WWWWW&H—What is News?

WHAT IS NEWS?

• News is timely (new!)
• News is nearby (proximity: 1. geographic; 2. what other kinds?)
• News is about prominent/important people/things (who/what is “important,” and to whom?)
• News is about human beings (human interest; children, baby ducks and puppies)
• News involves conflict, tension, competition, disagreement.
• News is the weird, novel and unusual (“Gee whiz!”; Man bites dog.)
• News has impact, consequence; it is relevant/important/useful to people’s lives (selective perception; “News you can use.”)

Writing News: The Fred Rule.

When I was a new reporter, covering Belchertown, Mass., for the now-defunct Holyoke Transcript-Telegram, I got an important and profane lesson from my editor on how to write a lead on deadline. Or any time, for that matter.

With less than 20 minutes to go before deadline, I still had the major story on the previous night's selectmen’s (city council) meeting to do. Editor Matt Zowadowski was a blue-collar journalist who had no patience for “college pansies.” He was yelling at me to get my *&^&%$#$%^&@!!@!! selectmen's story in, fergawdsales!!! “What is your $%^&^%$#@@@#%^&$^&!!!!!!? PROBLEM, Pease?” he was spitting on my desk.

The problem, I told him, waving a thick handful of agenda at him, was that the Belchertown selectmen had met until 11:30 the night before. The agenda was a monster, with 27 action items on it. There was zoning. There was development. There was a barking-dog ordinance. There was that bridge on Hwy. 10....

“JEEE-ZUS!” Zowadowski bellowed. “Didn’t they teach you ANYTHING up at the college, you %^&*(*&^%$#@@%^%$#$%!!! pansy?”

It's not F&*()*&^%$!ing rocket science, he said, putting his loafer in the middle of my desk and leaning in.

“Who the F@#^&Y^%$# gives a shit about 27 $%^&*(&^% agenda items?” he whispered. “Look. You come out of city hall and there's your best friend, Fred, on the sidewalk. And Fred says, ‘What’s up?’ Do you say, ‘Well, the selectmen met for 4-1/2 hours and carefully considered 27 f*^%$#@!ing agenda items...?’ Hell, no. You tell Fred, ‘Those sonsuvbitches are going to raise our taxes again.’ That’s your lead. So what the hell happened last night?”

I don’t remember what the Belchertown selectmen did at that meeting (or any others), but I remember Fred and Matt Zowadowski. Great advice: They’re going to raise our f*%@#&*ing taxes again. Works every time.

Organizing the story: What do you know? What’s most important? (WHY?) Rank-order the information in descending order of importance.

W
W
W
W
W
H

WHO did WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? (WHY?) (HOW?)

(see p. 149 in the Mizzou text)