PRE-WRITING CONCERNS IN CAMPUS JOURNALISM

 SECTIONS OF A CAMPUS PAPER

ELEMENTS OF A NEWSLETTER
1. FRONT PAGE
a. Nameplate - is the banner on the front page of a newspaper. It contains the name of the
newsletter. It could contain graphics, subtitle, motto, and publication information including
volume, issue or date. The nameplate is also called the flag, another very common term in the
newspaper industry.
b. Ears- are the little boxes on either side of the nameplate. They are sometimes used for weather
news or to call attention to a special feature.
c. Folio - located at the top page of an inside page giving the newspaper's name, date and page
number.
d. Table of Contents - usually appears on the front page, it briefly lists articles and special sections
of the newsletter and the page number for those items.
e. Masthead - In British English, masthead could mean the nameplate. But masthead is more
commonly known as the section of a newsletter design, typically found on the second page (but
could be on any page) that lists the name of the publisher and other pertinent data. It may include
staff names, contributors, subscription information, addresses, logo, etc.
f. Heads, Titles
 Headline - After the nameplate, the headline, identifying each article in a newsletter, is the most
prominent text element. It is essentially the title of the story, written by copy editors and set in big
type that summarizes the story so readers will know whether they want to read more. It presents
the most essential information in a concise manner. It presents the basic elements of who, what,
when, and how, often without much details.
 Kicker - Often seen in newsletter design, the kicker is a short phrase set above the headline. The
kicker can serve as an introduction or section heading to identify a regular column.
 Deck - The newsletter deck is one or more lines of text found between the headline and the body
of the article. The deck elaborates or expands on the headline and topic of the accompanying text.
g. Subhead, Running Head, and Continuation Lines
 Subhead- subheads appear within the body of articles to divide the article into smaller sections.
 Running Head - more familiarly known as a header, a running headline is repeating text - often
the title of the publication - that appears, usually at the top, of each page or every other page in a
newsletter design. The page number is sometimes incorporated with the running
 Continuation Lines - newsletters uses continuation lines when an article span more than 2 pages.
 Jumpline - help readers keep reading by adding jumplines when articles continue on
another page. It usually appears at the end of the article.
Example: CONTINUE OF PAGE 3
 Continuation Head - are small headlines that appear at the top of an article that has been
continued from a previous page.
Example: CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
 h. Body - is the bulk of the text excluding the headlines and decorative text elements. It is the
articles that make up the newsletter content.
i. Page numbers - can appear at the top, bottom or sides of pages. Usually, page one is not
numbered in a newsletter.
j. Column - they are horizontal divisions of the parts or texts of newspaper. The vertical space
between two or more body columns is called gutter or alley.
k. Bylines - the byline is a short phrase or paragraph that indicates the name of the author of an
article in a newsletter. The byline commonly appears between the headline and start of the article,
prefaced by the word "By" although it could also appear at the end of the article. If the entire newsletter is
authored by a single person, individual articles do not include bylines.

2. NEWS PAGE
It contains information about an event or events that possibly happened a day or two before your paper
hits the press or printing machine. It has an inverted pyramid structure most important part of the story
comes first.
3. EDITORIAL PAGE
Articles called editorials are printed in this section. An editorial gives views or opinions of the editor or
publisher on certain issues or events.
a. Editorial proper - a commentary written by any of the editors who comments or gives the opinion of
the staff or of the whole paper on various subjects. It is the stand of the paper, sometimes called Top
editorial/Lead editorial.
b. Editorial Column - written by the columnist's personal opinion. Like the editorial proper, it may
criticize, educate, and entertain depending upon its purpose. It is written in the first person point of view.
c. Op-ed - abbreviation of 'opposite of the editorial page', or 'opinions and editorial page'. It is also simply
called opinion piece. It is a written prose which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated
with the publication's editorial board. It usually written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of the
publication, in which case the opinion piece is usually unsigned and may be supposed to reflect the
opinion of the periodical.
d. Letter to editor - a letter sent in by the reader giving his personal views on certain issues. It is
sometimes abbreviated as LTTE or LTE.
e. Editorial Cartoon - also known as political cartoon is a caricature containing a political or social
message that usually relates to current events or personalities. Usually humorous, it has the function of
the editorial. It is standing by itself, and not a compliment of the editorial paper.
Editorial paper ideas:
• Violence against children
• AIDS cases among teenagers
• The quest for good examples
 • Valuing-focused articles (honesty, respect, diligence)
• Issues pertaining to discipline and behaviour in the classroom
• Getting into sports and other extra-curricular activities and their effect on academics.
• Exploratory issues, e.g., do grades really measure one's intelligence?
4. FEATURE PAGE
Contains human interest stories that speak of people places, situations other interesting matters. It is often
called soft news. A feature story aims to entertain. It may also inform, instruct or advise, but it must,
above all, relate to man's inner feelings.
5. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PAGE
It could contain science news feature stories, class experiments, science research, and other features about
environment, technology and health.
OTHER PARTS/ ELEMENTS OF A NEWSLETTER:
• Headshot - the most typical photograph of a person in newsletter design. It is a head-to-
head and shoulders picture of a person looking straight into the camera.
• Caption - is a phrase, sentence or paragraph describing the contents of an
illustration such as a photograph or chart. The caption is usually placed directly
above, below or to the side of the picture it describes.
• End signs/End marks - They are symbol marking the end of an article or story.
• Pull Quotes reader's attention - a small quote taken from an article and enlarged to
catch the reader’s attention.
• Credit Line - is a line given to pay respect to the source of the story or illustration
printed. It typically looks something like this:
"Photo courtesy of [name or organization]"
"Illustration by [name]"
"Graphic designed by [name]"

 CHOOSING A TOPIC

 What are they interested in?

 What is interesting to other people?
TOPIC - a subject or an issue
Examples: ENVIRONMENT
TECHNOLOGY
  What are you interested in?
o Business
o Health
o Fashion
o Sports
o Politics
o The Arts
 TO KNOW IF THE TOPIC THAT YOU LIKE IS ALSO INTERESTING TO OTHER
PEOPLE, OBSERVE THE STORIES THAT COME FROM:
o COMPUTER
o DOCUMENTS
o TELEVISION
o RADIO

IDEA - a thought or a plan of what to do

The three most common ways in narrowing down a topic into an idea are;
1) Type
2) Place
3) Time
For example, if a journalist wants to write about technology, he might want to first narrow it down to
type. Instead of writing about all the gadgets, he might want to just write about cell phones, which is a
type of technology. He might think of limiting it in terms of place. Instead of cell phones being used by
the whole world, he just limit it to a country or even a city. Finally, a journalist could narrow a topic in
terms of time, probably just focusing on the most recent use of cell phones, rather than on the history of
cell phones. Now, the journalist has an idea for an article namely, "The Way People use Cell Phones now
in (the city where they live)".

 RESEARCHING
TYPES OF ARTICLES:
• News Stories
• Investigative Journalism
• Human Interest Stories
NEWS STORY - basic article or tv segment that reports on an event with just the facts
EXAMPLE: NEWS STORY: TORNADO
-Time Tornado appeared.
-Places it hit.
-The damaged it caused.
 -The people it affected.
OBJECTIVE
Should not include the journalist’s opinions.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM - a longer article or news segment that uncovers new information
on a large topic that affects the public

- Issue that affects the public

- Anonymous

HUMAN INTEREST - a longer article that focuses on a person or people as a way of talking about a
current event

- EMPOWERMENT
- IMMIGRATION FAMILY

RESEARCHING YOUR IDEA

TYPES OF SOURCES
1. PEOPLE
2. INFORMATION
EXAMPLE: ISSUE: WATER QUALITY
1. PEOPLE SOURCES

- Witnesses or Participants, Custodians of records, Experts or interpreters of information,

Advocates

LEVELS OF OBSERVATION
As information moves farther from firsthand observation, we should be increasingly careful
about the reliability of the information:
1. Direct or firsthand observation: The reporter sees or hears something herself. An
example would be a reporter covering a city council meeting.
2. Second-hand observation: The reporter gets information from a witness.
3. Third-hand observation: The reporter talks to someone who got information from a
witness. An example is the account a police officer gives a reporter based on the officer’s
conversation with a witness or witnesses.
4. Fourth-hand observation: Reporters occasionally receive information from spokesmen
or spokeswomen, or from news releases, that is based on information that is already
thirdhand. An example would be information from a police spokesman who summarized
the report of an officer who had talked to witnesses.
WRITING DIFFERENT LEVELS OF OBSERVATION

- Firsthand: “The Chevrolet ran a red light and struck the pickup truck.”
- Second-hand: “Witnesses said the Chevrolet ran a red light and struck the pickup truck.”
- Third-hand: “Witnesses told police the Chevrolet ran a red light and struck the pickup
truck.
- Fourth-hand: “A police spokesman said witnesses told officers that the Chevrolet ran a
red light and struck the pickup truck.”
- Combination of levels: “Witness accounts varied sharply. Two said the Chevrolet ran a
red light. (second-hand). Another told police the light was yellow (third-hand). A
police spokesman said still another witness told investigators she thought the light was
green. (fourth-hand). But all agreed that the Chevrolet slammed into the pickup truck
broadside. The driver’s door of the truck was crushed inward so far that it had shoved the
steering column into the center of the cab. (firsthand)
2. INFORMATION SOURCES - In addition to the obvious —copies of lawsuits and other court filings,
arrest reports, budgets, consultants’ or government reports, agendas —documentary sources can include
clippings or file tape of previous stories (often accessed online now), telephone and city directories,
encyclopedias or other reference works, and, increasingly, electronic databases.

When judging credibility, journalists occasionally give the benefit of the doubt to a document over a
quote from a person, use it to support the credibility of a human source, or do not subject it to the same
verification that they would apply to information from a human source.
But remember that all documentary sources are generated by people, so information in documentary
sources can be lies or be simply wrong, too. Make sure that your document really is support or proof, and
not just someone else making an unsupported claim.

 PITCHING A STORY
WHAT IS A STORY PITCH?

- Journalists, as well as student journalists, usually work as a team. The head of the team is
the editor, who makes the final decision on what will appear in a newspaper or magazine.
Journalists give a pitch, which is a short description of a story that a journalist wants to
tell. When verbally giving a pitch, it is about 30 to 40 seconds long to give the idea for a
story. The purpose of the pitch is to sell your idea to the editor, so, it will be written and
printed in the newspaper or magazine.
Questions that journalists must answer in a pitch:
1. Why is the story newsworthy? - explain why is it a story that should be in the news, why
is it important.
2. Who cares about this issue? - in the pitch, identify who in particular would be interested
in the story, or who are the target audience.
 3. Who or what are the sources? - prove that you have access to information on this topic,
tell who they are interviewing and when those interviews are schedule, how those people
connect to the story, and what other types of information they will use to tell this story.
Explaining this to the editor proves that the journalist can get the information needed to tell
the story accurately, completely, and truthfully.
4. How long does the journalist need to research and write the story? - normally,
newspapers are competing with one another to tell the story first, or in a campus setting,
student publication usually strictly follows a set date to when they are going to publish or
release newsletters. But first is not always better. A journalist rushing to be first might make
more mistakes, than properly delivering the story. With this, the audience could lose trust in
that journalist or even the newspaper. So while first is good, it is better to be right. Editors
would want to know when they can expect the story to be completed.
Sample News Story Pitch:
"I'm really interested in sports. I took that idea and thought about what was going on in the
word that relates to sports. Recently, the Olympic Committee said that the next Olympic
Games would be held in my town. It's newsworthy because everyone in my town is really
excited by it. The world will be watching our town when the Olympic athletes arrive and
businesses are expecting to do well.
My target audience is everyone in my town. This really will affect everyone because
trains will be crowded, traffic will increase, and even the streets will be packed with people
from all over the world. For sources, I'm going to use the announcement from the Olympic
Committee because that could tell me why our town was chosen. I would also like to
interview somеоnе from our government to hear about how our town is going to рrераге.
Lastly, I think it's a good idea to interview an athlete, to hear their thoughts on the Olympics."

 INTERVIEWING & QUOTING SOURCES

INTERVIEWING SOURCES

- When asking questions or interviewing journalists use the wh - questions: Who, What,
Where, When, and Why. The word order for wh questions is Question word helping verb
subject main verb. A helping verb tells the listener the tense of the purpose of the
question.
- FOR EXAMPLE: WHERE DID HE GO?
Where - the question word
did - helping verb, which tells that the question is about the past
he - subject
go - main verb
Questions that journalist might ask when interviewing sources for a news story.
What did you see?
What - the question word
did - helping verb, simple past
you - subject
see - main verb
Simple past - something that started and ended in the past.
What were you doing at the time?
What - the question word
were - helping verb, past progressive
you - subject
doing - main verb
Past Progressive - something that happens over a longer period of time in the past.
USES: was or were
the -ing form of the main verb
There are four main types of sources:
1) Eye-witnesses - people who actually see something happened.
2) Related People - someone related to someone who plays an important part in the story
3) Experts - expert in the field of something important happened in the story
4) People in Authority - people who are generally in power. They are usually the hardest to interview,
because they might not want to talk about what has happened.
SAMPLE NEWS STORY:
An explosion occurred in a factory. It happened in your city, at night, where there is almost no one
staying at the factory. But unfortunately, a person has been injured from the explosion, and is in the
hospital. For the first source to interview, eye-witnesses could be people who lives near the factory, or
people who happened to be walking past the factory who might have seen or heard the explosion. They
can provide the physical details of the explosion.
When it happened?
What it looked and sounded like?
How long it lasted?
1. For related people - they are people related to the injured person, like friend/s, or family member/s.
They can provide personal details about the injured person.

- What type of person they are?

- How long are working at the factory?
- Are they married?
- Do they have any children?
2. For experts sources - can be people who are working in the fire safety department. They can talk
about what happened in fires of this type, how they start, how they spread and move from one place to
another, and how can they be stopped.
3. For the last type of source - the person or people in authority can be the owner of the factory. This
type of source can talk about the safety conditions in the factory like whether smoke alarms were
installed, the amount of damage that the fire has caused, and could give more details about the person
who was injured.
QUOTING SOURCES AND REPORTING VERBS
There are two ways to report on something someone said in an interview:
1) Quotations
2) Reported Speech
QOUTE - A group or words or a sentence that someone else said. Journalists usually use quotes in the
news to report on an interview.
The specific reasons why journalists use quotes are listed below:
1). Accuracy - by using a quote journalist can accurately report what other people say. For example, the
chief of police said,
"Crime is down by two-thirds from this time last year. This is the lowest crime rate in the history of the
city."
If a journalist simply reported: The chief of police said crime was down, gives not much information
from the original statement.
2). Emphasis - by using a quote, it helps to emphasize or highlight of what is being said.
In the previous example, the statement of the chief of police is emphasizing the statistics and how it
is an achievement since it the lowest crime rate in the history of their city.
One aspect of quoting is the reporting verb. A quote is introduced by identifying the speaker and a
reporting verb, which is an action word that lets the reader know hoe something was said. Using the
example above; The chief of police said crime was down. The reporting verb is 'said', it is the most basic
reporting verb. Other neutral reporting verbs: asked, stated, said reported. Neutral reporting verbs does
not have a positive or negative meaning.
To express a strong opinion about an action the speaker wants the audience to take, you can use these
reporting verbs: urged, emphasized, warned, and advised. For example; A German government official
warned, "Resources for refugees are limited."

Note taking when Interviewing Sources

There are strategies that help journalist take accurate notes when they are interviewing a source. These
necessaries are necessary because people speak much faster than they can write.
1). Using abbreviations - when interviewing, a journalist choose to leave some letters out when taking
down statements from the interviewee. This means that they can write much faster, they must recognize
the word when they look at it later, though.
Two main ways of abbreviating a word:
a) Take out the vowels - vowels: a, e, i, o, u, are left out. For example faster - fstr, and journalist - jrnlst.
b) Just use the first syllable of the word - for example for government - gov, and for hospital hosp. For
longer words, just use or take down the first and second syllable. For example, economics econ, and
international - inter.
2). Using symbols - in note taking, it means that picture, shape or icon represents a word or phrase. For
example P - for peso sign or money, same with $ - for dollar sign or money. Another symbol is an arrow
pointing up that represents an increase. When taking notes for example, 'the government is spending more
money on hospitals', you could combine abbreviations and symbols strategies and write down: Gov.
spndng 1$ on hosp. Other common symbols: and- &, less than <, more than >, and for example - e.g.
3). Using indentation - when taking notes, indentation shows that this line is part of a larger idea. Using
the example used above, for example the there are two ways that the government was spending more
money in hospitals and they are:
1. Employing more doctors and nurses
2. Buying expensive machines, such as CT scanners and heart monitors.
When taking notes the information can be indented to show it is part of the larger idea.
1. Empl. ↑ docs. & nrss.
2. Buy. ↑$ mach.
e.g. CT scan.
Hrt. Mon.
Quoting Sources Directly or Using Reported Speech
Journalists do not want to use too many quotes in a story, but they still want to report what the person
said. So they use reported speech. For example a basketball team loses, and after the game, the coach
says, "I am very disappointed." The journalist can use his words without quoting him by using reported
speech: The coach said he was very disappointed.
Two things to remember when changing a quote to reported speech:
1. The form of the verb - when a quote is changed to reported speech, the form of the verb needs to
move back. It depends on which form was used in the first place to know where it goes.
2. The pronouns - when using reported speech some pronouns must change. If a quoted speech contains
the subject pronoun I, then in reported speech it must be change to he or she, depending on whether the
speaker is a man or a woman, and if the original quote uses we, it must be changed to they.
Examples:

- A source (coach) said, "The team is happy with the result" - simple present
 It will be: He said the team was happy with the result - simple past

- A source (politician) said, "The government is spending more money" - simple present

It will be: The politician said the government was spending more money. - simple past

- A source (policemen) said: "We are looking for the suspect" - simple present

It will be: They said they were looking for the suspect. - simple past

 Print Media: From Topic to Article

 OUTLINE - organizes content of an article before it's written

Article Outline for News Story on Presidential
1. Paragraph 1
a. Who- two candidates
b. What- ran for president
c. When - November 4th
d. Where - all over the country

e. Why - every 4 years leadership changes

f. How - citizens voting
2. Paragraph 2
a. quotes from voters
1. supporters of candidate 1
2. supporters of candidate 2
 DRAFT - The first try at writing the article in sentences and paragraphs
 COPY EDITOR - A person who ensures that an article is clear, correct, understandable, and in
as few words as possible
o Space Available
o Size
o Tone
o Style
o Draft Approved

Structure or parts of a news story:

 HEADLINE - A group of words that serve as the title for an article
 BYLINE - A line of text that identifies the author, the author's position, and sometimes the date
and location of the article
 LEAD - The first paragraph of an article that captures the readers' attention and summarizing the
most important facts and information
 Who
  What
 Where
 When
 Why
 BODY - Paragraphs containing the details of the article
 CONCLUSION - The final sentences of an article caption
Usually journalists include images, graphs, or maps that accompany the article. These
generally have a caption below the image.
 CAPTION - A small explanation of the image with the photographer's name

REPORTERS: MELODY V. SANGGA

JANICA S. SERRANO