Reporter Interview Preparation Guide

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When you write a letter to someone, you are communicating.
Journalism is someone writes in a newspaper or magazine for the whole world to read.

You can make color reductions and I am sure they will be acceptable. Journalism graphics majors at our university usually buy large portfolios--at least 12 by 17 to put their design tear sheets. Electronic PDF are becoming more and more acceptable. Some of our students here have made online digital portfolios and put their resumes and all of their tear sheets (article and design) on a website.

I really only saw the rough cuts to make sure I wasn’t getting fucked. It’s not like I want to be on television. It was a grueling process because all of a sudden I had to run around with a film crew. I still had to get into that goddamn building, but now with a camera on my tail.

Don’t get me wrong: they were gracious, they were good and they were very talented people. They did right by us. It was honest.

I job shadowed a newspaper reporter when I was a senior in high school, him and his boss basically laughed at me because they said that journalism was a dying thing

If you do not necessarily agree with that though, there will always be a need for journalists, whether on newspapers or internet.

Well, I do that everyday of the week. I’ve never walked away from a story. Violence is the cost of doing business. You keep your nerve, you keep your wits and you chase stories.

Lawyers are held to a code of ethics by law (not that they necessarily follow it). As far as journalists are concern, it is more like a suggested set of guidelines. These days it is very rare to find any kind of ethics in Journalism.

As journalists, we’re not always good at spelling out what we don’t know in a story, especially if it’s a breaking story. Oftentimes, we try to write around the holes. Better to be clear and ’fess up in the story about what remains to be explained and clarified. This question also prompts the writer and editor to compile a list of questions for any follow-up stories.

Old woman should be wearing a nice classic dress, with pearls, pearl necklace and earrings, maybe a pillbox hat, shawl very Jackie O, or Queen Elisabeth. Egotistical businesspersons usually wear nice suits, slicked back hair, and cocky stern look on face.

I don’t have a lot of time for that. I’m busy. This aggregation thing, it’s a bad ethos. If people are not producing original journalism, why should people pay attention? Overtime, they won’t. But by then the real institutions are going to be gone, and you just don’t build those overnight. Everyone’s going to be locked into these aggregators until they get bored and realize they don’t serve their interest, and they’re going to look around for the real newspapers and the real newsmakers, and they’re not going to be there anymore. Then what are we going to do?

Your best reporters want to be challenged. And chances are, if they are veterans, they have tackled a story similar to the one they are tackling now. What better way to challenge them than to ask them to come up with a fresh approach to the story? The approach could involve words, but it could also involve photography, graphics and online elements. This question will also help writers think about collaborating with visual journalists across the newsroom.

For the news lead, you should have the 5 W's & H (who, what when, where, why, and how). However, if it is for a feature lead then there are wide varieties. Magic Three, Descriptive, Anecdotal, Narrative, and Teaser are the main ones.

An editor's note is usually found in the first several pages of a magazine, and can contain anything from the editor's most recent experiences to his/her opinion on the contents of the magazine. Editor's notes can also contain responses to readers' letters, new research on whatever the subject of the magazine is, event tips.

Editor's notes usually reveal the editor's personality, which makes readers come back for more!

I like asking this question because it encourages the writer to think about the most interesting and relevant nuggets of the story. We’re good at considering the news value of a story, but we’re not always as good pondering the “Why should the reader care?” part. Having the writer imagine telling the story to a friend can help him or her think about why we should care. This approach can also help the writer move away from any jargon and bring a conversational tone to the piece.

A long time ago I was waiting four days around the clock to take a photograph of Sarah Jessica Parker’s baby. I was parked outside the hospital. It was single-digit temperatures. But I got the first picture ever. I squeezed off a few frames of her, the baby and her husband from behind a column near the exit of the hospital. I even got the baby’s face with his eyes open. That picture was worth a great deal of money, but the Daily News accidentally destroyed it. This was back before cell cameras, so I took it with an Instamatic. Someone accidentally destroyed the film.

Journalism is the creativity and view of the journalist. It is writing for a newspaper or magazine, but it is the journalist opinion, view, and heart on the issue.

There is no standard for a reporter's credentials; the only thing I ever had was my employee ID card issued at the time I got the job, and that was always fine. There may be something issued for entertainment or sports journalism, but I do not know those areas.

Some venues may require that you send in a request on corporate letterhead (stationery) for a special event's credentials, but those standards would vary from event to event.

People don’t want to speak for different reasons, but I think the biggest one is fear. Some people are afraid of cops, some people have outstanding warrants, some people are afraid of payback, and some people are afraid of being singled out by the media. Other people are dirty; they’re involved. Either they talk or they don’t. And if they don’t want to talk, what are you going to do, take hostages?

Yes, I’d like to know why a reporter is curious about a story idea. But I’d also like him to step outside of his reporter’s role and think as a reader or viewer. How can we frame the story in a way that’s relevant to the average person? This is where the reporter considers why the story would grab the attention of his parents or, say, his friends at a bar (or his parents at a bar).

Not that his parents or friends are average people, but they live outside the newsroom (which can sometimes become fixated on a story that’s not relevant to others). Ordinary people are most concerned about their finances, health and safety. And if they have kids, they’re probably concerned about all of that, plus education. Does the reporter’s story idea touch upon any of these issues?

The best stories for me are those that not only tell readers something they don’t know, but also resonate with readers because they touch upon a universal theme. They offer readers a “glimpse of wisdom” -- an important lesson that the people we’re writing about have learned -- whether it’s about love or loyalty, betrayal or resilience. Those are the most satisfying stories for me. Equipped with cable TV, laptops, tablets and smart phones, our readers are lost in a sea of information. They are hungry for context and meaning. The “glimpse of wisdom” is one of the most important things we can offer them.

I want the reporter to have done enough research to understand where the story lies in a timeline. What previous events have led to the current situation? Give me that context. Then let me know what’s new about the situation. Does the story reflect a new trend, a turning point, the start or the end of a conflict? Do we need to tell the story in advance of an upcoming decision, meeting or event?

Such “news pegs” can be limiting, and I’ve often argued that we should be able to publish stories just because they are good stories. But given how busy readers are and how many distractions they face, it helps if a story -- even “just a good story” -- has a compelling reason to be told today.

It affects by journalists can write what they want as long as it does not cross certain limits.

Remember that two key traits of journalists are an inquisitive nature and the ability to ask the right questions so demonstrate these at interview! The best questions to ask are those that you really would like to know the answer to, rather than those you can find in books on interview skills. If you research the company well enough, you will find a number of questions naturally arising that you wish to be answered.

You should, though, concentrate on questions that show your interest in, and motivation to do, the job itself, rather than the rewards it will bring. So, for example, you should ask about training and career progression in preference to pay and pensions!

It means a journalist who writes about bright stuff and about hope

Review is someone gives his or her opinion about something

Journalism is to Studio Television as Newspapers are to Magazines.