Journalism Terminology

Mr. McCallum
 Art
„ Photos, maps, charts, graphs, illustrations.
„ Art dresses up the paper and makes it
visually appealing.
„ Each story should be examined for art
possibilities. (See the graphic entry.)
Art
 Assignment
„A story a reporter has been given to
research and write. A reporter is often “on
assignment.”
 Banner
„ The biggest headline atop the front page,
usually running the entire width of the
page.
„ Banners are often used on the biggest
news stories.
Banner
 Beat
„ A specialty area of coverage.
„ Some reporters are assigned an area to
specialize in: police, courts, city hall, the
statehouse, science, medicine, public schools,
etc. These “beat reporters” are responsible for
covering the news on their beats. Another
meaning equates “beat” with “scoop.” “We got
the beat on the story despite plenty of
competition.” In other words, they got the story
first. Student papers can have beat reporters,
too.
 Budget
„A list of stories planned for the next
edition.
„ Each budget item includes the reporter’s
name, what kind of art is available for the
story and the approximate length in
inches.
„ School papers might want to add deadline
information.
 Byline
„ Identifieswho the story is by, hence the
word. The name of the reporter who
writes the story usually appears at the top
of the story. The name of the paper is
often part of the byline:
„ By Susan Lampert Smith
Wisconsin State Journal
Byline
 Circulation
„ The number of papers sold.
„ Dailies usually list two circulation
numbers: daily (Monday through
Saturday) and Sunday. Sunday circulation
is often higher than daily circulation.
„ Some daily papers have a circulation of
several million. Some weekly papers have
a circulation of a few hundred.
 City Desk
„ Thisdepartment of a newspaper consists
of local reporters and their editors. They
work in the city room or the newsroom.
Sports, business and features reporters do
not work for the city desk, but have their
own departments.
 Column
„ There are two meanings. A column is an
article containing opinion or commentary
written by a columnist.
„ It is also a vertical strip of type. Most
American papers have six columns. Thirty
years ago, they had nine. Many school
papers, produced on 8-and-a-half by 11-
inch sheets, have two columns.
Column
 Copy
„ Stories or articles that are written by
reporters and editors. “Max Wright’s copy
is very clean.” That means that Max’s copy
has few typographical, grammatical or
spelling errors.
„ “Clean copy” is an important goal. Copy
should be perfect when it is completed by
the reporter.
 Copy Editor
„ Someone who edits copy, checking for spelling,
grammar, typographical and factual errors
„ Copy editors can also change copy to make it
better organized and more compelling.
„ Copy editors also write headlines and design
pages. Reporters do not write headlines for their
stories. Students can play two roles -- reporter
and copy editor. They should copy-edit someone
else’s work, but they should proofread their own
copy before turning it in.
 Credit Line
„A line of type acknowledging who took a
photograph or produced a graphic
element.
Credit Line
 Cut
„ Making a story shorter by “making a cut.”
„ Traditional newspaper stories are written with
the most important information at the top and
the least important information at the bottom.
That makes it easy to “cut from the bottom” in
case the story doesn’t fit the space available.
Stories that use different organizational
structures, such as the narrative, should not be
cut from the bottom.
Inverted Pyramid
Oh no!

Oh no!
That story is too
long to fit on my
spread!
Inverted Pyramid
 Now we’re talking!

That’s AMAZING!
It fits and it still
makes sense!
I think I’ll eat an
apple and have
some lemonade!
 Cutline
„ The caption beneath a photograph.
„ Look at the picture carefully before writing a
cutline and try not to state the obvious. Instead,
provide information to supplement the
information that is already in the picture.
Wrong: “Jefferson Principal Mary Parks sits atop
the roof” Right: “Jefferson Principal Mary Parks
spent three hours on the school roof after her
students read 1,000 books.”
 Dateline
„ The information between the byline and
the story that identifies where a story
originates. Sometimes the dateline also
includes the date, depending on the
paper’s policy. Stories produced locally do
not have datelines.
Dateline
 Deadline
„ The time at which copy must be turned in or at
which the final page of the newspaper is
composed. Missing a deadline can cost hundreds
of dollars because truckers are paid to wait
when they cannot fill up with their allotment of
papers on time. If trucks are late, carriers get
their papers late and deliver them to readers
late. That makes readers mad and they may
stop reading the paper. Deadlines are critical,
whether they are daily, weekly or monthly. Work
must be done on time.
 Editorial
„ There are two meanings. One refers to an article that
expresses an opinion. Editorials are run on editorial
pages that are reserved for expressions of opinion:
editorials, columns, letters to the editor and editorials
reprinted from other papers. Columnists also write
opinionated pieces, either for the editorial page or
elsewhere. For example, many sports pages have
columnists who comment on various aspects of sports.
Their columns should be clearly marked as opinion.
Writers who review plays, movies and performances also
express opinions. That’s their function. Again, these
pieces should be clearly identified.
Editorial
Editorial Cartoon
 Opinions
„ Reporters should not put their opinions in news
and feature stories. Keep opinions on the
editorial page, in columns and in reviews. Many
student writers are tempted to add “moral tags”
to the bottom of news and feature stories. For
example, a story about a new teacher may end
with: “We’re all glad Mr. Smith is here!” That’s a
moral tag and should be avoided. Notice the
exclamation mark. Avoid it as well.
 Feature Story
„A story not based on “breaking news.” In
other words, its interest lies in some factor
other than the news value.
„ A profile of a school principal is a feature.
A story about the history of the school
building is a feature. A story about a fire
in the school kitchen is a news story.
 Five W’s
„ Five W’s -- Who, what, when, where,
why (or sometimes H for How). These are
the major questions answered in the lead
(or lede) of a well-written news story
using the traditional inverted-pyramid
structure. That structure puts the most
important information in the first
paragraph and the least important in the
last paragraph.
 5 W Lead Who

How

What
Where

When

Why
 Sample Lead
„ The Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago
Bears 38-9 Sunday afternoon at Lambeau
Field by using a devastating defense and a
balanced offense.
 Flag
„ The name of the paper atop the front page. It’s
the flag because it flies above the rest of the
page.
 Front Page
„ The first page of the paper where the
most interesting and most newsworthy
stories are placed.
Front Page, Above the Fold
 Graphic
„ A chart, graph, map or similar device used to
help tell a story. A graphic is usually used in
conjunction with a story. It can provide details
that can be eliminated from the story.
Sometimes a graphic can stand alone and be the
entire story. Students who are handy with a
computer can be graphics editors. For example,
a story that surveys students about their favorite
entertainer can be accompanied by a bar chart
that lists the top five or 10 entertainers.
 Headline
„ Summarizes the story. Often written as
“hed.’’ Many school papers rely on boring
“label heads,” two or three words that fail
to attract the reader: “10th-grade news,”
“Field Trip,” “Mrs. Jones,” etc. Use verbs
and complete thoughts in headlines.
“10th-graders study rain forest,” “Giraffes
are big hit on field trip,” “Mrs. Jones raises
goats.”
 Jump
„ The part of the story that continues on
another page. The introduction to the
jump on the first page is called the “jump
line.” “See ‘giraffes’ on Page 4” or
“Continued on Page 4.” The jumped story
should be clearly labeled. “Mrs. Jones,
continued from Page 1.”
Jump
 Masthead
„ Lists the top management of the
paper. On student papers, it can
list the entire staff.
 Proofread
„ Reading every letter of every word in the
paper to make sure everything is spelled
correctly. Every reporter should proofread
every story before turning it in. An editor
should proofread every page, including
headlines, bylines, cutlines and graphics,
before the paper is printed. Always use
the computer spell-checker, but remember
that it can fail you in embarrassing ways.
 Refers
„ Theyappear on Page 1 and tell the
readers about stories inside the paper.
They are a quick and easy way to fill holes
on the front page when stories run short.
“Tenth-graders meet the giraffes. See
Page 5.”
Refers
 Sidebar
„A short story related to the main story and
run adjacent to it. A sidebar develops one
angle of the main story.
 Top Line
„ The
biggest headline on the front page,
sometimes called the banner.
 Editorial Department
„ Thenews department of a newspaper,
responsible for all content of the
newspaper except advertising. At some
papers this term refers to the department
responsible for the editorial page only.
 Editorialize
„ Toinject the reporter's or the newspaper's
opinion into a news story or headline.
Most newspapers restrict opinion to
analysis stories, columns and editorials.
 information graphic
„ A visual representation of data.
 Lay Out
„ lay
out (v.) The process of preparing
page drawings to indicate where stories
and pictures are to be placed in the
newspaper.

layout (n.) The completed page drawing,

or page dummy.
 Lead
„ (1) The first paragraph or first several
paragraphs of a newspaper story
(sometimes spelled lede);
„ (2) the story given the best display on
Page One;
„ (3) a tip.
Lead
 Libel
„ Damage to a person's reputation caused
by a false written statement that brings
the person into hatred, contempt or
ridicule, or injures his or her business or
occupational pursuit.
 Nutgraph
„A paragraph that summarizes the key
element or elements of the story.
„ Usually found in a story not written in
inverted pyramid form.
 Op Ed Page
„ Thepage opposite the editorial page,
frequently reserved for columns, letters to
the editor and personality profiles.
 Open Ended Question
„ One that permits the respondent some
latitude in the answer; for example, "How
did you get involved in politics?"
 Poll
„ The measurement of opinion by
questioning members of some small group
chosen at random so as to be
representative of the entire group.
„ A poll is also referred to as a survey or
public opinion poll.
 Profile
„A story intended to reveal the personality
or character of an institution or person.
 Soft News
„ Stories about trends, personalities or
lifestyles. The time element usually is not
important.
 Hard News
„ Coverage of the actions of government or
business; or the reporting of an event,
such as a crime, an accident or a speech.
The time element often is important.
 Sources
„ People or records from which a reporter
gets information. The term often is used
to describe persons, as opposed to
documents.