People who can write news -- that is, those who can present it accurately, completely, precisely and efficiently -- play a vital role in who we are.

This week we will continue to discuss some of the conventions and customs of writing that you should apply to your MC102 assignments.

What we will do this week is

• review the inverted pyramid story structure
• examine sources, attribution, quoting and paraphrasing
• review some of the writing conventions that you will need to practice as you head for the midterm.

The major points of this week's lecture are

• Information for news stories comes from three types of sources: stored, observational and personal.
• Much information used in news stories comes from personal sources through interviewing.
• Souces need to be credible so what we write will be believable.
• A direct quotation uses the exact words of the speaker and is contained within quotation marks; an indirect quotation, or paraphrase, uses the words of the writer.
• When you use a direct quotation, make sure you get the elements in the right sequence: direct quote, speaker, verb.
• For your midterm, you will be asked to write an inverted pyramid news story.

More lecture notes, etc.

Readings

Read Chapters 4 and 5 of Writing for the Mass Media. Make sure you understand all of the concepts and practices discussed there.


Reading room

Sports and the language. Ever hear of the four horsemen of Notre Dame? The term refers to the 1924 backfield of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In describing those athletes, Grantland Rice wrote the most famous lead paragraph in the history of sports journalism.

”Fierce and desparate battle.” George Smalley’s account of the fighting at Antietam during the Civil War is one of journalism history’s best war stories. And the story behind the story is even more fascinating.