Writing for Digital Media Audio journalism: literary journalism and pod-casting. Literary Journalism: journalism that is descriptive, that allows for (limited) reporter interpretation (without the first person intervention). Builds the ‘world of story’ in the audience’s mind. Pod-Casting: online distribution of produced audio. They may be roundtables, editorials, news stories, etc. Example: This American Life Note that much of what follows is from several texts, online sources, and other supplemental material on writing for digital journalism. Writing for Digital Media GE T T ING T H E NE W S  Investigative reporting and broadcast journalism.  WHERE TO BEGIN: The lead is the most important part of a television or radio story. It is the lead that must grab the attention of listeners. For most stories a SUMMARY LEAD that points out the strongest aspect of the story is appropriate.  PRINT: UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS LOCAL 443 GOES ON STRIKE AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT, AGAINST NATIONAL WIDGET COMPANY. THE UNION AND THE COMPANY HAD BEEN BARGAINING OVER A NEW CONTRACT FOR 6 MONTHS. You take out the one dynamic aspect of the story and lead s with that information. The remainder of the paragraph then goes on to explain the lead, as is typical of a summary broadcast news story. Here:  Broadcast: IN LESS THAN ONE HOUR…WORKERS AT THE NATIONAL WIDGET COMPANY WILL WALK OFF THE JOB. CONTRACT TALKS BETWEEN THE COMPANY AND THE UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS BROKE OFF EARLIER IN THE DAY, AND UNION LEADERS CALLED THE STRIKE. Writing For Digital Media Newspaper style: In a historic settlement that would cost cigarette makers $360 billion over 25 years, the tobacco industry surrendered Friday to the unprecedented new rules that would strictly limit how tobacco is marketed and advertised in America. (Associated Press)  B roa dca st S tyle TOBACCO COMPANIES ARE BOWING TO PRESSURE TO PAY SOME 360 BILLION DOLLARS...OVER THE NEXT 25 YEARS…TO SETTLE CLAIMS AGAINST THEM. AND THEY WILL FACE HISTORY-MAKING NEW RULES IN THEIR QUICKLY CHANGING MARKETPLACE.  Writing for Digital Media Week Four: Writing News Copy W riting T he L ea d: The emphasis is on completeness and detail. Check out the lead, which should be aimed at immediacy. Here are two examples: B a d E xa m ple:  The search is called off at dark for the body of a man believed thrown into a canal when his car overturned,Thursday. Let’s say this is from 11pm, Thursday newscast. Since the US is dark by 11pm, the story forces present tense. A better approach would be to use present, present perfect, or future tense to emphasize some aspect of the search that could be happening either at the time of the newscast or the next morning.  B etter E xa m ples DIVERS WILL RESUME THEIR SEARCH AT DAWN FOR THE BODY OF A MAN BELIEVED THROWN INTO A CANAL WHEN HIS CAR OVERTURNED THURSDAY AFTERNOON. POLICE AND VOLUNTEERS ARE PLANNING THEIR NEXT STEP IN THE SEARCH FOR A MAN BELIEVED THROWN INTO A CANAL WHEN HIS CAR OVERTURNED THIS AFTERNOON. Writing For Digital Media In both of these examples—the first in future tense, the second in present tense, the writer changes the emphasis of the lead to maintain the idea that something is happening now or about to happen soon. This meets the broadcast standard of focusing on immediacy without forcing grammar into a box that doesn’t make much sense, as in our bad example. Unfortunately, a number of tabloid television magazine shows seem to think that present tense means using is all the time. Instead, they are taking broadcast writing to a new low and confusing viewers in the process. Audio Journalism  The points of these examples are to start you thinking about your sentence structure as both broadcast writer and listener. When sentences say something is happening now, but later show the event happened earlier or will happen later, the listener becomes confused and unable to flow. A straightforward approach is the best, because the listener will readily make sense of the message. Writing for Digital Media A ttribution: Just ‘S ay’ it Poor: Mayor John Jones is criticizing plans to build a thoroughfare through Hillsdale Park. He wants to see how development takes place in the area before acting. Is the mayor really critical of the plan? There’s a big difference in these two sentences. The mayor’s wish to delay action (the wait and see about development) doesn’t mean he does not agree with the plan. Better: MAYOR JOHN JONES SAYS HE WANTS TO WAIT TO SEE HOW DEVELOPMENT TAKES PLACE BEFORE ENDORSING A PLAN TO BUILD A THOROUGHFARE THROUGH HILLSDALE PARK. Rem em ber tha t in Journa lism , even tha t which is litera ry, you the a im is ba la nce. A ttribution, in other words using sources, is a m ethod of ba la ncing your story while g iving it credibility. Writing for Digital Media Num bers Numbers one through eleven should be written out in words.  Numbers 12, through 999,999 should e written in figures.  Numbers over one million should use a combination of both with the guideline aimed a readability.   Money, spell out the unit. 16-dollars and 45-cents.  Numbers that show specific differences (such as sports scores) must be exact. Numbers that tell time, use words and numerals. The time is seven-23 PM.  Six o’clock.   ‘Midnight’ should replace 12AM and ‘Noon’ should replace 12PM. Writing for Digital Media The idea is to take a very detailed story and make it both recognizable and understandable to the casual viewer. Focus on the dramatic aspects of the story, and how it affects the people in the story. The Question Lead can be constructed in such a way that it is quite compelling, but most new writers fail to understand that questions asked should not be questions with ready or silly answers. Here is a bad example. “How would you rate your nail polish? Does it dry quickly? Does the color last? Not a heavy story. Most people may respond ‘who cares.’ How about: Have you ever wished you could change something about your life? Ah. Now you’ve got our attention. Writing For Digital Media  The Well-Known Expression Lead. ‘If a penny saved is a penny earned, then Microsoft has save quite a few of them, eliminated expensive and useless components to their software…’ Etc. Caution: Can lead to clichés.  M etaphor and S im ile L eads: focus on a spects of the lang uage that a llow the use of a word or phrase in a sentence to conjure up an im age. M etaphors m ay offer a fresh approach to writing . T hey create im agery by using a word or phrase to fig uratively represent som ething else.  Simile: As surely as spring drives off the last of old man winter’s frost, Uncle Sam will be after you with his outstretched hand. It’s tax time again.  Metaphor: Jones cowered wolfishly while the judge read the verdict.  Some caution here. Try not to force this writing style. Some phrases to avoid include ‘head over heels, clean as a whistle, nick of time, smell a rat, and pearls of wisdom. These have been overused.
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