This document provides an overview of key concepts in journalism. It begins with a list of common journalism terms and concepts. It then provides brief historical summaries of milestones in the development of press freedom, including the early colonial period with censorship of newspapers, the Peter Zenger case which established truth as a defense against libel, and the inclusion of freedom of the press in the US Constitution. The document also discusses the development of yellow journalism and muckraking journalism. It concludes with descriptions of the different types of news stories and features articles as well as elements of writing such as the inverted pyramid structure and headlines.

1. Journalism

2. 1. Advance
2. Angle
3. Attribution
4. Brite & Brief
5. Caption
6. Censor
7. Cliché
8. Copyright
9. Cutoff Test
10. Defamation
11. Downstyle
12. Editorial
13. Elements of News
14. Feature
15. 5 Ws & the H
16. Format
17. Gutter
18. Inverted Pyramid
19. Kicker
20. Lede (lead)
21. Libel
22. Nameplate
23. Nut Graf
24. Plagiarism
25. Point
26. Primary head
27. Proofing
28. Secondary head
29. Tabloid
30. Transition

3. PUBLICK OCCURRENCES-1690
No “Freedom of the Press”
Peter Zenger Case-
Printed criticisms about the
governor of NY
Zenger charged with seditious
libel
Libel is a form of defamation
Libel law at the time: “The greater
the truth, the greater the libel”
Trial established the right of a
newspaper to print the truth

4. Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of
grievances.
~ 1776
o
f
freedom
the
press

5. “You furnish the pictures.
I’ll furnish the war.”
~ William Randolph Hearst
Based upon sensationalism
and crude exaggeration
Unethical, irresponsible
journalism
Hoaxes, altered photos,
sensational headlines
Competition between New
York Journal and New York
World
Spanish-American
War
Early 1900’s

6. Upton Sinclair
1906
“The Jungle”
These were/are journalists who exposed
corruption in government and business
Term comes from “muck” on meatpacking floors —
“The Jungle”
McClure's Magazine (1893–1929)
Unethical & illegal business dealings
Food & drug corruption
Child labor
Continue into investigative journalism
Automobile safety
Political corruption
Ralph Nader
1965
“Unsafe at Any Speed”
Bob Woodward &
Carl Bernstein
Washington Post 1972 “Watergate”
Ida Tarbell
1904
“The History of the
Standard Oil Company”

8. 1. Proximity
2. Timeliness
3. Prominence
4. Consequence
5. Personality, Human Interest
6. Rarity
7. Concreteness
8. Conflict
Change

9. News
Reporting news in a straight-forward manner covering all
the required facts.
The style is direct with focus on the gist of the story with
other necessary points.
The news style should be concise and precise.
The facts must be crosschecked which makes the news
item as authentic as possible without any media bias.
Such news pieces often cover politics and social
movements.
News stories based on political suppression, public
movements or abuse of human rights have proved
instrumental in effecting many a social change, or giving
voice to the oppressed.
Similarly, cultural events are also covered in news
journalism.

10. Types of News
1. Spot story Write it quickly, clearly and simply.
2. Sidebar is a spot story that is filed as a
companion piece to a running “trunk” story or
series of updates on breaking news. It may be a
related Alert and Newsbreak or a basic spot
news story. It may cover reaction or some other
development linked with a major running story.
3. Curtainraisers or previews by definition are
written ahead of set-piece events – meetings,
visits, elections, trials, earnings, speeches etc.

11. Types of News
Investigative journalism is a primary source of
information.
Investigative journalism often focuses on investigating
and exposing unethical, immoral and illegal behavior by
individuals, businesses and government agencies
It can be complicated, time-consuming and
expensive—requiring teams of journalists, months of
research, interviews (sometimes repeated interviews)
with numerous people, long-distance travel, computers
to analyze public-record databases, or use of the
company's legal staff to secure documents under
freedom of information laws.

12. Stories that go into deeper detail than straight
news
More “human”
Human interest
Entertainment
More creativity

13. Features
A feature story is an insight into a trend or an issue or personality.
Usually longer forms of writing; more attention is paid to style than in
straight news reports.
Must be written in a creative and interesting way. The first two paragraphs
must grab the reader's attention and still convey article’s ideas
They are often combined with photographs, drawings or other "art" such as
a picture, graphic, video or factbox.
They may also be highlighted by typographic effects or colors.
It uses specific examples to illustrate trends or issues and puts them in a
broad framework allowing the social, economic, corporate or political
implications to shine through, whether local, national or global.
A feature is essentially cross-sectoral i.e. it should appeal to anyone in a
global audience of politically and financially aware readers.

14. Types of Features
1. News Feature: cover the same subjects as deadline hard-news stories, but
do so in greater depth and detail.
2. Spot features are feature stories produced on deadline that focus on a
breaking news event. Often news features are used as sidebars to
the mainbar, the main deadline news story about an event.
3. Profiles of prominent or unique individuals of interest to the community.
4. A “brite” or “odd” is a story which is funny, quirky or bizarre. A “bright” may
also be poignant or sad and invariably involves people. Usually covered
because the details were unusual.
5. Reviews: books, films, music, restaurants and more
6. Q&A-type interviews
7. Background for certain events or traditions
8. Historical pieces that delve into the past

15. Sports
Reporting on a particular sport event.
Provides accurate facts and statistics related to
that event.
Interviews with celebrity sport stars are yet one
of the interesting features of sports journalism.
Although sports-lovers watch the live coverage
thanks to the media, there are many people who
still enjoy reading or watching in-depth details
about the event.

16. Brites
Advances
Comics
Horoscopes
Puzzles
Recipes
Other “fun” stuff

17. Dog bites man
Man bites dog

18. 5Ws & H

19. Almost always a single sentence
Less than 30-35 words long
Summarize the most important of
the “Ws”
Limit to one central idea
“Hook” the reader

20. LEDE
(almost always one sentence)
The most important information in the
story should be in the first few paragraphs
BODY
Secondary facts of the
story
Minor facts
of the
story

21. A “slant” to your story.
makes the purpose of the story clear and give it
focus.
RIGHT:
More than 100 people were left
homeless after a tornado struck
Titusville yesterday.
WRONG:
Seventeen houses were flattened by
a tornado that struck Titusville
yesterday.

22. murder
forced
captured
death
assisted
detained

23. 37 feared dead in boat accident
Men heard boasting of daily shootings
Shark fin soup alters ecosystem
Oh rubbish!! Sucking up trash
Violent storms batter southeast
Groups sue over toxic toys
23

24. Few or no articles
Action verbs only
Does the headline express the main idea of the
story?
Does the headline effectively label the story's
content?
Will it create reader interest?
Will it move readers into the story?
Does the headline focus match the lead focus?
Are the words short, common, colorful, powerful,
specific?
Would you read a story with this headline?

25. Term Meaning
downstyle Capitalizing one the first letter of the first
word and proper nouns in the headline
primary head A headline that is larger and bolder than
its accompanying headline
secondary head A headline that is smaller and lighter
than its accompanying headline (also
called a kicker)

26. Kicker / secondary
head Primary
head
Craze makes comeback
Hula Hoops on a roll
Downstyle

27. Man stabbed 37 times-police rule out suicide
March planned for next August
Patient at death's door--doctors pull him through
Child's stool great for use in garden
Juvenile court to try shooting defendant
Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers

28. William Kelly, 87, was fed secretary
Iraqi head seeks arms
Drunk gets nine months in violin case
Enraged cow injures farmer with ax
Deer kill 7,000
Local high school dropouts cut in half
Include your children when baking cookies

29. Tabloid
Format
Fold
Gutter
Caption
Point