Midterm Review

What should journalists focus on?

News stories should focus on the personal, using first-person references wherever possible

What describes good newswriting style?

Newswriting is concise and direct. Newswriting emphasizes information rather than the writer or speaker. Newswriting uses simple sentence structures.

Which of the following best describes the idea of internal goods?

The drive to seek excellence for its own sake

"the principle of truth telling"

The principle of truth telling means journalists must always provide accurate, clear information to the public. An example of this term in Spotlight occurs when the journalists interviewed several victims and people of power, but they made sure to run background checks and fact checks to validate the information they were given.

"conflict of interest"

A conflict of interest is a person or people who cause the audience to question the intentions or motive behind a story. For instance, in the movie Spotlight, one of the characters were asked to cover up the coverage on one of the priests merely because he attended the high school where the priest molested young boys on the soccer team. The reporter's interview may have been seen as a conflict of interest because he was familiar with the subject and the institution as well.

What does a sentence in a passive contain?

It must contain a form of the verb to be.

Which of the following best describes the principle of humaneness?

Journalists should avoid asking sources tough questions if those questions will embarrass the sources.

What describes why journalists should avoid using terms like firefighter instead of fireman or police officer instead of policeman?

Journalists should avoid reinforcing stereotypes that suggest people who hold these jobs should or would all be male. .Journalists know that language is powerful, and the word choices they make could serve the principle of justice.

Hayakawa's Philosophy

Judgments are expressions of journalists' approval or disapproval of the subjects they are describing. They say more about a writer's attitude toward the subject than about the subject itself.

Which of the following is the best example of the term transparency in journalism?

When a news organization makes a controversial decision, it explains the rationale behind that decision to readers or viewers.

"the principle of freedom and autonomy"

Freedom and autonomy means journalists have the ability to report under their first amendment right even if it is regarding to government officials or people of power. Journalists have the right to self government and freedom of press in order to publish accurate findings. For example, in Spotlight, the team pursued the coverage on the catholic church despite the many threats they had been given to stay silent about the topic. Although some laws restricted certain information, they were not completed restricted by the government on what they could and could not cover.

Which of the following best describes the principle of stewardship?

Journalists are responsible for guarding and nurturing their profession. Journalists who are good stewards set out to do meaningful work that will reflect well on the profession. Journalists must think about how their actions can affect the profession as a whole.

In a news story, how long should paragraphs typically be?

One or two sentences.

Which of the following best describes the principle of justice?

This principle focuses on journalists' duty to ensure that all people are treated equally by those in power.

According to Hayakawa, what is an inference?

an inference is "a statement about the unknown based on the known."