THE TASK IS TO WRITE A 250 NEW STORY ARTICLE ABOUT A LOCAL NEW STORY – MY AREA IS SOUTH WEST LONDON. IT HAS TO BE ORIGINAL AND I HAVE TO PROVIDE TWO QUOTES FROM TWO ORIGINAL SOURCES (CALL THE COUNCIL OR SIMILAR). INSTEAD OF REFERENCES YOU MUST PROVIDE ME WITH CONTACT DETAILS TO THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE CONTACTED IN ORDER TO GET QUOTES ABOUT THE STORY FROM. (INTRODUCE YOURSELF AS MASTERS JOURNALISM STUDENT, KINGA)
YOU CAN PICK A TOPIC BUT IT HAS TO BE ORIGINAL AND NOT PREVIOUSLY REPORTED IN ANY NEWSPAPER.
MY TEACHER DESCRIBED THE TASK:JOURNALISM PORTFOLIO
ASSIGNMENT 1: THE LOCAL NEWS STORY
You will write a 250-word news story of interest for readers of a local publication. You can choose any local newspaper or website in Britain (including the London Evening Standard and Metro) but you must clearly indicate which at the top of your copy. Your story can refer to any subject: local politics, business, education, health, the environment, crime But it must be on a matter of public interest, according to the definition of the Independent Press Standards Organisation:
https://www.ipso.co.uk/editors-code-of-practice/#ThePublicInterest
Make sure you follow these instructions:
1. YOUR STORY MUST BE ORIGINAL. You will not copy or rewrite stories already published in newspapers or other news media. You can, however, find a new angle, update or development in a story already published. But the sources must be your own: you cannot use other news media as the only sources of your story.
3. STORIES ABOUT ROEHAMPTON UNIVERSITY WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED UNLESS THEY HAVE RELEVANCE AND INTEREST BEYOND THE UNIVERSITY. If you choose to report an event that took place in the university, you must make sure that it will interest a wider audience outside Roehampton.
4. The story will be ACCURATE and all the relevant information will be ATTRIBUTED TO REAL, VERIFIABLE SOURCES.
5. The story will be written ACCORDING TO THE MODEL OF THE INVERTED PYRAMID, and attending these rules:
a) The lead or introduction will be a one-sentence paragraph, not shorter than 15 words and not longer than 25.
b) The following paragraphs will have no more than 3 sentences each and 60 words each.
c) The style of writing will be simple and precise. You will use active verbs and avoid jargon and clichs.
d) You will use direct, indirect and partial quotes, as necessary, to attribute relevant information to sources.
e) You will avoid references to yourself. I is forbidden! But you can refer, if strictly necessary, to your newspaper, as in sources close to the Mayor have told the Star or The Richmond Herald has known
f) Dont make questions, dont address the reader in any way.
6. You will strive to be AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE in your story, avoiding personal comments and editorializing.
7. You will add to the story BACKGROUND INFORMATION necessary to give the public a more complete understanding of the events you are reporting.
8. You will write your story in A4 sheets, one-sided, in 12 points Times News Roman, double-spaced. In the top right corner you will write your name, the name of your chosen publication, the date, and a tag word to identify the story. For instance, if your story is about a crisis in a local hospital, your tag word can be Hospital. It will be like this:
John Smith
The Heathrow Express
23 October
Hospital
10. Attached to your story you will submit a sourcesheet identifying the sources from which you got the information, with contact details (office or home address, telephone or email). Notice that you dont need to submit a hardcopy of your story: simply create a single document with your story and sourcesheet, and upload it to Turnitin using the link provided in the Moodle site of the module.
12. For all possible ethical conflicts, you will abide by the code of conduct of the National Union of Journalists, available in
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=174
