Online Journalism (Midtest)

A news story is said to possess timeliness if it...

• stresses events that have occurred in the last month.

• stresses events that occurred today or yesterday.

• has been written within the last six hours.

• has been read or heard within the last six hours.

In regard to news values, prominence refers to...

• the extent to which the story will affect a number of people.

• whether the story has one central, or prominent, character.

• how well known the people involved in the story are.

• the location of the story on the newspaper page or in the news broadcast.

Journalists recognize two types of news stories: hard and soft. In this regard,

• “hard news” is about complicated topics, like science and economics, and “soft news” is about things like entertainment and fashion.

• “hard news” stories have long, complicated sentences, and “soft news” stories have short, simple sentences.

• “hard news” is about serious topics and recent events, and “soft news” refers to human interest stories.

• “hard news” stories are always 2,000 words or more, and “soft news” stories never exceed 500 words.

Bias is most likely to appear in a news story when...

• the reporter relies on multiple sources and gives abundant time or space to all sides of a controversy.

• the reporter’s story is reviewed by a large number of editors and supervisors.

• the reporter is writing about people she or he has known for some time.

• the reporter relies on one source or gives disproportionate time to space to one side of a controversy.

The concept of proximity suggests that a news organization is likely to carry a story about a murder, if that crime

• involved a well-known person.

• was committed locally.

• occurred within the last 24 hours.

• was unusually gruesome.

The central point of a news story is

• a justification for running the story on the front page or the beginning of a news broadcast.

• the identity of the most important figure of the story.

• to get readers to read the rest of the newspaper or viewers to watch the rest of the news broadcast.

• a one- or two-sentence summary of what the story is about and why it is newsworthy.

Reporters strive to...

• eliminate all long sentences from their writing.

• combine short and long sentences in a manner that would be pleasing if read aloud.

• keep all sentences to 10 words or fewer.

• keep all sentences to 15 words or more.

For journalists, being objective means that the reporter...

• remains completely emotionless about all aspects of the story.

• incorporates an equal number of quotations from Republicans and Democrats.

• makes clear his or her opinion about the events covered.

• is not an advocate for a point of view or a participant in the events covered.

The primary advantage of the inverted-pyramid organization is that it...

• is a natural way of telling any story.

• rarely contains any surprises for the reader.

• allows the reader to stop after reading only one or two paragraphs and still get the most important information.

• locks reporters into a formula and discourages innovation.

The primary advantage of the narrative organization that it...

• is a natural way of telling any story.

• rarely contains any surprises for the reader.

• allows the reader to stop after reading only one or two paragraphs and still get the most important information.

• locks reporters into a formula and discourages innovation.