258
Makeup of inside pages 259
Makeup of editorial and op-ed pages and center spreads 260
The page dummy 262
Color and white space 263
Exercises 263
18 Yearbook Page
Layout 264
Aims of effective yearbook page layout 265
Elements of a yearbook page layout 265
Principles of yearbook page design 265
Steps for designing a yearbook page layout 268
Examples of yearbook layout style 270
Special design treatments for yearbook layouts 279
Color in yearbook layouts 282
Exercises 282
19 Newsmagazines,
Special Sections, Inserts, and Supplements 283
The student newsmagazine 283
Special sections and inserts in newspapers 286
Magazine supplements to the newspaper or newsmagazine 287
Magazine success through prepublication planning 288
Practical tips for producing a newsmagazine, special section,
insert, or supplement 289
Exercises 289
20 Computers and
Journalism 290
Computers and journalism 290
The Internet 290
Computer-assisted reporting 295
On-line publications 296
Desktop publishing 298
Educational benefits of telecommunications, computer-assisted
reporting, and DTP 302
21 Pictures 304
What pictures bring to newspapers, yearbooks, and
magazines 304
Appeal of pictures 304
Criteria for good pictures 305
A. Technical considerations 305
B. Composition considerations 305
C. Will the picture communicate? 305
D. Libel and the right of privacy 305
Aids to successful pictures 306
A. Planning the coverage 306
B. Arranging the content 306
Cropping, sizing, and scaling pictures 307
The ethics of altering picture content 309
Use of pictures in newspaper, yearbook, and magazine
page makeup 310
A. Selection of prints 310
B. Arrangement of pictures 310
Writing the cutlines 310
Cutline typography 311
Exercises 312
22 Preparing and
Selling Advertising 316
Functions of school paper advertising 316
Faults of school paper advertising 316
Kinds of school paper advertising 319
A. Display advertising 319
B. Classified advertising 319
C. Shoppers' column 319
Preparing to sell advertising 321
Understanding advertising layout 323
Writing advertising copy 326
Preparing ads professionally 328
Exercises 330
23 Ethics for Student
Journalists 334
What are ethics? 334
How the First Amendment and media law are related to ethics 334
Why journalists need ethics codes 334
The personal values that guide journalists and underlie ethics
codes 335
Journalism's mission and its relationship to ethics 335
Ethics in action: News gathering 335
The ethics code for high school journalists 336
Exercises 338
24 Student Press
Law 340
Public versus private school media 340
The basis for freedom of expression and the court system 340
Court decisions and student media 341
The Tinker case and its legacy 341
The Hazelwood decision and its implications 342
Other legal ways to give free expression rights to students 343
Unprotected expression: Libel and obscenity 343
Copyright 344
Invasion of privacy 344
News gathering and laws regarding freedom of information
and open meetings 345
Where to get help 346
Cases cited in this chapter 346
Exercises 346
25 Professional
News Gathering and Processing 348
Methods of gathering news and features 348
A. Local 348
B. Nonlocal 348
Satellites 351
Processing the news 351
A. Electronic newspaper 351
Exercises 354
