Introduction to Journalism

Course Overview and Terminology

Objectives of Course

Tests the validity of an assertion by examining the evidence

Constructs logical sequences and understands the conclusions to which they lead

Recognizes different purposes of journalistic writing Recognizes how content, topic, purpose, and audience

influence the structure of language Uses a variety of writing styles for various audiences Develops creative expression Uses the tools and resources of writers, such as

dictionaries, thesauri, style manuals, and usage handbooks

The Basics of a Newspaper

Writing in newspaper style is different from any other writing.

Newspaper writing adheres to the rules of a style sheet or stylebook, approved and published by AP and UPI.

Newspapers normally have four sections: news, opinions/editorials, features, and sports

Advertising, circulation, and fund-raising are all important aspects of a newspaper as well.

News Stories

News stories are written in inverted pyramid style, which means that the most important information is first, and the least important is last.

News stories begin with a lead which states the 5Ws and 1H – who, what, where, when, why, and how.

News stories are free of bias and opinion.

Editorials or Opinion Stories

Editorials express the opinions of writers, editors, or publishers.

Editorial or opinion articles often offer opposing viewpoints of an issue.

Letters to the editor are usually a part of the editorial page.

Oftentimes, the subject of an editorial will be a news item in the same paper.

Feature Stories

Feature articles go into more detail about a person or event.

These articles do not adhere to the same writing style as news stories.

Subjects for feature stories are not as timely as news stories.

Entertainment is one area of a newspaper that falls in the feature section.

Sports Stories

Sports stories are oftentimes written in the same way as news stories.

The information for sports stories is timely in most cases.

Feature stories can be a part of a sports section, i.e. a profile on a particular athlete.

Sports is usually designated as the last section of the newspaper.