This document discusses the basics of journalism and news reporting. It defines what constitutes news and lists common sources of news like newspapers, television, radio, and the internet. It also examines where people get their news and why they and journalists report the news. The document then focuses on the structure of newspapers, describing the typical breakdown of advertising and editorial content. It outlines different types of news stories and how "hard news" is typically written in an inverted pyramid structure with the most important facts in the first paragraph for quick reading.

1. Journalism- Unit 4 News Basics P. Denton January, 2010

2. What is news? A report of a current event in a newspaper or on radio, TV, internet, or even word of mouth.

3. Sources of News Newspapers TV Magazines Internet Billboards Radio Letters/Notes Word of Mouth Telephone Texting Email Blogs Books

4. You and the News Where do you get most of your news? What source of news is the most accurate? Which of these is most entertaining? Why do people provide the news? Why are people interested in getting news? Who controls the news?

5. What is in a newspaper? Advertising Editorial Content

6. What is in a newspaper? Advertising Editorial Content Paid Classifieds Display Ads 60% of the paper Ads get put in first! Controlled by the editor Written by reporters 40% of the paper Articles fill up the rest of the paper (News Hole)

7. 3 Different Types of News Hard News World news State news City news Local news Business Events & Issues Weather & Construction Death Notices Facts not opinions Usually in the first section of the paper Soft News Sports Entertainment Food Travel Celebrity Gossip Editorials (opinions) Obituary Features (type of soft) Syndicated Comics Horoscopes Reviews Advice

8. In daily newspapers most hard news stories are written in the Inverted Pyramid style.

10. Reasons for the Inverted Pyramid: Makes reading easier and faster Enables the hurried reader to get all the important facts in a very short period of time Satisfies curiosity in a logical way Makes page makeup easier Makes the work of the editor easier

11. The first paragraph of a news story contains the most important information. This is called the Summary Lead , because it summarizes the most important facts about the story.

12. Characteristics of a good Summary Lead Briefest possible summary of a story, usually no more than 25 words. Includes only those Ws and H that are important. These usually include the What , Who and sometimes When , and sometimes the So What .

13. What are the Ws and H Who What When Where Why How

14. Characteristics of a good Summary Lead Usually only one paragraph but may be more. It is easier to read two short paragraphs than one long one. Usually starts with the feature of the story, the most important fact.

15. Characteristics of a good Summary Lead Quickly summarizes in the first few words the most important fact of the story. The What is usually the most used feature of a lead, followed closely by the Who . (The Who should be used only when the name itself is clearly the most important fact.)

16. The lead tells the most important part of the story, and the body of the story gives the other facts in decreasing order of importance.