Article #2: School Related Journalism; What Makes Something Newsworthy?

Please turn in your homework. During class today, please complete the 300-400 word article and hand this in today (in-box).

300-400 word article #2

Write an article that you feel would appeal to the readers of a school newspaper. Research one of the the following topics or brainstorm a topic of your own to write about. Use the links below to help you research, compile notes/sources, and write an article of 300-400 words that serves as one of the functions of journalism. Keep ethics and the news template in mind as you write!:

• The RCSD New Releases
• The 2014-2018 Action Plan (district)
• School Supplies & Supply Lists
• ParentConnect Program
• Special Education Services for the District
• NYSED Take Action Against Testing
• The District Budget
• SOTA performance schedule/news
• SOTA Athletics
• Teen Health Issues/Topics
• More Teen Health Issues/Topics
• Teen Entertainment Ideas/Articles
• Food/Nutrition
• Technology in the Classroom
• Education News: New York Times
• Local News (NBC), (ABC), (Fox)
• World News: Democracy Now!; CNN; BBC

Turn in your article by end of class. Note: please use single-space and two columns for your article. You may also fully justify your text. (full justify as opposed to left justify)

If you finish early, please complete the following (see homework!):

What Makes Something Newsworthy?

Factors Journalists Use to Gauge How Big a Story Is by Tony Rogers

"Over the years editors, reporters and journalism professors have come up with a list of factors or criteria that help journalists decide whether something is newsworthy or not. They can also help you decide HOW newsworthy something is. Generally, the more of the factors below that can be applied to your event or story, the more newsworthy it’s bound to be. 

Impact or Consequences: Generally, the greater the impact a story has, the more newsworthy it is. Events that have on impact on your readers, that have real consequences for their lives, are bound to be newsworthy. An obvious example would be the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In how many ways have all of our lives been affected by the events of that day? The greater the impact, the bigger the story.

Conflict: If you look closely at the stories that make news in any given day, chances are most of them will have some element of conflict. Whether it’s a dispute over banning books at a local school board meeting, bickering over budget legislation in Congress, or the ultimate conflict – war – conflict is almost always newsworthy. 

Conflict is newsworthy because as human beings we’re naturally interested in conflict. Think of any book you’ve ever read or movie you’ve ever watched – they all had some type of conflict. Without conflict, there would be no literature or drama. Conflict is what propels the human drama.

Imagine two city council meetings. At the first, the council passes its annual budget unanimously with little or no argument. In the second, there is violent disagreement. Some council members want the budget to provide more city services, while others want a bare-bones budget with tax cuts. The two sides are entrenched in their positions and in the city council chambers the conflict erupts into a full-scale shouting match,

Which story is more interesting? The second, of course. Why? Conflict. Conflict is so interesting to us as humans that it can even make an otherwise dull-sounding story – the passage of a city budget – into something utterly gripping. And the ultimate conflict – war – is always a huge story.

Loss of Life/Property Destruction: There’s an old saying in the news business: If it bleeds, it leads. What that means is that any story involving loss of human life – from a fire to a shooting to a terrorist attack - is bound to be newsworthy. Likewise, nearly any story that involves property destruction on a large enough scale – a house fire is a good example - is also bound to be news.

Many stories have both loss of life and property destruction – think of the house fire in which several people perish. Obviously loss of human life is more important than property destruction, so write the story that way.

Proximity: Proximity has to do with how close an event is geographically is to your readers or viewers. A house fire with several people injured might be big news in your hometown newspaper, but chances are no one will care in the next town over. Likewise, wildfires in California usually make the national news, but clearly they’re a much bigger story for those directly affected.

Prominence: Are the people involved in your story famous or prominent? If so, the story becomes more newsworthy. For example, if an average person is injured in a car crash, chances are that won’t even make the local news. But if the president of the United States is hurt in a car crash, it makes headlines around the world.

Prominence can apply to politicians, movie stars, star athletes, CEOs – anyone who’s in the public eye. But it doesn’t have to mean someone who’s famous worldwide. The mayor of your town probably isn’t famous, even locally. But he or she is prominent in your town, which means any story involving him or her is likely to be more newsworthy. Prominence can apply on a local, national or international level.

Timeliness: In the news business we tend to focus on what’s happening this day, this hour, this minute. So events that are happening now are often more newsworthy than those that happened, say, a week ago.

Another factor that relates to timeliness is currency. This involves stories that may not have just happened but instead have an ongoing interest to your audience. For example, the rise and fall in gas prices is something that’s been happening for several years, but it’s a story that’s still relevant to your readers, so it has currency. 

Novelty: Another old saying in the news business goes, “When a dog bites a man, no one cares. When the man bites back – now that’s a news story.” The idea, of course, is that any deviation from the normal, expected course of events is something novel, and thus newsworthy

For each of the following, find a story in one of the paper sites below that fits the criteria. In 25 - 50 words for each, explain why this is so, using specific textual evidence that supports your choice. For each of the 6 articles you choose, please indicate the source (according to the New York Post article entitled ______ by _______), for example... [your attribution does not count against your 25-50 word summary/response!]

1.     Impact or consequences

2.     Conflict

3.     Loss of life /  property destruction

4.     Proximity and prominence

5.     Timeliness

6.     Novelty

 For each of the above (1-6), use a different news source from the list below. Make sure to name your source and its author. As well, make sure you choose one non-United States news source.

1. 1. New York Post  http://www.nypost.com/  

1. 2. The Village Voice    http://www.villagevoice.com/

1. 3.     Democrat and Chronicle  http://www.democratandchronicle.com/

1. 4.     Los Angeles Times  http://www.latimes.com/

1. 5.     San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/

1. 6.     Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/

1. 7.     Honolulu Star Advertiser http://www.staradvertiser.com/

1. 8.     Catholic Courier http://www.catholiccourier.com/

1. 9.     Boston Globe http://bostonglobe.com/

1. 10.   Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/

1. 11.   Toronto Sun http://www.torontosun.com/news/

1. 12.   The Telegraph (UK) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

1. 13.    Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/

1. 14.   The Standard Hong Kong http://www.thestandard.com.hk/

1. 15.   The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

1. 16. The BBC: http://www.bbc.com/

HOMEWORK: If you did not complete the assignment during class, please complete the task about something newsworthy for homework. Plan to complete and turn in your work by next class. See instructions above.