Journalists have different opinions

What are some of the ethical problems faced by journalists? How are they resolved?

Journalists face many ethical problems. One of these ethical issues are Deontological ethics which is the ethics of duty meaning some actions are always right and some are always wrong. People that are deontologists believe that ends never justify the means. This belief is often called absolutism. Absolutists believe that if an event is interesting, timely, significant or important, it is to be reported, regardless of the consequences.

Another form of ethics is teleological ethics, and this is all about the end justifying the means to get there. In this perspective, if you have to do something bad, such as lie to get a good news story, as long as you have a good news story that possibly exposes something bad in the end you are okay.

Lastly Antinomianism is when journalists believe there are no moral absolutes and that every situation is different and you have to apply your own ethics to each case.

When it comes down to it, journalists have their own opinions of ethics, and have to use there own jurisdiction.

Ehtics and Information

What are some of the ethical problems faced by journalists? How are they resolved?

In today’s news world, journalists face many ethical problems. First off, they have to face the issue with obtaining information illegally then having to choose whether or not they should publish it. Also, when you are stuffing a camera in someone’s face, is that really ethical? Shouldn’t you just wait to have a sit down conversation with the person? Lastly, journalists need to know where to draw the line when they are interviewing them or writing about them—how much is too much?

So today, as you know, journalists have many ethical issues they face each day when they go out looking for a story. They need to decide whether or not it is truly ethical to publish a story and/or photos that were obtained while trespassing illegally. It is important for the public to see this story and photos, but the way it was seen was not legally so the legal power often overpowers the information side. I have seen several times, one in particular, when the New York Times obtained documents from the government illegally about their plans in the Vietnam War and the Times won the Supreme Court case because in their eye it was imperative for the public to see the information in the documents to stay informed. I believe it is unethical to publish a story and photos that were obtained illegally. I would try my hardest to gain them legally then publish the story the right way.

In addition to illegally obtaining a story, I believe it is unethical for reporters and cameramen to stuff cameras and microphones into a person’s face to get a reaction. I remember Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers pushed a cameraman down because he got into Rogers’ face with it. Rogers was fined, but I still believe it was unethical and unprofessional to stuff the camera in the athletes face just to get negative attention around Rogers and the team.

Stemming off that, I think there needs to be a line where the interviewer and/or the person who writes any sort of story follows how much is too much. Therefore, there needs to be a line that the reporter should not cross, where it is okay to ask some questions, and not others, because then it would be unethical and rude to ask some things. For example, when interviewing a Charlie Sheen let’s say, you can ask him about his drug abuse and all that, but questions about how his kids look at him now an how do you think the public thinks of you now is just rude and unethical in my opinion.

First Amendment = Informed Public

Why is the First Amendment so important to journalists? What are some of the rights you have as a journalist?

The First Amendment is so important to journalists because in most countries, it gives them the right to express their thoughts about the current issues in the world. It gives rights to what can be said and what cannot be said. It regulates how the world is able to get information while giving journalists a long leash if you will.

You have many rights as a journalist including the right to the freedom of the press—meaning you can say whatever you please as long as it does not attack someone personally or incorrectly write about in which it would be libel. You do have the right to go into a private property to obtain information as long as you are invited in. Anything besides that would be illegal for the journalist to publish whatever you found while trespassing.

I think the First Amendment is the most important right we have as Americans. It allows us to speak our minds and obviously while doing so we can debate current issues in the areas we live in. It can stir the political pot, and possibly insight change, such as Libya or Egypt. It can result in repression and dissent in China, where they do not have this right, then you and your family disappear without a trace.

We need to remember how important the right is as an American and a journalist because that is how we stay informed. We choose to watch the news occasionally, but we all should watch, listen, read, anything to the news every second we get because many countries don’t have the right to do so.

Ethics: Undefined Lines in Journalism

There are many ethical problems faced by journalists around the world today. For example, many people who have anything negative written about them will instantly look to the writer and sue for libel. Libel is when someone maliciously writes negative comments about someone in a public domain for the world to see. But journalists do have protection from court systems. In a case of libel suit, the accuser must prove to the court system that the journalist in question wrote the comments in some form of hate, trying to maliciously hurt the other person.
Another ethical problem that comes up is blogging. Many of these people who are writing blogs don’t have proper journalism training so don’t know the proper ethics associated with the business. Then they write there blogs and post them online, where everyone can see, and might not be following the rules. The main question of ethics here is who does the blame if something like libel happens? Can the blogger claim that they were ignorant to the situation and get off the hook? Does the blame fall on the owner of the blog website, or can nobody really take the blame because there aren’t really any internet regulations? In my opinion it should fall on the site, unless the site puts up a set of rules and regulations the blogger must agree to before blogging. When they sign that they have read it, it should fall on the blogger and not the website.

The Most Important Write

Ever since I was a child learning about the Constitutional Amendments, I knew the first one, more so than any other, would be important to my life. Being much older now, I fully understand, especially wanting to be a journalist. The First Amendment secures my right to freedom of speech and press, two of the most important things a journalist needs. Without either if these freedoms, journalism simply could not exist. Think about a world of journalism where a journalist could only report the news if it was what government officials wanted them to say. I think that is just absurd. I couldn’t possibly think about living in a society where I wasn’t allowed to have the freedom to say what I wanted to say or publish what I wanted to publish. These ideals will always keep the First Amendment near and dear to my heart and I will always protect those rights for everyone under any given circumstance.

The More, The Merrier: Multimedia in the News

A great multi-media piece relies on many different forms of media coming together to not only create the news story, but showcase the news story. Take your basic written story and flare it up with different genres of media. Add pictures to a devastating story so that people can see the true impact. Instead of just writing down an interview, use the audio clips to show the various emotions the person you were interviewing was doing. Videos are a great way to show what is happening in a particular story. All of these elements in a story together can really add to the story and attract people to read it. We now live in a society where people don’t want to just read, they want to see and hear the news. Different elements of multimedia have almost become as important to the stories as the actual stories themselves. Posted below is an example of this on a story from cnn.com.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/28/severe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

Public Relations: The Definition is in the Name

Good public relations are about more than good writing. The name public relations is really a great two word definition of what it needs to do, relate to the public. You can have all the great writing in the world, but without being able to connect what you are writing, you don’t have a purpose in public relations. Writing for public relations differs from writing for news because you have to write more in a speech form, yet still get your meaning across to the public in a quick and logical manner. You also have to be careful about what you say when writing for public relations. You need to make sure that you are appeasing whatever audience you are trying to reach so that they will stick with your affiliation.

What are some of the ethical problems faced by journalists? How are they resolved?

It is not uncommon that journalists face ethical problems because they must write about delicate topics everyday. They deal with problems such as the possibility of portraying someone in a bad light, of invading privacy, plagiarizing, accepting money to write stories and many others. Good journalists will know how to avoid these obstacles.

The Potter Box is an affective model to help journalists and reporters make moral decision regarding their work. It allows people to evaluate the riskiness of their actions and come to a rational and respectable result. Crime stories or theft can be very difficult to deal with and some journalists may unknowingly make a mistake that might cost them their career. It is also troubling to write stories on government officials and public figures because they can sue for libel if the reporter is not 100 percent accurate.

Why is the First Amendment so important to journalists? What are some of the rights you have as a journalist?

The First Amendment is so important to journalists simply because it protects them. It allows them to express themselves freely without having constraints or being afraid of retribution. Journalism and the press have always been known as the engine behind social movements and social change. Without the protection of the First Amendment, the press would not have been able to bring about many of the changes that have occurred over the course of history.

The press allows ordinary people to be informed about the people who govern the country. This is especially important in a democratic nation. If journalists uncover the truth about something, they have the right to tell the public and present the facts even if it is about powerful people or corporations. The First Amendment gives them this ‘freedom of press’.

Good Obituary

A good obituary needs to tell a story, commend an individual for the accomplishments during their lifetime. For instance, in our obituary assignment I chose to write about basketball coach legend, ESPY Award winner, and 'Jimmy V Fund for Cancer Research' founder, Jimmy Valvano. The man, the legend. I expressed his many accomplishments, quoted friends and family with their descriptions of who Jimmy was to them, what the country thought of this man and what many basketball coaches past and future aspire to be like. An obituary must encompass the name, age, cause of death, who the individual is survived by, and any information on services that is open to the public. In some instances, age may not be noted in the Obit, as well as the cause of death. Unfortunately, sometimes the details, even non-specific are too gruesome for the public eye.

Journalists enjoying their rights by the first amendment

Why is the First Amendment so important to journalists? What are some of the rights you have as a journalist?

The first amendment is so important to journalists because it is the right to freedom of the press. A journalist has the right to report on what he or she wants to within what their boss allows them to do, or tells them to do. The point is that they have a right to report on what they and their station want, they are not restricted by the government. The government does have rules on libel to protect a citizen or company but they do not have restrictions on what they can publish about the government or famous people.

This Amendment is also so important to journalists because they can serve as watch dogs to the government. When the government becomes corrupt, the media can find out and publish information about it. This is the same for big business, when these businesses get corrupt, the media will try to uncover this. The people that do uncover these sorts of scandals, rather than being punished, are rewarded for their intelligence and ability to uncover a mystery. The reason they are able to be praised, is all thanks to the first amendment.

This is a link on a talk show where the interviewer asks when should the first amendment "lose": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxHExkcWKFo

What are some of the ethical problems faced by journalists? How are they resolved?

In journalism, because of the First Amendment, society has very few “rules” for journalists in spite of the special problems they face. Because of this, there are many ethical dilemmas and problems journalists are often faced with. Ethical problems faced by journalists include:

1. Deceit – such as being deceptive to get a story

2. Conflicts of interest

3. Friendship – such as covering stories that involve a personal acquaintance

4. Payola – temptations to accept payment for a story from someone other than from their employer

5. Freebies – accepting gifts from people being covered in a story

6. Checkbook journalism – paying a source for a story

7. Participation in the news

8. Advertising pressure – being exposed to the influence of advertisers and facing conflicts and policies in print and other media

9. Invasion of privacy

10. Withholding information

11. Plagiarism

In journalism, it’s important these dilemmas be resolved. Ethical issues can be resolved through moral reasoning. Ethicists Clifford Christians, Kim Rotzoll and Mark Fackler have adapted a model, called the Potter Box, devised by Dr. Ralph Potter of the Harvard Divinity School, in order to help journalists and other make moral decisions. The model consists of four elements:

1. Appraising the situation

2. Identifying values

3. Appealing to ethical principles

4. Choosing loyalties

The Potter Box is affective in helping journalists analyze and resolve ethical dilemmas. When a journalist is able to overcome and effectively resolve ethical dilemmas, they are able to grow and prosper as reporters.

Why is the First Amendment so important to journalists? What are some of the rights you have as a journalist?

The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of…the press.” The press is protected to ensure the “unfettered interchange of ideas for bringing about the political and social changes desired by the people.”

The free flow of ideas is necessary and important in democracy because people who govern themselves need to know about their government and those who run it. People also need to be informed about the social and economic institutions that affect them on the daily. This information is mostly communicated through newspapers, Internet, radio, and television, hence why the first amendment is so crucial to journalists.

In order to ensure they can do their job to the best of the ability, laws have been passed to make it easier for journalists to learn about government business. For example, all 50 states have open-record laws. The federal government and all the states also have open-meeting laws that require that the public’s business be conducted in public.

The First Amendment and laws on access information allow journalists to effectively and completely keep the citizens of America informed.

What makes a good multimedia peice?

With the web becoming more and more prominent in our everyday lives, multimedia is becoming a significant and influential part of how people access and obtain information on a daily basis.

There are a lot of aspects that contribute to a good multimedia piece. As far as online news goes, there are a lot of things to think about when covering online stories. One major thing to consider is the length of the story. Most readers will appreciate short online news stories that save their time. The reader should be able to obtain the information quickly and easily, leaving no possibility for any confusion. If possible, the writer should use lots of lists and bullets. Lists and bullets get more attention and allow for better comprehension than ordinary sentences and paragraphs.

In multimedia, it’s also extremely effective to include both visual and audio aspects. Such as pictures, videos, graphics, verbal readings, etc. Both of these help enhance the readers experience and reinforce the story by appealing to multiple senses.

Web stories should also use hyperlinks. The Internet is a place where people connect, and websites should utilize this benefit to the best of their ability in order to create and provide a more interactive experience.

And finally, readers should have the chance to talk back. Allowing people to comment on and discuss news stories can not only allows the reader to feel more involved in the experience, but it provides both excitement and opportunity for those reading the news story.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/20/texas.fires/index.html: CNN includes a brilliant photo montage to reinforce the disasters that have been occurring across the state of Texas.

What is good public relations? How does writing for PR differ from writing

Journalists write to serve the public. When they report, one of the most important things they have to keep in mind is to stay objective. Many reporters attempt to avoid exhibiting a personal point of view and never write for the sole purpose of proving something.

Public relations writers, on the other hand, write to persuade the audience of a particular position, using facts to convince people to change their minds, or confirm their positions. Unlike most news-journalists, public relations writers generally work for an organization or client other than a news operation.

There are many aspects that constitute good PR. Effective public relations writers never ignore facts, even when they are harmful or detrimental to the cause they’re promoting. Their job is to make their organization or client appear in the best possible light, which means they should do whatever they can to interpret all news – good and bad – in their favor. A strong public relations representative works as an honest advocate for their company or organization, they don’t lie or distort, but instead use all their facts effectively by playing down certain ones and emphasizing others.

It’s all about editing, music, and direction when it comes to multi-media

What makes a good multi-media piece?

Multi-media pieces are always good, but they can go either way based on many factory. For example, the editing is always a huge concern. The use of music is another factor that needs to be incorporated for the piece to be successful to the audience. Last, the piece needs to have a good plot, and ultimately an ending that satisfies the viewer.

Multi-media pieces need to have great editing. If the piece has unprofessional editing, terrible transitions, and just don’t make sense, the viewer is not going to enjoy it and rate it terribly.

The use of music is such a key factor in multi-media. If you have a highlight video with no music, the emotion from the video that it was supposed to evoke will not be there.

The last factor is the direction of the video. The piece needs to make sense; it needs to have a good intro, a good body of the plot, and definitely a good ending. It the ending is not good, many times, the viewers will rate the video terribly, and not recommend it to other potential audiences.

Public Relations: The Good, The Bad, And The Terrell Owens

What is good public relations? How does writing for PR differ from writing news?

Public relations can obviously be good and bad. It is supposed to always promote good images for the clients these PR firms represent, and it is very different than writing for news.

Writing for news is so different because it is supposed to be always be objective. In PR, it always is subjective to the client to make them look better to the public. Writing for news always has to get out the facts, good and bad. Public relations firms only want to get out the positive facts that favor their client, and sway over the negative comments and concerns the public has about their client.

Public relations can always be bad. For example, when there were rumors that then Cowboy Wide Receiver Terrell Owens was trying to kill himself and took painkillers, his PR representative came out and said he had “6 million reasons to live”. That is a huge example of bad PR. The woman was fired soon after, I believe the next day, due to how she made Owens seem way more depressed than he actually was.

In conclusion, public relations are very different than writing for news. It is generally subjective and only focuses on the positives of their client because that is how they keep their job and make their client look better to the public and media. It can always be good and bad, obviously having a few mix up like the Terrell Owens story I talked about early. It is so much different than writing for a news story in many ways.

Nothing beats sight and hearing

What makes a good radio/tv news story? How is it different than print?

Many factors decide what makes a good radio/tv news story than the same print story. First off, it is always about the visuals. Next, the sound bites always factor in to the effect of getting the writer’s point across. Last, the crispness and shortness to the point of the story on tv or radio.

Visual aids factor in heavily when it comes to judging a story. Everyone loves to see clips of a house that was broken in to, or the site of where the next prom will be because it gives them the opportunity to put themselves, the viewer, into that area and imagine what it is like there.

Sound bites are always better than just written quotes. Sure, you can be affected by a police chief talking about how heroic that man in Brazil was in saving some deaths, but nothing beats that same police chief showing his expression in his voice and how happy he could be more so than just writing it down.

The print stories are always so at length, and sometimes the reader loses track of the point of the story. In both tv and radio, the stores the media presents are crisp, short, always getting right to the point to show the reader why they should care.

In conclusion, many different factors decide why a news story on television and radio is significantly better than the same story in print.

Features > News Stories

What makes a news story different than a feature story?

News stories are much different than features in several ways. They are more formal always saying Mr. This and Mrs. That. They get out the story quicker and focus on the most important facts. Features are more informal and get to know the person before delivering their point.

News stories are always on your television, radio, or print media, almost always the same types of stories. Features are more focused on one topic, or person, and are very lengthy. News stories are always short and get right to the point. Features always have a large background section and talk at length either in an interview or with an anecdote before getting to the focus structure of the piece.

Features are just more interesting and attract more of an audience than regular news stories. I feel as if everyone would get tired of hearing about a reoccurring story about a man who tried to rob a convenient store and got caught later by police. Features are more attractive when talking about a collegiate football like Mark Herzlich who had to spend a year out of football at Boston College, then heroically coming back and predicted to be drafted in the National Football League.

Overall, features are just better than news stories. They don’t always come out like regular stories on the news each day, so they are more interesting and have more content. They are so informal because the writer always gets to know the person, which gives the reader a sense of knowing the person being featured themselves rather than a reporter talk to one person involved in their story and report that story in under a minute and a half.

Obits tell the story of legends

What makes a good obituary? Why do readers/viewers read and watch them?

Obituaries are particularly interesting because they tell the story of the recently deceased person. They bring attention to the family that is suffering through this tragedy and tell who will survive the person that just passed. Obituaries point out what was fascinating about the person who passed, and bring a positive attention to the person and give a positive affect to the reader.

Obituaries are interesting to me because I get to read about the person who died, many times people I never knew. For example, if I did not know the last living person who served in World War II and they passed, I would want to read about their service and their life—this is what an obituary are for.

They attract people to read about the family that is going through a tough loss at the time, and can give them positive attention and support for the families so it will be easier for them to cope with the loss of a family member.

Lastly, I enjoy obits because they tell all the fascinating points in the deceased person’s life, and I like reading them and it gives the reader a sense of imagery to how this person lived their life up to their death.

In conclusion, I find obituaries to be particularly interesting because they help the family gain positive attention. They help people get a feeling of how the deceased person lived their life, and show the interesting points.

All of the Pieces together tell the story

What makes a good multi-media piece?

A good multimedia piece includes text, video, photography, graphics and audio all in one, where none are redundant and each piece presents new information. This means that each piece should tell a new part of the story rather than them being essentially the same thing. In this type of piece a user is able to choose which they want to watch in any order. In a good piece, all included are all interesting to the viewer and the viewer is interested enough to watch, listen, and click on all of them. The Internet makes this easy to do, because you can include all of these factors on one page, with text in the background and other links the viewer is able to click.

Multi-media pieces are a new wave in making news more entertaining and interesting to view. It makes things more interactive, and more young people will be able to pay attention for longer.

What makes a good radio/TV news story? How is it different than print?

Although they all attempt to accomplish the same basic thing, radio news, TV news, and print news all differ from the other in a very significant way. For starters, Radio/TV news story are much more concise than a print story. Since radio and TV news reports are often on a time crunch, they tend to be significantly more succinct then print. Written news, on the other hand, has a little more lee-way – despite limits on space and word count, written stories tend to be substantially longer than TV and Radio reports. Not only that, but the elements used to communicate and create the stories in radio and TV are much different. For example, TV news stories have the ability to use both visual images and sounds to emphasize and highlight the action. Radio news, as well, has the ability to use that audio aspect, something print news cannot. Since written news can’t use audio and visual, it has to effectively and efficiently create and illustrate the story through words.

With that, a good radio/TV news story is one that utilizes all the elements. Not only should the report effectively answer all the basic questions of the story: who, what, when, where, why, and how; but it should also take advantage of the visual and audio privileges, using sounds, images, and footage to make the report both exciting and memorable.

No bias in news stories

What is good public relations? How does writing for PR differ from writing news?

Good public relations is having the public approve and be happy with the company you work for, even if you do something wrong. Good PR is keeping the public informed with what you are doing by writing press releases and advertising all of the good things your company is doing. When companies have scandals, good public relations become harder to have but this is when you can truly tell how good you are at PR work.

Writing for PR is different from writing for news because the who, what, where, when, why and how does not go at the very beginning, you can include these factors throughout the release. It is not written in inverted pyramid style, so important information can be throughout the release rather than most important first, like in a news story. PR releases also always have a bias towards the company, where as news stories are not supposed to have one.

Writing a Good Obituary

Death is never an easy aspect of life to overcome. With that in mind, it is important that when dealing with the subject, as touchy as it may be, that the author writes good obituary to display significance of the deceased.

When writing an obituary, it is pivotal to know and understand who the individual is. An obituary that is poorly written or written with incorrect statements is very disrespectful and can cause more issues. While containing all the basic information -- name, age at death, date, etc. -- a good obituary will display the positives of the individuals life, including accomplishments and the impact he/she had on both individuals and society alike. Likewise, including topics such as hobbies can really draw more respect from the readers. It shows the audience that the person was active and wasn’t wasting his/her life away. Lastly, a key aspect is to let the audience know who the deceased is “survived by.” This means that you are telling the readers who the deceased has left behind (i.e. Mr. Smith is survived by his wife, Laura Smith).

People read the obituaries for a variety of reasons. Some may be old themselves and are reading to see if they know any of the deceased or in small towns, individuals are reading the obituaries because they know the majority of the town members. Whatever the reason may be, it is important that the obituaries are written correctly and respectfully.

Makings of a feature story

A good feature can grab the attention of the audience without piling all the information in the beginning of the story. Even more, a feature includes outside information that isn’t normally included in news stories, and address all aspects of the story. When writing a feature, the author can include a lot more detail and information, while making a longer story for the audience. A feature story allows the writer to include excess information that wouldn’t normally be in one of the succinct news stories. This can include various outside sources, references, quotes, and opinionated pieces. Likewise, the format of the story doesn’t have to be the same ‘inverted pyramid’ style that a regular news story is in.

A news story on the other hand, is very brief and factual. With the ‘inverted pyramid’ style, the writer puts the key information in the beginning of the article, in order to ensure the attention of the audience. A news story must only contain factual information that briefly, but clearly explains the story. Also, regular news stories contain the most important information in the lede of the story.

Radio/Television vs. Print

A good radio/television is more complicated to create than what meets the eye. With the audience being able to use multiple senses to acquire information, the broadcasting networks must appeal to them.

However, radio/television stories are usually on the shorter end of the spectrum, meaning the networks have less time to project the information to the audience. With print stories, the author writes an article and it goes on a website or in a newspaper for the audience to maybe read. These print stories are often seen as boring, when they could be watching the story and getting audio/video clips. Television stories, on the other hand, usually contain audio clips as well as visuals, while also addressing the same information that is in the print stories.

Moreover, it is often difficult, with a deadline, to prepare television stories to go on air. With an article, the deadline must be met by having the writing prepared, but a television story must have the correct timing for the audio clips and visuals.

What makes a news story different than a feature story?

There are a lot of differences between feature stories and news stories. The two follow very different writing styles. For example, in a feature story the writer doesn’t need to be so direct with the writing. A feature can have more detail and can be significantly more elaborate and descriptive, not worrying about getting all the key information out in the lede. A feature story is not written in the inverted pyramid format, but instead the “feature approach”.

A news story, on the other hand, has many constraints. It needs to be succinct and factual, as well as very direct and informative. News stories are written for the purpose of reporting on current events as quickly, briefly, and concise as possible. Unlike a feature story, people read hard news stories for the purpose of learning about current events and happenings, while feature stories, on the other hand, are read for pleasure. Feature stories are often written on specific subjects, intended for a specific demographic.

Both stories are written for very different purposes, but at the same time it would be extremely difficult to have one without the other. Its important for newspapers to have the balance between news and entertainment in order to satisfy all of the readers needs.

What Makes a Good Obituary?

When writing an obituary, the writer should apply the same standards as for other stories. The author should begin by answering these questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. A distinguishing characteristic of the persons life should be mentioned; such as volunteer service, and unusual or important job, service in public office, or having a name of historical significance. Writing approaches can be varied for obituaries and life story as for any other news story. When writing an obituary, all facts should be checked, such as the spelling of names, addresses, and the deceased’s age against the birth date. The funeral home should always be called to confirm the death as well. The writer should also avoid words that are meant for a eulogy, for those words are not appropriate in a news report. The writer should also be careful with religious terms in order not to offend. When including the cause of the death, the reporter should make sure to contact the mortuary, the family, the attending physician, and the appropriate medical officer; only leaving out the cause of death if none of these sources release the information. It’s also important to consider the cause itself, if it’s something a family may not want published then the reporter should not insist. The most important thing for a reporter to consider when dealing with obituaries is that they are very sensitive and complicated reports, and should be handled with a lot of care.

Physicalities Over Skill: What Makes a good radio/TV story?

The realm of radio and television news is a lot more complex than its hard print brethren. Not only are the deadlines oftentimes more precise, due to having to be done in time for a certain or multiple daily broadcasts as compared to one daily, weekly, or monthly print, but the voice of the speaker plays a major role. For both radio and television, the speaker telling the audience must speak with confidence, punctuality and minimal error so that the story comes across smooth. If the speaker’s voice isn’t up to par with the piece that they are trying to say, the broadcast can become uninteresting or even worse, inaccurate. But television is even one step higher. Not only do the speakers have to have great voices, but physical appearance also plays a role. If you think of many great newscasters, they are good-looking and will more times than not wear makeup. If a newscaster doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing to the audience, they may be less likely to listen to them communicate the news.

Getting in Your Fifteen Seconds of Fame in..... in Five??

No I’m not literally referring to the news making you more famous, but the ideal of this title does hold a lot of the same principles of fame. News as a genre, is fast paced and ever-changing so you must be able to quickly gather information for and write your story in a quick amount of time. But the key thing that makes a news story different from a feature story is the punctuality. Oftentimes news stories are brief, containing minimal sentences and taking up small amounts of time on radio or television shows. Seeing as how these stories must be fit into a smaller space, they must contain only contain the most important information. The who, what, when, where, why and how must be given to the audience as quick as possible, and then if there is more time or room for the story, more information can follow. This is different from a feature story because in most cases a feature story wants to have equally pertinent information throughout the story, making the audience want to make it the whole way through the story.

Short, not always sweet

What makes a good radio/TV news story?

To craft a ‘good’ story for a broadcast medium, one has to keep brevity in mind. Not only do TV and radio stations have a limited amount of time in which to tell their stories, they must also grab the audience’s attention in this amount of time. To do this, the stories presented must be succinct and brief. The story needs to be able to be delivered in as little as four sentences. Thus, the writer must work on condensing his or her lede to include the most essential information. A good TV or radio story doesn’t try to say everything at once—it says as much as it can in the limited amount of time it has.

Delivery

What makes a good radio/tv news story? How is it different than print?

A good radio/tv news story, like print, has to have all of the news elements such as how "new" it is, how relevant it is, how it effects it's audience, how much its audience cares about the subject, and so on.

However contrary to print the person who delivers the news is important. In radio the person must have a nice and clear voice, and in television the person must not only have a nice and clear voice, they must also look nice as well.

Although these things should not matter, they do because the ratings are higher when someone looks better, and this intern earns the station more money. Most news stations are not driven by profit however they do need to earn enough to sustain the business and in this economy that is very difficult.

Which Would You Rather?

What makes a news story different than a feature story?

A feature story can break a few rules that the news story must follow. For instance, a feature story does not have to be direct and to the point. There are less constraints on the length of a feature story than that of a news story. The style of writing is also different. While writing a feature story, one can be elaborative and descriptive. A news story needs to be concise and factual. A feature is not written in the inverted pyramid style like the news story and so it takes more time to get all the information out of it.

A feature story and a news story are read for different reasons as well. Typically, news stories are read just to give the reader his or her daily dose of the happenings of the world as quickly as possible. People read a feature however, for pleasure and because they are interested in a certain subject. Features are enjoyable reads and that is why journalists should be more careful while writing them.