August 26, 2009 Archives

Read (and bring to class) a copy of Tuesday's Tribune-Review. Copies are usually available for free outside the cafeteria, and there is a copy for you to consult in Reeves Library.

In class, we will be focusing on the newspaper as a physical object, and specifically on the layout of the front page.

• What is the function of the various parts of the front page?
• How do those parts work together to communicate the relative importance of the news items?
• How does the front page differ from the Tribune-Review home page?

A creative expression of your relationship to the news. Have you ever "made the news" -- as a subject or as a reporter? How do we, as consumers, "make the news" that is offered to us?

One or two sentences at the beginning of a news story that encapsulate the news. Write it so that the reader would still understand the main point of the story even if he or she only read the lead.

Hard news describes stories that are newsworthy chiefly because they are about events that have a significant impact on the lives of many people. Examples might include an outbreak of an infectious disease, the bursting of a downtown water main, a hostage crisis at a local daycare, or an attempted assassination of a dignitary visiting the White House. Global events, such as wars and crises, are hard news.

The story about the lonely zebra in another state that escapes from the zoo and is recaptured when it takes an interest in a police officer's horse?  Definitely soft news, unless, for instance the chase for the zebra causes a traffic snarl that leads to a violent road rage incident. (See "If it bleeds, it leads.")

To spike a story is to reject it for publication. Perhaps the story is not newsworthy, important facts cannot be confirmed, or the reporter seems too close to the story to be objective. The editor would traditionally stick the pages onto a metal spike on his desk.

The building blocks of journalism. Use Tuesday's Tribune-Review to find specific examples of two or three general points that Scanlon mentioned.