Reporting Terms
News Writing
Interviewing Terms
Writing elements
Newspaper Format
100
The people who have something at stake in a story and who you must talk to for the story.
Who are stakeholders?
100
The organization of a news story in which information is arranged from most important to least important.
What is inverted pyramid?
100
Person(s) or records from which a reporter gathers information.
What is a source?
100
To put a quote in your own words to help clarify or condense.
What is paraphrase?
100
Display type placed over a story; must include action verb
What is headline?
200
Telling an interviewing source whether you will be recording the interview, how you plan to use the information taken from the interview, who you are, and what publication you work for.
What is setting the ground rules or being clear with your source before an interview?
200
Form of verb voice that emphasizes the person doing the action, rather than the object being acted upon.
What is active voice?
200
Something you must do in Massachusetts before recording an interview.
What is asking if you may record the interview?
200
Word or phrase that moves the reader from one thought to the next.
What is a transition?
200
The line identifying the author of the story.
What is byline?
300
When everything a source tells you can be used for publication or discussed with others.
What is "on the record"?
300
Specific part of a bigger story that you will be covering
What is angle?
300
A sentence reflecting a source's exact words. Will be set in quotations marks.
What is a direct quote?
300
Making sure that your article includes representatives of all sides of a story if possible.
What is balance?
300
Inverted pyramid.
What is the name for the organization of a hard news article, with the most important information first?
400
When a source asks that you not include information they provide you in a story or mention to others that you got the information from them.
What is "off the record"?
400
Coverage of a timely news piece related to the actions of government, business, or school.
What is hard news?
400
Asking a source during an interview to clarify or expand on an answer.
What is a follow up question?
400
5ws and H
What is who, what, where, when, why and how or the information included in a hard news lead?
400
The first paragraph of a newspaper story.
What is lead?
500
Reporting that is done in a way that the reporter's opinion is not known. Focusing on straightforward facts.
What is objective or news reporting?
500
Story emphasizing the human or entertaining aspects of a situation.
What is a feature or a human-interest story?
500
Identification of speaker (source) in the article text. Often phrased as "he said" or "she said."
What is attribution?
500
The emotions or associations that a word creates in the reader's mind, something to be careful with when writing journalism.
What is connotation?
500
A paragraph that summarizes the key elements of a story. The "so what?" of the story.
What is nut graph?
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