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MMC 911 Introduction to News Writing

MMC 911 Introduction to News Writing. Spring 2012 February 15, 2012 Dr. Alma Kadragic. Tonight’s program. 6 pm: Reminder about goals in this subject Last chance to sign up for conferences

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MMC 911 Introduction to News Writing

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  1. MMC 911 Introduction to News Writing Spring 2012 February 15, 2012 Dr. Alma Kadragic

  2. Tonight’s program • 6 pm: Reminder about goals in this subject Last chance to sign up for conferences • 7 pm: Lecture by librarian about finding research materials in the UOWD library and accessing UOW’s holdings as well • 7:50 pm: Move to Block 5 – 121 for writing exercise #1

  3. MMC911 Introduction to News Writing Why it’s important to know news writing: • Writing well as a journalist helps writing in general • Journalistic writing is accurate, clear, pointed • Journalistic skills are useful in media, PR, report writing, and journalism • You have to understand how journalists work and write to deal with them or to be one yourself

  4. Daily MMC911 Students should • Read 2 newspapers in print or online What papers are we reading? • Read in more than 1 language if possible Are we reading in more than 1 language? • Receive news alerts from at least 2 news sites What sites are sending alerts to us?

  5. Daily MMC students should • Identify continuing news and feature stories What stories are we following since MMC began? • Find news about the UAE What are some UAE stories? • Find news about another country What other country are you reading about?

  6. MMC911 Students should consider • Joining Twitter: www.twitter.com • Following me: @almakad • Starting a blog: www.wordpress.com, www.blogspot.com • Joining the MMC blog: coming • Joining YouTube: www.YouTube.com • Starting the MMC newsletter

  7. MMC 911 Students will learn • To work individually • To work in teams as leader and member • To meet deadlines • To organize work • To produce increasingly professional writing • To write for print • To write for online • To work in the field

  8. Introduction to News Writing Program A lot of writing Lectures and guest speakers Team projects Write news stories for print Write news stories for online Field work

  9. Some Basic Principles • Journalism is limited by time and space • Journalism is different in every format • Journalism is affected by culture and politics • Journalism is not always appreciated

  10. What does a journalist look for? A story • How do you find a story? • What is a story? • When would an editor tell a journalist, “That’s not a story? • How do you create a story? • When you find it or invent it, what do you do with it?

  11. Once the story is identified What happens next? Set up a process • What do you need? • What can you get easily? • What takes more time? • How much time do you have? • What’s the deadline? • Is it possible?

  12. How do you start? • Remember the 5 Ws and How • The opening is the most important • Pyramid style – what is it? • Jot down key points • Put them in order • Write simple sentences • Use present tense mainly • Other styles for features, backgrounders

  13. After you’ve written • Read out loud • Change bits that are hard to say • Proofread • Ask another person if text is clear • If not, make changes • Read again • Put away and give yourself a break • Read again • Hand in

  14. What are the limits? • Time • Space • Format • Competition • Cultural/political climate • Ignorance

  15. Writing Exercise #1 Read again Jonathon Savill’s piece on Tony Orsten for background • Take another approach using facts in the story • Write the opening sentence • Write the rest of the paragraph – 3 or 4 sentences total • Read again several times, make changes • Email to me as text: AlmaKadragic@uowdubai.ac.ae • You must complete this during class – I won’t accept late emails

  16. Before Session 3 next week • Prepare by going over Week 1 readings in the Syllabus • Take notes - everything is related to news writing • Save information, references, titles that seem interesting – for presentation, paper, and/or essay • Come to class with comments about your reading • Come to class with observations about what journalism is doing in today’s society • Bring examples of news stories: good ones; bad ones!

  17. MMC911 Introduction to News Writing That’s it for tonight. See you Monday in MMC910. We have a special speaker, who is bringing presents for all! Call, email with questions. Don’t wait till next class to get answers, solve problems. Tomorrow is too late!

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