Transcript Web Reporting Assignment Tips

PHOTOJOURNALISM
REVIEW
Dr. Kristen Landreville
Mon. 9/27/10
Photojournalism Review
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Sports Action
 Tom – “Feet up, head down”
 Anna – “Defense”
Sports Feature
 Bailey – “School Spirit”
 Bailey – “Gameday Pride”
Feature
 Dyann – “Just Waiting”
 Tom – “Trespassing for music”
 Adrienne – “Free Bird”
Portrait
 Tom – “Wind in the hair”
 Courtney – “Girls’ Best Friend”
WEB REPORTING PROJECT
Website Template
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Home page:
http://www.klandreville.com/report.html
Discipline page template:
http://www.klandreville.com/arts.html
Story page template
http://www.klandreville.com/template.html
Example
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http://www.jou.ufl.edu/pubs/communigator/index.
php?id=146
 Troy
Elias
 Moon Lee
 Clay Calvert
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What’s different in your project:
 650-850
words
 Need “chunks”
News Writing Basics
Reminders of how to write good news stories.
Characteristics of News Stories
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Short, concise
 Sentences
are usually only 15 to 35 words long.
 Paragraphs are usually 2 to 5 sentences.
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Use quotes every 3 to 5 paragraphs
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Interesting language and style, yet clear.
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Strong lead to grab readers’ attention.
Steps to Good Writing
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1. Identify the focus or main idea from notes
 What are the basics?
 How would you tell a friend?
2. Locate the material that supports, explains, amplifies the
main idea
3. Organize the secondary material in order of importance
4. As you write, make sure the separate elements are linked
with transitions and transitional quotes.
Steps for Good Writing
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5. Read the completed story to make sure you have
explained the lead.
6. Read the completed story for accuracy, brevity and
clarity
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7. Read the story for grammar, style and word usage
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8. If steps 5 through 7 indicate problems, rewrite
Personality Profile Basics
Personality Profile Excerpt
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A student reporter wrote this:
Don Sheber’s leathery, cracked hands have been
sculpted by decades of wrestling a living from the earth.
But this year, despite work that often stretches late
into the evening, the moisture-starved soil has yielded
little for Sheber and his family.
Sheber’s hands tugged at the control levers on his
John Deere combine last week as rotating blades
harvested the thin strands of wheat that have grown to
less than a foot high…
Personality Profile Writing
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Find a theme
Show people doing things
Set a scene
Let them talk
Let the action and the dialogue carry the piece
Keep the piece moving
Weave strong quotes throughout
Personality Profile Writing
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Use concrete details rather than vague adjectives
Observe or ask questions involving all your senses
Not in chronological order
You can tell a story like a plot (with a beginning, middle and
climax)
Use foreshadowing
Insert biographical information (e.g., age, residence,
hometown) where and when they make sense in the story
Kicker sometimes ‘wraps up’ the story and ties back with the
lead
Your Job!
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No such thing as an uninteresting person!
Your job:
Research and interview the professor to obtain most
interesting tidbits
Present to readers a ‘snapshot of a life’ using
interviews, observations and creative writing
Convey importance and uniqueness of professor
Personality Profiles – Leads
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Can be more than paragraph
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Should reflect the theme
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Can be anecdotal—a memorable story that represents the
professor
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Can be a scene describing a setting that reflects the professor
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Avoid beginning with a quote unless it is very powerful
Personality Profiles – Format
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The story can be organized in many ways:
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Time frames: Start with present, go to the past, go
back to the present, and end with the future.
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Chronology: Don’t write the whole story in
chronological order, but some part of the story is OK
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Sections: Sectioning into specific aspects of the
person’s life may work.
Personality Profiles - Hints
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Include a quote every three paragraphs or so
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Don’t bury quotes in the middle or end of a paragraph.
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Use active voice
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Have you answered the readers’ possible questions
about this person?
End with a strong quote or paraphrased statement that
reflects the person well
GOAL Method
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The secret to writing a good profile is getting to know the person
Use the GOAL Method
 G = Goals
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O = Obstacles
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What obstacles did you face in accomplishing your goals, and what new
problems loom?
A = Achievements
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What were your original goals? What are your next goals?
What pleasure or problems have these achievements brought?
L = Logistics
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What background (logistics of who, what, where, when) led to your
current situation?
Example Interview Questions
1.
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3.
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5.
6.
How did you get involved in this…?
What made you decide to…?
What’s been your best experience?
What’s been your most difficult, disappointing, upsetting
experience?
Explain a typical ______ (insert theme of story).
What advice would you have for someone who is interested
in…?
Storytelling for the Web
The Word Still Dominates
Writing Style for Headlines
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Entice readers
Reflect the overall story for search engine optimization
Use conversational language
If you use a catchy headline, be sure to include a literal
secondary headline
Can use concise bullet points with main facts
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Example:
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Do-Re-Mi promotes a feeling of ‘we’
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Music can encourage children to cooperate
Writing Style for Online Stories
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Still newswriting, but with these exceptions…
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We don’t read, we scan.
 Include
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short subheads that “chunk” the story
Hybrid Writing
 Tight,
punchy, and colorful like broadcast news
 Subject > Verb > Object (active voice)
 More detail like newspapers
Examples
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Good Science Story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10711202
Good Technology Story
http://chronicle.com/article/Mixed-SignalsAbout/124607/
Bad Example
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Secret-Lives-ofBig/124335/
Linking
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Purpose of Links
 Background
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Example: Former universities (Colorado State University)
 Where
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and related information to professor
you got your story information or sources
Example: UW faculty member’s homepage
 Web
sites of people or organizations you mentioned in
the story
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Example: UW faculty mentions a professional organization
(National Communication Association)
 News
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stories published about faculty member
Example: Laramie Boomerang quoted this person or did a
story on them before
Linking Issues
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Be specific about your links
 Within
the story, highlight the word or phrase you want
to link to (not the whole sentence)
 Ensure the word or phrase is exactly what the user will
expect to appear
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Limit linking to a handful of VIPs
 Don’t
want to lead users away from your story
For Next Time…
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Dreamweaver Basics