Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the authors
- Preface to the second edition
- Acknowledgements
- Acknowledgements for the second edition
- Introduction Journalism unplugged
- Part 1 DISCOVERING JOURNALISM
- 1 Where is journalism headed?
- 2 How do you know it’s news?
- Part 2 FINDING AND UNDERSTANDING NEWS
- Part 3 NEWS-WRITING ACROSS THE GENRES
- Part 4 Legal and ethical issues
- References
- Index
2 - How do you know it’s news?
from Part 1 - DISCOVERING JOURNALISM
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the authors
- Preface to the second edition
- Acknowledgements
- Acknowledgements for the second edition
- Introduction Journalism unplugged
- Part 1 DISCOVERING JOURNALISM
- 1 Where is journalism headed?
- 2 How do you know it’s news?
- Part 2 FINDING AND UNDERSTANDING NEWS
- Part 3 NEWS-WRITING ACROSS THE GENRES
- Part 4 Legal and ethical issues
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter objectives
Knowing where to find information is a crucial journalistic skill. In this chapter, we introduce a number of research skills:
Identifying news values as a guide to what constitutes news
Knowing what questions to ask, of whom, when, where, why and how
Getting an understanding of the ‘fundamentals’ of reporting news
Applied and developed curiosity as a basis for reporting
Managing and maintaining sources and contacts
Using research skills – much like a librarian – to sift and verify the relevant facts
The importance of engaging essential support colleagues in news-gathering
We start with research because if you want to be a journalist you have to have information to report. Journalism is about observation, facts and analysis; it usually starts with events that people need to know about.
[News] is about necessary information and unusual events
[News] should be based on observable facts
[News] should be an unbiased account
[News] should be free from the reporter’s opinion
Harold Evans, Editing and Design (1972)Sir Harold Evans knows what he’s talking about, having edited both The Times and The Sunday Times in London, as well as working for The Guardian, the BBC and prestigious publishers in the United States. He has also written eight textbooks on journalism, editing and photojournalism among a total of some 24 books. Now in his mid-eighties, Sir Harold is editor-at-large with the Reuters news agency. A clue to the question ‘How do you know it’s news?’ lies in Evans’ first two points: ‘necessary information’ or ‘unusual events’. It must then be backed up by reference to ‘observable facts’. If the information you have meets these criteria, then it is very probably capable of being news.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- So You Want To Be A Journalist?Unplugged, pp. 31 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012