Basics

The Basics:

Format, Copy Editing and AP Style

Chapter 1

Reporting for the Media





True ease in writing comes from

art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have

learned to dance.

(Alexander Pope)

I think writing is like dancing, or playing the piano,

the more you do it, the more you keep up with it,

the better you get. Also, writing is one of those

things where if you stay practiced you'll be ready

when those great ideas come along.

(Carolyn Dawn Johnson)

Dancing with Style



 When we write, we dance with style. In this

class, we dance with Associated Press

Style.

 We may write a complicated feature. It

may feel like a tango. Or, we may write a

simple, breaking news story. It could be a

two-step or a waltz. But, each has a

basic style.

 In news writing, AP Style gives us charts of

the basic steps.

 Journalists around the world recognize AP

Style and use the charts adapted by it.

One is these charts is a

list of editing symbols

and you will find them

inside the front cover of

your textbook.

You can also access this

list at www.dibbs.net

There is a list of copy-

editing symbols in your

AP Stylebook

Although there are

some variations

between the lists, the

marks you will most

often use are standard.

These comprise a

language we will use to

communicate what

changes need to be

made.

 A few large

newspapers, such

as the New York

Times and The

Washington Post,

have published

stylebooks of their

own.

 Smaller papers,

like the Press-

Register, have

supplements for

local style.

The INTRANET

provides an

excellent place

for most

organizations

to post their

supplemental

stylebooks.

The first

edition of the

Press-Register

stylebook was

more than 10

years in the

making and

was published

as a booklet

only once.

 AP has a

searchable

stylebook on

the Internet

 http://www.

apstylebook.

com/

 Students

and

professionals

can

subscribe.

Style Helps with Accuracy



 If it isn’t accurate, it isn’t news.

It’s fiction.

 Stylebooks are invaluable as guides

for accuracy.

 Nothing is more embarrassing than a

new reporter writing about ―Dolphin

Island,‖ instead of ―Dauphin Island.‖

 Or, one wrote about ―Meyer Mitchell‖

and used ―Mayor Mitchell‖, as if he

were the mayor.

Let’s Dance





 Print has a style: Basically, it’s writing

for the reader

• Newspaper

• Magazine

 Broadcast has a style: Writing for a

reader

 Internet has a style: Writing for the

browser and surfer

Suggested Web Site

 http://writing.umn.edu/docs/publications/i

rving%20fang.pdf



 ―Writing Style Differences in Newspaper,

Radio, and Television News,‖ a monograph

by Irving Fang of the University of

Minnesota. A clear discussion, along with

examples of stories demonstrating the

differences in style.

Writing for The Reader

 Learn to write a GREAT Lead. All

pieces of writing should have a

unifying theme or central idea

expressed in the lead.

 After your reader is ―in,‖ keep him

there with good transition. Make

your copy ―flow.‖ Transition ties

information together and tips the

reader off to what may come next.

This is narrative. This is story-telling.

Types of Transitions

 Connectors are simple words that help

flow, in a structural way. They help unify

your writing.

 Some examples are But, Or, Thus,

However, Therefore, Meanwhile, On The

Other Hand. Don’t overuse these.

 Hooks are words, or phrases, repeated to

give the reader a continual sense of unity

in the story.

 In an armed robbery story, you can use

―robbery,‖ ―robber,‖ ―robbed,‖ ―thief‖ and

―theft‖ several times throughout a story.

Types of Transitions

 Use pronouns naturally to avoid repeating

the names of people or things too often.

 Use similar ideas: ―This was like…‖ ―It

reminded victims of …‖ within an article.

 Use words or phrases that refer to a time:

Then, Next, Later that day, When he came

back, etc.

 Numbering items within your writing will

help tie your information together. His

first priority was, secondly, thirdly, etc.

Characteristics of Print News

 Attribution: telling readers where

you got the information for your

story.

• Attribution leads to credibility

• Information that is common knowledge

does not have to be attributed

 The best of all attribution terms is

―said.‖ ―He said, she said, the mayor

said, the captain said, etc.

 ATTRIBUTION IS A MUST

 Short sentences, short paragraphs:

paragraph length should be kept to three

sentences, or fewer, and fewer than

100 words.

 Third Person: news stories are usually

written in the third person.

 Here, you use the he-she form. As

in: he walked down the alley, she picked up the

phone, and Jason told Tony he was going down,

if he didn't cough up the money.

 An Attitude for Accuracy and

Attribution: accuracy should be a state

of mind for the news writer, because if it

isn’t accurate, it isn’t news, it’s fiction.

The Inverted Pyramid

 The Inverted Pyramid concentrates

important information at the top of the

story.

 The LEAD is the focal point of a basic

news story.

 The Second Paragraph expands on some

of the information presented in the lead.

 The Body adds detail.

 But, the LEAD is the focal point of a

basic news story.

Quotes

 Use direct quotes sparingly.

 Direct quotes should supplement and



clarify information in your indirect

quotes.

 The correct sequence for a direct



quote and its attribution is Direct

Quote, Speaker, Verb.

 Example: ―I do not choose to run,‖



the nominee said.

 It should be MEMORABLE!

Editing and Rewriting

 ALL WRITERS NEED AN EDITOR!

 The first editing responsibility belongs to

the writer.

 Copy editing involves various techniques

and operations that change and improve

copy, without altering basic structure and

approach.

 Rewriting means rewording large

portions of the copy and re-examining its

structure.

Editing and Rewriting:

 Style: Check spelling, grammar, and AP

style for conformity.

 Verbs: Make sure verbs are active and

descriptive; make sure they agree with

subjects.

 Wordiness: Avoid using too many

words.

 Answer all the questions: Did you answer

all the Ws and the H of the story?

 Internal consistency: Make sure figures

add up properly, and times and dates are

logical and in AP style.

Feature Writing

 The main thing that sets feature stories

apart from news stories is the greater

amount of detail and description

features contain.

 Three major kinds of descriptions should

be contained in a feature story:

• Describe actions

• Describe people

• Describe places

 Feature stories contain more quotations

and dialogue than breaking news stories.

Features

 Profile people who make the news

 Explain events that move or shape the

news

 Analyze what is happening in the world,

nation or community

 Teach an audience how to do something

 Suggest better ways to live

 Examine trends

 Entertain

Types of Features

 Personality Profiles—written to bring an

audience closer to a person in or out of the news

 Human Interest Stories—written to show a

subjects oddity or its practical, emotional, or

entertainment value

 Trend Stories—examines people, things or

organizations that are having an impact on

society

 In-depth stories—stories that require extensive

research and interviews

 Backgrounders—adds meaning to current

issues in the news by explaining them further;

explain how countries, organizations, people etc.

got to where they are now.

Writing for Broadcast

When you write broadcast

copy, you write for A

reader. You write for an

anchor, or an announcer.

Selection of News for Broadcast

 The following are some factors that

broadcasters use to select news:

• Timeliness—the most important news value

in broadcast news

• Inform, not explain—broadcasters generally

choose stories that do not need a lot of

explanation to be understood by listeners

• Audio or Visual Impact—broadcasters want

stories that their audience can hear and see;

stories are often chosen because of sound

and/or picture availability.

Characteristics of Writing

 There are four Cs to broadcast journalism:

• Correctness—or accuracy

• Clarity—clear, precise language that contains

no ambiguity; viewers cannot re-hear

broadcast news—they must understand it the

first time

• Conversational—broadcast news must sound

more conversational b/c people will be reading

it aloud

• Color—writing that allows the listener to paint

a picture of the story or event being reported

 News that is more than an hour or two old may

be considered stale.

 The maximum length for almost any story is two

minutes; the normal length is thirty seconds.

 Slang and colorful phrasing is generally not

permitted in broadcast news.

 Should be written in present tense as much as

possible.

 Omit the time element in most news stories.

 Broadcast writers have to learn to produce in a

highly pressurized atmosphere: deadlines are

imminent.

Story Structure

 Dramatic Structure—most common

structure for broadcast news; it has three

parts:

• Climax—gives the listener the point of the

story in about the same way the lead of a print

news story does; it tells the listener what

happened.

• Cause—tells why the story happened—the

circumstance surrounding the event.

• Effect—gives the listener the context of the

story and possibly some insight about what the

story means.

 Broadcast journalists think of their stories as

completed circles rather than inverted

pyramids.

 Stories must be written to fit into an amount

of time designated by the editor or news

director.

 Getting the attention of the listener is of top

importance in broadcast news! The first

sentence of a broadcast news story should be

an attention getter!

 Broadcast news stories cannot go into the

detail and explanation that print or web

stories can.

Broadcast Writing Style

 Conventions of Broadcast Writing:

• Titles usually come before names.

• Avoid abbreviations, even on the second

reference—except familiar ones: FBI and UN.

• Avoid direct quotes if possible.

• Attribution should come before a quotation,

not after it.

• Use as little punctuation as possible, but

enough to help the newscaster through the

copy.

 Numbers and statistics should be rounded

off:

• Numbers one through nine should be spelled

out; numbers 10 through 999 should be

written as numerals; write out hundred,

thousand, million, billion, and use a

combination of numerals with these numbers

where appropriate (i.e. 15-hundred)

• Don’t write a million, or a billion, but one

million, one billion

 COPY IS PREPARED FOR THE

ANNOUNCER! Thus, there are certain

rules most news stations will employ when

preparing broadcast copy:

• Type only one story on a page and provide an

ending mark such as ―—30—,‖ at the end of

the page.

• Use caps and lower case

• Don’t carry over a paragraph to another

page—begin the next page with a new

paragraph

• Don’t hyphenate at the end of a line

• Indicate when tapes are coming into a story.

Characteristics/Qualities

of the Web

 Immediacy: once information is available in

some form, it can be loaded onto a Web site

within a few seconds

• The Web does not require personnel or

equipment & does not have any distribution

problems

 The Drudge Report: Drudge taught

newspapers and magazines the importance

of immediacy. A story, which may have been

an exclusive not only became public, but

became a question of good journalism.

 The actions of Newsweek: Newsweek

editors and Matt Drudge on January 17,

1998, have been the subject of many

debates on journalism ethics and

practices … they demonstrated the

power of the World Wide Web.

 Permanency: material on the web can

remain in place and accessible as long

as the Web server and electronic

storage space exist.

• Printed materials are certainly more lasting

than broadcasting, but their life and

usefulness is limited. With the Web,

material can stay in place as long as the

host Web server and storage space exists.

 Capacity: The Web can keep and show

huge amounts of text and image

material—there are no limits like there

are in broadcasting and print.

• Thanks to the Web (and other technological

advances) we can store more in smaller

spaces and centralize information.

• Not only can a news Web site load a story

about an event, but it can also offer

pictures, video, audio, graphics, and more

detailed text, like sidebars.

 Interactivity: The Web offers a level of

interactivity between producers and

consumers that goes far beyond print.

• People have no control over what radio and

television stations broadcast, or what

newspapers print.

• The technology of the Web offers a level of

interactivity between producers and consumers

that goes far beyond that.

• Visitors can communicate directly through e-mail

or other means set up by the producers.

• The Web remains a medium of Words,

Images and Sounds, especially WORDS. The

Web needs people who produce good,

understandable text.

The Web Audience





 The Most Important

Characteristics people of all

demographics expect and want

from Web sites are accuracy,

accessibility.

Expectations for Web Sites

 Speed: they should load quickly and their

links should respond instantly

 Visual logic: a web page should be easy to

figure out; it should be clear what the web

site is about, what it contains, who

produced it

 Simple organization and navigation

 Depth: they must contain enough

information

 News: they need to present new and

updated information

Creating Web Content

 Web writing follows the inverted

pyramid style of writing.

 Web content should be accurate,

complete, precise and efficient. If it

isn’t accurate, it isn’t news.

 Writers for the Web should use

simple, clear language unadorned

with personal opinions or personal

writing style. Some of today’s worst

writing is on the Web.

Concision

 A term that explains the need for precision

and concise Web text.

 Elements of Concision:

• Keywords: bold face words that indicate the

information being presented; often provide

links and/or are in bold print

• Short Paragraphs: 3 to 4 sentences at most

• Indentations: help provide visual cues for

readers

• Bulleted and numbered lists

Other Web Page Characteristics

 Background, details and lists

 Pictures

 Graphics

 Maps

 Documents—such as court opinions, laws,

policy statements

 Previous stories

 Audio and Video Clips

 Links to other web sites

 E-polls

 Discussion forums

E-mail

 E-mail is now a tool of mass

communication.

 E-mail newsletters are an



increasingly popular form of keeping

people informed.

Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing

and Charm School

Writing to be Understood

An altered version of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem “The Poet”

 Constantly risking absurdity and death, if he performs

above the heads of his audience, the writer, like an

acrobat, climbs on style to a high-wire of his own

making.

 Then, balancing above a sea of faces, paces his way

to the other side of day, performing jumps, style

tricks, and other high theatrics, but never mistaking

anything for what it may not be.

 For he is the super-realist, who must, perforce,

perceive taut truth, before each step or stance in his

advance toward a higher perch, where beauty waits

with gravity – to start her death-defying leap.

 And, he is the little Charlie Chaplin man, who may, or

may not, catch her fair, spread-eagle form in the

empty air of existence.

I went to a dance class.

Why a dance class?

A man bought me a ticket.

 When you and style find each other, it will

be a new beginning – a fresh start.

 Memories are hard, because they involve

habits. Habits are hard to break.

 You’ve come to writing (dance) class as a

favor. Someone, maybe you, bought a

ticket.

 You’re looking to deliver a message.

 On the way, you may find something else.

You may find the beauty of narrative.

 But, what if that beauty is not there at the

end of your journey?

 Oh, don’t worry. She’ll be there.

You are human

1, 2, 3 – Repeat 



 Use AP Style

– You’re Waltzing  Get names right

 Check facts

 Learn grammar

 Write simply

 Use the right word

 Keep sentences

short

 Listen, listen, listen

 Use unforgettable

quotes

 Think – write

 Write - rewrite

 Be original, not

trite - rewrite

 Write about people