How can you make a news story about a speech more interesting and informative?

Let’s be serious; how often are political speeches just incredibly boring?  There so much fluff put in to make acceptable that often the key facts that you want to hear just get lost in the shuffle.  Reporters who cover these speeches face the task of reporting the speech to the public which isn’t always easy. 

There are a few ways that you can jazz things up a little and make these reports more appealing to your audience.

One technique is to draw the audience in with a catchy hook.  Take a highlight of the speech and format it in a way that gets the audience’s attention.  Listeners or viewers will see this and want to read more into what the speaker has to say.

Another way is by using language that is easier to understand.  Often is the case in major speeches that language used is more sophisticated and difficult for average people to understand.  Once you have the audience’s attention with your hook, you explain the details in ways that are more comprehendible.  By being able to translate what the speaker is saying into a format that is more audience friendly can make your story sound much more appealing.

Also, by including the key quotes and keeping everything in a conversational format, you will be able to maintain your audience throughout the story.

What do you think is the hardest beat to cover and why? What do you think is the most interesting beat to cover and why?

The job of a beat reporter is a tedious one.  It is your responsibility to cover a specific section or type of news on a daily basis.  It is common for many major organizations to have beat reporters.  They follow different topics like sports, politics, fashion, business entertainment and crime.

For me personally, the most difficult one to cover is politics.  I find politics to be on the boring side and not really not one of my strengths.  So much goes on politically on a daily basis so it would be difficult to keep up with the flow of different politicians, bills and scandals.    It is also difficult to remain biased reporting about different political views because your job is to be able to see both sides and it wouldn’t always be easy to not let your opinions leak in.

Another reason being a political beat reporter would be difficult is because things are always changing with bills happening then falling through, people being in and out of office.  It would just be difficult to stay on top of it all.

I think the most interesting avenue to go down would be to be a beat reporter for a sports team.  Now I must admit that I am a little biased because I am an athlete myself.  I still think it would just be incredibly interesting to be able to follow a team at home and on the road and be with them every day.  It would almost seem as if you were a member of the team who just received zero playing time.

You are able to build relationships with the team and its management and experience many of luxuries that they experience.  While it would definitely be tedious, you are right there for any breaking news and can provide information before anyone else can.  What a thrill.

Is it harder to report and write an obituary or a personality profile?

The great thing about news stories are that there are so many different avenues you can go down that you can report on.  Two examples are obituaries and personality profiles.

Obituaries are stories about people who have passed away.  They provide information about the person’s life and information about his or her funeral.

Personality profiles on the other hand provide the audience with stories about prominent figures or about people with extraordinary stories.

While both types of stories are similar in that they share stories about people’s lives, they have their differences.  That is why I think it is more difficult to write obituaries.

Obituaries are shorter pieces and there is usually a short space provided to fit them.  That is part of what makes writing them so difficult.  It is hard to take the story of someone’s entire life and fit it into such a small space.  You need to be able to properly balance the relevant information along with the sensitive issues.  Usually, people’s lives are so long so it’s tough to research an entire life and provide a proper account.  

You also do not have the luxury of calling the person to tie up any loose ends.  There are family members that you can talk to but they can’t always answer everything.

What are two descriptive techniques you use when telling a story and why would viewers/listeners like your use of these techniques?

When you are reporting a news story, you want to be as clear and descriptive as possible.  This is important because not only to you want to present the most important information; you want to do it in a way that makes sense to your listeners.

One good way of doing this is using proper comparisons to relate the information to.  An example would be comparing a heated argument between two high profile politicians to a heavy-weight bout between Ali and Frazier.  This puts an image in the listener’s head that helps portray the magnitude of the concept.  It is an easy way to get through to your audience.

Another good technique is one that helps turn a more boring story more exciting.  By cleverly inserting certain adjectives into different parts of the story, it makes it much more exciting to read.

You can use words like melee to describe a fight or monsoon to describe a heavy rain storm. What this does is gives the story a little more life and makes it more appealing to listeners.

Which do you most like reporting and writing news for- television or radio, and why?

Each of these practices includes a meticulous process of formatting that quite frankly, is a pain in the neck.  That being said though, they are both quick and to the point styles of writing.  If I had to choose one of them I think I would choose writing for radio.

I am probably one of few people who listen to radio these days.  I enjoy listening to it because it is around the clock and gets me the information I need to know without having to beat around the bush.  It’s because of listeners like me that I enjoy writing for radio better.  The only thing you have to worry about is fitting the time slot and working in sound bites.  Because everything on the radio is so segmented it makes it easy to just make a key point and move on.

On television, you have to worry about formatting for visuals and working in voiceovers.  In radio, there is no need for that.  You know that your audience is listening to your voice and relying on you for the information rather than the visuals on the television screen that can be so distracting.

Due to its upbeat pace and simplicity to detail, I think I’d take writing for radio any day of the week.

How does writing in inverted pyramid style differ between print and broadcast?

It can be agreed upon that when we read, watch or listen to the news, we want to know what is going on now; we are not concerned with information that happened previously only what is going on at that particular moment in time.  This being said, journalists like to use what is known as an inverted pyramid style of writing to get their stories across to the public.

The inverted pyramid is a format used to get the most important, and current information across right away at the beginning of the story as a way to get the audience interested.  The most important information is then followed by lesser details that may include background on what is being reported.

The style is used in both print and broadcast formats.  The biggest difference however is that print stories often include extra information that would be pointless to include in a broadcast story.  Radio broadcast stories are usually around 30 seconds while television broadcast stories range from 30 seconds to a minute long.  Print journalists have the luxury of not being under time restraints therefore they are able to go into more detail as the story progresses.

Unless there is follow-up information that pertains to the most recent developments, broadcast stories stick to the most recent information.  Regardless, that information will always come at the top of the report.  To avoid surpassing the time restraints of a broadcast, anchors will often direct viewers to the stations website for additional information.  All the viewer cares about when viewing the actual news is what is most important so that after they hear what they need to hear they can move on.

Why is writing in short simple sentences so important in TV and radio news?

You know what would be funny?  If you turn on Brian Williams tonight on NBC and his broadcast consisted of him reading straight from the New York Times.  No script, just the newspaper.  How ridiculous would that sound?

This leads me to this week’s question of why is it so important to use short and simple sentences when writing for television and radio news?

The answer is pretty simple if you think about it.  When we write for television and radio, we are writing something that is going to read out loud in front of millions of viewers.  If it is to elaborate and complicated then it becomes very difficult to read out loud.  What you always want to try and avoid is mess ups on a live broadcast.  Not only does it look bad but it makes your story more difficult to follow for the viewer.

We have discussed in the past how it is important for stories to be to the point and not beat around the bush.  The audience doesn’t need to be blown away with your vocabulary.  They just want to know the news and move on with their lives.  The simpler the words and sentences, the better off you’ll be. 

A good way to think about it is to write as f you were having a conversation with the audience.  When you talk to someone you don’t think about being cute with your language you just focus on saying what you want to say to get your point across.  I don’t know about you but it annoys me if someone is trying to tell me that it is sunny outside but instead gets into a whole thing about how the weather patterns have been shifting and high pressure has set in which thus has produced the sunny weather.  I would probably walk away. 

Bottom line is be simple, be to the point and don’t try to be cute.  Most importantly, stay classy.

What is more important - fact or opinion and why?

One of the most important jobs that we have as journalists is to be able to differentiate fact from opinion.  While both sides are different, they each bring an important element to the news.  But which is more important?

Fact, in a journalistic sense, is defined as solid concrete evidence that is gathered from source and can only be interpreted a certain way.  A basic example would be that the president was in New York today.  The president was either in New York today or he wasn’t, there is no way around it.

Opinion on the other hand is more of individuals’ way of interpreting a piece of information.  The goal is to have the reader take in what you have to say in order to form an opinion of their own.  You’ll see examples in the news in editorials or columns in newspapers and magazines. 

To answer the question of which is more important?  I believe that it is fact.

If you think about it, fact never changes.  It cannot be interpreted differently and is always going to be the same to each person.  Going back to the example I used earlier, if the president is in New York then it cannot be argued by anyone because that is simply the case.  If you are giving fact in a story then you are being as honest as you can possibly be with your audience.

That leads me to my next point that people want to know what is going on.  You can give someone your opinion on something but it does not necessarily mean it will be interpreted the same way.  If you are giving straight facts then nothing can be left for interpretation and people can move forward based on that.

Providing facts is also a good way to keep you out of crossfire as a journalist.  You always want to remain neutral when reporting a story so that to you audience you are being fair to both sides.  If you are just reporting facts then you are showing your knowledge towards each side and remaining neutral.

draws a� v n e �� ؽ� n impact lead.  It explains how the readers and viewers will be affected by a certain issue.  It immediately answers the question so what?  How does this affect me?  With both questions answered in one sentence, the audience is finding out quickly what they need to know and if they should continue listening.  If you read or hear something that affects you then you will automatically be drawn in to the rest of the story for further details.

All in all, when we write we want you to be interested.  We don’t want to beat around the bush.  Instead we get to the point so that you the audience finds out what you need to as fast as possible.  We understand how the world works, everything is in fast motion.  There isn’t always time to sit around and read or listen to things that are not relevant.  By making the news story immediately relevant, we are able to draw you into our story and make you want to know more.

Another thing to do is to try and tease the audience with a surprise that leads to the main idea of the story.  It is something different but can definitely be effective.  Anything that draws you guys to our story is worth giving a shot and that is the main objective after all.  When in doubt, just stay classy.

As a news consumer, what makes a good lead? What about a lead hooks you and makes you want to read/watch/listen?

As journalists, it is our responsibility to report the news to the public.  The audience has a need to know what is going on around them but they are only interested in certain stories that they feel are important.  If they are captivated by the story then they will want to know more.  If they aren’t drawn in however, then it is easy for them to lose interest and not want to listen to the story.  That being said, journalists need to find a way to not only report the news but to also make the public interested at the gate so they want to continue listening.  That is why the lead to a story is so important.

But what makes a good lead?  What is it that you the public wants to hear that will make you want to keep listening?  With the world the way it is today with fast moving media and social networks, people want to be able to get their information as quickly as possible.  They don’t have the time to read long elaborate opening paragraphs.  Instead they want to know what they need to and move on with their lives.

 One example of this would be a summary lead.  A summary lead is a sentence long that tells what the rest of the story is going to be about.  It will include some but not all of the questions who? What? When? Where? Why? How?  If you try to cram all of these into one sentence then it will not come out properly.  You will often see these used in news releases which need to be brief and newsworthy.  When a consumer reads or hears a summary lead they are immediately being told what the gist of the story is and can determine if it is relevant.  That is why it is so important when preparing your summary lead to include the most important information that the audience would want to know.  If there was a murder committed near a college campus then it should be included in the lead to be able to draw in the audience so they can find more details about the crime.

Another good example of a lead that draws audiences in is an impact lead.  It explains how the readers and viewers will be affected by a certain issue.  It immediately answers the question so what?  How does this affect me?  With both questions answered in one sentence, the audience is finding out quickly what they need to know and if they should continue listening.  If you read or hear something that affects you then you will automatically be drawn in to the rest of the story for further details.

All in all, when we write we want you to be interested.  We don’t want to beat around the bush.  Instead we get to the point so that you the audience finds out what you need to as fast as possible.  We understand how the world works, everything is in fast motion.  There isn’t always time to sit around and read or listen to things that are not relevant.  By making the news story immediately relevant, we are able to draw you into our story and make you want to know more.

Another thing to do is to try and tease the audience with a surprise that leads to the main idea of the story.  It is something different but can definitely be effective.  Anything that draws you guys to our story is worth giving a shot and that is the main objective after all.  When in doubt, just stay classy.

Why So Curious...?

How funny is Curious George?


While we are on the subject of curious, lets chat about why we as journalists have to be so curious.  I think it's safe to say that us as humans are curious creatures; we always need to know why things happen how they happen and so on.  Journalists must take it to a whole other level however if they plan on being successful at their craft.


As journalists, it is how job to report the news to the public.  When we write our stories, it is our responsibility to put ourselves in you, the readers, shoes.  We need to be able to think of what you want to get out of reading our story.  If we aren't answering the questions you have then what good is it for you to read what we write?


One of the biggest keys is being able to dig at stories and get to the root of them.  We need to get details and be descriptive.  It is not always okay to just report the plain to see details, you guys can figure that on your own.  So what if some subway lines are down in New York City?  How does that help you if you don't know which ones we are referring to?  That is why it is our job to continue to dig and find which subway trains are down and what other alternate routes may be useful for commuters to use.


The most important thing to remember is to be persistent, continue to dig continue to uncover more information because the more you find the more you can report to the audience.  The more the audience knows the happier they are.  Happy?


Stay classy my friends.

This is Why I rock

Now while most of the lyrics of the song above don't really apply to what I'm about to explain, I hope you'll get the jiff.  This is a blog right?  Easy question, of course it is.  What is it about this blog though that makes it such a good source for finding news?


If you have read any of my previous post, you can probably tell I like to keep it very casual but still informative.  That is one of the main objectives of a blog.  They are supposed to be enjoyable and easy to read.  I can write in proper format but instead, I want you guys to read this and almost hear my voice in your head talking to you (it doesn't have to be my voice there are more desirable voices to choose from I'm sure).  I want this blog to be fun to read but still get my points across which is part of why blogs rock.


Another reason blogs rock is because you, the audience, can have whatever say you like on what I post.  You can agree with things, disagree with things, the point is you are able to voice your own opinion by commenting below.  The readers and I are able to go back and forth and the readers can also go back and forth with each other.  There is a lot of room open for discussion so you have information and opinions coming from a whole bunch of different angles.


You may not realize it but one example of a blog is Facebook.  Blogs such as Facebook can even come in handy in emergency situations.  Sometimes things happen and we do not have access to phones or service may be limited.  If you need to be able to get in touch with someone to let them know you are okay then Facebook or whatever blog may be your best option.


Now while almost, if not all news sites have blogs, it still can lead to some questions.  There isn't always a guarantee that what you are reading is coming from a credible source.  Blogs do not necessarily have to meet the standards of normal news sites due to their casual nature which may lead some to question that credibility. It can also get a little messy if the reporter begins to voice his or her own opinions on a certain matter then the network has the potential to get in trouble.


Now while these are just a few negatives you have to look out for in a blog as a news source, it still remains a very popular and growing source for information.  I hope you guys continue to read mine.  You can go back and check my facts if you want.  I think I'm pretty credible.  Test out the blog if you want and post your thoughts.  Whatever you do though, always remember one thing: stay classy.

So What You're Saying is That There's A Difference Between Print and Broadcast Writing?

I'm going to answer that question right away; Yes!  I know you may be thinking, "Jimmy, how could there be a difference between print and broadcast writing?  Isn't writing just writing?"  It's true though there really is a difference.  I'll try to break it down as simply as possible.


Think about it this way; think of any newspaper or magazine article that you have ever read.  Usually very detailed, uses some bigger words maybe, has some long quotes, etc..  Now think about a news anchor on television reporting that story in the exact way it was written in the newspaper or magazine.  Doesn't match up does it?


When we watch news on television, we like to know whats going on as quick, plain and simple as possible.  That is why broadcast stories are usually a lot shorter and also more simply written.  A broadcaster needs to be able to clearly pronounce words on the teleprompter on a dime.  If he hesitates then it makes the news appear sloppy and more difficult to understand.  You don't need to impress people with your advanced vocabulary, people just want to know the news.  Short and sweet is the key.


Another thing you won't see are quotes.  Have you ever seen a anchor say "We should have pinch hit for Posada in the eighth inning" said Joe Girardi.  Exactly it's ridiculous.  Instead we like to use paraphrazing.  In this case, the previous example would sound more like: Joe Girardi felt the Yankees should have pinch hit for Jorge Posada in the eighth inning.  Sounds a lot smoother doesn't it?


That is just a quick breakdown of some of the differences between broadcast and print writing.  Looking back at it, I think it sounds pretty logical.  Just remember it is all about keeping it plain and simple.  K-I-S-S.  Keep it simple stupid.

What Exactly is News?

The word news is a really general term.  To say that something is news could be true to some people but not necessarily to all.  Yes is it true that I have this blog post to do for class and when I was given this assignment it was news to me but that doesn't necessarily make it a news story.  You aren't going to see "St. John's Baseball Player Assigned Weekly Blog Post" as a headline in the New York Post.  As much as I wish it were true, my daily life as a college student is not really an interest of the public.  This being the case, how is it that reporters and news crews determine what they plan to present to their audience?


There is a basic formula that people in the business like to follow.  All you have to remember is TIP CUP.  Feel free to throw some money in my tip cup after I break this down for you.


"T" in this acronym stands for Timeliness.  This means that the vent that you are reporting is relevant to the time frame in which you are reporting in.  People aren't going to care about something that happened a week ago if they are just hearing about it today.  News to someone is something that happened within at least a day of when it is being reported.  People want to be able to hear things as soon as possible.  It's human nature to want the answers to questions.  We just want to know.  That is why it is so important to report the news as immediate as possible.


The "I" stands for Importance.  How important is what you are reporting to the public?  As i mentioned earlier, even though my homework assignments may be important to my life, it doesn't necessarily make them important to thousands of people who read and watch the news.  What we report has to be able to reach a large portion of the audience and have an affect on their lives.


The "P" stands for Proximity.  Just because something is news in New York doesn't necessarily make it news in North Dakota.  Then again how much news can there be in North Dakota?  Regardless, what we report has to pertain to the audience that we are reporting to.  News that we watch nightly on NBC, CBS or ABC or read about in the New York papers affects the people that live in the greater tri-state area.


Moving on the the second word, the "C" stands for Controversy.  Lets be serious, we all like to argue.  Not everyone is going to agree on everything.  Who doesn't like to sit in and watch people fight?  It's interesting, it's exciting it draws our attention.  If there is something going on, maybe controversy involving a pending bill from the government then we want to know about it, plain and simple.


The "U" stands for Uncle as in Uncle Jimmy which you are all required to call me if you see me around campus.  Actually it stands for Unusualness.  People like things that outside of the realm common practice.  If scientists created a three headed dog, who wouldn't want to know about it?  Exactly, it's sweet.


The final letter of the acronym is "P".  It stands for Prominence.  The word prominent is defined on dictionary.com as "standing out so as to be seen easily; conspicuous;particularly noticeable: Her eyes are her most prominent feature."  This means things that things need to stand out in order for them to be news.  An example of a prominent issue in New York recently was all the flooding that resulted from Hurricane Irene.  It was affecting the lives of so many people in the tri-state area at the time therefore people wanted to hear about updates from the aftermath.


Boom!  There's a little breakdown of news.  I hope it all made sense.  Feel free to ask any questions you may have I'd be happy to clarify.  Until next week, stay classy everyone.

Nice to see you again SJU

Back again St. John's.  As much as it deeply hurts me to say, I'm a junior here now.  From the time that I first stepped on campus when I was being recruited to come play baseball here, the school has gone through a bunch of changes.  When I came back last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the improvements they made over the summer.  I know we talked about it in class the other day but I must say Marillac is awesome.  I like how the school is trying to take a healthy turn when it comes to its cafeterias food options.  Being an athlete, it is really important for me to take care of my body to the best of my ability.  By providing more options like the salad bar, subway and plate by plate, it helps me avoid putting junk into my system before or after practices and workouts.  In renovating Marillac, they moved Taco Bell over to The DeAngelo Center.  They also added a smoothie place which is pretty much just the cherry on top of it all.  All in all, touche to you St. John's.  Keep em coming.