History in the Making

{Astronomy

Your Assignment• You are a news reporter and you just got your

first assignment. You are so excited until you discovered that you have to go back in time to a historic event where you have to report on a astronomical event.

• You need to what to make sure you get this right, because you know that this event is monumental to mankind and your words will go down in the history books.

• Not only that, but your editors inform you that your article is going to make the front page! No pressure!

Your Assignment• The first thing you need to do is to

get yourself familiar with the newspaper.

• Next you must research the event• Then, when you go back in time, you

will be able to write the event as if it just happened!

Introduction to the Newspaper

• The newspaper has three basic functions:– To inform, educate and advise– To interpret and persuade– To entertain

• To become responsible citizens, you need to develop citizenship skills such as learning how to analyze the issues, how to vote and how to participate in civic affairs. Intelligent newspaper readership is another vitally important citizenship skill.

• Newspaper editors include stories and features that they feel are of most importance and interest to the majority of readers. In turn, readers “edit” the news for themselves be deciding which stories they will read and which ones they will ignore.

Layout• It is important to know the sections

of the newspaper and what information each one contains.

• The front page has the most important stories of the day.

• Each story has its own "headline" and a "by-line" giving the name of the reporter who wrote the story.

Headline• What is a headline?– The “title” of the article

• What is the purpose of a headline?– Capture the reader’s attention and let him or

her know whether or not the related stories might be of interest.

Elements of a Newspaper• Byline:– tells who wrote the story; may include

the writer’s title.• Column:– a vertical division of the layout that

helps give structure to the pages. Newspaper stories and images are measured in column inches: the number of  columns wide by the number of inches long.

Elements of a Newspaper• Cutline/caption:

– explains what is happening in a photograph or illustration. The use of  “cut” dates back to a time when images in the newspaper were printed from carved wood and etched metal. A cutline or caption sometimes may include a photo credit, the name of the person who took the picture.

• Dateline:– the location (and sometimes the date) from which a story

was sent, usually given at the beginning of a story. The term was first used at a time when news often took days to reach a reader, so the date and location of the event were included in the story.

• Display ad:– an ad for a business or organization that appears on a

newspaper page.

Elements of a Newspaper• Folio line:– the date and page number that appears at

the top of each newspaper page.• Headline:– large type written and designed to

summarize a story and get the reader’s attention

Elements of a Newspaper• Folio line:– the date and page number that appears at

the top of each newspaper page.

Elements of a Newspaper• Logo/Platename:– combination of typography and artwork 

identity of  newspaper.

Elements of a Newspaper• Index:– tells the reader where regularly featured

pages, such as sports, weather and local news, can be found.

• Jumpline:– the line that tells the reader on which

page the story is continued

Elements of a Newspaper• Lead:– the beginning of the story, which

summarizes it and/or grabs the reader’s attention.

Elements of a Newspaper• News Article:– A news article is a report on an event that has

taken place. Articles may include a byline, body text, photo, and caption. Typically, newspaper articles that appear closest to the front page or within the first section are those that editors consider to be the most important and relevant to their readers.

• Feature Articles:– Feature articles report about an issue, person,

event with added depth and more background details.

How Articles are Written• The first paragraph is called the lead. It

usually reports who, what, when, where, why, how details are revealed later in the story.

• The remaining paragraphs report the details in order of descending importance.

• Why are newspapers written this way?– So a story can be cut at any point and still

make sense.

Newspaper Name• What should we name our class

newspaper?