News Writing Study Guide

"VNR" stands for

"video news release," a news release produced for television.

Journalists writing for Twitter must limit their posts to

140 characters

How long should sentences be in media writing?

25 words or fewer

Which sentence is punctuated correctly? a. "Eighty percent of success is showing up," Woody Allen said. b. "Eighty percent of success is showing up", Woody Allen said. c. "Eighty percent of success is showing up." Woody Allen said. d. "Eighty percent of success is showing up" Woody Allen said.

A. "Eighty percent of success is showing up," Woody Allen said.

Which is true about access to filings in civil and criminal court cases?

All filings are open to the public, except in juvenile cases.

What is the difference in attribution in broadcast writing and text writing?

Attribution is typically at the start of a sentence for broadcast and at the end of a sentence for print.

When should you check past stories on file or online databases for additional information when writing a story?

Before you begin reporting or, in the case of breaking news, before you begin writing.

The coaching method of writing introduced in this chapter starts with which of the following?

Conceive

Which of the following is INCORRECT about writing for mobile media?

Enhance all stories with video..

Which of the following should you write at the top of a news release?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The traditional reporting principles for print and broadcast news include all of the following EXCEPT what?

Find sources only through social media.

Researchers at the University of Colorado found which of the following about how college students used media on their smartphones?

For text stories, most people stopped reading before the fourth paragraph.

Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Walsh gave what advice about conducting interviews?

If a source refuses to answer a question, rephrase it and ask it again later in the interview.

When can the focus of a story change?

It can change before, during and after the reporting and drafting process as more information comes to light.

What is most correct about tape recording an interview?

It is legal in many states to record an interview you conduct without obtaining source consent, but most journalists consider that practice to be unethical.

Which statement is true about plagiarism?

It is plagiarism if you paraphrase information from another publication and you don't attribute it.

Which of the following is true for telephone interviews?

It is usually not necessary to use icebreakers.

KTUU-TV reporter Jennifer Zilko gives what advice to students when reporting broadcast news?

Just as you would for print and online stories, getting correct spellings of first and last names is important.

Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen advises all of the following EXCEPT

Make your sites promotional, with lots of fluffy marketing terms.

What is true about the preferred form of writing for online media?

Most styles and formats—long and short—work well online.

Why were the events surrounding the Virginia Tech shooting a pivotal moment in the use of social media?

News organizations realized they could use Facebook and other sites to connect with sources to tell a breaking story.

How is the end of a news release different from the end of a basic news story?

News releases end with key information about the company.

What is most true about how reporters use news releases?

News releases often appear word for word in media accounts of events.

How is a news release different from a basic news story?

News releases often use present and future tense to promote upcoming events; news stories often are written in past tense.

In an email interview, what is the optimal number of questions?

No more than 5.

Changes in recent decades, especially increases in blogs, citizen journalism and social media, have had what effect on the journalistic concept of objectivity?

Objectivity has decreased, and more analysis is present in stories.

What are two sites that journalists can use for curation of photos, Tweets, posts and items about a news story on a composite Web page?

Pinterest and Storify

Which of these is NOT a good tip for reporting with social media?

Post photos or videos you find on social media sites immediately.

Which is NOT a technique media writers use to deal with boring but important information?

Put it all into one middle section so as to keep from cluttering the other parts of the story.

Which of the following is a rule for writing a good Twitter post?

Put the strongest words at the beginning

Which of the following is NOT a descriptive technique?

Rely on adjectives.

Which statement is most true about how you should check background and prepare before an interview?

Search online databases, official websites, printed materials and news clippings to find information.

What does parallelism mean when writing news stories?

Sentences are worded in the same grammatical order

Which is NOT a question typically answered in a summary lead?

So what?

How do social media differ from traditional media?

Social media are Web-based technologies that provide ways people may connect, create and share content.

The Associated Press says what about using sources found on social media?

Social networks should not be used as a reporting shortcut when you can get the information by picking up the phone or knocking on a door instead.

Jayson Blair worked for what paper when he was found to have fabricated stories?

The New York Times

In the case involving two Minnesota newspapers, what did the U.S. Supreme Court rule in regard to reporters who break promises of confidentiality?

They are not protected by the First Amendment from being sued

What policy change about sources did editors at The New York Times make in 2012?

They banned the practice of allowing a source to review, approve or edit quotes.

Many literary journalists were influenced by

Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

Which is the BEST rule for the wording of attribution?

Use "said" for humans and "according to" for reports and other objects. *

Which statement about writing news releases is incorrect?

Use adjectives and promotional language to highlight the news value.

Which of the following is NOT a rule for strong writing for blogs?

Use informal spelling and grammar similar to text messages (such as "thru," "l8r," "u").

When writing a news release, which of the following should you NOT do?

Use passive voice.

Which statement is true about differences in writing for print and broadcast?

Visuals are more important in broadcast writing than in print writing.

The term "blog" is a shortened version of what term?

Web log

What advice does Jakob Nielsen give for writing online?

Write for readers who scan instead of reading thoroughly.

When using information from a source as "background," which of the following is true?

You may identify the person with a vague reference such as "an official."

Which is MOST true about using direct quotations?

You should avoid quotes that don't relate directly to the focus of your story.

How should you handle basic information in an interview?

You should double-check all basic information, including title and spelling of a name, even if you've learned it from other sources before the interview.

What is true about verifying information gathered from social media?

You should try to corroborate the information from a Twitter account by checking with other users.

An analogy is

a comparison of a vague concept to a familiar one.

Which is typically NOT an element of a media kit?

a copy of your organization's annual report

A hashtag is

a link to a similar topic in Twitter

A facts or highlights box is

a list of facts, information or key points in a box typically placed next to a story.

A rundown of a newscast includes

a list of stories with the time allocated in minutes and seconds.

The Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World is highlighted in this chapter as an example of

a media company seen as a pioneer in digital delivery and media convergence.

Media convergence is best defined as

a merging of print, broadcast and online media.

Choose the best definition for the word "blog."

a personal journal or column posted on the Web

A storyboard is

a plan similar to an organizational chart to show the main story and related story parts.

The term "package" refers to

a prepared story that includes video and interviews with sources.

What is Technorati?

a search engine that indexes blogs and tracks posts to them

A reader is

a story that the anchor reads without video.

A lead quote is

a strong quote that is high in the story to support the lead.

A blurb is

a summary sentence or paragraph under the headline

"Microcontent" is

a term for content containing headlines, summary blurbs and briefs.

"Mojo" is

a term for mobile journalists equipped with multiple devices who work primarily out of the newsroom.

When writing a focus sentence as a tool to help you select pertinent information, you should a. All of these choices b. determine the most newsworthy, important or current information. c. express your focus as a tweet (Twitter post). d. write a headline for your story in fewer than 10 words.

a. All of these choices

What statement is most true about observation?

a. It is rarely included in news stories, whether breaking news or features. b. Observation is becoming less important as technology advances. c. If you videotape interviews, you can rely on the camera to make your observations for you. d. Details from observation are more common in feature stories, but they also can enhance breaking news stories.*

Which sentence is an example of passive voice? a. The bicycle thief was sentenced to three years in jail. b. The judge sentenced the bicycle thief to three years in jail. c. The bicycle thief landed in jail for three years. d. The judge gave the thief a sentence of three years in jail.

a. The bicycle thief was sentenced to three years in jail.

Which is NOT a common way of organizing a story?

a. topics b. parallel construction* c. question and answer d. time sequence

The typical 30-minute newscast includes about how much time for news?

about 14 minutes

In public relations writing, backgrounders are

additional, in-depth information about a campaign, organization or person to supplement a news release.

A soft lead

also is called a "feature lead."

The Wall Street Journal structure starts with

an anecdotal lead focusing on one person as an example of a larger issue.

A lead that starts with a story about a person or event is

an anecdotal lead.

A teaser is

an introduction to a story coming up in the next newscast or after the advertisement.

Embedded links

are put in the text of a story.

When you need to identify someone by race or ethnicity in a story, it is best to

ask the source how he or she would prefer to be referred to in the story.

In broadcast news writing, you should place the attribution

at the beginning of the sentence.

Which of these sentences is in active voice? a. The fire was started by the dog jumping on the stove. b. The dog jumped on the stove, starting the fire. c. The dog that started the fire was scolded by its owner. d. The stove was jumped on by the dog, starting the fire.

b. The dog jumped on the stove, starting the fire.*

Which statement is true? a. You need to attribute every fact in a story, even if you observed an event yourself. b. You don't need to attribute information if it is common knowledge or indisputable. * c. You need to attribute all information contained in printed material (like a book or a report). d. You don't need to attribute information that people could look up themselves on the Internet.

b. You don't need to attribute information if it is common knowledge or indisputable.

Which statement is correct? a. You don't need to attribute accusations if they come from the police b. You must attribute information that is someone's opinion. c. You don't need to attribute opinions if they reflect the views of the majority of people. d. You must attribute all opinions AND facts in a story, even if facts are general knowledge.

b. You must attribute information that is someone's opinion. *

Narrative writing often involves a. reconstruction of events. b. show-in-action description. c. All of these are narrative techniques. d. dialogue and plot.

c. All of these are narrative techniques.

Which sentence is the correct attribution for broadcast news? a. A lighted cigarette caused the fire, fire officials say, and destroyed the home. b. A lighted cigarette caused the fire that destroyed a home on Main Street, fire officials said. c. Fire officials say a lighted cigarette caused the fire that destroyed a home on Main Street.* d. A lighted cigarette caused the fire that destroyed a home on Main Street, fire officials say.

c. Fire officials say a lighted cigarette caused the fire that destroyed a home on Main Street.

Which statement is in passive voice? a. The protest was mostly peaceful. b. Students marched peacefully to protest the tuition increase. c. Three students were arrested by the police. d. They were protesting during the president's speech.

c. Three students were arrested by the police.

Which sentence would work best in a broadcast news story? a. All of the sentences are well written and would work equally well for broadcast. b. Firefighters worked throughout the night to battle a blaze that left two families homeless. c. Two families are homeless today after a fire destroyed their duplex last night. d. A fire destroyed a duplex last night, leaving two families homeless.

c. Two families are homeless today after a fire destroyed their duplex last night.

In narrative writing, social media

can help enhance your reporting and engage your audience.

The EyeTrack study showed that people are drawn to which type of visual first when looking at a print publication?

color photographs

What are the four Cs in the writing process?

conceive, collect, construct, correct

Which of these is a type of lead you should avoid writing?

crystal ball lead

How should you construct a story to keep readers' interest between the lead and the end? a. Use parallel sentence construction. b. Follow long sentences with shorter ones. c. Use dialogue between two sources. d. All of these choices

d. All of these choices*

When planning to report online news, think of ways to include a. links. b. video and audio. c. text. d. All of these choices

d. All of these choices*

Choose the sentence that is punctuated correctly. a. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech, "I have a dream". b. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous "I have a dream", speech. c. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech: "I have a dream". d. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech, "I have a dream."

d. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech, "I have a dream." *

In writing for online and mobile media, revision is

essential for making your writing clear, concise and correct.

Janet Cooke's Pulitzer Prize was returned because she was found to have ________ in her story about Jimmy.

fabricated information

When lists are used in the beginning or middle of a story, about how many items are ideal to include?

five items or fewer

The term "pacing" means

following long sentences with short ones. Good pacing drives the audience to continue reading

On websites, "FAQ" stands for

frequently asked questions

When writing a news story, reporters use information

from interviews, direct observation and printed sources.

According to the "trust-o-meter" offered by Stephen C. Miller of The New York Times, which offers the most credible Web information?

government sites

Which is NOT a type of kicker discussed in the book?

highlight kicker

Impact leads explain

how the readers and viewers will be affected by an issue in the story.

When writing for mobile media, one of the most important points to stress in stories is

immediacy.

You should use your best quote

immediately following the lead.

A news story focusing on the loss of thousands of lives in a natural disaster is most clearly linked with which quality of news?

impact

In narrative stories with feature-type leads, nut graphs are

important because they include relevant information about why the reader should care.

The sections technique works best for

in-depth investigations or long features.

When you are setting the scene for a descriptive or narrative story,

include a description about the weather if it is relevant to the context of the story.

When using The Wall Street Journal structure, writers should

include a nut graph in the first two to five paragraphs to explain the focus of the story.

When writing a soft lead, you should

include a nut graph within the first three to five paragraphs.

Foursquare is a mobile application that

includes a global positioning system (GPS) that will show your location to people you choose.

Social media have resulted in all of the following changes in news delivery EXCEPT

increased company profits as readers and viewers share digital content.

Which of the following is NOT a change that the news industry has seen with increased online news delivery?

increased use of linear story structure

To stress a new area of news delivery, the Gannett Co. has renamed its newspaper and broadcast newsrooms

information centers.

The Radio Television Digital News Association says that when getting information from online sources,

information gathered online should be confirmed before broadcast, as is the case with any other form of newsgathering.

Nonlinear stories contain

information that can be accessed in any order.

Discussion, question, poll, quiz, searchable databases, maps and social media are all forms of

interactivity.

What is the most common story structure for a news release?

inverted pyramid

Which story form is most effective and the most commonly used for mobile media?

inverted pyramid

The basic story form used in most news stories is

inverted pyramid.

A strong summary lead

is in subject-verb-object order.

A nut graph

is the paragraph that explains the main point of the story.

Multimedia storytelling

is used for stories that include a variety of media.

The theme of a narrative story

is what gives the story meaning.

The inverted pyramid is favored for Web stories because

it gets to the point of the story immediately.

Reporting for a feature story differs from reporting for a hard-news story in that

it is essential for the reporter to pay more attention to scenes, images and sensory elements.

What is the structure of most basic news stories?

lead, nut graph (if needed), lead quote, supporting facts, more quotes and comments, additional information, ending

In an interview, reporters should

let the source do most of the talking.

Trackbacks are

links at the end of a blog

The term "logging the tape" refers to

loading the tape into a machine in the newsroom for review to pull out the sound bites and footage to use.

Citizen journalism is

news and information contributed by people who are not journalists.

Despite changes in distribution, what is still the most common form of public relations writing?

news releases

Hard news is best defined as

news stories about events or information that happened, is happening or is about to happen.

What is the tone of most hard-news stories?

objective, with an absence of mood

Fact sheets

often include statistics.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

often requires that information is blacked out or cut out when records are released.

The Poynter Eye Track studies found that

people will read most of the text for online stories they are interested in.

The term "podcast" means

portable on-demand video

The question/answer format is an effective technique for what type of story?

profiles

Which of the following word lists contains five common qualities of news?

proximity, timeliness, conflict, human interest and unusual nature

"PSA" stands for

public service announcement.

What is the most common type of ending?

quote kicker

In online media, the letters "RSS" stand for

really simple syndication.

Charles Kuralt said that a good broadcast human-interest story

relied mostly on visuals, with a script that complemented the video.

The best questions in interviews are

short and focused on one topic.

In finding sources, Google and other search engines

should be used in conjunction with traditional directories and guides.

Jon Franklin, author of Writing for Story, says that good narrative stories

should include complication and a resolution, with development in the middle.

An aggregator is

software that compiles websites you want and delivers them to your email or media player.

Which of the following does NOT need to be attributed in a lead?

something that you witnessed firsthand

"SOT" means

sound on tape, indicated with the time the sound bite will take.

A nut graph

states the main point of the story, typically before the third to fifth graph.

Tom French's narrative series, "A Cry in the Night," about a woman who was murdered, demonstrates that

strong narrative writing must be based on thorough and time-consuming reporting in the field.

A hard news story is called that because it is

structured so that the key facts are in the first few paragraphs.

The inverted pyramid story form starts with a(n) ________ lead.

summary

The most common lead for a hard-news story is a ________ lead.

summary

Hard-news leads also are called

summary leads.

What are icebreakers?

techniques to use at the start of an interview to put the subject at ease

"VO" stands for

the anchor's voice over video images.

Backtiming is

the exact time in a newscast that a segment will air.

The story about the staff of the Denver Post covering the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, showed that

the inverted pyramid works well in a variety of delivery forms (online, social media, video, text, etc.)

The best story structure for mobile media is

the inverted pyramid.

"Out" is a direction to indicate

the last few words of a source's sound bite.

"Super" means

the letters, numbers or words imposed over visual images by a character generator.

Which of these structures do not work well for broadcast writing?

the list technique

The focus of a story is

the main idea of the story.

"SOC" is

the standard out cue from the reporter at the end of a story.

The list format in a press release includes

the who, what, when, where, why and how in a brief list.

Words like "pert" and "perky" should not be used when describing a woman because

they could be considered sexist.

When writers climb the "ladder of details,"

they end with the most specific description on top.

What is the best use for closed-ended questions?

to elicit brief, factual answers or basic information

When should you use lists?

to itemize information that would otherwise be cumbersome

Harold Burson, who founded the world's largest public relations agency, said the main goal of public relations is

to motivate a person or group to take a specific action.

When you are writing political stories, reporters should

translate jargon into everyday terms the reader can understand.

If a source tells you not to use his or her name after an interview has been completed, you should

try to understand what the issue is and so you can discuss what the source is uncomfortable sharing.

Second-day leads are also referred to as

updated leads.

Narrative leads

use dramatic action so readers feel like they are witnessing an event.

When using sources from a member of a minority group, it's best to

use labels if the ethnic or racial background of a source is relevant to the story.

When calling to set up an interview, you should

use the sponsorship technique if another source has referred you to him or her.

The Denver Post, the Hartford Courant and the Tuscaloosa News all won Pulitzer Prizes because they

used social media expertly to cover disasters in their communities.

When Mark Potter of "NBC Nightly News" speaks of "sponsorship" in reporting, he means

using a source he knows and trusts to sponsor or refer him to other credible sources

Crowdsourcing is

using large groups of people to gather or produce content through social media

In broadcast writing, "writing to the corners" means

using words to complement the video rather than describe it.

The hourglass form

usually starts like an inverted pyramid, followed by narrative story form in the middle.

When is it appropriate to use the hourglass story structure?

when you have a dramatic and compelling narrative

The questions that elicit the most quotes and anecdotes start with all of the following EXCEPT

when.

The term "blocking sources" refers to a technique

where information from each source is put in separate blocks when constructing a story.

How should you end an inverted pyramid story?

with the least important fact

A narrative story should be arranged

with the structure that allows you to tell the most compelling story.

Cliffhanger endings

work well with narrative writing, especially longer features.

Annie Lang and Deborah Potter in their article for Newslab say that in broadcast news,

writers should use strong, chronological narratives when possible because viewers remember these better than the inverted pyramid.

Delayed identification means

you delay identifying the name of the subject of the story until a paragraph or two after the lead.

If you use a summary lead that explains the focus or the main point of the story,

you don't need a nut graph.

"Off the record" means that

you may not use information from the source even if you don't identify the person.

If you paraphrase a quote,

you need to attribute it so the reader knows where you got the information.