Formatted contents note |
r. News and the News Industry<br/>The Nature of News 1<br/>Definitions of News 2, Qualities of News 3, Orientation and<br/>Perspective 4, Special Interests 5, What Newspapers Publish 6<br/>The Press Today 8<br/>Newspapers 8, Special Interest Newspapers 12, The Business<br/>Press 12, The Ttade Press 13, Association Publications 13,<br/>Other Publications 13, News Magazines 14, Magazines 14,<br/>News Services 14<br/>The Audience for News 15<br/>What Newspaper Readers Read 16, The Changing. Reader 17,<br/>The Changing Newspaper 18, Local News 19, Good News, Bad<br/>News 21, Striking a Balance 21<br/>News Writing 21<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 23<br/>2. Gathering the News<br/>Reporting and Reporters 25<br/>Where Reporters Work 26, The Reporter 27, Reporting for<br/>Newspapers 28, Reporting the Expected and-the Unexpected 31,<br/>Made News 31<br/>What Reporters Do 32<br/>Reporting Skills 32<br/>A Nose for News 34, Observation; Listening 34, Observation:<br/>Seeing 35, Finding Things 3 S, Verifying Information 37<br/>Interviewing 38<br/>Asking Questions 38, Types of Interviews 39<br/>Reporting Techniques 40<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 42<br/>3. Writing the Lead<br/>The Summary Lead 48<br/>Thinking Through the Lead 51<br/>Finding the Appropriate Verb 54, No-News Leads 54,<br/>Organizing the Facts 55, Time Elements 56<br/>Variations on the Summary Lead 57<br/>The Blind Lead 57, The Delayed-Identification Lead 59<br/>Some Other Aspects of the Lead 60<br/>Datelines 61, Credit Lines 62, Bylines 63<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 63<br/>4. Style and the Stylebook<br/>The Stylebook 65<br/>Why Have a Stylebook? 66<br/>A Need for Consistency 66, Preference and Tradition 67<br/>Style and Policy 67<br/>The Authority Behind Style 69<br/>Mechanical Rules 70<br/>Style and Usage 73<br/>Other Stylebooks 75<br/>Built-in Stylebooks 75<br/>A Basic Guide to News Style 75<br/>Personal Style 76<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 77<br/>5. Writing the Story 79<br/>Single-Incident Stories 79<br/>Appropriate Order 80, Stories With Blind Leads 81<br/>Attribution 82<br/>How Much Is Enough? 84, Too Much Attribution 85<br/>Identification 85<br/>Identifying People 87, Other Identification S9, Identification<br/>and Background 90, Punctuation 90<br/>Time and Timeliness 91<br/>The Point in Time 91, Time and the Reader 92, Past Tense 93,<br/>Present Perfect 93, Present Tense 94, The Future 95, Day or<br/>Date? 95. Overemphasis on Timeliness 96<br/>The Stylebook 96<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 97<br/>6. Be Clear, Complete and Accurate 99<br/>How Much Do Readers Know? 99<br/>Define and Explain 100<br/>Context and Backgroimd 101, Technical Words and Terms 102,<br/>Obscure Details 102, Jargon and Gobbledygook 103,<br/>Euphemism 106<br/>Unanswered Questions 107<br/>Stories With Holes 107, Context 108^<br/>Con<br/>Accuracy Always 109<br/>Verifying Facts 109, Verifying Quotations, Allusions and<br/>References 110<br/>Credibility 112<br/>Confessing Error 112<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 113<br/>7. Writing the Stoiy II<br/>Coming Events 115<br/>Stories With Many Names 119<br/>Localizing 120<br/>Tying the Story Together 125<br/>Building on the Lead 125, Linking Lead and Development 127,<br/>Repetition 129, Attribution 129, "Dansitions 129<br/>Unnecessary Distractions 131<br/>Parenthetical Insertions 132, Pointless Variation 133<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 134<br/>8. Editing, Revising, Rewriting<br/>Need for Revision 138<br/>Common Weaknesses in News Copy 138<br/>Forms of Revision 139<br/>Improving Copy 140, Common Mistakes 140, An Ear for<br/>Language 144<br/>Badly Written Copy 145<br/>Revising the Lead 146<br/>Updating a Story 148<br/>Revising Handouts 150<br/>Buried Angles 152<br/>Localizing 152<br/>Rewriting for Other Media 152<br/>The Newsroom as Classroom 154<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 155<br/>9. Quotation 157<br/>Reproduced Speech 157<br/>Direct Quotation 160, Indirect Quotation 162, Attribution 163,<br/>Meaningful Variations 164, Nonsense Tags 165<br/>The Grammar of Quotations 165<br/>Type 1 Quotes 167, Ifype 2 Quotes 167, "Ifype 3 Quotes 168,<br/>Extended Quotation 169, Fragmentary Quotes 171, ParenAetical<br/>Insertions 171, Quotation Marks With Other Punctuation 172,<br/>Quotes Within Quotes 172, Word Order in Speech Tags 173,<br/>Paragraphing Quotations 174, Redundancy 174, li-ansitions 175<br/>Editing Quotes 177<br/>Quotation Must Be Accurate 178<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 179<br/>10. Legal and Ethical<br/>Considerations 181<br/>The Watchdog 182<br/>Access to the News 183<br/>Co<br/>Access to Places 184, Open Meetings 184, Open Records 185,<br/>Freedom of Information Access to Courts Cameras in the 1<br/>Court 187, Gag Orders 187, Prior Restraint 188, Shield Laws 188<br/>Responsibility for Things Published 188<br/>libel 189, Defenses Against Libel Actions 191, Mitigation 192,<br/>Privacy 192<br/>Understanding the Law 193<br/>Journalistic Ethics 193<br/>The ASNE Canons of Journalism 194<br/>Responsibility 196<br/>Freedom of the Press 196, Ihith and Accuracy i 97, News and<br/>Opinion 198, Fair Play 198, Conflict of Interest 199<br/>Matters of Taste 200<br/>Sensitivity 201<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 202<br/>11. Some Hard-News Stories<br/>Basic News Stories 205<br/>Action Stories 206<br/>Chronology 206, Holdups and Robberies 206, Feature Leads 210<br/>Other Hard-News Stories 212<br/>Auto Accidents 212, \^orous Verbs, 214 Fire Stories 214<br/>Attribution 215<br/>"Allegedly" 216<br/>Obituanes 220<br/>I<br/>Leads 221, Cause of Death 222, Identification 222, Services 225,<br/>Survivors 226, Biography 226, Anecdotes and IHbutes 227,<br/>Negative Information 228, Style 229, Feature Leads 230,<br/>Finally 232<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 232<br/>12. Second-Day Stories and Other<br/>Organizing Devices 235<br/>Second-Day Stories 236<br/>The Tie-back 239, Other Second-Day Leads 239<br/>Follow-ups 240<br/>Round-ups 242<br/>Other Organizing Devices 243<br/>Sidebars 243, Shirttailing 248<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 249<br/>13. Stories About Speeches: Leads 251<br/>The Lead 252<br/>The Summary Lead 253, No-News Leads 254<br/>Writing the Lead 255<br/>Attribution Plus Statement 255, Statement Plus Attribution 257,<br/>Audience Plu^Statement 257, Audience and Speaker 258, .^ Brevity in<br/>the L^ad 258, Blind Leads 259, Holding Back Attribution 259<br/>Other Considerations 260<br/>Names in the Lead 260, Direct-Quote Leads 261, Characterizing<br/>Leads 261, Creative Variations 262<br/>The Lead as a Unit 264<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 267<br/>14. Reporting the Spoken Word 269<br/>Writing About Speeches 270<br/>Structure of the Speech Story 271, Development 271, Selecting and<br/>Eliminating 276, Paraphrasing and Summarizing 276, Direct and<br/>Indirect Quotation 277<br/>Other Stories 277<br/>Panel Discussions 277, Itials and Hearings 2Z1, Public<br/>Hearings 2B5, Other Meetings 255, Interviews 255<br/>BCeeping the Record Straight 288<br/>Published Sources 288, Identifying the Platform 259<br/>Problems With Quotation 290<br/>Editing Quoted Matter 290, Transitions 293, Partial or Fragmentary<br/>Quotes 295, Revising for Clarify 297, Editing Prepared Texts 295,<br/>Avoid the Ellipsis 295, Further Editing 299<br/>Reporting 300<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 301<br/>15. Writkig Larger Stories 303<br/>Strategy 304<br/>Structure 304<br/>The Lead 307, The Nut Graph 3ii, The Development 3i3,<br/>Condusions 314<br/>Breaking Stories 314<br/>The Eurfhquake 3/5, The Harding Plea 324.<br/>Investigative Reporting 325<br/>Lighter Stories 327<br/>Profiles 329<br/>Writing Larger Stories 335<br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 336<br/>16. Features 339<br/>Feature Angles 340<br/>Structure and Organization 341<br/>Suspended-Interest Stories 344<br/>The Feature Touch 344<br/>Recognizing Feature Angles 346<br/>Writing Features 346<br/>Keep It Simple 347, Involve the Reader 349, Hold Something<br/>Back 349, Playing With Words 351, Allusions 353, Creative<br/>Leads 354<br/>Other Approaches 355<br/>Questions 355, The Imperative 356, Direct Address 356<br/>Craftsmanship 356<br/>More Than One Way 358<br/>Quotation 360<br/>In Summary J62<br/><br/>Suggestions for Further Reading 362<br/>17. Numbers in the News 365<br/>The Routine Use of Numbers 366<br/>Stories Based on Statistics 367, Cost-of-Living Stories 368,<br/>Employment Figures 368<br/>Data Banks 369<br/>Access to Public Record Data Banks 369<br/>Stories About Taxation 370<br/>Tax Rates 371, Percentages 372<br/>Business News 374<br/>Company Reports 374, Personal Finance 375<br/>Precision Journalism 375<br/>Reporting Survey Results 378<br/>Misuse of Numbers 375<br/> |