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10 Ways to Improve Election-Story Writring

10 Ways to Improve Election-Story Writring

Practical tips on how any newspaper can improve the writing of election stories.

Transcript

  1. 10 ways to improve election-story writing
    Tommy Thomason

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  2. What are your concerns about election stories…

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  4. How have
    we done
    this before?

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  5. How have
    we done
    this before?
    How are other
    papers doing
    this?

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  6. How have
    we done
    this before?
    How are other
    papers doing
    this?
    What do the
    candidates
    expect?

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  7. How have
    we done
    this before?
    How are other
    papers doing
    this?
    What do the
    candidates
    expect?
    What do
    we have
    time to
    do?

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  8. And who
    gets left
    out?

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  9. readers

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  10. How can we make stories
    more reader-friendly?
    Four things
    to think
    about

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  11. Finding the news

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  13. Where’s the news?

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  14. Finding the news
    Reporting the news

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  17. Finding the news
    Reporting the news
    Writing the news

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  18. Which best describes your
    view of how you serve up
    the news?

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  21. Finding the news
    Reporting the news
    Writing the news
    Marketing the news

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  23. Writing the news

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  24. So give me 30 minutes
    and I’ll show you how to
    improve your writing
    about elections.
    This ain’t brain surgery.

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  25. Let’s look at 10
    specific ways you
    can improve your
    election stories …
    starting now

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  26. #1
    Figure out what the story is about.
    You can write the story without knowing.

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  27. What does [pick
    someone who isn’t a
    journalist] want to
    know?

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  28. #2
    Leads are important: Be sure you’ve
    considered Step #1, keep leads short,
    and keep them to one sentence.
    If all you do is mandate
    one-sentence leads –
    and those sentences
    between 25 and 35
    words, you can improve
    writing significantly

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  29. Adopting a “Measurable Period Policy,” in accordance with the
    Affordable Care Act, required approval during the Regular
    Meeting of the Smith County Commissioners Court January 13,
    2016.
    The policy defines number of hours each employee works as
    “time” worked and classifies them as part-time, full-time or
    variable hour personnel.
    Accordingly, the Court made changes to the Employee Handbook
    to define regular, part-time and variable hour workers and
    related benefits for each category.
    Grade level
    according to read-
    able.com: 15.3

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  30. Adopting a “Measurable Period Policy,” in accordance with the Affordable Care Act, required approval
    during the Regular Meeting of the Smith County Commissioners Court January 13, 2016.
    The policy defines number of hours each employee works as “time” worked and classifies them as part-
    time, full-time or variable hour personnel.
    Accordingly, the Court made changes to the Employee Handbook to define regular, part-time and variable
    hour workers and related benefits for each category.
    The Smith County Commissioners Court revised its employee
    handbook Tuesday to bring it into compliance with Obamacare
    guidelines.
    The county had defined employees differently than what the
    Affordable Care Act mandates, making the change necessary.

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  31. Joe Bob Malloy has announced his intention to run for
    District Attorney for the district that includes Smith, Jones,
    and Randall counties. Joe Bob Malloy has served as
    Assistant District Attorney since August of this year when he
    was hired by current District Attorney Jim Bob Buskirk.
    Joe Bob Malloy said this week he wants to fight the
    increase in drug traffic if he is elected district attorney.
    Malloy announced Tuesday that he will be a candidate
    for the district that includes Smith, Jones, and Randall
    counties. He has served as assistant district attorney since
    August, when he was hired by current District Attorney Jim
    Bob Buskirk.

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  32. #3
    The inverted pyramid still works –
    and readers love it.

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  33. Write the way your
    readers want you
    to, not the way
    that’s easiest for
    you.
    Here’s the
    hard part.

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  35. Experiential Informational

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  36. #4
    Keep your grafs short.

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  37. Those paragraph rules were for English
    essays, not journalism.

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  38. #5
    Handle quotes like a pro.

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  39. Quote basics
    Don’t quote what people said. Quote the best stuff they
    said. Don’t put boring crap in quotes, just because
    someone said it. Use paraphrases or paraphrases with
    direct inserts.

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  40. “I want to run because I just love this county,” the sheriff said. “I
    am a father myself, and I want to make sure that my children grow up in a
    safe environment. My opponent cannot make that kind of guarantee.
    Although he has good intentions, he doesn’t have the experience to
    manage a law enforcement agency amidst all the challenges our beloved
    county faces today.
    Jones said he is running to make sure his three teenage children
    grow up in a safe environment.
    “My opponent cannot make that guarantee,” he said.
    Jones said his Democratic challenger, Frank Smith, “doesn’t have
    the experience to manage a law enforcement agency amidst all the
    challenges [Smith County] faces today.”

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  41. Quote basics
    Use varied forms of quotes – directs and indirects. Use
    indirects to transition between speakers.

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  42. Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who are vying with Rubio
    for support from establishment Republicans in Tuesday’s New Hampshire
    primary, compared Rubio’s experience in the Senate to that of President
    Barack Obama, who also was a first-term senator when he was elected.
    “He simply does not have the experience to be president of the
    United States and make these decisions,” Christie said of Rubio. “We’ve
    watched it happen, everybody, for the last seven years. The people of New
    Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again.”
    Rubio said he had shown in the Senate that he could get things done,
    and he questioned Christie’s record.
    “I think the experience is not just what you did but how it worked
    out,” he said. “Under Chris Christie’s governorship of New Jersey, they’ve
    been downgraded nine times in their credit rating.”

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  43. #6
    Don’t overwrite. Shorten stories.
    Use bulleted lists and info boxes.
    Almost all
    government/
    politics/meeting/
    election stories are
    too long

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  44. How long should a newspaper story
    be?
    long enough to tell readers what
    they want to know
    short enough not to waste their
    time
    and a lot shorter than most
    journalists would like to write

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  45. Writing short is
    harder than
    writing long

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  46. I would have
    written a
    shorter letter,
    but I did not
    have the time.

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  48. #7
    Pay attention to what we know about
    how to make writing readable.

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  49.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos

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  50.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos
     Sentence length

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  51.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos
     Sentence length
     Sentence structure

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  52.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos
     Sentence length
     Sentence structure
     Put the subject near the beginning of the
    sentence – don’t back in

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  53.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos
     Sentence length
     Sentence structure
     Put the subject near the beginning of the
    sentence – don’t back in
     Put the verb close to the subject

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  54.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos
     Sentence length
     Sentence structure
     Put the subject near the beginning of the
    sentence – don’t back in
     Put the verb close to the subject
     Limit the number of ideas/fact chunks

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  55.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos
     Sentence length
     Sentence structure
     Put the subject near the beginning of the
    sentence – don’t back in
     Put the verb close to the subject
     Limit the number of ideas/fact chunks
     Limit vocabulary and prefer shorter words to
    longer

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  56.  The look of the piece: graf length, overall length,
    subheads, bulleted lists, boxes, photos
     Sentence length
     Sentence structure
     Put the subject near the beginning of the
    sentence – don’t back in
     Put the verb close to the subject
     Limit the number of propositions
     Limit vocabulary and prefer shorter words to
    longer
     Don’t turn perfectly good verbs into nouns

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  57. Don’t write like Caesar

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  58. Don’t write like Caesar
    Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the
    conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no
    tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a
    considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into
    account.

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  59. Don’t write like Caesar
    Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the
    conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no
    tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a
    considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into
    account.
    I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the
    battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of
    understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen
    to them all.

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  60. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.

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  61. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.

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  62. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.
    Jones said he is supportive of the mayor’s position on the bond
    issue.

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  63. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.
    Jones said he is supportive of the mayor’s position on the bond
    issue.
    Jones said he supports the mayor’s position on the bond issue.

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  64. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.
    Jones said he is supportive of the mayor’s position on the bond
    issue.
    Jones said he supports the mayor’s position on the bond issue.
    Jones said he would be in attendance at the meeting.

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  65. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.
    Jones said he is supportive of the mayor’s position on the bond
    issue.
    Jones said he supports the mayor’s position on the bond issue.
    Jones said he would be in attendance at the meeting.
    Jones said he would attend the meeting.

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  66. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.
    Jones said he is supportive of the mayor’s position on the bond
    issue.
    Jones said he supports the mayor’s position on the bond issue.
    Jones said he would be in attendance at the meeting.
    Jones said he would attend the meeting.
    Jones said he would go to the meeting.

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  67. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.
    Jones said he is supportive of the mayor’s position on the bond
    issue.
    Jones said he supports the mayor’s position on the bond issue.
    Jones said he would be in attendance at the meeting.
    Jones said he would attend the meeting.
    Jones said he would go to the meeting.
    The law is applicable to executive sessions.

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  68. Jones said he was in receipt of the document.
    Jones said he received the document.
    Jones said he is supportive of the mayor’s position on the bond
    issue.
    Jones said he supports the mayor’s position on the bond issue.
    Jones said he would be in attendance at the meeting.
    Jones said he would attend the meeting.
    Jones said he would go to the meeting.
    The law is applicable to executive sessions.
    The law applies to executive sessions.

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  69. #8
    Don’t write like a bureaucrat. Write
    in English. Speak the language your
    readers speak.

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  70. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbgnieG9Z4g
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m-
    GA1i3BWs

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  71. #9
    Be fair to all sides. Avoid bias. Keep
    your feelings and preferences out of
    the story.

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  72. Sources of bias in our stories

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  73. Sources of bias in our stories
     Bias by omission, either intentionally
    or because of space/time deadlines

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  74. Sources of bias in our stories
     Bias by omission, either intentionally
    or because of space/time deadlines
     Bias by story selection
     Bias by selection of sources

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  75. Sources of bias in our stories
     Bias by omission, either intentionally
    or because of space/time deadlines
     Bias by story selection
     Bias by selection of sources
     Bias by placement within a story

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  76. Sources of bias in our stories
     Bias by omission, either intentionally
    or because of space/time deadlines
     Bias by story selection
     Bias by selection of sources
     Bias by placement within a story
     Bias by sloppy attribution – including
    not covering all important sides of an
    issue

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  77. Sources of bias in our stories
     Bias by omission, either intentionally
    or because of space/time deadlines
     Bias by story selection
     Bias by selection of sources
     Bias by placement within a story
     Bias by sloppy attribution – including
    not covering all important sides of an
    issue
     Bias by fear – slanting a story to avoid
    pissing off an individual or a group

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  78. #10
    Edit for grammar and AP style.

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