How do the LAF pen drivers stack up?

What is news? LAFers say

• affects people• interesting to public, affects people, useful to

public• interesting that people would spend money• affects people, up to the minute• out of the ordinary, relevant• happenings of national and local issues• relevant and that public is interested in• info on current events or issues that are relevant

useful and interesting• anything that’s relevant to me!

What is news?

What is news?

• No one agreed upon definition

What is news?

• No one agreed upon definition• “I know it when I see it” Supreme

Court Justice Potter Stewart, 1964

What is news?

• No one agreed upon definition• “I know it when I see it” Supreme

Court Justice Potter Stewart, 1964• In every newsroom and website,

people are constantly deciding what is news: “the ability to determine which stories are most interesting and important to readers.”

“This year’s Republican primary season offers us an important opportunity to confront our scruples about the privacy of faith in public life — and to get over them. We have an unusually large number of candidates, including putative front-runners, who belong to churches that are mysterious or suspect to many Americans. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are Mormons, a faith that many conservative Christians have been taught is a “cult” and that many others think is just weird. (Huntsman says he is not “overly religious.”) Rick Perry , Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are all affiliated with fervid subsets of evangelical Christianity, which has raised concerns about their respect for the separation of church and state, not to mention the separation of fact and fiction.”

Rev. Wright’s greatest hits

• “... where White folks' greed runs a world in need”

• “... America's chickens are coming home to roost”

• “... The government lied about Pearl Harbor too. They knew the Japanese were going to attack”

• Presented lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan

What is news: Inside Reporting

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy,

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity,

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence,

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence, novelty,

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence, novelty, conflict

What is news: Inside Reporting

• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper

• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence, novelty, conflict and emotions

“If you don’t have the goods, nobody’s going to look. That’s never going to change.”

Journalism pros: part III

What is news: Telling the Story

What is news: Telling the Story

• Relevance

What is news: Telling the Story

• Relevance• Usefulness

What is news: Telling the Story

• Relevance• Usefulness• Interest

More specifically…

More specifically…

• Impact

More specifically…

• Impact• Conflict

More specifically…

• Impact• Conflict• Novelty

More specifically…

• Impact• Conflict• Novelty• Prominence

More specifically…

• Impact• Conflict• Novelty• Prominence• Proximity

More specifically…

• Impact • Conflict• Novelty• Prominence• Proximity• Timeliness

TTS v IR

• Impact Impact• Conflict Conflict• Novelty Novelty• Prominence Prominence• Proximity Proximity

• Timeliness Immediacy Emotions

Two points to consider

• News is not all ‘life and death’

Two points to consider

• News is not all ‘life and death’• News is more than a collection of

facts

“The University of Florida defeated Florida Atlantic University on Saturday by a score of 44-3 in a football game played in Gainesville.”

Let ‘er rip!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“The Florida Gators boldly announced the arrival of the Muschamp era Saturday night in a brutal demolition of overwhelmed Florida Atlantic University.”

“The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.”

Harold Macmillan

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first

loyalty to citizens

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first

loyalty to citizens; verification

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first

loyalty to citizens; verification; independence

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first

loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first

loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first

loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise; make significant interesting

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first

loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise; make significant interesting; news is comprehensive and proportional

So too journalism

• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first loyalty to

citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise; make significant interesting; news is comprehensive and proportional; practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience

Which brings us to Accuracy, Fairness & Objectivity

Bob Woodward

“the best obtainable version of the truth...”

Accuracy

Accuracy

• Most important characteristic of any story

Accuracy

• Most important characteristic of any story

• Check every name, number, quote... every detail

Accuracy

• Most important characteristic of any story

• Check every name, number, quote... every detail

• John Hopkins University = F/E

Accuracy

• Most important characteristic of any story

• Check every name, number, quote... every detail

• John Hopkins University = F/E• You’ll never have all the facts, but

the ones you have must be accurate

Then, is it fair?

Then, is it fair?

• You can be accurate but unfair. How?

Then, is it fair?

• You can be accurate but unfair. How?• Get all sides of story

Then, is it fair?

• You can be accurate but unfair. How?• Get all sides of story• Relate circumstances

Which brings us to objectivity

Which brings us to objectivity

• Most mainstream journalists contend they strive for objectivity... even at pubs such as Time, Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post et. al

Which brings us to objectivity

• Most mainstream journalists contend they strive for objectivity... even at pubs such as Time, Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post et. al

• Objective = provable

Which brings us to objectivity

• Most mainstream journalists contend they strive for objectivity... even at pubs such as Time, Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post et. al

• Objective = provable• “Properly understood, objectivity

provides the method most likely to yield the best obtainable version of the truth.”

Assignments 9/13

• IR pages 74-81

Assignments 9/13

• IR pages 74-81• Your first interview! Find somebody –

in your family, a neighbor, a friend, in your church – who is a veteran of the U.S. military. You will interview them

Assignments 9/13

• Take great notes: what service, where did they serve, combat?, rank progression, what did they learn, would they do again, how did it change attitudes about country, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Assignments 9/13

• Take great notes: what service, where did they serve, combat?, rank progression, what did they learn, would they do again, how did it change attitudes about country, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

• You will turn in your HAND-WRITTEN interview notes (at least three pages!!)