web reporting review
TRANSCRIPT
What is news?
News is a reporting of recent events, of new
information.
Reporting the news is a public service.
News originate in three ways:
- naturally occurring events,
- planned activity,
- reporter enterprise.
9 elements of News
Timeliness Human Interest
Impact
Prominence
Proximity
Conflict
Novelty
Consequences
Currency
Currency
More value is given to stories pertaining to
issue or topics that are in the spotlight of public
concern rather than topics that have little
prevalence ( more people care about the issue.)
Human interest
Stories about individual and groups of people
and their problems, concerns, achievements
can stir emphasis, and sometimes outrage in
the reader or viewer.
Human interest stories are often the story
behind the story.
Online Journalism Storytelling
Any story that is an issues that is expressed in
human events.
Take a common issue and come to it from a
new and meaningful way.
News is new information, people and details.
Journalism is storytelling with facts\true.
4 core elements of digital
journalism
Gathering – facts, anecdotes, facts etc.
Filtering – critical element, distinguishing
“signal from sound,” mindfully choose what
information to include.
Packaging and distributing – the information
across different platform and using different
networks.
Conversation –promoting and discussing your story with the audience.
Online news story basics
Immediacy of the web beats everything for
breaking news.
Inverted pyramid.
Online news in ongoing and can be updated,
most stories don’t require a tight conclusion.
Include at least one image – visual center.
Hyperlinks for attribution, background.
Leave your opinion out of it.
Original reporting
“It’s a waste of time to rereport good
reporting.”
Aggregate – link to what’s already over there
while seeking original content that will set you
apart.
Attempt to interview\see people\events in
person.
Eyewitness accounts will provide the better
details and the most truth.
No one-source stories.
Hierarchy of source reliability
Face-to-face
Source (paper)
Voice-to-voice
Electronic documents
E-mail exchange
Official web-sites
How do I evaluate online sources?
Authority – who authorized the web-page?
Accuracy – are the facts documented?
Objectivity – what is the purpose of the site?
Currency – when was it written and was it
updated?
Coverage – does the site address the topic
Value- Grammatical errors.
Use critical thinking online
Determine credibility – plug author’s name in
the search engine.
Check WHOIS domain name registry.
Fair Use
Allows for limited use of other’s copyrighted
material for purposes condoned by law.
It allowes journalists to post SOME
images\content online without obtaining the
owner’s permission if we use the copyrighted work in ay that are fundamentally equitable.
Who is my audience?
Always ask yourself – this will help to develop
the focus of the story.
All stories are topics, all topics have an
interested community.
Find out what topics your audience is talking
about, sharing and the information they are searching for with Google trends.
Visual functionality
On a web page successful communication is
influence by:
Text in the screen.
Page layout.
Images: pictures and graphics.
Color that make a psychological impact.
Readability on the WEB
Highlighted keywords
Sub-headings
Lists
One idea per paragraph
Short paragraph
White space
Sound in the online story
Downloadable podcasts ( like radio show)
Offered as sound bites
Raw recorded interview or live
Combined with moving picture on the video
Paired with photos in an audio photo slide
Augmented with text and graphics
Sound as an emotional carrier
To hear someone's voice and character
Capture ambiance of a situation
Convey intimacy of a situation
When subject of a story is about music\ noise
To create a mood
Mutimedia storyboarding
Requires to go to the field and think:
Which details should my audience hear?
What detail should my audience see?
Digital Journalism Ethics
To what extent existing media ethics is suitable
for today’s and tomorrow’s news media that is
immediate, interactive and “always on” – a journalism of amateurs and professionals.
Two level tension
between traditional journalism and online
journalism
between parochial and global journalism. If
journalism has global impact, what are its global responsibilities?
Anonymity
When is anonymity ethically permissible and is
it inconsistent for media to enforce different
rules on anonymity for different media
platforms?
What should be the ethical guidelines for anonymity offline and online?
SPEED, RUMOR AND
CORRECTIONS
Speed puts pressure on newsrooms to publish
stories before they are adequately checked
“Sharing” creates the potential for great harm
How to handle errors and corrections when
reports and commentary are constantly being updated
Should I comment my stories?
Yes, and you should identify yourself. You
should never comment anonymouslpseudo.
“Stock Puppetry” – unethical.
How to comment?
Provide additional information\tip
Ask questions
Share anecdotes
Say “Thank you for your comment”