Newspaper Know-How
First Amendment Factoids
News Functions & Values
Dig that AP Style
Journalism History
100

This is the basic form of most news stories.

What is inverted pyramid form?

100

The first amendment covers these five freedoms.

What are the freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, the right to petition the government and freedom of the press?

100

Journalists who report on the proceedings, decisions and actions of government are fulfilling this media function.

What is the political watchdog function?

100

The AP in "AP Style" stands for this non-profit news agency.

What is the Associated Press?

100

Yellow Journalism was partly to blame for the U.S.'s involvement in this war.

What is the Spanish-American War?

200

This is the introductory paragraph of a journalism article.

What is a lede (lead)?

200

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes uses the term "free trade of ideas" when writing his dissenting opinion on anti-draft and anti-weapon literature during this war.

What is World War I?

200

Sports scores and weather reports are examples of this media function.

What is the record-keeping function?

200

These are known as the"Five Ws".

What are who, what, where, when and why?

200

This is the first publisher charged with libel in the Colonies for speaking out against a politician.

Who is John Peter Zenger?

300

Journalistic stories should be written in this voice to assure straightforward, concise delivery of information.

What is active voice?

300

This is a type of defamation, expressed in print.

What is libel?

300

This function of the news media gets people talking about the frivolous and serious topics that guides our decision-making and collective action.

What is the social function of media?

300

In AP style, the professional titles of sources are always capitalized. True or false? 

What is false?

300

This paper, started in 1982, was teasingly nicknamed McPaper for its standardized look and easily-digestible coverage.

What is USA Today?

400

This is a type of opinion writing that appears in a specific section of a newspaper.

What is an editorial (or opinion-editorial)?

400

This is a type of defamation, usually made orally.

What is slander?

400

News stories about construction in your town or improvements to your school building fulfill this news value.

What is proximity?

400

In AP Style, all numbers under ten should be presented in this form (with a few exceptions). 

What is in "word" or "written" form?

400

This is the invention that gave rise to the wire news services.

What is the Morse Code or the telegraph?

500

This type of article takes a more in-depth look at a specific event, subject or person.

What is a feature story?

500

The First Amendment's protections might be interpreted differently when exercised in a school environment. The three areas that the Student Press Law Center cite as areas up to the discretion of administration and staff include these.

What are obscene material, libelous material and material that might cause a disruption of school activities?

500

Stories of success and failures in the face of adversity highlight this news value.

What is human interest?

500

In MLA style, identifying the source of a quote or direct information is known as citation; in AP style it is known as this.

What is attribution?

500

This is the publisher that inspired the fictional film Citizen Kane.

Who is William Randolph Hearst?