TEX2601 Lesson 1
Invert
introduction ed
INTRODUCTION
Pyram
Texts convey factual information.
Goal of the text and its content will determine its framework.
If reporting hard news, authors often employ inverted pyramid framework
(IPF).
HARD hard
NEWS VS SOFTvs
id
NEWS
news soft news
Struct
Hard news is ‘timely,’ important and consequential.
Hard news is associated with politics, economics, sports news, or crime.
Hard news answers the questions of who was involved, where it took
ure
place, why or how it took place and when it happened.
Soft news relates to background information or human-interest stories.
Soft news include reports on entertainment, travel lifestyle and health.
Sometimes distinction is unclear, in this regard consider the tone of the
report.
NEWSWORTHINESS
newsworthiness
Fedler (1989:174; 179-181) says choice of news for newspaper is
determined subjectively.
However, from published newspaper reports, they have one or more of the
following characteristics (Mudd, 2014; Media College, nd; Redohl, 2015;
Purdue University, nd):
1. Timeliness: Focus fall on current/topical events.
2. Extent and importance: Reports deal with events that are important
or interesting to readers.
3. Prominence: Reports on important persons are more newsworthy
than those who do does not play a prominent role in society.
4. Proximity: Readers are interested in events in their immediate
environment as it effects their lives directly.
5. Conflict: Audiences enjoy reading about differences of opinion,
arguments, and rivalries.
6. Oddities/deviations: deviations from the norm are more newsworthy
than the commonplace.
7. Human interest stories: Not always associated with hard news,
people enjoy reading about the human condition.
Newsworthiness is not only aspect to consider when reporting hard news.
A news report that communicates info as quickly as possible relies on
objectivity and dissemination of facts.
REPORTING FACTS
reporting facts 1
, A report can broadly be described as a text in which a journalist reports
objectively on current/topical events (hard news).
A feature (article) is described as any text in which an event or topic is
subjectively reported on (advice, comment, viewpoints, and value
judgements).
When writing a report or communicating facts, emotion and emotive
language should not be used.
Emotive language is the selection of words used to evoke certain feelings
and is manipulating the reader to interpret info in an equivalent way
(‘tragic,’ ‘terrible,’ ‘sad.’)
A journalist’s responsibility is to be objective and represent an issue as
accurately as possible (Patterson, 2013: Haelle, 2016).
A fact can be considered as a statement that is true or certain (Ingram &
Henshall, 2016; Weber Associates, 2019).
Three types of facts can be identified (Ingram & Henshall):
1. Proven facts: info that is proven to be true and is accepted by
everyone.
2. Probable facts: info that comes across as dependable and
reasonable, but do not have the necessary means to verify its
truthfulness.
3. Probable lies: info that may seem false or ridiculous but could be
true, because of this doubt, they must be verified before used.
INVERTED PYRAMID FRAMEWORK
inverted pyramid (IPF)
framework
The IPF is a metaphor for the way we prioritise and arrange info in a text.
Briefly, the IPF functions by placing most important info at start of a
report, followed by more detailed paragraphs.
Schade (2018), using the IPF can have the following economic reading
advantages:
a. Improve comprehension: gain an understanding of gist much
quicker.
b. Decrease interaction cost: gain insight without having to spend
much more time reading.
c. Structure content logically: starting with most important info sets
stage for what follows, keeps readers engaged.
d. Support readers who skim readers can stop reading a page and still
come away with info and caters for all readers.
THE LEAD
the lead
Lead is often referred to as a summary lead because it summarises
relevant info by asking more common questions.
A reporter should provide answers to the following:
1. What happened?
2. Who was/were involved?
3. Where did it happen?
2
Invert
introduction ed
INTRODUCTION
Pyram
Texts convey factual information.
Goal of the text and its content will determine its framework.
If reporting hard news, authors often employ inverted pyramid framework
(IPF).
HARD hard
NEWS VS SOFTvs
id
NEWS
news soft news
Struct
Hard news is ‘timely,’ important and consequential.
Hard news is associated with politics, economics, sports news, or crime.
Hard news answers the questions of who was involved, where it took
ure
place, why or how it took place and when it happened.
Soft news relates to background information or human-interest stories.
Soft news include reports on entertainment, travel lifestyle and health.
Sometimes distinction is unclear, in this regard consider the tone of the
report.
NEWSWORTHINESS
newsworthiness
Fedler (1989:174; 179-181) says choice of news for newspaper is
determined subjectively.
However, from published newspaper reports, they have one or more of the
following characteristics (Mudd, 2014; Media College, nd; Redohl, 2015;
Purdue University, nd):
1. Timeliness: Focus fall on current/topical events.
2. Extent and importance: Reports deal with events that are important
or interesting to readers.
3. Prominence: Reports on important persons are more newsworthy
than those who do does not play a prominent role in society.
4. Proximity: Readers are interested in events in their immediate
environment as it effects their lives directly.
5. Conflict: Audiences enjoy reading about differences of opinion,
arguments, and rivalries.
6. Oddities/deviations: deviations from the norm are more newsworthy
than the commonplace.
7. Human interest stories: Not always associated with hard news,
people enjoy reading about the human condition.
Newsworthiness is not only aspect to consider when reporting hard news.
A news report that communicates info as quickly as possible relies on
objectivity and dissemination of facts.
REPORTING FACTS
reporting facts 1
, A report can broadly be described as a text in which a journalist reports
objectively on current/topical events (hard news).
A feature (article) is described as any text in which an event or topic is
subjectively reported on (advice, comment, viewpoints, and value
judgements).
When writing a report or communicating facts, emotion and emotive
language should not be used.
Emotive language is the selection of words used to evoke certain feelings
and is manipulating the reader to interpret info in an equivalent way
(‘tragic,’ ‘terrible,’ ‘sad.’)
A journalist’s responsibility is to be objective and represent an issue as
accurately as possible (Patterson, 2013: Haelle, 2016).
A fact can be considered as a statement that is true or certain (Ingram &
Henshall, 2016; Weber Associates, 2019).
Three types of facts can be identified (Ingram & Henshall):
1. Proven facts: info that is proven to be true and is accepted by
everyone.
2. Probable facts: info that comes across as dependable and
reasonable, but do not have the necessary means to verify its
truthfulness.
3. Probable lies: info that may seem false or ridiculous but could be
true, because of this doubt, they must be verified before used.
INVERTED PYRAMID FRAMEWORK
inverted pyramid (IPF)
framework
The IPF is a metaphor for the way we prioritise and arrange info in a text.
Briefly, the IPF functions by placing most important info at start of a
report, followed by more detailed paragraphs.
Schade (2018), using the IPF can have the following economic reading
advantages:
a. Improve comprehension: gain an understanding of gist much
quicker.
b. Decrease interaction cost: gain insight without having to spend
much more time reading.
c. Structure content logically: starting with most important info sets
stage for what follows, keeps readers engaged.
d. Support readers who skim readers can stop reading a page and still
come away with info and caters for all readers.
THE LEAD
the lead
Lead is often referred to as a summary lead because it summarises
relevant info by asking more common questions.
A reporter should provide answers to the following:
1. What happened?
2. Who was/were involved?
3. Where did it happen?
2
