News Value 101

Impact

Timeliness

Prominence

Proximity

Conflict

Weirdness

Currency

These are some of the key elements reporters pay attention to when reporting daily news. Each and every one of these elements has a specific role in news and the creation of leads for articles. The following definitions where given in my basic news writing course earlier this month.

Impact: information has impact, if it affects a lot of people.

Timeliness: information has timeliness if it happened recently which is defined by the publication cycle

Prominence: information has prominence if it involves a well-known person or organization

Proximity: information has proximity if it involves something that happened near by

Conflict: information has conflict if it involves some kind of disagreement between two or more people

Weirdness: information has weirdness if it involves something unusual or strange

Currency: information has weirdness if it involves some general topic a lot of people are already talking about.

When these elements come together, they make great leads and articles. This is another thing to consider this week when writing leads.

No More Caveman Speak In this Class

Writing headlines is just like signing up for Geico auto insurance. It so easy even a cave man can do it. Writing leads on the other hand is a more complex task. Today in my basic news writing course we reviewed how to write a good summary lead. Studies show that after the first 50 words or less of an article, if the reader does not like what they have read will stop reading. If you’re unfamiliar with news or broadcast writing, you might still be wondering what a lead is. It is the first sentence, the second sentence, or the first paragraph in newspaper or magazine. It is also considered to be the most important aspect of an article. At first glance writing a lead can appear to be a simple task but my classmates and I ended up writing headlines with missing articles, and verbs instead of leads. Here are a few tips to writing a good lead.

1.       Make sure the lead contains between 18 to 20 words

2.       Make sure it is a complete sentence. (subject, verb, prepositional phrase etc.)

3.       Include all little words (articles such as “a” “an” “the”)

4.       Include who, what, why, where, when, and how

5.       Reread it out loud

6.       Include all interesting details

7.       Use strong active verbs

8.       Emphasize the correct magnitude of the story

My one thing this week was better said by my professor, “No more cave man speak in this class”

Assignment 7: Copy Edit Article in the Beacon

Assignment 7

 

Article: The Tragedy of Tanning

Writen By Olga Peredery

Copy Edited By Monique LeBrun

“A  tan, whether you get it at the beach, in a bed or through incidental exposure, is a bad news any way you acquire it,” said in an article in Tanning is Not Part of a Healthy Lifestyle.”

Edited

An article in, Tanning is Not Part of a Healthy Lifestyle stated, “A  tan, whether you get it at the beach, in a bed or through incidental exposure, is a bad news any way you acquire it.”

Researchers have proved that the UVA rays from the sun can do damage to the immune system, your eyesight, it also prematurely ages your skin, disrupt skin pigment, cause brown spots and last but not least-cntributes to the development of skin cancer.

Edited

Researchers have proven that the UVA rays from the sun can do damage to your immune system, your eyesight, and your skin. The UVA rays can prematurely age your skin, disrupt skin pigment, and cause brown spots. Lastly sun rays contribute to the development of skin cancer.