MIL WK 4
MIL WK 4
MIL WK 4
What is "Journalism?"
Journalism is a form of writing that tells people about things that really happened, but that they might
not have known about already.
The most important characteristic shared by good journalists is curiosity. Good journalists love to read
and want to find out as much as they can about the world around them.
People who write journalism are called "journalists." They might work at newspapers, magazines,
websites or for TV or radio stations.
Journalism comes in several different forms:
I. News
A. Breaking news: Telling about an event as it happens.
B. Feature stories: A detailed look at something interesting that's not breaking news.
C. Enterprise or Investigative stories: Stories that uncover information that few people knew.
II. Opinion
A. Editorials: Unsigned articles that express a publication's opinion.
B. Columns: Signed articles that express the writer's reporting and his conclusions.
C. Reviews: Such as concert, restaurant or movie reviews.
Types of Journalism
A. Reporting
How do you get the facts for your news story? By reporting!
There are three main ways to gather information for a news story or opinion piece:
Interviews: Talking with people who know something about the story you are reporting.
Observation: Watching and listening where news is taking place.
Documents: Reading stories, reports, public records and other printed material.
Note: Whenever you are interviewing someone, observing something happening or reading about something,
you will want to write down the answers to the "Five Ws" about that source:
Who are they?
What were they doing?
Where were they doing it?
When they do it?
Why did they do it?
Tips: Many good reporters got their start by keeping a diary. Buy a notebook, and start jotting down anything
interesting you hear, see or read each day. You might be surprised to discover how many good stories you
encounter each week!
B. Writing
Here are the keys to writing good journalism:
Get the facts. All the facts you can.
Tell your readers where you got every bit of information you put in your story.
Be honest about what you do not know.
Don't try to write fancy. Keep it clear.
Tips:
Start your story with the most important thing that happened in your story. This is called your "lead." It
should summarize the whole story in one sentence.
From there, add details that explain or illustrate what's going on. You might need to start with some
background or to "set the scene" with details of your observation
Again, write the story like you were telling it to a friend. Start with what's most important, then add
background or details as needed.
When you write journalism, your paragraphs will be shorter than you are used to in classroom writing.
Each time you introduce a new source, you will start a new paragraph. Each time you bring up a new
point, you will start a new paragraph. Again, be sure that you tell the source for each bit of information
you add to the story.
Whenever you quote someone's exact words, you will put them within quotation marks and provide
"attribution" at the end of the quote. Here's an example:
"I think Miss Cherng's class is really great," ten-year-old McKinley student Hermione Granger said.
Sometimes, you can "paraphrase" what a source says. That means that you do not use the source's exact
words, but reword it to make it shorter, or easier to understand.
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INTERVIEW TIPS
Directions: Use the following tips to plan and do your interview. You may not need to follow each one, but be
sure to review all steps before starting.