Blog 10: What makes a news story different than a feature story?
A news story informs readers about facts and who, what, where, when, why, and how. A feature article will also have the same underlying standards as a news story but allows the writer to go in more depth on the topic. More quotes, more people, more visuals, more content. A news story is breaking news and will usually have a lot of dates and times while a feature article takes a deeper look into things. A news story usually has a deadline and is time dependant where as a feature story can be recorded and written and saved for the right time to publish it. News stories must be breaking, if it happens that day, a news story must be written and published that day. A feature can take more time and go more in depth on what has happened and is not time dependant.
News stories contain just enough detail to give the reader a clear picture of what has happened and just of the story in general. Feature stories are more about reader interest rather than time dependency. Facts in feature stories are more elaborate, more interpreted, and contain more emotion and context. Feature stories are something the writer can choose what to write about and news stories are derived by what is going on in the world and community today. Techniques on the writing process are slightly different in each as well. You will need to do background research for both types of stories. Feature stories will often contain anecdotes, description and a lot of attributive verbs and quotes.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
What makes a good obituary? Why do readers/viewers read and watch them?
Blog 9: What makes a good obituary? Why do readers/viewers read and watch them?
An obituary is a news story and you need to apply the same type of content and standards as you would for other stories. The lead is important, probably the must important aspect to an obituary. A good obituary will have the who, what, where, when, how, and why in the lead. You must include the time and place of the funeral, the time and place of the burial, visitation time, survivors, date and place of birth, achievements, occupation, and memberships. There are five safeguards for obituary writers to follow in order to make a well written obituary. You must confirm the spelling of names, family members and deceased. You must check the addresses, and you may have to contact the mortuary about correct addresses. You must check the birth date against the age to see if person’s birthday was before or after date of death. You must verify obituary with family or mortuary that will go to the newspaper. You must check your newspaper’s library for stories about the deceased but make sure not to find stories on someone different with the same name. Obituaries are well written when the author mentions a distinguishing characteristic of the person’s life. Usually whatever it is that distinguishes the deceased can be used to make the lead that much stronger. Some other things to remember that make good obituaries are choosing your words, try to avoid much of the language found on mortuary forms. You must also be sensitive to the family, in giving the cause of death. Some families will not want the cause of death to be on there and you must take that into consideration. Also the writer has to be sensitive in handling embarrassing information so don’t put it out there that the deceased was either a homosexual, had AIDS, or any other diseases that the public does not need to know about.
Readers will read obituaries to see who has passed on in the community. Readers are also family and friends of those who have deceased. They want to read it to see what reporters have to say. A lot of people will read obituaries first when they open the paper. Readers want to see if anyone of significance has passed on and local community members to see if he/she knew the deceased.
An obituary is a news story and you need to apply the same type of content and standards as you would for other stories. The lead is important, probably the must important aspect to an obituary. A good obituary will have the who, what, where, when, how, and why in the lead. You must include the time and place of the funeral, the time and place of the burial, visitation time, survivors, date and place of birth, achievements, occupation, and memberships. There are five safeguards for obituary writers to follow in order to make a well written obituary. You must confirm the spelling of names, family members and deceased. You must check the addresses, and you may have to contact the mortuary about correct addresses. You must check the birth date against the age to see if person’s birthday was before or after date of death. You must verify obituary with family or mortuary that will go to the newspaper. You must check your newspaper’s library for stories about the deceased but make sure not to find stories on someone different with the same name. Obituaries are well written when the author mentions a distinguishing characteristic of the person’s life. Usually whatever it is that distinguishes the deceased can be used to make the lead that much stronger. Some other things to remember that make good obituaries are choosing your words, try to avoid much of the language found on mortuary forms. You must also be sensitive to the family, in giving the cause of death. Some families will not want the cause of death to be on there and you must take that into consideration. Also the writer has to be sensitive in handling embarrassing information so don’t put it out there that the deceased was either a homosexual, had AIDS, or any other diseases that the public does not need to know about.
Readers will read obituaries to see who has passed on in the community. Readers are also family and friends of those who have deceased. They want to read it to see what reporters have to say. A lot of people will read obituaries first when they open the paper. Readers want to see if anyone of significance has passed on and local community members to see if he/she knew the deceased.
What makes a speech or meeting story interesting? How can a writer prepare?
Blog 8: What makes a speech or meeting story interesting? How can a writer prepare?
A speech or meeting story is interesting because to the people in the community, and to the subject, this story is the most important item in the newspaper, radio, or television report of the day. All speech and meeting stories require careful reporting and writing. Covering speech and meeting stories have a lot of technical questions and thoughts. You may want to use a video camera, recorder, or digital camera to help cover the story. You must think visuals, sound, and light.
To prepare for speech and meeting stories you must review previous stories on the subject and to check online for any important information pertaining to the subject and topic. A backgrounder on the speaker is very important to do and will make writing the story that much easier. Some speeches won’t require as much background research as others, as long as you are well informed on the speaker and subject. What’s important with this type of story is to be as well prepared as you can. Sometimes you won’t have enough time to do background information before the speech so you may have to wait until after the speech to do that. You must be able to identify the speaker correctly. Middle initials are important. Messing up the name or address or any other information on the speaker will harm your reputation and credibility. Preparing for a news conference story is similar to a speech story on the basis that you must know the speaker and his/her background and why the news conference is happening. In preparing for meeting stories you must know who the people are that are holding the meeting and why they are there for the meeting. You may have to contact some of the key people to find out why they are meeting. You then must study the issues before arriving to be knowledgeable on the matter before you listen to what the people have to say in the meeting.
A speech or meeting story is interesting because to the people in the community, and to the subject, this story is the most important item in the newspaper, radio, or television report of the day. All speech and meeting stories require careful reporting and writing. Covering speech and meeting stories have a lot of technical questions and thoughts. You may want to use a video camera, recorder, or digital camera to help cover the story. You must think visuals, sound, and light.
To prepare for speech and meeting stories you must review previous stories on the subject and to check online for any important information pertaining to the subject and topic. A backgrounder on the speaker is very important to do and will make writing the story that much easier. Some speeches won’t require as much background research as others, as long as you are well informed on the speaker and subject. What’s important with this type of story is to be as well prepared as you can. Sometimes you won’t have enough time to do background information before the speech so you may have to wait until after the speech to do that. You must be able to identify the speaker correctly. Middle initials are important. Messing up the name or address or any other information on the speaker will harm your reputation and credibility. Preparing for a news conference story is similar to a speech story on the basis that you must know the speaker and his/her background and why the news conference is happening. In preparing for meeting stories you must know who the people are that are holding the meeting and why they are there for the meeting. You may have to contact some of the key people to find out why they are meeting. You then must study the issues before arriving to be knowledgeable on the matter before you listen to what the people have to say in the meeting.
What makes a good feature?
Blog 7: What makes a good feature?
A good feature will have the same elements of a news story but will go beyond what the news story has. A good feature will have more people and more facts. The context will also be more in depth than a news story. A good feature will also have more photos to give it an easy read and more reader friendly. A good feature will have an element of surprise. The way you write your feature is important, again, to tailor to your audience. You must grab the reader’s attention quickly for them to continue reading because not everyone reads features. If the topic is something of significance to the reader and say for example the topic is country music. You want to write in country music language to tailor to country music lovers, not say, rap lovers.
A good feature will be written the way you want to tell the story. There are few ways to structure a feature but the way you decide to tell the story will make it that much better. So a good feature will have great preparation going into it, and a strong sense of how you want to tell the story. To have a great feature story, you must engage the reader very fast and have a strong theme to the story. Correct grammar and writing play a huge part in features. It’s important for the writer to fall in love with the topic or to be clear on why he/she is writing it.
A good feature will have the same elements of a news story but will go beyond what the news story has. A good feature will have more people and more facts. The context will also be more in depth than a news story. A good feature will also have more photos to give it an easy read and more reader friendly. A good feature will have an element of surprise. The way you write your feature is important, again, to tailor to your audience. You must grab the reader’s attention quickly for them to continue reading because not everyone reads features. If the topic is something of significance to the reader and say for example the topic is country music. You want to write in country music language to tailor to country music lovers, not say, rap lovers.
A good feature will be written the way you want to tell the story. There are few ways to structure a feature but the way you decide to tell the story will make it that much better. So a good feature will have great preparation going into it, and a strong sense of how you want to tell the story. To have a great feature story, you must engage the reader very fast and have a strong theme to the story. Correct grammar and writing play a huge part in features. It’s important for the writer to fall in love with the topic or to be clear on why he/she is writing it.
What makes a good lede?
Blog 6: What makes a good lede?
According to the book, “to determine a lead – a simple, clear statement consisting of the first paragraph or two, you must first recognize what goes into one.” A lead must contain the basic principles of what makes a story newsworthy. The principles are relevance, usefulness, and interest. The lead must give the readers some sort of explanation to questions such as “so what?” and “who cares?” A good lead will contain six basic questions. These questions are who, what where, when, how, and why. If there is something that makes a particular story standout or makes it more newsworthy then the lead must have that! A good lead will have what is most important first. If there is a fire you want to have when and where and leave the how it started after lead or at the end.
When writing leads you should write a few of them and say it out loud to yourself to see how it sounds. A good lead will also gear towards your readers. You want to hook them in, telling them all in important information and write it in a way to tailor to your audience or readers. If you can do all of this you will have a good lede.
According to the book, “to determine a lead – a simple, clear statement consisting of the first paragraph or two, you must first recognize what goes into one.” A lead must contain the basic principles of what makes a story newsworthy. The principles are relevance, usefulness, and interest. The lead must give the readers some sort of explanation to questions such as “so what?” and “who cares?” A good lead will contain six basic questions. These questions are who, what where, when, how, and why. If there is something that makes a particular story standout or makes it more newsworthy then the lead must have that! A good lead will have what is most important first. If there is a fire you want to have when and where and leave the how it started after lead or at the end.
When writing leads you should write a few of them and say it out loud to yourself to see how it sounds. A good lead will also gear towards your readers. You want to hook them in, telling them all in important information and write it in a way to tailor to your audience or readers. If you can do all of this you will have a good lede.
Why do numbers matter in writing stories?
Blog 5: Why do numbers matter in writing stories?
Numbers is a huge aspect in writing stories. Certain numbers are to be typed out numerically or in words. It all depends on the situation and what the number is dealing with. If a journalist uses numbers in the wrong way, which can seriously damage one’s reputation or even career. As a journalist, you want to uphold your reputation and credibility. If these mistakes were published it could damage the whole organization’s reputation. Using numbers the right way will help the reader’s better understand your story. Numbers are used differently throughout journalism and it matters if you use them correctly because you do not want to confuse the reader.
Numbers is a huge aspect in writing stories. Certain numbers are to be typed out numerically or in words. It all depends on the situation and what the number is dealing with. If a journalist uses numbers in the wrong way, which can seriously damage one’s reputation or even career. As a journalist, you want to uphold your reputation and credibility. If these mistakes were published it could damage the whole organization’s reputation. Using numbers the right way will help the reader’s better understand your story. Numbers are used differently throughout journalism and it matters if you use them correctly because you do not want to confuse the reader.
What makes a good profile?
Blog 4: What makes a good profile?
A profile, to journalists, is a way to further know the subject or person that will be written about. Even if you know the person, you need to know them better before starting to write anything. A good profile will contain background and biographical information. In order to obtain this information we must do some intensive research. A profile is a great piece to do before interviewing someone. Being prepared will make the profile that much better. Profiles can and will set the scene for the piece of writing or interview. If you know that the person is an animal lover, than you can express that before an interview or even in the lead. The profile should set the scene for what’s to come. A good profile will have a lot of biographical information that can somehow tie into the story or help ask questions in interviews. A good profile will allow the reporter to get inside the story more and to be more prepared.
A profile, to journalists, is a way to further know the subject or person that will be written about. Even if you know the person, you need to know them better before starting to write anything. A good profile will contain background and biographical information. In order to obtain this information we must do some intensive research. A profile is a great piece to do before interviewing someone. Being prepared will make the profile that much better. Profiles can and will set the scene for the piece of writing or interview. If you know that the person is an animal lover, than you can express that before an interview or even in the lead. The profile should set the scene for what’s to come. A good profile will have a lot of biographical information that can somehow tie into the story or help ask questions in interviews. A good profile will allow the reporter to get inside the story more and to be more prepared.
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