Melvin Mencher's News Reporting and Writing 12e

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Melvin Mencher's News Reporting and Writing 12e is the 12th edition of the textbook authored by Melvin Mencher, Columbia University, and published by McGraw-Hill, an imprint of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., New York, NY in 2011.

  • Add. An addition to a story already written or being written.
  • Assignment. An order to a reporter to cover an event. An editor keeps an assignment book that contains notations for reporters such as the following:
    • Jacobs -- 10 a.m.: Health officials tour new sewage treatment plant.
    • Klaren -- 11 a.m.: Interview Ben Wastersen, possible Democratic congressional candidate.
    • Mannen -- Noon: Rotary Club luncheon speaker, Paul Robinson, the district attorney.
  • Attribution. Identification of the person being quoted. Also, the source of information in a story. Sometimes, information is given on a not-forattribution basis.
  • Background. Material in a story that gives the circumstances surrounding or preceding the event.
  • Banger. An exclamation point. Sometimes called a bang. Avoid. Let the reader do the exclaiming.
  • Banner. Headline across or near the top of all or most of a newspaper page. Also called a line, ribbon, streamer, screamer.
  • B copy. Bottom section of a story written ahead of an event that will occur too close to deadline for the entire story to be processed. The B copy usually consists of background material.
  • Beat. Location assigned to a reporter for regular coverage -- for example, police or city hall. Also, an exclusive story.
  • Body type. Type in which most of a newspaper is set, usually 8- or 9-point type.
  • Boldface. Heavy, black typeface; type that is blacker than the text with which it is used. Abbreviated bf.
  • Break. When a news development becomes known and available. Also, the point of interruption in a story continued from one page to another.
  • Bright. Short, amusing story.
  • Bulldog. Early edition, usually the first of a newspaper.
  • Byline. Name of the reporter who wrote the story, placed atop the published article. An old-timer comments on the current use of bylines: "In the old days, a reporter was given a byline if he or she personally covered an important or unusual story, or the story was an exclusive. Sometimes if the writing was superior, a byline was given. Nowadays, everyone gets a byline, even if the story is a rewrite and the reporter never saw the event described in the story."
  • Caps. Capital letters; same as uppercase.
  • Caps and lowercase. Initial capital in a word followed by small letters. See lowercase.
  • Caption. See cutline.
  • Column. The vertical division of the news page. A standard-size newspaper is divided into five or more columns. Also, a signed article of opinion or strong personal expression, frequently by an authority or expert -- a sports column, a medical column, political or social commentary.
  • Computer-assisted reporting. The use of online research or data analysis for a news story. Also called database reporting, analytic reporting and precision journalism.
  • Copy. Written form in which a news story or other material is prepared.
  • Copy flow. After a reporter finishes a story, it moves to the city desk, where the city editor reads it for major errors or problems. If it does not need further work, the story is moved to the copy desk for final editing and a headline. It then moves to the mechanical department.
  • Correction. Errors that reach publication are retracted or corrected if they are serious or someone demands a correction. Libelous matter is always corrected immediately, often in a separate news story rather than in the standard box assigned to corrections.
  • Correspondent. Reporter who sends news from outside a newspaper office. On smaller papers, often not a regular full-time staff member.
  • Crony journalism. Reporting that ignores or treats lightly negative news about friends. Beat reporters sometimes have a tendency to protect their informants to retain them as sources.
  • Crop. To cut or mask the unwanted portions, usually of a photograph.
  • Cut. Printed picture or illustration. Also, to eliminate material from a story. See trim.
  • Cutline. Any descriptive or explanatory material under a picture.
  • Database. A collection of information organized in a uniform way, usually as columns and rows. A database can consist of one list (called a table) or multiple tables that can be linked. Information compiled as a database can be searched and manipulated with computer software. Reporters obtain databases from government agencies and analyze them for stories. Modern newsrooms have database systems for organizing and linking stories, photos, page layouts and other editorial content.
  • Dateline. Name of the city or town and sometimes the date at the start of a story that is not of local origin.
  • Deadline. Time at which the copy for an edition must be ready.
  • Edition. One version of a newspaper. Some papers have one edition a day, some several. Not to be confused with issue, which usually refers to all editions under a single date.
  • Editorial. Article of comment or opinion, usually on the editorial page.
  • Editorial material. All material in the newspaper that is not advertising.
  • Enterprise copy. Story, often initiated by a reporter, that digs deeper than the usual news story.
  • Exclusive. Story a reporter has obtained to the exclusion of the competition. Popularly known as a scoop, a term rarely used in the newsroom.
  • Feature. Story emphasizing the human or entertaining aspects of a situation. A news story or other material differentiated from straight news. As a verb, it means to give prominence to a story.
  • File. To send a story to the office.
  • Filler. Material used to fill space. Small items used to fill out columns where needed. Also called column closers and shorts.
  • Flag. Printed title of a newspaper on page 1. Also known as logotype and nameplate.
  • Folo. Story that follows up on a theme in a news story. When a fire destroyed a parochial school in Chicago, newspapers followed up the fire coverage with stories about fire safety precautions in the Chicago schools.
  • Free advertising. Use of the names of businesses and products not essential to the story. Instead of the brand name, use the broad term camera for Leica or Kodak.
  • Futures calendar. Date book in which story ideas, meetings and activities scheduled for a later occurrence are listed. Also known as a futures book. Kept by city and assignment editors and by careful reporters.
  • Good night. An expression meaning there is nothing further for the reporter from the desk for the day. Reporters call in when they take a break. Desks need to know where their reporters are in case of breaking stories.
  • Graf. Abbreviation for paragraph.
  • Guild. Newspaper Guild, an international union to which reporters and other newspaper workers belong. Newspapers that have contracts with the Guild are said to be "organized."
  • Handout. Written publicity or special-interest news sent to a newspaper for publication.
  • Hard news. Spot news; live and current news in contrast to features.
  • Head or headline. The display type over a printed news story.
  • Head shot. Picture featuring little more than the head and shoulders of the person shown.
  • HFR. Abbreviation for "hold for release." Material that cannot be used until it is released by the source or at a designated time. Also known as embargoed material.
  • Insert. Material placed inside a story. Usually, a paragraph or more to be placed in material already sent to the desk.
  • Investigative reporting. Technique used to unearth information that sources often want hidden. This type of reporting involves examination of documents and records, the cultivation of informants, painstaking and extended research. Investigative reporting usually seeks to expose wrongdoing and has concentrated on public officials and their activities. In recent years, industry and business have been scrutinized. Some journalists contend that the term is redundant, that all good reporting is investigative, that behind every surface fact is the real story that a resourceful, curious and persistent reporter can dig up.
  • Italics. Type in which letters and characters slant to the right.
  • Jump. Continuation of a story from one page to another. As a verb, to continue material. Also called runover.
  • Kill. To delete a section from copy or to discard the entire story; also, to spike a story.
  • Lead (pronounced leed). First paragraph in a news story. In a direct or straight news lead, it summarizes the main facts. In a delayed lead, usually used on feature stories, it evokes a scene or sets a mood. Also used to refer to the main idea of a story: An editor will ask a reporter, "What's the lead on the piece?" expecting a quick summary of the main facts. Also, a tip on a story; an idea for a story. A source will tell a reporter, "I have a lead on a story for you."
  • Localize. To emphasize the names of persons from the local community who are involved in events outside the city or region: A local couple rescued in a Paris hotel fire; the city police chief who speaks at a national conference.
  • Lowercase. Small letters, as contrasted with capitals.
  • LTK. Designation on copy for "lead to come." Usually placed after the slug. Indicates the written material will be given a lead later.
  • Makeup. Layout or design. The arrangement of body type, headlines and illustrations into pages.
  • Masthead. Formal statement of a newspaper's name, officers, place of publication and other descriptive information, usually on the editorial page. Sometimes confused with flag or nameplate.
  • Mug shot. See head shot.
  • New lead. See running story.
  • News hole. Space in a newspaper allotted to news, illustrations and other nonadvertising material.
  • Obituary. Account of a person's death; also called obit.
  • Off-the-record. Describes material offered the reporter in confidence. If the reporter accepts the material with this understanding, it cannot be used except as general background. Some reporters never accept off-the-record material. Some reporters will accept the material with the provision that if they can obtain the information elsewhere, they will use it. Reporters who learn of off-therecord material from other than the original source can use it. No public, official meeting can be off-the-record, and almost all official documents (court records, police information) are public information. Private groups can ask that their meetings be kept off-the-record, but reporters frequently ignore such requests when the meeting is public or large numbers of people are present.
  • Op-ed page. Abbreviation for the page opposite the editorial page. The page usually is devoted to opinion columns and related illustrations.
  • Play. Emphasis given to a news story or picture -- size and place in the newspaper of the story; typeface and size of headline.
  • Pool. Arrangement whereby limited numbers of reporters and photographers are selected to represent all those assigned to the story. Pooling is adopted when a large number of people would overwhelm the event or alter its nature. Members of the pool share news and film with the rest of the press corps.
  • Precede. Story written prior to an event; also, the section of a story preceding the lead, sometimes set in italic.
  • Press release. Publicity handout, or a story given to the news media for publication.
  • Proof. Reproduction of type on paper for the purpose of making corrections or alterations.
  • Puff piece or puffery. Publicity story or a story that contains unwarranted superlatives.
  • Quotes. Quotation marks; also, a part of a story in which someone is directly quoted.
  • Rewrite. To write for a second time to strengthen a story or to condense it.
  • Rewriteman. Person who takes the facts of stories over the telephone and then puts them together into a story and who may rewrite reporters' stories.
  • Roundup. A story that joins two or more events with a common theme, such as traffic accidents, weather, police reports. When the events occur in different cities and are wrapped up in one story, the story is known as an undated roundup.
  • Rowback. A story that attempts to correct a previous story without indicating that the prior story had been in error or without taking responsibility for the error.
  • Running story. Event that develops and is covered over a period of time. For an event covered in subsequent editions of a newspaper or on a single cycle of a wire service, additional material is slugged as follows: New lead -- important new information; Adds and inserts -- less important information; Sub -- material that replaces dated material, which is removed.
  • Sell. Presentation a reporter makes to impress the editor with the importance of his or her story; also, editors sell stories to their superiors at news conferences.
  • Shirttail. Short, related story added to the end of a longer one.
  • Short. Filler, generally of some current news value.
  • Sidebar. Story that emphasizes and elaborates on one part of another nearby story.
  • Situationer. Story that pulls together a continuing event for the reader who might not have kept track as it unfolded. The situationer is helpful with complex or technical developments or on stories with varied datelines and participants.
  • Slant. To write a story so as to influence the reader's thinking. To editorialize: to color or misrepresent.
  • Slug. Word placed on copy to identify the story, usually in top left of page.
  • Source. Person, record, document or event that provides the information for the story.
  • Sourcebook. Alphabetical listing, by name and by title, of the addresses and the office and home telephone numbers of people on the reporter's beat and some general numbers -- FBI agent in charge in town, police and fire department spokesperson, hospital information, weather bureau.
  • Split page. Front page of an inside section; also known as the break page and second front page.
  • Stringer. Correspondent, not a regular staff member, who is paid by the story or by the number of words written.
  • Style. Rules for capitalization, punctuation and spelling that standardize usage so that the material presented is uniform. The most frequently used stylebook is the common stylebook of the Associated Press. Also, the unique characteristics of a reporter's writing or news delivery.
  • Stylebook. Specific listing of the conventions of spelling, abbreviation, punctuation and capitalization used by a particular newspaper or wire service.
  • Sub. See running story.
  • Subhead. One-line and sometimes two-line head (usually in boldface body type) inserted in a long story at intervals for emphasis or to break up a long column of type.
  • Text. Verbatim report of a speech or public statement.
  • Tight. Refers to a paper so crowded with ads that the news space must be reduced. It is the opposite of the wide open paper.
  • Tip. Information passed to a reporter, often in confidence. The material usually requires further fact gathering. Occasionally, verification is impossible and the reporter must decide whether to go with the tip on the strength of the insider's knowledge.
  • Trim. To reduce or condense copy carefully.
  • Update. Story that brings the reader up-to-date on a situation or personality previously in the news. If the state legislature appropriated additional funds for five new criminal court judges to meet the increased number of cases in the courts, an update might be written some months later about how many more cases were handled after the judges went to work. An update usually has no hard news angle.
  • Verification. Determination of the truth of the material the reporter gathers or is given. The assertions, sometimes even the actual observations, do not necessarily mean the information is accurate or true. Some of the basic tools of verification are the telephone book, for names and addresses; the city directory, for occupations. For verification of more complex material, the procedure of Thucydides, the Greek historian and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, is good advice for the journalist:

    "As to the deeds done in the war, I have not thought myself at liberty to record them on hearsay from the first informant or on arbitrary conjecture. My account rests either on personal knowledge or on the closest possible scrutiny of each statement made by others. The process of research was laborious, because the conflicting accounts were given by those who had witnessed the several events, as partiality swayed or memory served them."

  • Wire services. Synonym for press associations, the Associated Press and United Press International. There are foreign-owned press services to which some newspapers subscribe: Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
  • Actuality. An on-the-scene report.
  • Audio. Sound.
  • Close-up. Shot of the face of the subject that dominates the frame so that little background is visible.
  • Cover shot. A long shot usually cut in at the beginning of a sequence to establish place or location.
  • Cue. A signal in script or by word or gesture to begin or to stop. Two types: incue and outcue.
  • Cut. Quick transition from one type of picture to another. Radio: A portion of an actuality on tape used on broadcast.
  • Cutaway. Transition shot -- usually short -- from one theme to another; used to avoid jump cut. Often, a shot of the interviewer listening.
  • Dissolve. Smooth fading of one picture for another. As the second shot becomes distinct, the first slowly disappears.
  • Dolly. Camera platform. Dolly-in: Move platform toward subject. Dolly-out: Move platform away.
  • Dub. The transfer of one videotape to another.
  • Establishing shot. Frequently a wide shot; used to give the viewer a sense of the scene of action.
  • FI or fade in. A scene that begins without full brilliance and gradually assumes full brightness. FO or fade out is the opposite.
  • Freeze frame. A single frame that is frozen into position.
  • Graphics. All visual displays, such as artwork, maps, charts and still photos.
  • Jump cut. Transition from one subject to a different subject in an abrupt manner. Avoided with cutaway shot between the scenes.
  • Lead-in. Introductory statements to film or tape of actual event. The lead-in sets up the actuality by giving the context of the event.
  • Lead-out. Copy that comes immediately after tape or film of an actuality. The lead-out identifies the newsmaker again so listeners and viewers will know whom they just heard or saw. Used more often in radio. Also known as tag lines.
  • Long shot. Framing that takes in the scene of the event.
  • Medium shot. Framing of one person from head to waist or of a small group seated at a table. Known as MS.
  • Mix. Combining two or more sound elements into one.
  • Montage. A series of brief shots of various subjects to give a single impression or communicate one idea.
  • O/C. On camera. A reporter delivering copy directly to the camera without covering pictures.
  • Outtakes. Scenes that are discarded for the final story.
  • Panning or pan shot. Moving the camera from left to right or right to left.
  • Remote. A taped or live broadcast from a location outside the studio; also, the unit that originates such a broadcast.
  • Segue. An uninterrupted transition from one sound to another; a sound dissolve. (Pronounced seg-way).
  • SOF. Sound on film. Recorded simultaneously with the picture.
  • SOT. Sound on tape. Recorded simultaneously with picture on tape.
  • Trim. To eliminate material.
  • V/O. Reporter's voice over pictures.
  • VTR. Videotape recording.
  • Zooming. Use of a variable focus lens to take close-ups and wide angle shots from a stationary position. By using a zoom lens, a camera operator can give the impression of moving closer to or farther from the subject.
  • Blurb. A summary of a story on a news Web page. It links to the full story.
  • Chat. To talk in real time with others over the Internet or through a commercial service such as America Online.
  • Content provider. Firm or organization that creates content, such as Salon or CNET.
  • Deep Web. See invisible Web.
  • Flaming. Hostile chat, commentary or e-mail.
  • Hit. Request by a Web user to a server for an image or a file. Hits are used to measure the frequency or popularity of a site. Most sites now use page views as the more reliable measure of how many people visit a site.
  • Home page. Online site or home for a multitude of information -- about movie stars, athletes, pets or commercial messages. Can be in the form of text, graphics, sound, animation.
  • Hotspot. A place that offers a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet. Also called an access point. See Wi-Fi.
  • HTML. Abbreviation for Hypertext Markup Language, the language used to create World Wide Web documents.
  • Hyperlink. Location on the Internet that takes the user to another site. Using the mouse, a user clicks on the link to be carried to the other document. Hyperlinks are indicated often by highlighting or boldface type.
  • Hypertext. System of coding text to link electronic documents with one another. Elements in a hypertext document are linked to elements in other documents.
  • Instant message. Programs that allow users to send realtime messages across the Net. Popular versions are AOL's IM and icq.com.
  • Internet. Global network of computers communicating in a common language or protocol (TCP/IP, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) over telephone lines or microwave links. Home to the World Wide Web, newsgroups and online forums. Always preceded by "the" unless used as a modifier. The "i" is always capped. Synonymous with the Net.
  • Invisible Web. An online database, usually containing government records. Most search tools do not penetrate these databases. Also known as the deep Web.
  • Listserv. Mail-handling software that allows people to subscribe to mailing lists. The lists consist of e-mail addresses. Subscribers receive the messages posted to the central mail-handling address.
  • Log on. The process of identifying oneself on the computer to gain access to a network.
  • Mailing list. Ongoing e-mail discussion devoted to a specific topic. Lists can be public or private, moderated or unmoderated. Also, a group of people (subscribers) with a common interest. The Internet has more than 30,000 mailing lists.
  • RSS. Abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication. This is a format for publishing frequently updated information, such as news stories and blog entries, on the Web. An RSS feed displays the headlines in reverse chronological order so that readers can easily spot the latest information.
  • Search engine. A tool to find information on the Internet by keyword(s) or concept. A search tool attempts to match your keyword(s) against a computerized index of words found on Web pages, in contrast to a Web directory. With Web access, most search engines are free.
  • Snail mail. Postal mail.
  • Social media tools. Technology that allows people to easily publish and interact on the Internet. These tools include YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and blogging software.
  • Spam. Electronic litter. Unwanted advertisements, junk postings. Similar to junk mail. Spamming is the act of sending spam.
  • Usenet newsgroups. Collection of informal forums, bulletin boards or newsgroups distributed over the Internet and devoted to a variety of interests and topics. More than 54,000 exist.
  • Web. Short for the World Wide Web, part of the Internet that allows users to access text, pictures, charts, documents, graphics, sounds and video.
  • Web directory. A list of Web sites by categories and subcategories. It is used for finding a Web site about a particular subject. In contrast to a search engine, people -- not computers -- evaluate the sites and assign them a category in a Web directory.
  • Web site. Collection of pages on the Web that can be accessed through a main title or contents page, which is called a front door. A site can be likened to a TV network or a publishing house.
  • Wi-Fi. A popular way of connecting a computer wirelessly to the Internet. Wi-Fi refers to network connections that use a radio frequency of 802.11. Wi-Fi has a short range and usually serves a specific location, such as a building or park. However, some communities have established a system of overlapping Wi-Fi hotspots and created wireless networks that cover entire cities.
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