JOUR602 Reflective Blog

  This week in class we discussed how to write the intro to a news article.  The intro is the most important part of an article, as it is what hooks the attention of the reader and prompts them to continue reading. The intro should be very short, but communicate the main subject and make the reader want to continue reading. We were given an exercise to write the intro to an article about a dog attack. The intro had to communicate the settings of the incident and briefly share what happened to hook people's interest and make them want to keep reading. 

  This week in class we discussed and practiced interviewing. Interviewing is the main way that a journalist collects information and later shares it with the public in the form of a news story. Different types of interviews are needed for soft and hard news. Fact and opinion interviews relate more to hard news, while the human interest interview is typically used for soft news or feature pieces (Sedorkin, 2011). I much prefer in-person interviews, but because of my speech impediment, this can be more of a struggle, which means I will probably do more email interviewing once I am working as a journalist professionally.  Sedorkin, G. (2011). Interviewing: A Guide For Journalists and Writers. 

This week in class we were discussing the difference between fact and opinion in journalism. I was also introduced to a new journalism concept called reportage. Reportage occurs when a journalist is reporting on something that someone else has said. An example of reportage could occur in political reporting, where a journalist may want to quote a politician. We also discussed the difference between hard and soft news. This refers to the societal importance that the news story holds. For example, a report on the recent floods in Auckland is hard news, as it is important for people in Auckland to know about it.