WCC COMM 118

1. BROADCAST JOURNALISM:
CHAPTER #2
Selecting Stories
and Starting to Write

2. TODAY’S AGENDA
NEWSCAST OBSERVATION
READING WRITING
EXERCISE #2
CHAPTER #2 DISCUSSION
IN-CLASS QUIZ-CHAPTER
#1
WRITING EXERCISE #3 FOR

3. TODAY’S AGENDA
Broadcast Journalism in action
While we watch this newscast,
really listen to the way the stories
are written and delivered
You should be able to spot a clear
connection between the stories in
the newscast and what we’ve
discussed in class

4. WRITING REVIEW
 READ YOUR WRITING EXERCISE #2 OUT
LOUD TO THE CLASS
 IS THE LEAD IN PRESENT/FUTURE TENSE?
 IS THE LEAD AND YOUR STORY
CONVERSATIONAL?
 IS YOUR SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND
PUNCTUATION CORRECT?
 DID YOU USE EMPHASIS AND/OR PAUSES?
 DID YOU SOUND LIKE YOU WERE TALKING
INSTEAD OF JUST READING?

5. NEWSWORTHINESS
 It’s how one decides what stories are worth
covering
 Deciding what your audience wants to
see/hear = GATEKEEPING
 Someone has to decide what stories to
cover by using “news judgment”
 GOAL: Infotainment = information presented
in an entertaining way
 CRITICISM: Entermation = entertainment
with only a dash of information

6. NEWSWORTHINESS:
PROXIMITY
 WHERE an event occurs is important - what
happens locally is more important to local
viewers than what happens elsewhere
 LOCAL NEWS: One local death = Five
elsewhere in the state = 20 elsewhere in the
country = Hundreds elsewhere in the world
 Proximity = Coverage Possibility
 How local or national or global your
programming is determines your proximity
range

7. NEWSWORTHINESS:
TIMELINESS
 WHEN an event occurs is important - how
current or “now” is the story? Can you get it
live?
 Tendency to favor stories breaking/happening
closer or during actual newscast time
 Older stories can suffer in terms of show
coverage
 “If it’s already been in the newspaper, it’s too
old for your TV newscast”
 Advancing the story is key to being timely - give

8. NEWSWORTHINESS: IMPACT
 WHICH stories will have the greatest impact on
the greatest number of viewers?
 Big Stories = the ones everyone’s going to
cover
 Smaller Stories = the ones you’re going to
cover
 “Small” Emotional Stories can have a great
impact on audiences
 Number of people involved can maximize
impact – large crowds mean large interest
 The importance of a story – how much does it

9. NEWSWORTHINESS:
PROMINENCE
 WHO has the news happened to? A person’s
standing in society and general importance
plays a large role in a story’s newsworthiness
 Be careful fame, rather than prominence,
doesn’t become your only criteria for
newsworthiness
 Human Interest Stories = “little” people can
make for good stories, too

10. NEWSWORTHINESS:
CONFLICT
 Disagreement makes for good stories and even
better video
 Confrontations are popular topics but must be
treated carefully and without embellishment
 Showing conflict simply for conflict’s sake runs
the risk of turning your newscast into The Jerry
Springer Show
 Conflict is at the heart of most news stories and
drives human interest – there’s a fine line
between reporting on conflict and exploiting

11. NEWSWORTHINESS:
SIMPLICITY
 CAN we cover this story with our limitations? Is
it too complex to cover in the time we have
allotted?
 TV NEWS = HEADLINE SERVICE
 “Complex” stories can often be made simple –
ask yourself what the most important/interesting
part of it is and highlight that as your lead
 Refer viewers/listeners to your website if
appropriate – but be sure there’s really
something there worth seeing!

12. OTHER NEWSWORTHINESS
FACTORS
 Can we get good video and natural
sound?
Stories are often dropped if they don’t have
good pictures and/or sound – why use the
broadcast time for a non-visual/non-sound
story?
 What else is happening? Has something
big happened that’s going to determine
story choices? Or is it a slow news day?

13. GATEKEEPING
Deciding what stories to run =
GATEKEEPING
Important job = what you decide to
cover can help the public decide
what’s important and what’s not
because they rely on the media to
help them make sense of all the
news in the world

14. 6 NEWSWORTHINESS FACTOR
QUESTIONS
PROXIMITY (Where did this
happen?)
TIMELINESS (When did this
happen?)
IMPACT (How many are
impacted?)
PROMINENCE (Who is involved?)

15. OTHER NEWSWORTHINESS
FACTORS
 Can we get good video and natural
sound?
Stories are often dropped if they don’t have
good pictures and/or sound – why use the
broadcast time for a non-visual/non-sound
story?
 What else is happening? Has something
big happened that’s going to determine
story choices? Or is it a slow news day?

16. PAGE F TEST
Presenting stories in the most
clear, concise way possible =
broadcast journalism
Answering 5 W’s & the H (plus the
“So What?”)
PAGE F Test applied to scripts
helps achieve these goals

17. PAGE F TEST
P = PRECISE WORDS?
A = ACCURACY?
G = GERMANE?
E = EQUITABLY?
F = FLOW?

18. PAGE F TEST
P = PRECISE WORDS?
Are your words exact and to the
point?
Are you saying what you mean to
say?
Is there any confusion as to what
you mean?

19. PAGE F TEST
A = ACCURACY?
Is your story accurate?
Have you gotten names, dates,
times, etc. correct?
Have you made assumptions about
basic
facts/spellings/pronunciations?

20. PAGE F TEST
G = GERMANE? (relevant to a subject
under consideration.)
Is what you’ve written truly relevant to
the story?
Is it the most important information?
Have you decided what the story is
about?
Make a one sentence summary

21. PAGE F TEST
G = GERMANE?
Not including only relevant
information mostly comes from the
writer’s inability to decide what the
story is about!
Again – before writing a single
word of copy, make a one-
sentence commitment to the
story so you know what to write

22. PAGE F TEST
E = EQUITABLY?
Have you been fair to all parties
involved?
Different than political correctness –
this is about being accurate
Have you tried to cover both/all
sides?

23. PAGE F TEST
F = FLOW?
Does your story flow?
Is it pleasant to listen to when read
aloud?
Does it make sense when read
aloud?
Do your sentences flow logically

24. NEWSWORTHINESS +
CHECKING
Knowing WHAT to cover is the
first step in effective broadcast
journalism
Checking HOW you cover
stories is the second step in
effective broadcast journalism

25. LOOKING AHEAD…
IN-CLASS QUIZ-CHAPTER
ONE
DUE BY END OF CLASS
TODAY
WRITING EXERCISE #3
DUE NEXT CLASS
Read Chapter #3: The Art of