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Module 1
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Mistakes
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Ridiculed
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Plagiariast?
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Seditious?
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Bias?
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Targets
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Journalists are speaking up
for the profession
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Reporters have alternative selves
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Newsmakers have gone social
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Living in a selfie world
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Challenges• New journalists: Do not see this as a vocation, just a job,
attitude, lack of initiative, motivation, conscientiousness for accurate copy
• Copy and paste culture: Lack of research, human contact
• Senior journalists, editors not savvy with explosion of new apps and tools
• Online/mobile not fully embraced by management • Resources squeezed, management does not want to
spend money on new tools, training• Silo thinking in editorial/sections/ad depts – no cross-
platform teamwork• Online and mobile news sites not generating enough
revenue, people still unwilling to pay for magazines on tablets
• A few big media setting up paywalls (may fail) • Competition from unlikely competitors continues to grow
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The Magazine: Marco Arment
• Launched Oct 2012
• US$1.99 per month, had 25,000 subscribers
• Two issues/month, four or five stories
• Only on iOS
• When founded – one-man show
• Sold it to editor in May, 2013
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Opportunities• Readers still have appetite for print. Great story-
telling is still king. New magazines launches every year.*
• Still early days yet for digital, never too late to learn, vast resources to acquire new skills eg: MOOCs
• You can tap into the public as sources for story ideas, quotes, photos, videos like never before
• More accountability, transparency and community participation in the journalism process. Engage your readers!
• You can become a brand: Individual journalists/editors may be able to break out on their own and create new ventures for the company or themselves.
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On being a journalist
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Role of the journalist
• Inform
• Educate
• Entertain
• Watchdog
• Agent of change
• Conversation starter
• Shape public opinion
• Serve the public good
• Amplify the people’s voice
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Traits and skills
of a good journalist
1. Enjoys telling stories
2. Good listener
3. Shows empathy
4. Curious, inquisitive, questioning
5. Innate news sense
6. A sense of responsibility for the public good
7. Able to communicate well through words,
pictures, design, video
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The seven deadly sinsEthical pitfalls that can lead to trouble or termination.
1. Bias: slanting a story by manipulating facts to sway readers'
opinions.
2. Burning a source: deceiving or betraying the confidence of
those who provide information for a story.
3. Conflict of interest: accepting gifts or favours from sources or
promoting social and political causes.
4. Deception: lying or misrepresenting yourself to obtain
information.
5. Fabrication: manufacturing quotes or imaginary sources, or
writing anything you know to be untrue.
6. Plagiarism: passing off someone else's words or ideas as your
own.
7. Theft: obtaining information unlawfully or without a source's
permission.
Source: Inside Reporting by Tim Harrower
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Hard news vs soft news
Hard news:
Stories that are reported about events as they happen; often affecting many people eg: crime, war, crisis, disasters, political, social, economic upheavals
Soft news:
Stories to educate or entertain but without the same urgency eg: human interest, review
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News values
1. Impact: How many will be affected by the
consequences of the story?
2. Timeliness: Immediacy. Did it just
happen? Is it new?
3. Proximity: How close? Does it affect us
here? Is there a local angle?
4. Conflict: Any on-going drama: disputes,
divorces, crime, politics, war
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News value
5. Prominence: Popular or well-known
person, place or thing that is affected
6. Currency: Issues in the spotlight of
public concern have more value
7. Human interest: Something we can
relate to at an emotional level
8. Novelty: Something odd, unusual,
freaky, bizarre
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Inverted pyramid
Most significant and crucial information is here
Important but less crucial
Least
important
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5Ws and 1H
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Leads• The essence of your story distilled in a
sentence or two (tip: if you read it out and have
to take a breath, it’s too long.)
• It has to pull the reader in. “Should I read on?”
• Brief, crisp and sharp use of the language
• Straight or summary lead:
- Contains at least the 4Ws
• Creative or narrative lead:
- Captures a mood, sets the tone, humanizes, adds
colour
- Works best when you have researched your story
well, done a great interview
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• Straight lead– George Clooney, long considered Hollywood's most
eligible bachelor, married British human rights attorney Amal Alamuddin Saturday in a private ceremony in Venice, Italy, his publicist, Stan Rosenfield, told CNN.
• Narrative lead– With fans massed on the banks of the Grand Canal, a
drone flying overhead, and waterborne paparazzi swarming behind his taxi all the way from the island of Giudecca, George Clooney arrived at sunset for his wedding reception in the kind of grand spectacle that only the very rich and very glamorous can ever hope to pull off – The Guardian
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Formulaic leads1. Question: “What is….?”
“What do you think…?” “Ever wondered what happened to…”
2. Quote3. Comparison: “First the
good news…” “Compare this and that” “What do a, b and c have in common”
4. Travelogue: “Nestled between…” “” “In a quiet cove not far from…”
5. Recipe: “Take one…add…and some… What do you get?”
6. Set-up: “Consider the following…”
7. Stats: “Fifty percent of mothers….”
8. Scene setter: “Most people…” “Many young women today…”
9. Definition: “The Oxford defines…
10.The one-word lead: “Cynical. That’s what…”
11. Introduction: “Meet Joe Black. He’s….”
12.Welcome: “It’s dark, dank and full of rats. Welcome to…”
13.Joke: “Knock, knock…”
Source: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/degrees-of-freedom/2011/08/30/the-lede-desk-fighting-
the-scourge-of-boring-writing/
http://www2.copydesk.org/hold/words/clicheleads.htm
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Exercise
• Identify the 5Ws, and 1H in a provided
story
Exercise
• Write a straight news lead vs a creative lead
Exercise
Subjective vs Objective: Separate facts
from opinions
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Generate story ideas
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7 tips on finding story ideas
1. Be ever-curious: Ask and you will receive
2. Throw yourself into new situations, places
3. Read new and old magazines, books, newspapers (online: Issuu, Zinio)
4. Brainstorm (switch off inner critic)
5. Keep an ideas journal (eg. Evernote app)
6. Random surf (Pinterest, Google, G+, Facebook, TEDTalks)
7. Start a Whatsapp group for ideas: Message ideas throughout the week. Then brainstorm.
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Exercise
• Brainstorm story ideas with your group on
a given subject
• List ideas down – hold back on the critique
• Sift through ideas until one emerges
• Include possible sidebars, visuals to go
with it
• Pitch that original story idea as if to an
editor
• Present to class
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On being accurate, objective,
fair and balanced
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Best practices of journalists• Accuracy:
Facts, not speculation or rumour. Basedon strong evidence, first-hand sources.
• Balanced:Impartial, both sides given due
• Fair: Right to rebuttal, correcting errors
• Objective: Being as neutral as possible
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Plagiarism
• Definition: The act of presenting another
person's work (including ideas, writing,
conversation, song, and words) as your
own.
• When using another person's work, even
when paraphrasing, you must
acknowledge it fully and appropriately,
unless the information is common
knowledge.
• When you find background information
that you need to use: attribute and cite
sources, where possible.
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Your credibility is at stake
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Facts vs Opinions
• FACTS are proven statements that can be measured objectively
• OPINIONS are subjective and based on personal assumptions, interpretations and beliefs and can be unfounded under scrutiny
• Some opinions may be widely held but that does not make them facts
• Unless you are writing a column, editorial or review ~ opinions (and most facts as well) should be attributed to a source or reliable authority
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Opinion: Words to look out for
• Apparently…
• Probably…
• Perhaps…
• Let’s assume…
• Definitely…
• It is likely that…
• Most people/experts agree…
• Many believe…
• Superlatives, bombast: Best, worst, excellent,
the most (amazing, awesome, beautiful…)
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Sourcing• Two reliable sources (Wikipedia is not one of
them!)
• If in doubt, leave out
• If it’s too good to be true – it probably is
• Double-check, triple-check, verify, clarify
• In an interview, email responses are more measured
and reliable than messaging
• Go old school: actually talk to a human face-to-face!
• If you are interviewing someone on Whatsapp, Facebook, Skype, Facetime ~ clarify your position from ‘friend’ to ‘journalist’, record everything
• Standard disclaimers: “Cannot be independently verified at this time.” “Could not be reached before this story went to print”.
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Hoax-debunkers
Bonus tip: Tineye.com
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Fake accounts• Does it have a blue tick?
• Is the Facebook/Twitter account new? Does it have many followers? Does it link to an official website?
• Is the post/tweet out of character? Check previous posts/tweets
• Google the handle with the word “fake”, “hoax”
• Double-sourcing: Celebrity may claim his/her account was hacked, so make that call!
• Admit and apologize if you make a mistake (don’t just delete quietly and hope no one saw it!). If you made a mistake in print, the sooner you apologize online, the better. Correct it in next edition.
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Discussion: Media Law
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Anything you post can, and will,
be held against you
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Media law
• Defamation– Occurs when a person expresses words that may lower
another person’s reputation in the eyes of the public.
• Libel– Libel is when such words are expressed in a permanent
form which is usually visible to the eye, like in a publication, email or picture. (Slander is when such words are expressed in a transitory form, usually spoken.) In civil cases of defamation, when a private person sues another private person for defamation, the Defamation Act 1957 is applicable. In criminal cases of defamation, when the state prosecutes a private person for defamation, Section 499 to Section 502 of the Penal Code is applicable. In criminal cases, the punishment for defamation is a jail sentence for a maximum of two years, or a fine, or a combination of a jail sentence and a fine.
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Media law• Sedition
The 1948 Sedition Act was implemented by British colonial rulers. The law criminalises speech with "seditious tendency", including that which would "bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against" the government or engender "feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races". In Malaysian context, this extends the administration of justice in Malaysia or in any State or to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the subjects of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or of the Ruler of any State or amongst the inhabitants of Malaysia or of any State. It is also seditious to touch on the sensitive issues namely citizenship, the national language and the languages of other communities, the special position and privileges of the Malays as well as the natives of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interest of the other communities in Malaysia and the sovereignty of the rulers. Conviction carries a maximum penalty of up to three years imprisonment or a fine of 5,000 ringgit or both.
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