Exam 4: Writing in the Media Environment

In an interview, an open-ended question - as opposed to a closed-ended question -

What is the best explanation of the news value of impact?

You should never ask someone how to spell his or her name; that might offend the source.

If a traffic accident kills two people but it happens 1,000 away from where you are, you probably won't read about it in the local newspaper. If it happens within your city limits, however, it will be in the newspaper. What news value is at work here?

When a reporter attends an event and writes a story based on what he or she sees, we say the reporter is using

Stored sources are located only in local libraries.

Reporters do not have the final say over their stories or how the stories are used; editors do.

If a person takes a trip across the country, it's probably not news. If the president of the United States takes a trip across the country, chances are you will hear about it on news broadcasts and read about it in the newspaper. What news value is at work here?

One thing that every media writer must deal with is

Information from personal sources in a news story usually comes in the form of a direct or indirect quote.

Police records, articles from a magazine and a press release are what types of sources?

If you have a tape recorder during an interview, you don't need to take notes.

Journalists do not need to make any special efforts to keep their biases out of their writing.

To the working journalist, what is more important?

Journalists are on solid ethical ground in accepting gifts from their sources.

When you are gathering information for a news story, you should

One of the most important things a reporter must do is spell the names of people correctly.

The best news stories should come from

The journalistic method is designed to find facts, assess them and report them to a wider audience.

One good source for getting background information on a person that you may be writing about is