RFTM Chapter 3: Newswriting Style

What do newswriters do? Provide information in a clear and concise manner using simple language. Simple language is important because you are trying to reach an audience with widely varied capabilities and interests. To communicate effectively to a mass audience, you must present information in a way that will allow almost everyone to read and understand it.

(This is the exact opposite of what you've learned in English composition all these years, where teachers encourage you to use big and fancy words. For practical writing, this is an awful habit, as is much we're going to un-learn you from English comp this term. Use simple words and simple terms, please.)

Also, present factual information succinctly and in an impartial and objective manner. You must provide enough information so that the audience understands what happened, and keep your opinion out of stories.

(Again, a big diff between English comp and journalism is that in English comp, we write to express ourselves. In journalism, we write to share facts we've verified. Writing isn't about our self-expression; it's about informing an audience first and foremost.)

The pre-writing process. Ask yourself these questions: what is the story about? Why is it newsworthy? How is its central point unique? Failure to identify a central point risks a story that is incoherent and incomplete. Try to develop one central point thoroughly. A story with several apparent central points may be worth more than one story.

How do you find a central point? Report! What we write and how we write it isn't based on personal expression and opinion; it's based on what we discover in the reporting process, and what we determine is most interesting, relevant and useful to our audience.

The story outline. We start with the lede paragraph. That's the first paragraph of a story, which may contain the central point or a telling anecdote that sets up the central point. Often, the lede goes to end result and ultimate outcome; e.g., how the story ended and what is the latest information.

(Again, this is another big way journalism differs from English comp. In English comp, the ending is the ending. But in journalism, the ending is the lede: who won the football game, what the city council ended up doing, how many people died in the tornado outbreak, ect.)

Use simplifying words, sentences and paragraphs. Avoid long, unfamiliar words (e.g., instead of "homicide," say "murder. Instead of "vehicle," say "car" or "van" or "bus" or whatever. Instead of "inebriated vehicle operator," say "drunk driver.")

Use short sentences and paragraphs. The longer a sentence is, the more difficult it is to understand. You can shorten sentences by using the "normal word order" of subject, then verb, then direct object (e.g., instead of saying "The homework was eaten by the dog," say "The dog ate the homework.")

Write for the ear. Use sentences that do not sound awkward or inappropriate when spoken. (If you're not sure if a sentence flows well, read it out loud. Does it sound choppy or stilted or a hot mess? Then it probably reads the same way. Rewrite it as necessary until it's easy to say and hear out loud.)

Eliminate unnecessary words. Writers who use two words when one would suffice simply waste space. (Again, in English comp you are encouraged to be wordy; in journalism, we want to be efficient with our word use.) Eliminate multiple words that convey the same idea (e.g., "past history." History is the past. Eliminate one of those words.)

Remain objective. Reporters are neutral observers, not advocates or participants. Reporters provide facts and details, not opinion. (Again, journalism isn't about you expressing yourself; it's about informing the audience on what you discovered during the reporting process.)

Avoid stereotypical isms. Like, racism. (Only mention race when clearly relevant to a story, like a detailed suspect description.) Or, sexism. (Avoid occupational terms that exclude one sex or the other, like "fireman." Use "firefighter" instead.) Or ageism and word usage with the disabled, veterans and religious groups, and the poor. ("Old fogey, Bible-beater, bum," ect.)

RFTM Chapter 4: The Language Of News

Be precise. Understand the words you use, and use words that are clear, concise and accurate. Journalists who do not use words correctly can confuse or irritate their readers. That undermines credibility and questions accuracy. (After all, if you can't get the small things right -- like proper word use -- how can you get the big things right, and why should a reader trust you?) .

Journalists who do not use words correctly can convey a meaning that was not intended. (Here's a real example from my professional career that ended up on the Jay Leno show: I wrote a short story about a man who was arrested, and when he was strip-searched in jail they found he was hiding crack cocaine between his butt cheeks. And here was the headline an editor wrote: MAN HID CRACK IN BUTTOCKS. Hardy har har.)

Use strong verbs. What is a strong verb? A verb that describes the action taking place, in an active tense. (For example, on 9/11 it would be underwhelming to say planes "hit" the Twin Towers. It would be more accurate and contextual to say the planed "slammed" into the buildings.)

(Let me be clear: the verb still has to be accurate, and not an exaggeration. Don't hype up a story without reason; our reason comes from facts. Like in the 9/11 example; the planes didn't just pop into the Twin Towers. They were tons of steel and human life racing at almost 500 mph. striking with such power that the buildings buckled, and eventually fell. The facts cry out for context and to the severity of what happened. It has nothing to do with how I want to write it.)

Avoid adjectives and adverbs. Most are unnecessary, and simply restate the obvious. And it may inject opinion into the story. There's no need to say something horrible is "grim" or "tragic;" the presentation of facts will make that clear.

Avoid cliches, which are words and phrases that have been used over and over again, like someone being "as blind as a bat" or "old as dirt." It's just lazy writing; come up with something descriptive and original instead.

Avoid slang. It can become dated; it can convey alternative meanings; it can confuse readers of certain ages of ethic groups. (For example, if you told your grandma "Whatevs, obvi," would she know what the hell you were talking about? And that's a great test; if your grandma wouldn't understand your word use, then use simpler and clearer language.)

Avoid or translate technical language and jargon. Journalists should translate jargon into plain English. (e.g., instead of "cardiac arrest," say "heart attack.") If you don't know what a layman's term may be for a given word or phrase, ask your source for a translation in plain English or check resources online that could do the same.

Avoid using vague expressions known as euphemisms in place of harsher but more direct terms. (For example, "expecting" is a euphemism for "pregnant." "Downsizing" is a euphemism for "laid off" or "fired." "Passed away" is a euphemism for "dying." Don't use such euphemisms.) Euphemisms detract from clarity and precision in writing.

Don't use first-person references outside of quotes, like I, me, my, our, ect.  Those betray a reporter's neutral bystander role.

Avoid the negative. I don't mean bad news; I mean negative sentence construction, like "the dog did not stay awake," instead of the better "the dog slept." Sentences with multiple negatives can become tough to understand (e.g., "the dog did not stay awake while his owner was not home" can be simplified to, "The dog slept while his owner was away.")

Avoid an echo. An echo is a redundant word. (For example, "frozen tundra" includes an echo, because the definition of "tundra" is frozen ground. So, when you say "frozen tundra," you're saying "frozen frozen ground.") 

Avoid gush. This is writing with exaggerated enthusiasm. ("The 5th Annual Spelling Bee was an awesome mega-event that will never be forgotten!") Use facts to substantiate your descriptions. If the spelling bee included the largest fireworks show in history and multiple people are quoted as saying that this was the peak of their lives, then the aforementioned lede may be okay. If your facts don't support it, then it's not. Find words and phrases that accurately set the scene.)

Job Shadows: A Friendly Reminder

Just a reminder that during this semester you will be required to do a job shadow. It's easy, but it takes prep work you can't blow off until the last minute. We need to start now.

This is what I want: I'd like you to seek out a professional who is working in a media occupation you might wish to pursue. It could be some working at a newspaper or a magazine or a radio station or a TV station or an online media site or whatever. Email me about what your job shadow plan proposal is, and if I approve it (NOTE IN BIG FREAKING CAPITAL LETTERS: YOUR SHADOW IS SUBJECT TO MY PRE-APPROVAL!) then contact your shadow and get their okay to shadow them.

Some local and regional shadow opportunities where previous JRN 200ers had luck include the Lansing State Journal, WILX-TV Channel 10 (the NBC affiliate in Lansing), MLive Lansing (an online news site) and WXYZ-TV Channel 7 (the ABC affiliate in Detroit). If you're having problems coming up with a shadow idea, please contact me and we'll problem-solve through it.

Arrange with them to follow them around their daily duties for anywhere from an hour or two, to all day long. Your call. Interview that media pro about their job and keys to success. You may also do a shadow as part of a group of students. Again, get my pre-approval before you do anything.

Then, write up a 200- to 300-word report on what you saw during your shadow, and what you learned that you believe will benefit you in the future. Please include the phone number and email address of your shadow subject, so I can confirm your attendance.

Your job shadow proposal will be due via mail to omars@msu.edu during the final week of class in December. I must warn you, quite often people strike out on their first or second choices, and getting an agreement and setting and date and time take some time. So, I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO DO ANY OF THIS!

Just get it knocked out and out of the way. While it's due in December, you can turn it in as early as you'd like. Completing the assignment correctly and on time automatically gets you a 4.0; not doing it gets you a 0.0.

So, please do it and get yourselves an easy A. More importantly, get a look at what you may want to be doing a few years from now, and take that opportunity to start judging the lay of the land.

Elements of Journalism: Journalism Of Verification

The essence of journalism is a discipline of verification. That is, journalism isn't about writing; it's about getting it right, and having a system in place to fact-test information as we discover it.

Verification is what separates journalism from other forms of communication. Entertainment focuses on what is most diverting. Propaganda selects or invents facts to persuade and manipulate. Fiction invents scenarios. Art is based on creating and expressing impressions. Journalism is focused on getting what happened down right.

The meaning of objectivity has been lost. Originally, it was an appeal for journalists to develop a consistent method of testing information, like the reliance on functional truth that we discussed earlier, so that the personal and cultural biases of reporters would not undermine the accuracy of work.

Objectivity is a device to persuade the audience of one's accuracy and fairness. And journalism and science come from the same intellectual roots. In the same way a scientist comes up with a theory and then runs experiments to prove or disprove the theory, a journalist starts out with a presumption, and then find facts (via documents, witness statements, ect.) to find what is rooted in fact, and what is not.

The "science of reporting" is known as the Objective Method. There are several key points to the method. First, never add anything that wasn't there. Don't invent things, rearrange events in time or place or modify or combine people or events. Your writing can arrange events based on news value, but be sure to make it clear that it's out of sequence.

Second, never deceive the audience. Fooling people is a form of lying and it mocks the idea that journalism is committed to truthfulness. If you vary from the most literal form of eyewitness reporting, let your audience know or don't do it.

Third, be as transparent as possible about your methods and motives. Be as open and honest with audiences about what you know and what you don't. Acknowledge obvious questions your stories are not answering. Ask yourself, what does the reader need to know to evaluate this information for themselves? Also ask yourself, is there anything in your treatment of a story that requires explanation of why you did something of left something out?

Doing so shows respect for your audience. It also helps establish credibility through the expressed public interest motive.

Fourth, clearly identify sources -- both individuals and documents -- and explain any anonymous sourcing.

The problem with the science of reporting is, there is no single standard for verification. Doctors and scientists have rigorous standards based on natural law. For example, if you're doing an experiment on freezing water, water will freeze at 32 degrees, no matter what.

But media, by nature, is more subjective and interpretive. For example, how much proof is enough proof? It's situational and argumentative.

Society as a whole may not agree on a single truth. Think of the abortion debate: different groups have different truths. If you're pro-abortion, it's a right enshrined in law. If you're anti-abortion, it's sanctioned murder. In such instances, the public sphere becomes one of argument, and not agreement on what is truth.

Fairness and balance can also be interpreted differently. So instead of striving to define such terms, it's better to use techniques to help guide journalists in developing and verifying their work. As we noted earlier, balance can lead to distortion.

So, fairness should mean you are being fair to the facts and the audience's understanding of the facts, and not to a particular source  or that your story is balanced in a distorted way. When you try to determine accuracy based on fact-testing, that is journalism. If all you're doing is getting one side and then the other, then you're simply enabling an argument.

Elements of Journalism: Independence From Faction

Journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover. That manifests itself in several ways.

First, you must have an independence of mind. That means avoiding conflicts of interest; defined loosely as the avoidance of connections, benefits, and relationships that may draw into question your intentions.

For example, if you're on the football team, it would be a conflict of interest to write about the football team. If you're dating the mayor, you probably shouldn't be writing about local politics. If you're writing about an anti-war protest, don't participate in or donate to anti-war groups.

This applies to opinion writers as well! Their loyalty is to accuracy and the facts, even if seen from a partisan point of view. They are true to a set of ideas -- like conservatism -- rather than a member of a team -- the Republican Party -- and puts the audience first.

Second, you must have independence from class or economic status. There is a class divide between those who produce news, and those who receive it. It's become more pronounced since journalism has become more professional.

Solutions include recruiting more people from a diversity of classes and backgrounds and interests, so that newsrooms aren't so insular (e.g., the same kinds of people with the same parochial patterns).

Third, you must have an independence from race, ethnicity, religion and gender. Newsrooms lacking diversity are unable to do their jobs properly, and may not be able to appreciate, understand or learn of all the audiences they report to.

For example, a few years back The State News was very slow to pick up on anger among black students here over the Jena Six incident. At the same time, the newsroom was overwhelmingly white and suburban in their roots. The disconnect and newsroom composition were probably not a coincidence.

Diversity does NOT compromise independence. The key is whether editors and reporters maintain their primary allegiance to the core journalistic values that build toward truthfulness and informing the public. In that case, racial and ethnic and class and religious and ideological backgrounds inform their work without dictating it.

The end result is a richer, fuller view of the world for the public. Creating barriers to diversity and the related process of discovery is disloyal to your audience, by narrowing the newsroom's world view. Good judgment and first allegiance to the audience is what separates the journalist from the partisan.  

Elements of Journalism: Monitor Power

Journalists must serve as an independent monitor of power. It's the "watchdog" principle; that we watch over the powerful few in society on behalf of the many to guard against tyranny.

That extends to all powerful institutions in society: government, big business, and in the case of The State News, MSU administrators. It also extends to those in the shadows of society: the poor, everyday Joes, and in the case of The State News, everyday students.

That extends to making known and understood the effects of power. We need to recognize and share with our audience when powerful institutions/people are not working effectively (MSU screws up its budget, tuition goes up 100 percent next year). We also need to recognize when powerful institutions/people are working effectively (MSU finds gold in the Red Cedar River, free tuition for everybody!).

The watchdog principle is executed most notably through investigative reporting. And there are three basic types.

First, there is original investigative reporting. That's when reporters themselves uncover and document activities that have been previously unknown to the public, like when The Detroit Free Press got a hold of text messages between that city's then-mayor and one of his officials, indicating that they'd lied during a past court matter. That connection was completely unknown to the public and even the government (expect for the mayor and his aide) up to that point. 

Second, there is interpretive investigative reporting. That's when careful thought and analysis of an idea and new reporting brings together information in a new, more complete context that provides deeper public understanding. Like The State News did in the summer of 2012, when they ran a three-part series looking at how the combination of escalating tuition and shrinking financial aid was leaving MSU students in a bind. Each individual factor was evident, but the series put it all together to emphasize meaning and effect on everyday students.

Third, there is reporting on investigations, where reporting develops from the discovery of a leak of information from an official investigation already underway or in preparation by others, usually the government or police agencies. For example, often the reports of an athlete using performance-enhancing drugs are sources from police leaks or the obtaining of drug tests results from a drug-testing agency.

Most investigations use some of all three forms.

There are risks to investigative reporting. First, the reporter is granting the interview subject a powerful forum in which to air an allegation without public accountability, especially if the subject is granted anonymity in exchange for the information.

So, a reporter must be on alert over being used. Also, we must use due diligence to ensure the report is in the interest of the audience, and not just a source or sources. Is this something the public wants or needs to know? Does the presentation and the angles that are being emphasized highlight those public interests?

Also, double-check what you are being told by sources. Make sure there is enough evidence independent of the source's statements to support and justify your report.

Elements of Journalism: Engagement And Relevance

Journalists must make significant news interesting and relevant. First, we must consider the differences between storytelling versus information. Storytelling is the art of expression, such as a bedtime story you tell your niece. Information is raw data, such as a sports score.

Journalism is a combination of storytelling and information. The two are not contradictory. Journalism is storytelling with a purpose, and rooted in fact. Our duty is not just to provide information, but to do so in a way people will listen while still adhering to accuracy and truth.

There are various approaches to making important news interesting.Those approaches start with asking yourselves questions, like:

Who is the audience and what do they need to know? What is a given story really about? Let's say you're working for The State News, and you're covering student government. They pass some sort of big budget increase and as part of that budget increase, student fees will go up.What's the main gist of the story, the budget or the fee hike? Which would readers -- in this case, primarily MSU students -- care about most? Which would affect them most directly?

It would be the fee hike, right? So that should be the angle you highlight in how you write the story.

Who is the audience and what to they need to know to make up their own minds about this subject? For example, The State News regularly covers East Lansing City Council meetings. Rather than cover whatever the council considers their biggest actions, reporters look for and concentrate on stories that have the greatest impact or interest to their primary audience -- MSU students -- regardless of how big a part of the meeting those issues were. We're not there to take dictation of the meeting; we're there to highlight what matters most to our audience.

Who has the information? Go to the people most directly involved with the subject matters.

What's the best way to tell this story? For example, on a story about a tuition increase, perhaps you'd want to focus on how the tuition increase will affect the average student by talking to students and asking them how they'll handle the tuition hike.

There are various story styles one can utilize. We'll look at each approach, using examples based on coverage of one of the every-few-years Cedar Fest riotsaround here.