Reporting
Documents, Observation and People
What are the three major categories of news sources?
Using curiosity, observation, and staying in the hear and now.
What is active listening?
Most important facts at the top, least at the bottom.
What is the inverted pyramid?
March, April, May, June and July
What are the months that are never abbreviated?
Relevance, Usefulness and Interest
What are the chief elements of a good news story?
A statement promoting the interests of the writer
or writer's organization.
What is a press release?
One designed to elicit a specific response.
What is a closed-ended question?
The list includes question leads, predictions and generalizations.
What types of lead writing are considered danger signals?
Abbreviations Mr., Mrs. and Dr. that are rarely used in news writing.
What are courtesy titles, or honorifics?
Using different strengths of different media to reach broader audiences.
What is convergence?
Every story must be based on more than one interview.
What is the discipline of multiple sources?
Questions on goals, obstacles, achievements and logistics.
What is the GOAL method?
They are accuracy, balance and clarity.
What are the A, B, C's of news reporting and writing?
GOP, CIA, UFO and FBI are among the few accepted in news writing.
What are acronyms?
A law ensuring public access to government-created documents.
What is the Freedom of Information Act?
Reporters must check and doublecheck all information.
What is the discipline of verification?
Under this law, reporters must tell sources when they are recording.
What is all-party consent?
Challenge every word or phrase you write.
What is the first step to ensuring concise, clear messages?
This feature names the reporter or writer of a news article.
What is a byline?
Report the news accurately, monitor power
and expose injustice.
What are three major responsibilities of a journalist?
Reporting for your sources, instead of the public.
What is one of the dangers of beat reporting?
Put your pen away
but keep your ears open.
What should a reporter do at the end of an interview?
News writing success requires knowledge of these basics.
What are the rules of grammar and punctuation?
Use words (or spell out) numbers in this case.
What is the rule for numbers less than 10?
Religion, speech, assembly, petition and press.
What are the freedoms outlined in the First Amendment?