Textbook Vocabulary

A

Active voice is writing where the subject is performing the action.

Advance story is an objective news story about what is scheduled to happen at a meeting.

Adventure feature is a fact-based story about source’s adventure or experience.

Anecdotal/narrative lead begins with a story or anecdote related to the overall theme.

Association is a group of people who have joined together to promote some cause or topic.

Attribution is documented name of a source who provided a quote or other information for a news story.

Attribution lead is a lead to avoid because it starts with the subject who provided the news instead of the news itself.

B

Basic news lead is a news lead format written in a casual and straightforward style.

Beat reporter is a person who covers the same geographic or subject area consistently in their jobs.

Behind-the-scenes feature story is a fact-based feature story about people whose job is hidden from the public but interesting to readers.

Blind lead is a feature lead that deliberately teases the reader by withholding a key piece of information until later in the story.

C

Colon is a punctuation mark used to indicate an introduction to something.

Comma is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause in a sentence or a separation of things in a list.

Comma splice is an error where two independent clauses are combined by a comma without necessary coordinating conjunctions such as for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

Conflict is the newsworthy measurement that arguments or disagreements make a story more interesting.

Copyright is an intellectual property that protects original works of authorship from being taken by others.

Critical thinking is careful thinking directed to a goal

D

Dateline is the location where the story is happening.

Deep Background occurs when the information is published without attribution, and the source is not identified.

Defamation is intentional damage done to one party’s reputation by another party.

Delay-identification lead is a news lead where a person is described in the first paragraph, but the actual name is not introduced into the story until later.

Direct address lead uses the word “you” in a news lead to get readers’ attention.

Direct Quote is a type of news writing quote where a source’s exact words are used and set apart by quotation marks.

Directive interviews seek specific information and often include brief questions that require short answers.

Disinformation refers to information that is deliberately false or misleading.

Double negative lead is a lead to avoid because it reports on what did not happen or what was missing.

Duh lead is a type of news lead to avoid as it tells the readers something obvious and not newsworthy.

E

Em-dash is a punctuation mark used to set off abrupt interruptions in a sentence.

Embargo is a journalism term where someone gives you information in advance but puts a future date for when you can publish it.

Ends-Based Thinking: The critical thinking measure by weighing the ethics in conflict rather than following a single rule. For example, consider what action would lead to the best outcome for most people.

Ethics in journalism are the guiding rules for news writing. All news organizations have them and most use some version of the rules set by a national journalism organization called Society of Professional Journalists.

Experts in journalism are sources who have extensive knowledge and experience in a field.

Experts directory is a database of people who are willing to speak with the media. The directory includes their areas of specialty and their contact information.

F

Fair Comment and Criticism is a privilege that allows anyone to publish opinions about public officials and public figures without fear of a libel suit.

Fake news is a false or misleading information presented as news.

Fanciful lead is a lead to avoid because it exaggerates, misleads, or prints half-truths to make the story more interesting.

Feature story is a non-fiction, objective article that informs the public about interesting and entertaining information.

Five-box technique is a newswriting format that is used in newswriting in place of an outline.

Follow story is a story that happens a day or two after a meeting with in-depth reporting and depth.

Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA is the public’s right to request access to records from any federal agency.

G

General Assignment Reporter is a person who writes a variety of news or features stories covering a wide range of issues.

Golden Mean: The critical thinking measurement from Aristotle’s golden mean seeks a balance between two extremes. In other words: find the middle ground.

Golden Rule: The critical thinking measurement where you decide based on what you would want others to do if you were the one affected by the decision.

H

Historical feature is a news feature story recapping an important event in history.

Hourglass structure is a form of news writing that combines the inverted pyramid and the narrative writing forms.

How-to feature is a feature story where you help the reader accomplish something by introducing the task and then creating step-by-step directions for completion. Human interest is a measure of newsworthiness based on the notion that readers are naturally interested in their fellow humans.

Hyphen is a piece of punctuation used to connect separate words or word parts that are intended to function as one.

I

Impact is the newsworthiness characteristic that the more people affect by a story, the more important it becomes.

Indirect quote is a type of news writing quote where a reporter takes a response to an interview question and rewrites it without quotation marks. It is still attributed to the source.

Inverted pyramid is a news writing format where the most important information starts the story and the information gets less important as the story proceeds, making it look like an upside-down triangle.

J

Job feature is an objective feature story about a person’s job.

Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information.

L

Lead/lede is the first paragraph of any news or feature story and is designed to grab your reader’s attention and convince them to keep reading.

If y Libel is print defamation when something is published in a written form and damages a party’s reputation. Libel includes print, online and social media posts.

M

Media law is the government legislation that regulates the mass media.

Meeting story is an objective news story published on a deadline immediately after the meeting is over

Misinformation refers to information whose inaccuracy is unintentional.

N

Narrative Writing is a news writing format that uses the storytelling tools of fiction but staying true to facts

National Public Radio (NPR) is an independent, nonprofit media organization that was founded on a mission to create a more informed public through its member stations.

News story is a non-fiction, objective article that informs the public about vital information such as current events, concerns, and conflicts.

Newsworthiness is a story idea that is interesting enough to warrant a public report about it.

Nondirective interviews consist of open-ended questions that let the interviewee choose the conversation’s direction.

Novelty is the newsworthiness measurement that the more unusual something is, the more newsworthy.

Nut graf/Nut graph is the nut or summary of the story contained in one paragraph

O

Obituary is an objective news story about the death and life of a deceased person.

On Background as an interview where information can be published without a name but with some other identifying fact that is negotiated between the reporter and the source.

On the Record means that anything a person says to a reporter can be used in a news story.

P

Partial quote is a type of news writing quote where a source’s remarks are mostly paraphrased but part is verbatim with quotation marks.

Participatory feature is a fact-based feature story about a reporter’s experience or adventure.

Passive voice is writing where the action’s target is put first in the sentence. It is a wordy type of writing and discouraged in journalism.

Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own

Profiles are fact-based journalist stories about a person.

Proximity is the newsworthiness measurement that a story is more interesting to a reader if it is near where they live. 

Public Relations is a career field where the goal is to gain a favorable public image for their employer. 

Q 

Question lead is a lead to avoid because it begins a story by asking a question instead of giving your reader information.

Quote ellipse is three dots that demonstrate that words were taken out of a direct quote.

Quote lead is a lead to avoid because it begins with a direct quote and if confusing to the reader.

R

Rule-Based Thinking: When one ethical rule, such as truth or compassion, overrides all other considerations. The author writes: “For many journalists, truth is more important than any other ethical value. In most instances, journalists and media professional journalists should be truthful in their work.”

Run-on sentence is a common error in which two independent clauses are combined without any punctuation.

S

Seasonal features are fact-based stories about seasonal events and holidays. They are designed to remind readers about the origin of the holiday while giving a fresh perspective.

Semicolon is a punctuation mark used to combine two closely related independent clauses.

Sentence fragment is a common error in which an incomplete sentence is presented as if it were complete. Instead, the phrase should have been part of a previous sentence.

Scene setter lead is a lead that focuses on description of a scene where the story takes place. It should use all five senses.

Shield law is a law that protects journalists from relinquishing the name of their source to any requesting authority.

The sidebar or explanatory feature is a feature story that often accompanies another, longer story and provides more information about one element of the main story.

Slander is the spoken version of defamation, when something is said verbally that harms another party’s reputation.

Society of Professional Journalists is the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.

Startling statement leads begin a story with a shocking fact to get readers’ attention.

Summary lead is a one- or two-sentence news lead that summarizes two to three points of a news story and is often used when covering speeches or meetings.

T

Timeliness is the newsworthiness measurement that the more recent a story, the more interesting it is to your reader.

W

Wordplay lead is a type of lead that uses clever wording or presents phrases in an unconventional way.

Y

Yesterday lead is a lead to avoid because it focuses on information that happened too long ago.