The document discusses best practices for writing news stories for media, including using headlines and leads to hook readers, employing the inverted pyramid structure to convey the most important information first, and incorporating techniques like quotations, summaries, and links to provide context and direct readers to additional information. It also covers topics like searching for appropriate links to include and new ways of structuring and distributing news in the digital age.

1. Writing for Media
Session #3
“Reporting with Text & Images”
UCSD Extension Spring 2012

2. Headlines
• Most important words
• Clear and specific
• Abstracted sentences
• Use active verbs, no passive

3. Headline Guides
• Based on main idea of story
• Avoid repetition
• Don’t use “and”, use comma instead
• Use punctuation sparingly, if at all
• Don’t start with a verb
• Be specific, be accurate

4. Inverted Pyramid
• Get most info in least amount of time
• Most important info first
• Body adds detail info to support
• Quotes add further support to info
• Allows reader to stop reading any time

5. Leads
• Most important part of story
• Hooks reader
• Invites reader to continue reading
• Make it interesting, and compelling
• accuracy, speed, entertaining

6. Leads Answer 4 Q’s
• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?

7. Types of Leads
• Straight news (“just the facts”)
• Summary (more than one fact)
• Blind (people in story not named)
• Direct address (writer addresses reader)
• Question (asks a question)
• Direct quote (uses quote to start story)

8. Quotations
• Direct quotes (uses speakers exact works)
• must be accurate
• bring story to life (colorful)
• Indirect quotes (paraphrase)
• efficient, use less words, maintain
meaning

9. Quotation Rules
• Use speaker’s exact words
• Use direct quotes sparingly (don’t stack)
• Broadcast (for set air time)
• Use direct quotes to colorfully clarify info
• Verb after subject: the president said...

10. Characteristics of
News Stories
• Unifying theme (central idea governs
everything)
• Usually expressed in lead
• Helps sort out what should be in story
• Helps organize and present info

11. Summaries
• Informational (overview of longer story)
• Analytical (interpretation of story)
• Provocative (expresses opinion or attitude)

12. Lists
• Appropriateness and significance
• Number of items
• Use boldface
• Numbered and Unnumbered
• Parallelism (bullet points)

13. Linking
• Hypertext
• Point reader to new information
• Makes story interactive

14. Don’t Link If...
• Opaque or unexplained (be obvious)
• Too general (take to specific page)
• Irrelevant (relate to story)
• Commercial (don’t go to a page w/ ads!)
• Dead or rotting (ensure links are live)

15. Inline Links / Link Lists
• Inline links -- words w/in story linked
• use few words only
• obvious from context
• invite reader to interrupt reading
• no more than one or two links w/in
paragraph

16. Searching for Links
• What is the story about?
• What are the primary/secondary topics?
• Who are the people involved?
• What is their connection?
• Who are the readers interested in?

17. Searching for Links...
• Google
• Yahoo
• Bing
• Ask
• Wikipedia (be careful of inaccuracies)

18. Searching for Links...
• Individuals
• Institutions: companies, govt. agencies,
educational and research organizations
• Associations: trade, volunteer, industry
• Websites (go deeper than homepage)
• Blogs: Technorati

19. Conclusion
• Web has brought speed to news
• Twitter: news announcement tool
• Social media: media using now
• Mobile: get news on-the-go!
• Inverted pyramid old and slow (new ways
to structure writing and present news)

20. Questions...