Assignment 1: What grabs you?

Description of Assignment: Basic news writing focuses on figuring out what is important and then giving that information to your readers. It sounds simple and, with a lot of practice, it can be. Problems tend to crop up when writers try to do too much, ignore some basic tenets of journalism, and generally don’t think about the audience before writing.

Here's your chance to rate your local newspaper or online news site. Find today’s edition, set aside 40 min, and read it. Just read. Then, make a list of stories, then rank them from the story that interests you the most to that which interests you the least.

Consider what it is about each story that caught your fancy. Was it the writing style? Was it the subject matter? Did the story tell you something you didn’t know? Did it answer your questions?

And consider each story that you didn’t like. Was it poorly written or organized? Did it contain errors? Was it useless to you? Did it leave you with more questions than when you started reading it? Could you even get through it?

Be prepared to discuss these findings in class. Understanding what you value in a story will make it easier for you to write and report your own stories.

Public Domain Source Material: Your daily newspaper.

Assignment 2: Spoiler alert! Learning the inverted pyramid

Description of Assignment: This drill will ask students to think of their three favorite movies or novels, and report them as news stories using summary leads and an inverted pyramid style. Please write at least four paragraphs per film or book. Don’t worry about giving away the ending! News stories generally require the writer to give up the goods at the start of the story. That way, the reader doesn’t get bored and miss the point of the story before moving on to the next one.

Ideas to try:

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
• State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
• Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope

For example:

Charlotte A. Cavatica, a barn spider who helped save Wilbur the pig from slaughter by extolling him with English words spun into her web at Zuckerman’s farm, died Friday at the county fair. She was 1.

Charlotte is survived by Wilbur, who rose to regional fame thanks to his dear friend’s cunning, and dozens of babies who emerged from her egg sac thereafter and departed before Wilbur could name them. The spiderlings who stayed with Wilbur were named Joy, Nellie and Aranea.

Assignment 3: Birthday assignment

Description of Assignment: You may not remember it, but the day of your birth was very special for your parents. Interview your mother or father (or both) and ask them to recall what they experienced on the day you came into the world. At what time did your mother go into labor? Was it a natural birth, or did she have a C-section?

Shape their answers into the 5 Ws and 1 H format, and write a story reporting the events of your own birthday, using the inverted pyramid structure, as if it had been published in a family newsletter the day after your birth.

Assignment 4: Take note

Description of Assignment: Note-taking is an essential skill in reporting. There is no such thing (yet) as real-time transcription of every conversation. Even if there were, it would only be a record of what was said. It would not tell you anything about the way it was said. It would not remind you of the insights you had during the conversation.

Your notes represent your understanding of the material you are covering. Yes, it is important to get some colorful quotes, but it’s also important to make a record of the surroundings, what you see, feel, hear, and understand.

Every writer must develop their own note-taking style. Try writing as concisely--and as fast--as you can while still capturing information you will understand later. Take time after an interview or event to review your notes and improve them while the memories are fresh in your mind.

Your assignment: Watch tonight’s evening news and take notes. Watch the first 15 min of the broadcast, just once through, without pausing.

Then recreate the broadcast from your notes--with direct quotes, nuance, and your own writing style. Describe the clips in as vivid detail as you can muster. Remember to get accurate spellings of names.

Public Domain Source Material: Watch live on TV or choose a past newscast: https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/nightly-news-full-broadcast-november-8th-804149315681