Week 12: Journalism 2001

1. Week 12: Journalism 2001 April 21, 2008

2. Announcements • WDIO Tour • Carpool? Who can drive?

3. Community Journalism Review • Overall excellent stories! • You’re all good writers now – we’ll work on being stronger reporters! • Remember the basics: 5Ws and H • You might know a topic – assume this is new to the reader • Need attribution • Strongest after direct quote • ,” he said, she said. • Comma inside quote marks • Stick to third person: Not we, us, I, you • Style errors: • Dates • Months • Numerals • Need first name

4. Red Lake Cartoon • Strong summaries • Need to be careful with the details • What was Jim Heffernan’s role?

5. Upcoming stories • Feature Story Assignment • Final article due: May 5 • Final eportfolio project: Due May 12

6. Chapter 12: By the Numbers • Journalists often dread using “math skills” • Numbers can help illustrate a story, make comparisons

7. Basic math skills • Percentages: • 10 percent, 40 percent • Budget increase/decrease: • (Year 2 – Year 1)/Year 1 • Percentage of a whole • (subgroup/entire group) • Percent or percentage points • (1 percent difference/5 percent base = .20 or a 20 percent increase)

8. Ask for help • Journalists often have big egos! • OK to ask for help • Where to turn online: • Robert Niles’ Journalism Help: • http://nilesonline.com/stats/ • Math test for journalists: • http://www.ire.org/education/math_test.html • Looking for a calculator? • http://www.refdesk.com

9. Surveys • Conducting a survey • Formulating the questions • Usually closed-end question: yes or no, one of two choices • Open-ended questions: tough to tabulate • Testing the questions • Developing the sample • Identifying respondents • Selecting a random sample • Determining the sampling error

10. Gathering data • Face-to-face interviews • Mailed questionnaires • Telephone interviews • Analyzing the data • Hand-tabulate • Computer programs • Writing the story • Don’t overstate results in the lead • Must explain survey methodology

11. When are surveys used? • Election campaigns • Harris poll • Media polls • http://www.startribune.com • Political party polls • Local issues: • Price of gasoline, price of beer • Pew Research Center: • http://www.people-press.org

12. Survey rules and guidelines • Analyze the data carefully • Carefully interpret statistics correctly • Lead with survey’s most significant findings • Strive to humanize the statistics • Organize the story to help readers • Use bullets for key statistics • Make comparisons among subgroups • Gender, sex, age • Consider using charts for statistics • Don’t forget to explain survey methodology

13. Avoiding distortions • James Simon’s Top-10 Factors • Reflection versus Prediction: Polls as snapshots • Sponsors: Are they credible? • Samples: Who was polled? • Neutrality and Accuracy: How were the questions phrased? • Context: In what order were the questions presented?

14. Respondents’ answers: Giving the “right” answer. • Attitudes and non-attitudes: Measuring intensity • Interpretations: Evaluating Pollsters’ conclusions • Statistical Significance: Are the results meaningful? • Consistency: Comparing results across polls

15. Out-of-class Assignment: April 28 • GLBTA Panel Story • No more than 400 words • Email to lkragnes@d.umn.edu

16. Community Journalism Rewrite • Peer review and rewrite of community journalism stories for Web site

17. Review of feature story drafts • While doing editing/rewrite of community journalism stories

18. Let’s revisit portfolio https://portfolio.umn.edu/portfolio/index.jsp

19. Portfolio • Store academic information on your Electronic Portfolio. Each student has 100 mb of storage. • Access Electronic Portfolio at: https://portfolio.umn.edu/portfolio/index.jsp