Deciphering “News” (and our roles as journalists)

COM466 – 4 Apr 2011
Deciphering “News” (and our roles as digital journalists)

From Poynter - NewsU Tutorial
Prominence
Importance
Human Interest
Timeliness
Proximity
Meaning

The 5Ws+H
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How

Other Considerations
Controversy/Conflict
Usefulness
Emotion
Impact
Educational Value (“civic journalism”)

Check It Out : Newsworthiness
KING5: Willie Greens …
What elements of this story are told “best” through images? Sound?
CNN: Was your fish dinner…
What elements of this story are told “best” through images? Sound?
WaPo: Fact Checker …
What elements of this story are told “best” through text?

Verification
Direct observation (the reporter was there)
Who said? (the reporter interviewed someone)
Challenge: most stories quote government officials, “expert” counterparts
Who said? (the reporter accessed public databases, documents)

Verification Exercise
You read this on Twitter or Facebook: “RT @yourBFF: OMG. There’s been a 7.1 earthquake in SF!”
What do you do?
RT/share based on trust of source
RT/share only after verifying
How might you verify?
Why would the comment be more credible with a link included? Why might it not be a good practice to RT/share without checking the link (if it were there)?

Clarification
Ask questions in order to simplify, put a fact/idea/event into context
Tell more more about …
What happened next?
Who else was involved?
No “closed ended” questions!
Rephrase what you think you heard to get confirmation from your expert

Four Big Tasks
Invite (lede/lead)
Inform (the hook/what’s in it for the reader)
Illuminate (your evidence)
Connect (context)

Judgment
Journalism requires interpretation, judgment
“News” could be a stock quote or today’s temperature, but without context, it’s just data
In other words, we need facts but facts alone are not “journalism”

A Bit More On Context
What might be important to us as the UW community might not be important to everyone in Seattle
But what’s important in Olympia might be important to everyone in the state
Providing that context is a key part of a journalist’s responsibility

Thinking About Audience
Assume: Microsoft just announced it’s laying off 3K employees, one/third in Seattle area
How might this be reported in the WSJ?
How might this be reported in the Seattle Times?
How might this be reported on GeekWire?
How might it be reported in the London Guardian?
What questions do you have that will contextualize this “fact” for your audience?

Accuracy
AKA “getting it right”
Spelling (especially proper names – spell check doesn’t always help here)
Grammar
Facts
What else?

Simplicity
AKA not talking over their heads!
“At this point in time, the current levels of societal tension are enough to create a high degree of anxiety among citizens of every persuasion and every economic and cultural class.”versus
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
From http://www.jprof.com/wfmm7/chapter1.html

Your Check List
Working in small groups, develop a checklist for evaluating the “news” that crosses your computer screen

Credits
Kathy E Gill
@kegill, @kegill_uw
http://wiredpen.com
http://faculty.uw.edu/kegill
Creative Commons: share-and-share alike, non-commercial, attribution

Deciphering “News” (and our roles as journalists)

by Kathy Gill on Apr 04, 2011

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Deciphering “News” (and our roles as journalists) — Presentation Transcript