The first continuously published newspaper was called the Boston News-Letter, which was first published on April 24, 1704. Since then we have relied on news to keep us up to date on current events happening all over the world. The news is one of the most important things that we need to keep up with for a lifetime.
Now, there are many different ways we can find the news. Between local and global newspapers, broadcasts on television, online newspapers and articles, and with apps like twitter, news is 24/7. Publishers are looking for good, honest journalists and news reporters to help out with all of the resources. It is becoming a lot to handle with all of the different databases and they need someone to help them out. It's a good thing this class is so talented!
The publishers of different newspapers and news shows have been contacting me lately telling me that they are looking for good honest news reporters. They have been contacting me specifically because they're interested in training news reporters early now and I told them that my class would be perfect for the job.
Now that you have a job you have to make sure that you do your best to keep it. You will become great news reporters and you will have to go digging through old articles and news reports in order to learn the structure and how it all works. They have asked that we start by making a classroom newspaper because it is important to share with the world what you've been learning.
You will be keeping journals, writing newspaper articles, editing your peers newspaper articles, and in the end creating a live news cast of a particular article that was your favorite.
STOP PRESS!!! Before you go any further, we want you to complete the Rookie Reporter Training with Nathan and the gang from Behind the News. Watch the videos and explore the concepts at this site
Hi! This is your boss John and he will be publishing your work. Unfortunately, he is a very busy man and cannot be there to help you so he has put Mr. Cross and Mrs Lassman in charge of managing the newspaper. They will send me all of your work and he will put it together. Before you complete your individual tasks we ask that you come up with a classroom newspaper name. John trusts that you will make it exciting and appropriate. Thank you again for doing this and make John proud!
These are your tasks:
Step One:
1. Look through the different newspapers in class and online and Television news cast Reports and find a topic that interests you; something you would be interesting in writing about. There are several online newspapers like The Guardian, The Age, The Brisbane Times or news clips on the Behind the News website, but if you want to look under a different newspaper feel free to do so just get it checked by your teacher.
2. Use one newspaper article and one news cast report that you really enjoyed and write a summary about each of them. Make each summary a paragraph long and in another paragraph write your opinion about the article and news cast. Explain what you liked about it and what you didn't like. Would you be interested in writing an article about this topic? Why or Why not? Did you find the news reports to be interesting because of the subject or because of the way the news reporters made it?
Step Two:
1. Using all of the techniques we have studied in class, we would like for you to write a news article on one of the following topics below. Remember your goal is to be an honest, truthful and an informative news reporter. You must include all elements of a newspaper report. It is your job to discover all of the facts and resources you need in order to write the article.
Choose from the following topics to write about:
An activity/sport that you or one of your classmates participates in during/after school. You may interview one of your teammates/classmates in order to get some quotes in your article.
If there is a book that you have been reading in your free time you can write a book review for the newspaper. Rate the book and then explain why you gave it that particular rating. Would you recommend the book to someone? Why or Why not? Try and not include too much personal opinion. Include positive and negative aspects.
Write an article about a local cafe. Rate the food and then explain your reasoning for the rating. What are the good things about the food, if any? What are the bad things, if any? Would you recommend the cafe? Why or Why not? Describe what the food tastes like, the texture, the smells, the appearance. Does it look appealing or gross?
Make a survey about something you're interested in and have the class take the survey. Then write an article about the results. Were they expected? What does the class think about them? Interview some students and get their opinions and include quotes in your results.
For those who have hard time writing articles then this one will be perfect for you! Make a crossword/word search puzzle that we can put in the newspaper. Make it challenging and use the spelling words that we have worked with throughout the whole year. Make it creative and challenging.
For those who are artistically talented and funny you can choose to create a comic strip for the newspaper. Make sure that it is appropriate and creative.
If you have an interesting idea for another news article then pitch it to your sub editor (Cross and Lassman). In the real news world there are ideas pitched all the time. Sometimes these ideas are rejected and sometimes they're accepted. Go in knowing this and don't be disappointed if you're idea isn't what this newspaper is looking for. Don't be discouraged though, there are plenty of things you can write about just be creative!
Step Three:
1. Once you have written your article you will need to proofread and edit it. Every good writer proofread's their article before sending it into their editor. It is also good to get many opinions of your article before sending it in. After proofreading it yourself ask a classmate to read it over and check for any mistakes. Once you have edited out all of your mistakes and can't find anymore set up a meeting with your Sub Editor and they will be the final judge before it is sent into me, your publisher, John.
Step Four:
1. Now that you have your first newspaper published you're officially journalists! Your next step is to become true news reports. This will be the most time consuming task but also the most exciting! You and your classmates will create a title for your news station then break up into groups based on the topics your chose and create a news script. You will be creative and excited about the news you're reporting. Watch more news clips to see how the news reporters act and talk. Remember, you're reporters and you are eager and excited to share the information with the world! On the last day you will present your news cast and it will be recorded and sent into my office. I will make sure that it ends up on your local news channel for your whole town to see. Don't forget to act professional and have fun!
It is up to us to keep our journalism fair and honest. We don't want to disappoint our boss!
Credits:
Created with images by janeb13 - "new york times newspaper press room 1942" • LoboStudioHamburg - "twitter facebook together" • Neva79 - "reporter camera journalist" • Unsplash - "suit man dapper" • Monikapp - "list sticky notes note" • quapan - "german dailies about Muammar Gaddafi - behind newspaper box bars (23rd February 2011)" • Sportinaus - "MCG Boxing Day Test" • jaycross - "IMG_3532.JPG" • ChrisYunker - "Café" • ciscai - "amargor, olegário... amargor" • 3844328 - "correcting proof paper" • nucleoset - "cinema theatre tv" • PublicDomainPictures - "punch fist hand"