Friday Morning: Fourth Class - Notes By Elisha Brown

Brief discussion of front page salt story in The Post
Provided good example of writing your way on the front page
Unusual story impacted many in the DMV area
Aside: The Post often referred to as the writer's newspaper; a lot of freedom with style options

Avoid explaining a quote; we don't need two sentences to introduce a quote in most cases
Try to avoid adverbs like "immediately"
Back to back quotes must include a transition to alert the reader that someone new is speaking
Avoid terms like "Saturday evening" when describing dinner; in short, aim for precision and clarity
Eliminate excessive commas when describing situations; often causes choppiness
When revising a story, look at the process as a "garden" - pulling out the excessive weeds

The job of a journalist is to stay as neutral as possible
When in doubt, refer to the bias checklist on page 271
Remember: everytime a stereotype is confirmed by a writer, it's strengthened in the reader's mind

In short, we broke up into teams to discuss how to approach difficult stories
Case 1/ sex offender/ important to publish even if it could jeopardize a family or job
Case 2/ offensive official/ sexist comments made by a warden and a sheriff; include everything in a story, especially if comments are controversial
Case 3/ teacher/ a news value is prominence; this was an unusual story
Case 4/ firefighter/ do not hesitate to hold back information, it's almost like lying to the public
Case 5/ ex-FBI and drunk/ consider the ethics of the situation
Case 6/ charity-cancer/ consider relevancy and the potential to open up a floodgate of similar stories
Case 7/ suicide/ once again, your job as a journalist is to withhold emotional attachment to the story; report the facts
Case 8/ NYE and welfare/ Consider this: If an editor sends you out on a story and you find a better one, should you publish it?

Friday Morning