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Rethinking news in community journalism

Rethinking news in community journalism

Tommy Thomason shows how to write news when many of your readers have already heard that news in personal interactions or social media.

Transcript

  1. Rethinking news It’s not your father’s newspaper – how the

    news has changed and what that means for community journalism Tommy Thomason
  2. The most basic question in all of journalism has always

    been this: What is our philosophy of news?
  3.  How do you determine which events are news and

    which aren’t?  What’s important enough to send a reporter?
  4.  How do you determine which events are news and

    which aren’t?  What’s important enough to send a reporter?  And once you have the facts, which ones will you emphasize?
  5.  How do you determine which events are news and

    which aren’t?  What’s important enough to send a reporter?  And once you have the facts, which ones will you emphasize?  Anytime someone says “Why didn’t you cover X?” they are questioning your news philosophy.
  6.  How do you determine which events are news and

    which aren’t?  What’s important enough to send a reporter?  And once you have the facts, which ones will you emphasize?  Anytime someone says “Why didn’t you cover X?” they are questioning your news philosophy.  Anytime they don’t read stories you consider important, they are saying they don’t agree with your news philosophy.
  7. News is a commodity we care about – even need

    – and media are delivery systems to bring us that commodity. But what’s happened in news isn’t unique
  8.  Your newspaper  TV  Radio  An Internet

    news site  Another newspaper  Social media  Word of mouth
  9. Don’t just think about the machinery of government, think about

    issues What’s the problem or issue? Who are the people affected? How? What are the possible solutions? What are the political alignments? Example: Let’s say there’s a proposal to ban smoking in restaurants…
  10. The City Council met Tuesday night for its regular session

    to consider several proposed agenda items. Leave chronological treatments to novelists. It doesn’t work with news.
  11. The City Council voted Tuesday night to rename a street

    on the west side of town, to purchase a new police cruiser and to ban smoking in Center City restaurants.
  12. The City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to adopt a smoking

    ban that will prohibit smoking at all Center City businesses. Proponents had argued that banning smoking would protect the health of both patrons and employees. Those who opposed the ban said business owners should be able to make decisions on whether or not to ban smoking.
  13. Frank Smith, owner of Joe’s Bar and Grill downtown, said

    the smoking ban enacted Tuesday by the City Council may force him to close his business. “Lots of my patrons like to light up after a meal,” Smith said. “The economy is already bad for restaurants and I can’t afford to lose any more customers.” The City Council passed a smoking ban for all Center City businesses in a 4-3 vote Tuesday.
  14. How can reporters change the way they think about news

    that isn’t new? Ask the following questions…
  15. How can reporters change the way they think about news

    that isn’t new? Ask the following questions… 1) What’s already common knowledge?
  16. How can reporters change the way they think about news

    that isn’t new? Ask the following questions… 1) What’s already common knowledge? 2) What’s the one most important/significant/impactful thing that happened?
  17. How can reporters change the way they think about news

    that isn’t new? Ask the following questions… 1) What’s already common knowledge? 2) What’s the one most important/significant/impactful thing that happened? 3) What interested you the most?
  18. How can reporters change the way they think about news

    that isn’t new? Ask the following questions… 1) What’s already common knowledge? 2) What’s the one most important/significant/impactful thing that happened? 3) What interested you the most? 4) What’s likely to get people talking?
  19. How can reporters change the way they think about news

    that isn’t new? Ask the following questions… 1) What’s already common knowledge? 2) What’s the one most important/significant/impactful thing that happened? 3) What interested you the most? 4) What’s likely to get people talking? 5) What will my readers care about the most? (This may not be what the newsmakers care about.)
  20. Out-of-the-box techniques for looking at news • Find the tension

    or conflict • Personalize – find an individual who is affected • If the news is a cause, what are the potential effects?
  21. Try a delayed lead Key terminology:  Hard news vs.

    soft news  Soft news approach to hard news  Direct vs. delayed leads  Nut graf
  22. Frank Smith, owner of Joe’s Bar and Grill downtown, said

    the smoking ban enacted Tuesday by the City Council may force him to close his business. “Lots of my patrons like to light up after a meal,” Smith said. “The economy is already bad for restaurants and I can’t afford to lose any more customers.” The City Council passed a smoking ban for all Center City businesses in a 4-3 vote Tuesday.
  23. Colby Lewis continued to dominate on the mound and the

    Rangers offense gave him plenty as support, as Texas defeated the Kansas City Royals 8-2. The Rangers started off the second with three consecutive walks from Robinson Chirinos, Leonys Martin and Thomas Field to load the bases with no outs. A double from Delino DeShields scored Chirinos and Martin, while Field scored on a wild pitch from Danny Duffy. A single from Shin-Soo Choo extended his hitting streak to 11 games, while scoring DeShields. For the rookie DeShields, it was only his second career start in left field, and taking opportunity of the playing time and scoring runs was key.
  24. The Texas Rangers are not ready to write off the

    2015 season. Last week, during a 5-2 road trip, veteran players asserted themselves while young players stepped up to the task more often than not. The week started May 4 with both general manager Jon Daniels and manager Jeff Banister explicitly hailing the coming week as a put-up or shut-up moment for key parts of the roster. A week later, they acted. Struggling second baseman Rougned Odor was sent down to Triple A Round Rock and replaced by Tommy Field, who started Monday’s 8-2 series-opening win against the Kansas City Royals at Globe Life Park and hit his first career home run in the seventh inning.
  25. Let’s look at some stories The 2015 Chamber of Commerce

    Banquet was held last Thursday, April 16, at Smithville High School with the theme, “Shop Smithville…It all Comes Back to You!” A yellow boomerang imprinted with that message was given to each banquet guest. Joe Blow, master of ceremonies, welcomed guests, followed by an invocation given by the Rev. I.M. Holy of the Smithville House of the Lord.
  26. Frank and Melba Farb were walking into City Hall to

    pay a water bill six months ago when they stopped to lament the poor condition of the landscaping. “I told Melba, this place looks disagraceful,” Frank remembered this week. “The lawn was full of weeds and the flowers were dead.” They complained about the landscaping and found that there was no budget for lawn beautification, so the retired Smithville couple “adopted” the City Hall lawn themselves. In a few hours every week, they have transformed the lawn into a lush green, accented by red and yellow tulips in the flower beds. The Smithville Chamber of Commerce honored the Farbs’ efforts Thursday night with the Chamber’s Citizens of the Year award.
  27. On Thursday, March 12, 2015, Joe Straus, Speaker of the

    Texas House of Representatives certified that H.R. No. 503 was unanimously adopted by a rising vote of the Representatives. A.B. Bollix, District 99, introduced the resolution.