JOURNALISM 101 Erin Robinson Journalistic Writing Overview of

JOURNALISM 101 Erin Robinson

Journalistic Writing ■ Overview of previous lesson – What is journalism? – What is the role of journalism?

Journalistic Writing ■ Intro to news writing – How it is different from academic writing – How to structure a news article using inverted pyramid – How to prioritize information – How to write a strong lead and the five W’s – How to attribute information

Inverted Pyramid

Five W’s and H ■ Who? ■ What? ■ When? ■ Where? ■ Why? ■ How?

Writing a Strong Lead ■ Straight lead – The most important sentence in the article – Five W’s and H – Brevity – Active sentences – Audience and context – Honesty

What to avoid ■ Flowery language ■ Unnecessary words or phrases ■ Formulaic leads ■ It

Examples of Bad Leads ■ Alleged arsonist and murderer John Smith got some news today, but in the end it could turn out to be the worst news of his life. ■ A high school hobby has become a full-time job for Noah Rockland.

Examples of strong lead sentences ■ Two Spokane County Commissioners plan to force the county’s top administrator out of office today. ■ The U. S. announced it is suspending efforts to revive a cease -fire in Syria, blaming Russia’s support for a new round of airstrikes I the city of Aleppo.

In class activity ■ A robbery took place at the Wells Fargo on North Division Street around 9: 00 a. m. ■ One person was shot by the suspect and suffered a non-lifethreatening leg injury. ■ Suspect should be considered armed and dangerous. ■ The suspect is described as a white male, 40 years old, around six feet tall, wearing black sweatpants, a black sweatshirt and a grey beanie. ■ The suspect is on the run.

Assignment ■ Pick three articles from three different publications ■ Go through each and highlight the five W’s/H ■ Find three examples of strong leads