The editors need to take more charge, make sure you challenge the legalities and facts in every news story. CHECK, CHECK, CHECK. We must be sceptical and question everything. Journalism is there to check the facts.
You must come to the news conference and begin with the statement ‘I have got this…’, we cannot have excuses or plans. The formality needs to come back.
Overall the WINOL text stories on the site need improvement, it needs to be constantly updated like any other online news site. The subbing and production side of WINOL is good and is almost there technically, we can only get better.
What makes Chris happy?
Success, be successful – this is the ultimate goal to improve WINOL’s reputation and make us employable
The best possible thing that we can get is an inside scoop – see Christina’s cameras in court legislation story which she published before Sky News. You make your own luck in journalism, build your contacts up and be in the right place. *Always be in the know*
Subject + Verb + Object = HEADLINES
The subject and verb must agree on:
Tense
Plural
Case – the subject must be capable of producing the action of the verb
People should always be the focus of any news story, this is journalism. If they are used in the headline, it is easier to attach verbs to people this is a good tool for creating a hard hitting headline. *Always use the active voice*
Introductions should be in a simple and summary style, your top paragraph should include Who? What? Where? When? The easiest way to do this is to read newspapers and use them as examples. Just remember that the formula works, copy its structure!
The second paragraph should be your ‘the move follows’ paragraph; it is the explanation of your story. Use this as your why paragraph.
Punctuation needs checking, this is the main job for the subs they should not have to rewrite your whole story.
‘He said in a statement’ is a must for press releases and lifting quotes, just the verb ‘said’ sounds like you have had an interview and the quotes are direct from your work. For lifting, no attribution means no quote. Lifting quotes can be okay, use the phrases: ‘speaking to the press’, ‘told reporters’ and ‘told a newspaper’. There is no need to name the paper but try to limit lifting to 30 words maximum – roughly three sentences maximum before its classed as stealing. When attributing the source, remember to put the date on it the audience want to know how recent the news is. Use ‘said’, ‘says’ or ‘tweeted’. You can also assume that the press officer’s words are the individual’s too, never use ‘a spokesperson said’.
Quotes should only be used as comment, the best quotes are ‘its a dream come true’ or ‘its a nightmare’.
Comment vs Fact:
Fact is an independently verifiable truth statement that should always be in your voice and can be checked by definition. They are not always worth chasing, you have two options either to leave it out or to fudge it. To fudge it means to attribute it or to look it up – the phrase ‘who claims to be’ is very important for this. Comment is everything else.
There is no such thing as checking too many facts; the number one fatal error is that you must never pass comment off as fact.
The perfect combination for a written news story is facts + quotes + headline
Make sure there is a local angle – what is the Winchester perspective? Southampton? Eastleigh?
News writing should have no personality, a mid-market style with a sense of disinterested professionalism.
Put the function first before the name, obviously there are a few exceptions to the rule this would involve celebrities because their job is essentially being themselves. E.g. ‘US President Barack Obama’
Never put an ellipsis in a quote, instead use ‘someone said,[QUOTE], adding she said’. This break can add words up to a thousand words later, find the best quotes. Remember to filter!
Use quotes in your headlines to as impact and get your stories read, this is why we are writing them after all.
Pictures for written stories need to relate to the story and be people orientated ideally and all pictures must have captions.
Two last points to bear in mind are:
What is the best subject? – This will help with headlines and the angle of your story, it all revolves back around to planning
When is recently? – We need times and dates because news is essentially new stuff
*Be careful of commercial malice*
From now on the WINOL site must have simple, declarative and active sentences.
megrosefisher 