Attribution and quotes
Refers to the practice of giving credit or acknowledging the source of information or quotes used in a news article or report. It is an essential ethical and professional standard in journalism that helps maintain credibility, transparency, and accountability in news reporting.
What is attribution?
This part of a news story is a brief and eye-catching title or heading at the top of a news article, story, blog post, or any other written or digital content.
What is a headline?
This is a type of story that involves updating a previous report.
What is a running story?
This should generally be minimized in news stories reporting on objective facts?
What is a journalist's opinion?
Preparing questions, writing targeted questions, researching the interviewee, reviewing interview notes, reflecting on missing information.
What are best practices for interviewing?
These words are used when attributing sources to help readers find out where information originates from.
Multiple examples:
"He said / She said"
"He suggested"
"She asked"
"She urged"
This writing style involves summarizing key facts in the lead and starting a news story with the most important information. Then, the writer will add less important information and the least important information as the story wraps up.
What is the inverted pyramid?
Identify the following type of lead:
About five years ago, architect Mark Seder
was reading the morning paper and watching
his 10-year-old son riding at a local skate park.
As he kept looking up from the paper to his son,
something dawned on him.
“I realized that I was getting out of shape and
I thought, ‘Why in the world don’t I join him?’ ”
Soon afterward, armed with a board, a helmet,
and knee and elbow pads, Seder took his first
tentative ride. He was 49 years old.
Today, Seder is 54 and still skating . . . .
— STEVE WILSON, Portland Tribun
What is an anecdotal lead?
In journalism, these should be short and concise and not exceeding more than 1 - 2 sentences. They should use precise language and should avoid any unnecessary jargon.
What is a paragraph?
This is a rigorous and highly planned, these interviews follow a predetermined list of questions, allowing for consistency.
What is a structured interview?
This is a direct statement or excerpt from a person, often enclosed within quotation marks, that is used to convey their words verbatim.
What is a quote?
This is the line at the beginning or end of an article that identifies the author or write of a piece.
What is a byline?
Identify the following lead type:
“Oh, Jesus,” she moaned softly. She squeezed
my hand.
The vacuum machine purred steadily and the
fetus that was her unborn child was sucked through
a clear plastic hose and into a large glass bottle.
“Oh,” she said again, and scratched my forearm.
“We’re almost done,” the doctor said. “I just
have to check and make sure you’re all clean and
empty.”
She squeezed my hand harder. . . .
— BOB GREENE, from a column called “Kathy’s Abortion”
What is a narrative lead?
This is when you can quote someone and used information from someone in a news story, but you cannot reveal their identity.
What is a on background?
This interview style can involve email, letters, texts, direct messages, etc.
What is a written interview?
This type of quote is the exact words taken from an original source and used in a second piece of writing.
What is a direct quote?
This is a one- or two-sentence paragraph that follows the lead (the opening paragraph) of an article. It purpose is to provide additional context and information that elaborates on the lead and helps readers understand the significance or broader implications of the story.
What is a nut graf?
Identify the following lead type:
from the grave, ripped out his heart, burned it
to ashes, mixed it with water and drank it, he
hadn’t been in the news much.
That’s often the way it is with vampires here
in Romania. Quiet lives, active deaths.
Villagers here are outraged that the police are
involved in a simple vampire slaying. After all,
vampire slaying is an accepted, though hidden,
bit of national heritage, even if illegal.
“What did we do?” pleaded Flora Marinescu,
Petre’s sister. “If they’re right, he was already
dead. If we’re right, we killed a vampire and
saved three lives. Is that so wrong?”
— MATTHEW SCHOFIELD, Knight Ridder Newspapers
What is a startling statement lead?
Is a piece of information that is widely accepted as true, verifiable, and supported by concrete evidence. Generally, it doesn't need to be attributed.
What is a clear and undisputed fact?
What is a interview style that is more conversational; this method encourages open-ended questions, promoting detailed and personal responses.
What is an unstructured interview?
This type of quote uses full sentence quotes while leaving out some words.
This is an incomplete quote.
This is a very short news story that is 1-6 paragraphs long. It is usually written in the inverted pyramid structure with a summary lead followed by additional details in descending order of importance.
What is a news brief?
These three leads should be generally avoided.
What is a topic lead?
What is a question lead?
What is a quote lead?
Avoiding the use of «I», reporting both sides of a story, reporting facts first and opinions next and writing as an outsider are examples of what?
What is avoiding journalistic bias?
This is an interview style conducted with the general public; this style encourages open-ended questions, promoting detailed and personal responses. Many people can be questioned in a short period of time.
What is a vox pop?
This type of quote uses one or two words from a complete quote.
This is a partial quote.
This refers to the opening sentence or paragraph of a news article or story.
What is a lead?
Identify the following lead type:
First the pale pink nail polish. Then the gold stud
earrings and the monogrammed purse.
Is this any way for a football player to dress?
It is if she’s a girl.
Meet Erin Shilk, 5-foot-3 and 108 pounds: lover
of the Aggies, boys, soccer, cooking and chemis -
try. She’s a girl blazing a trail for the ’90s. . . .
— BONNIE GANGELHOFF, The Houston Post
What is a blind lead?
This means any information from an interview information cannot be quoted, attributed and used freely in a published news story.
What is off the record?
The biggest drawback to this interview style involves technical difficulties and the lack of physical presence, limiting the interviewer's ability to establish rapport with the interviewee.
What are phone and video-call interviews?
This is attributing a source without using quotes. This is done by paraphrasing and using words like "he said" or "she said."
What is reported speech?
This is a very short news story that is 1-6 paragraphs long. It is usually written in the inverted pyramid structure with a summary lead followed by additional details in descending order of importance. Unlike a news brief, it has more personality and comic relief.
What is a news brite?
Identify the the following lead type:
Sherlock Holmes did it. So did Albert Einstein,
Hugh Hefner, Bing Crosby, Gen. Douglas MacArthur,
President Gerald Ford and Popeye the Sailor.
Yes, they all discovered the secret of looking
smooth, suave and utterly sophisticated:
Pipe-smoking.
What is a roundup lead?
This means any information from an interview information can be quoted, attributed and used freely in a published news story.
What is on the record?
This type of interview is held in front of a group of journalists in which the interviewee faces a barrage of questions from reporters and news correspondents.
What is a press conference interview?