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Crafting Newsworthy
Article Topics
Prof. Holly Johnson
Journalism 1 + 2 + New Media ©2012
What is newsworthiness?
Newsworthiness is the term we use to describe whether or not a topic is interesting enough for people to want to know about it.
We call it having good “news judgment” when a reporter knows what kinds of stories will be of interest to his or her audience.
How do you develop good news judgment?
There are nine basic elements that contribute to making a story newsworthy.
The more newsworthy aspects or elements a story contains, the more newsworthy it is.
In general, a good article contains at least four elements of newsworthiness.
What are the nine basic
elements of newsworthiness?1. Timeliness
2. Proximity
3. Novelty
4. Impact
5. Drama
6. Prominence 7. Conflict 8. Human
interest
9. Usefulness
Timeliness
We determine if a story is timely by considering if the story is relevant now but will not be as meaningful in a few days, weeks or months.
Hard news stories emphasize timeliness.
If this house fire happened this morning, the story is timely. If it happened five month ago, it is is not.
Timeliness
Proximity
In general, people are more interested in things that are happening near them than those that are happening far away. We call this element of newsworthiness proximity.
For people to care about issues that are happening far away from them, those issues have to be very large or have to affect them in some meaningful way.
Security officers getting into a physical altercation with LGBT students at MCCC over a kiss-in event in the cafeteria will likely resonate more with Mercer readers than a story about a gay student in Mississippi whose school wouldn’t publish her yearbook photo because she was dressed in clothes that the administrators felt were not feminine enough.
Although both stories are interesting, the MCCC story has the added benefit of proximity to the readership.
Proximity
Novelty
How new and exciting is the information you want to report? If a story is old and predictable, we consider it to lack novelty.
Sometimes topics grow old but something new happens that makes them newsworthy again. It’s the reporter’s job to find an angle that makes the story fresh so it still contains some novelty.
A day after Capt. Leslie “Sully” Sullenberger made an emergency landing of a USAirways airplane in the Hudson River in New York, everyone knew the basic facts: the plane hit a flock of birds during take off, both engines blew out, the captain had no choice but to land, everyone made it to safety.
The topic was still interesting to people, but they already knew the basic facts. Subsequent stories focused on the bravery of the captain, the individual experiences of the crew, even the experiences of the rescue workers. These stories contained more novelty for readers than another story of why the plane went down.
Novelty
Impact
The term “impact” refers to how many people are affected by the issues covered in the story.
We say a story has higher potential impact if the topic is relevant to a large percentage of the audience.
Accuplacer cut scores are changed so more students
at MCCC place into remedial classes that
carry no college credit but cost money.
The Honors Program will include three new classes
this semester.
Every student at MCCC has to take the Accuplacer test, so the entire student body (12,000 students) is affected by the Accuplacer cut score changes. By contrast, only students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher, who are taking 12 credits or more per semester, are qualified for the Honors program. At present, 60 students are enrolled in Honors courses. So, although both stories are interesting, the Accuplacer article has more impact.
Impact
Drama
Stories with mystery, suspense or heightened emotion, are considered to be more dramatic than stories that lack this feature.
A manhunt proceeded throughout the day in search of Ralph
Johnson, who shot his ex-wife and her husband in Hamilton, NJ this morning. . By 5:00 PM the hunt
was over. Johnson shot himself in the head as the authorities closed
in on him at the Ewingville Cemetery in Ewing. He was taken to Capital Health Regional Trauma
Center but did not survive.
Muslim Mercer students celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.
Diversity stories are good, but not surprisingly the drama of a manhunt caused the story on the left to get more reads than the Ramadan article on the VOICE’s website: 647 reads to 4.
Drama
Prominence
Ever find yourself wondering why on earth the news would ever bother to cover Lindsey Lohan’s latest breakdown? The answer is prominence. Celebrities, politicians, and well-known or highly ranking business people and officials are considered prominent and so worthy of news coverage.
If prominence is the ONLY newsworthy element to a story, it is likely not a good story to run.
Prominence
Conflict
Everyone loves a fight. Sports and political stories almost always have elements of conflict. Interpersonal conflict also figures into many features stories.
Topics of human vs. human, human vs. nature, human vs. machine are other staples the conflict category.
Man vs. Kangaroo Man vs. Machine Man vs. Woman
Nation vs. Nation Man vs. Nature
Conflict
Human Interest
Stories about unusual and interesting people, even if they aren’t very prominent, can be compelling to readers. Features stories often emphasize human interest.
Everyone has a story. The key is for the reporter to find it and convey it effectively.
When writing a profile, the key information must come from those who know the person, not the person him or herself.
New Criminal Justice
Professor Elizabeth
Bondurant is former police
chief of Plainsboro,
NJ.
Art Professor Lucas Kelly
uses himself as a canvas.
Mercer soccer star Amit Aburmad, originally
from Israel, gets full ride
scholarship to Boston
College.
Human Interest
Usefulness
An article in a newspaper cannot teach you how to land a plane or play “Stairway to Heaven” on the guitar, but it can provide useful information that can provide meaningful assistance to the audience.
What is useful? A map of campus. A how to guide for signing up for spring classes. How to ready your home for a storm. How to avoid getting speeding tickets. These are useful pieces of information that can be part of larger articles or even stand alone pieces.
Usefulness
How newsworthy is this?
As you consider the newsworthiness of each article, first think about the audience, their location and their needs. Then think about the categories of newsworthiness. Remember that the more elements of newsworthiness a story has, the better. A good story should have at least four elements of newsworthiness.
Are these articles newsworthy? Why? Why not?
Park51 – Newsworthy? Or not?
Airbags for riders – Newsworthy? Or not?
Balloon boy neighbor – watch video – click here.
Balloon boy neighbor – Newsworthy? Or not?
Mercer Diversity Day Celebrates Haiti
Lawrence High students protest governor’s education cuts
Which story is more newsworthy?
No health center on campus
Mercer’s parking situation continues to suck
Which story is more newsworthy?
How do I find a newsworthy topic to cover?
• Be on the lookout for conflict or interesting events. When you see an event in progress, get your notebook out and start reporting!
• Look at bulletin boards and calendars (posted and online) to find out what is happening so you can plan to attend an event. • Be listening to what classmates are saying about things they’ve seen. They may offer you a good topic to cover.
END