DOCSLIB.ORG

Television Journalism (205) UNIT-1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Television Journalism (205) UNIT-1 Television Journalism (205) UNIT-1 Basics of TV News Basic Principles of News Writing This blog provides tips for writing news stories, including style and ethics pointers. An entire textbook could be written on this subject, and several have been, this site is just a simple overview that gives enough information for a new reporter, or even a more seasoned one, to improve their writing and other journalism skills. 1. Lead Writing Since readers may not have time to read an entire article, the lead of a story, typically the first full paragraph, should contain all pertinent information in the article. By reading the lead paragraph the reader should find the basic who, what, where, when of a story. In short, if the audience does not have the time to read every article in its entirety, the lead will give them a summary of the story. This goes along with the inverted pyramid model of an article, in which the most important information comes first, with the body of the article providing more detailed facts and analysis as well as secondary facts that may be cut out if necessary. A lead may begin with a snappy intro to capture the reader’s attention, but a simple opening providing basic facts can be just as effective. Don’t write a lead paragraph as you would write an introductory paragraph to an essay. There are differences in style and content. Here is an example of a typical lead: A rabid dog attacked Greensburg resident Samuel Miller last Thursday, May 4. Miller was running near his Fort Allen home when a large Doberman bit his forearm and nearly mauled him before a passer-by intervened. The dog, which was not wearing a collar, was later caught by Animal Control. 2. Interviewing - Research your article subject as well as the person you are going to interview beforehand so you can be prepared. Thorough research isn’t required but a basic knowledge of whatever topic you are writing about will show that you are professional and competent. The interview will run much more smoothly and the subject will be more willing to provide information if he/she thinks you are well informed. In addition, by knowing more about your source, you will be better prepared to come up with additional questions during the interview. - Contact your source as soon as possible and, if at all possible, try to arrange to meet with them in person. If this is not possible, a phone interview is most desirable since email communication can be problematic. Interviewing a subject online can cause misunderstandings. It also means that the interviewer cannot come up with additional questions during the interview. The last problem of course is that your source may simply ignore an email, while a phone call or personal meeting is harder to dismiss. - Always take notes but be sure to stay attentive to your source during the interview. This can be tricky so try to use a tape recorder, which means you can get accurate quotes without looking down at your steno pad and writing furiously throughout the interview. 3. Quotes Using quotes is one of the most important and essential parts of news writing. It is important not to simply tell the reader what has happened, but to illuminate the facts by providing quotes from multiple sources, including witnesses and experts on the subject of your article. Balance your quotes so they are not all one-sided. If the majority of a crowd loved a particular performance make sure to show this through quotes, but it is also important to find that representative voice of the minority of people who hated the show. Don’t quote facts, simply state them. If it is known that the national deficit is 4 billion dollars, it’s unnecessary to quote the secretary of the treasury when he mentions this in a speech. Keep quotes in context. Don’t misrepresent your sources. For obvious ethical reasons, don’t pick and choose pieces of what a source says in an interview to create your own story. It is your job as a journalist to provide the clearest and most accurate story possible. - Don’t introduce your quotes by summarizing them. Ex. Presidential nominee John Smith is elated at the chance to be president. “I’m thrilled to be nominated,” said Smith. - Do use quotes to illuminate the information provided beforehand. Ex. The big oil company defends its monumental profits. “We do not create the high price of oil, the laws of supply and demand determine those prices,” said Joe Oilman, CEO of Big Oil. - Remember to introduce your sources - correct example - “I’m not going to resign,” said secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld; don’t assume that the reader will know who you are talking about, even if it is a public official. 4. AP Style The Associated Press provides an entire manual on this subject, so obviously I can’t go through every style point here; these are a few examples of commonly made mistakes: The meeting will be held at 8 PM. - When writing out times, use a.m. and p.m. - not that they are lowercased and have periods. “I’m really happy that finals will be over soon,” said Sophomore Amy Smart. - Don’t capitalize school years - freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. The political science department will be having a barbecue for new majors, according to department chair Dr. Michael Moore. - The title Dr. is not used in AP style. Seton Hill’s commencement will be held Sunday, May 15th. - When writing dates, use only numerals, don’t add “th,” “nd,” or “st”. Also, don’t write out the numbers, such as third or first. The pharmaceutical company held a conference with Physician Joe Miller. - Don’t capitalize job titles. Punctuation for Quotes: Incorrect - “I really enjoyed myself at the concert.” Said Greensburg resident John Doe. Correct - “I really enjoyed myself at the concert,” said Greensburg resident John Doe. Style Guide - Provides a comprehensive A-Z list of media writing tips and style guidelines from a professor at Middle Tennessee State University. 5. Headlines The headline of a story needs to capture the attention of a reader as well as to reveal the substance of the article. Typically the first thing readers do when they pick up a newspaper is scan the headlines. The headline of a news story needs to be concise, specific and informative. It also needs to be in the present tense and contain active verbs. No periods come at the end of a headline and only the first word and any proper nouns should be capitalized. Semicolons and commas may be used. When placing a quote in a headline use single quotes instead of double quotes. Bad President held meeting (Too vague and in the past tense) Good President Smith addresses Congressional panel about gas prices Bad Church helped by service group (Don’t use passive verbs) Good Service club contributes time to local church Bad Man is arrested on drunken driving charges (Don’t use “To be” verbs) Good Man arrested on drunken driving charges Headline Help - This link provides a detailed analysis of headline writing with a long list of Do’s and Don’ts. 6. Ethics This is a loaded topic but there are some basic principles to adhere to. These links provide you with basic tips as well as case studies and articles. Society of Professional Journalists - The Society of Professional Journalists provides an ethics manual as well as links to ethics case studies and journalism ethics news. Pointers from Poynter - A great site with tips, case studies and articles. Especially useful are the “Guiding Principles” and “10 Questions for Ethical Decisions.” Core Values - Gives 6 core values for credible online journalism. Student Press and Free Speech - Link to page with almost 30 stories some dealing with censorship and legal cases. Interesting articles dealing with the tenuous nature of free speech in student press. Legal Issues - The Student Press Law Center provides legal advice and assistance to student publications in the realm of freedom of speech and the press. News Style News style, journalistic style or news writing style is the prose style used for news reporting in media such as newspapers, radio and television. News style encompasses not only vocabulary and sentence structure, but also the way in which stories present the information in terms of relative importance, tone, and intended audience. The tense used for news style articles is past tense. News writing attempts to answer all the basic questions about any particular event—who, what, when, where and why (the Five Ws) and also often how—at the opening of the article. This form of structure is sometimes called the "inverted pyramid", to refer to the decreasing importance of information in subsequent paragraphs. News stories also contain at least one of the following important characteristics relative to the intended audience: proximity, prominence, timeliness, human interest, oddity, or consequence. The related term journalese is sometimes used, usually pejoratively,[1] to refer to news-style writing. Another is headlinese. Overview Newspapers generally adhere to an expository writing style. Over time and place, journalism ethics and standards have varied in the degree of objectivity or sensationalism they incorporate. Definitions of professionalism differ among news agencies; their reputations, according to both professional standards and reader expectations, are often tied to the appearance of objectivity. In its most ideal form, news writing strives to be intelligible to the majority of readers, engaging, and succinct. Within these limits, news stories also aim to be comprehensive.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • In Radio, You Have Two Tools… Sound and Silence.' Ira Glass '
    In Radio, you have two tools… Sound and Silence.’ Ira Glass ‘And I believe that good journalism, good television, can make our world a better place.’ Christiane Amanpour ‘On TV the people can see it. On radio you've got to create it.’ Bob Uecker 1 2 ACADEMIC PLAN/INSTRUCTIONS 1. The Post Graduate Diploma in Radio and TV Journalism begins on August 1, 2018 and ends on May 31, 2019. 2. The Academic Session is divided into two terms: Term I : August- December 2018 Term II : January - May 2019 3. The first term will broadly concentrate on providing students the conceptual inputs and on acquisition of the skills needed for Broadcast Journalism. The second term will be mostly devoted to honing of these skills and giving the students a practical exposure to various aspects of the functioning of media. 4. Evaluation will be done on the basis of what the students have learnt through the theory and the practical work done. Each term will have such evaluation and the credits will be aggregated. A student will be expected to gain a minimum of 40% marks in each paper (both theory and practical). 5. To help them relate the learning of concepts with practice, students will be attached to a media organization for internship in the month of May. Each student will be expected to submit a report to the Institute on his/her internship experience. Internship is mandatory, without which the diploma will not be awarded. 6. Each student will be expected to attend a minimum of 75% of the classes including the practical sessions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Producing Process 3
    03-Schultz.qxd 6/29/2004 12:34 PM Page 37 The Producing Process 3 y now, you have a pretty good idea of what a producer does to get B a newscast on the air. So far, we have only talked about these duties in the abstract sense. It is now time to take a closer look at the step-by-step process of putting a show together. Story Ideas and News Value A newscast starts with a series of story ideas, which are nothing more than potential ideas that could eventually end up in the show. Story ideas come from a variety of sources, and the good producer will often come to work with several story ideas already formulated. These may come from other media, be follow-ups from stories done the previous day, or be a consequence of personal observation (see Table 3.1 for examples). Producers like their reporters to come to work with story ideas, and reporters should have some concrete suggestions for stories, even if these ideas never pan out. Too many reporters show up with the expectation that producers will have a story already assigned to them. This can waste a lot of precious news time as reporters scramble to try and set up a story or contact news sources. Producers and reporters will suggest their story ideas at the editorial meeting, where they and the news director will discuss events going on in the area. The purpose of the meeting is to consider all possible story ideas and narrow them down to a list of stories that will go in the newscast.
    [Show full text]
  • Syllabus for M.Sc. (Film Production)| 1
    Syllabus for M.Sc. (Film Production)| 1 Detailed Syllabus for Master of Science (Film Production) (Effective from July 2019) Department of Advertising & Public Relations Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication B-38, Press Complex, M.P. Nagar, Zone-I, Bhopal (M.P.) 462 011 Syllabus for M.Sc. (Film Production)| 2 MAKHANLAL CHATURVEDI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION (DEPARTMENT OF ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS) Master of Science (Film Production) (Effective from July 2019) Marks Distribution Subject Theory Practic Intern Total Credit al al CCC-1 Evolution of Cinema 80 00 20 100 6 CCC-2 Origin and Growth of Media 80 00 20 100 6 Introduction to Socio CCC-3 80 00 20 100 6 Economic Polity Sem - I CCE-1 Art of Cinematography 50 30 20 OR OR 100 6 CCE-2 Storyboarding 50 30 20 OE-1 Understanding Cinema 25 15 10 50 3 CCC-4 Drama & Aesthetics 50 30 20 100 6 CCC-5 Lighting for Cinema 50 30 20 100 6 CCC-6 Audiography 50 30 20 100 6 Sem - II CCE-3 Art of Film Direction 50 30 20 OR OR 100 6 CCE-4 Film Journalism 50 30 20 OE-2 Ideation and Visualization 25 15 10 50 3 CCC-7 Multimedia Platform 50 30 20 100 6 Editing Techniques & CCC-8 50 30 20 100 6 Practice CCC-9 Film Research 50 30 20 100 6 Sem - III Screenplay Writing for CCE-5 50 30 20 Cinema OR 100 6 OR CCE-6 50 30 20 Advertisement Film Making OE-3 Film Society & Culture 40 00 10 50 3 CCC-10 Film Business & Regulations 80 00 20 100 6 CCC-11 Cinematics 50 30 20 100 6 CCC-12 Project Work on Film Making 00 80 20 100 6 Sem - Literature & Cinema CCE-7 80 00 20 IV OR OR 100 6 Film Management & CCE-8 80 00 20 Marketing OE-4 Documentary Film Making 25 15 10 50 3 Syllabus for M.Sc.
    [Show full text]
  • Embedded Reporters: What Are Americans Getting?
    Embedded Reporters: What Are Americans Getting? For More Information Contact: Tom Rosenstiel, Director, Project for Excellence in Journalism Amy Mitchell, Associate Director Matt Carlson, Wally Dean, Dante Chinni, Atiba Pertilla, Research Nancy Anderson, Tom Avila, Staff Embedded Reporters: What Are Americans Getting? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has suggested we are getting only “slices” of the war. Other observers have likened the media coverage to seeing the battlefield through “a soda straw.” The battle for Iraq is war as we’ve never it seen before. It is the first full-scale American military engagement in the age of the Internet, multiple cable channels and a mixed media culture that has stretched the definition of journalism. The most noted characteristic of the media coverage so far, however, is the new system of “embedding” some 600 journalists with American and British troops. What are Americans getting on television from this “embedded” reporting? How close to the action are the “embeds” getting? Who are they talking to? What are they talking about? To provide some framework for the discussion, the Project for Excellence in Journalism conducted a content analysis of the embedded reports on television during three of the first six days of the war. The Project is affiliated with Columbia University and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The embedded coverage, the research found, is largely anecdotal. It’s both exciting and dull, combat focused, and mostly live and unedited. Much of it lacks context but it is usually rich in detail. It has all the virtues and vices of reporting only what you can see.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Corporate Newsroom Culture on News Workers & Community Reporting
    Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Spring 6-5-2018 News Work: the Impact of Corporate Newsroom Culture on News Workers & Community Reporting Carey Lynne Higgins-Dobney Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Higgins-Dobney, Carey Lynne, "News Work: the Impact of Corporate Newsroom Culture on News Workers & Community Reporting" (2018). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4410. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6307 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. News Work: The Impact of Corporate Newsroom Culture on News Workers & Community Reporting by Carey Lynne Higgins-Dobney A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies Dissertation Committee: Gerald Sussman, Chair Greg Schrock Priya Kapoor José Padín Portland State University 2018 © 2018 Carey Lynne Higgins-Dobney News Work i Abstract By virtue of their broadcast licenses, local television stations in the United States are bound to serve in the public interest of their community audiences. As federal regulations of those stations loosen and fewer owners increase their holdings across the country, however, local community needs are subjugated by corporate fiduciary responsibilities. Business practices reveal rampant consolidation of ownership, newsroom job description convergence, skilled human labor replaced by computer automation, and economically-driven downsizings, all in the name of profit.
    [Show full text]
  • Freelancer Categories
    FREELANCER CATEGORIES List of the Media Zone Authority’s freelancer license activities GENERAL No Category Definition 1. Acting coach NEW! An individual who is a qualified teacher specializing in training performers (film, tele- vision and/or theatre) to improve their performances/skills and prepare for auditions (including a voice/speech/dialect specialist coach). 2. Actor An individual that acts by portraying a character in a performance (e.g. film, TV, theatre, commercial or event) as a profession. 3. Animator An individual skilled in creating images and/or animation for television, motion pictures, video games and/or other animation design. 4. Archive producer NEW! An individual who works with producers and editors on segments of programmes to determine archival needs and help shape story narrative from development onwards. Experienced in negotiating deals with archive suppliers and organizing and managing large archive projects. 5. Artist NEW! An individual specialized in one of the visual or fine arts such as painting, sculpting and/or singing and/or dancing as a profession. 6. Art Director An individual that works with studios and executive producers to create the overall visual appearance and «look» of a production. 7. Assistant / Associate Producer An individual that reports to the producer and assists with script development, artist relations, finding participants, and general production logistics. 8. Assistant Director An individual responsible for tracking daily progress against the production schedule; arranging logistics; preparing daily call sheets; checking cast and crew; and maintain- ing order on the set. 9. Brand Consultant NEW! An individual that creates and designs brand strategies, brands and identities for companies and products 10.
    [Show full text]
  • Lecture Content: Control Room Design
    LECTURE CONTENT: CONTROL ROOM DESIGN • Signal path – from production to consumer • Production operators team • The editorial staff • Newsroom computer system • Automation software • Media asset managemen Lecture 2 Faculty of Technical Sciences Public university in K.Mitrovica assist.prof. Kristijan Kuk 3 Theory This chapter describes the general factors within control room designs and how the ergonomics and/or staff within the control room could affect the results. There will also be an explanation of all the different staff needed to create a newscast. A technical description of different system and protocols needed to create a television production, and how they are used will also be executed. 3.1 Control room design Design and the structural layouts of control rooms have lots of per-reviewed reviews and investigations, especially within the nuclear power plant control rooms and army- based control rooms. The actual design of television control rooms hasn’t got as much attention. This section will therefore describe the overall concerns and benefits of using different control room designs, mainly from the human factor but also some technical aspects will be taken into consideration. 3.1.1 Control room ergonomics A control room is a physical location where a physical facility or physically distributed service can be monitored and controlled (Bennett 1955). In the television industry, there are different types of control rooms, serving different proposes with the aim of transmitting a video signal to the distributer and viewer. When designing a Control room from scratch, a method called Top Down approach could be used (Figure 3.1). The top down approach describes the different phases a control room goes through when developed, constructed and evaluated.
    [Show full text]
  • CBS National Agreement
    (510) AGREEMENT BETWEEN CBS BROADCASTING INC. AND INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS February 1, 2018 – April 30, 2021 CBS/IBEW National Agreement INDEX Page PREAMBLE ..........................................................................................................................1 BASIC PRINCIPLES ............................................................................................................1 ARTICLE I ............................................................................................................................2 Section 1.01 – Term ...............................................................................................................2 Section 1.02 – Recognition and Scope ..................................................................................2 Section 1.03 – Work Jurisdiction ...........................................................................................2 Section 1.04 – Territorial Jurisdiction ...................................................................................14 Section 1.05 – Subcontracting & Contracting Out ................................................................16 Section 1.06 – Employment & Union Membership ...............................................................16 Section 1.07 – No Strike or Lockout .....................................................................................18 Section 1.08 – No Discrimination ..........................................................................................19 ARTICLE II
    [Show full text]
  • Investigativereportingworkshop.Org OVERVIEW
    investigativereportingworkshop.org OVERVIEW The Investigative Reporting Workshop is a professional, nonprofit news organization within the American University School of Communication. The Workshop pairs graduate student researchers with professional reporters and editors and co-publishes with mainstream media as well as other nonprofits. The Workshop publishes in-depth stories about government and corporate accountability, ranging widely from the environment and health to national security and the economy. The Workshop has an ongoing partnership with The Washington Post and with PBS FRONTLINE. Workshop stories have been co- published with The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New Yorker, Mother Jones magazine, WAMU-FM, McClatchy newspapers and NBCNews.com. INVESTIGATIONS Since 2009, the Workshop has tracked the financial health of all the banks and credit unions in the country. Other projects include stories on airline safety and maintenance; the use of toxic chemicals in everyday products; and efforts at reforming the justice system in light of the long-term impact of misdemeanor charges. When the Workshop produces stories for television, our online components include additional stories, photos, videos and interactive graphics. Years of Living Dangerously The Workshop produced two stories in this documentary series on the impact of climate change, which aired on Showtime. Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria This one-hour, award-winning FRONTLINE documentary focused on hospital infections resistant to antibiotics. The Koch Club This project showed how the billionaire Koch brothers’ contributions and influence extends beyond politics into education, policymaking and the humanities; co-published with The New Yorker. The Hole This investigation revealed the use of solitary confinement at immigration centers; co- published with The New York Times.
    [Show full text]
  • News Leadership at the Head of the Class the Journalist’S Guide to Teaching Leadership and Management Skills and Values Second Edition
    RADIO AND TELEVISION NEWS DIRECTORS FOUNDATION news leadership at the head of the class the journalist’s guide to teaching leadership and management skills and values second edition Author Jill Geisler, Leadership & Management Group Leader, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies Radio and Television News Directors Foundation Barbara Cochran, President • Kathleen Graham, Vice President Foundation Programs Erica D. Thode, Project Coordinator, News Leadership & Journalism Ethics Supported by the McCormick Tribune Foundation Copyright© 2006 by the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation (RTNDF). All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents News Leadership: Important to Learn, Important to Teach.............1 About the Author .............................................................................5 Leadership Coaching: Getting Started............................................7 Welcome to Teaching Leadership!...........................................................7 Who is a Manager? Who is a Leader? .....................................................8 Leadership is Personal .............................................................................9 You, the Teacher .....................................................................................10 Teaching Adult Learners.........................................................................15 Reaching and Respecting Learners.......................................................17 The Learning Environment......................................................................21
    [Show full text]
  • Silurian News March 2014
    Society of the Silurians EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS DINNER The Players Club 16 Gramercy Park South Thursday, May 15, 2014 Drinks: 6 p.m. Dinner: 7:15 p.m. Meet Old Friends and Award Winners Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization (212) 532-0887 of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 Please Save the Date. Reservation forms will be mailed soon. MARCH 2014 From Print to Digital: My Turbulent Path BY STEPHEN B. SHEPARD FROM TO sometimes with great reluctance, I came hen I first considered taking to see the value of the new technologies. on the role of founding dean I slowly realized that digital technology Wof a brand-new journalism would enrich journalism, creating an in- school, I initially thought of it as a per- teractive, multimedia form of storytelling sonal capstone, the culmination of a life- that invited community participation, that time in journalism. Having been a senior could be personalized, that could be de- editor at Newsweek, editor of the Satur- livered on a vast array of mobile devices, day Review, and editor-in-chief of that could be consumed globally, that BusinessWeek for more than 20 years, I could be distributed using social media. saw my new posting as a chance to pass And so, I finally managed to embrace the on my experience to the next generation. changes necessary to create a new Boy, was I wrong. As the journalism world school for a new age. Stephen B. Shepard became the founding dean of the Graduate School of changed in content and delivery, I was My personal passage is, of course, a Journalism at the City University of New York in March 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • The Class Action Fairness Act in Perspective: the Old and the New in Federal Jurisdictional Reform
    THE CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS ACT IN PERSPECTIVE: THE OLD AND THE NEW IN FEDERAL JURISDICTIONAL REFORM EDWARD A. PURCELL, JR.t INTRODUCTION The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) was the product of an extended and well-organized political campaign. In Congress, its passage required a grinding eight-year effort, several modifications to the original proposal, numerous committee hearings, multiple reports by both Houses, political compromises that drew some Democratic support, two unsuccessful attempts to terminate debate in the Senate by imposing cloture, and strenuous efforts to amend in both the House and Senate when the bill came to the floor for a final vote.2 Passage also required Republican control of both Houses of Congress and the presidency as well. Compared to the determined political campaign necessary to se- cure its passage, CAFA itself might seem a relatively minor measure. Ostensibly, it altered no substantive law, denied no one a judicial fo- rum, left the federal judicial power untouched, relied on established congressional authority, and bowed to federalism by limiting its exten- sion of national authority to class actions with significant interstate connections. Indeed, the changes it made might appear to some nar- t Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor, New York Law School. The author wishes to thank Molly Beutz, Stephen B. Burbank, Tai-Heng Cheng, Diane Fahey, Marc Galanter, Brandt Goldstein, Larry Levine, Michael McCarthy, Richard A. Matasar, Tan- ina Rostain, Joyce Saltalamachia, Faith Stevelman, and Donald Zeigler for helpful comments and suggestions, and Kasi L. Carson and Christina Trapani for their invalu- able research assistance. Pub. L.
    [Show full text]