•Angle: The focus or approach of story

•Beat: Reporter’s assigned area of responsibility

•Copy: What reporters write
•Deadline: Time by which a story is submitted
•Developing Story: A news event that occurs over a period of time
•Editorialize: To inject the reporters opinion into a news story
•Info Graphic: Visual representation of data
•Morgue: Newspaper records where published stories and photographs are kept
•Off The Record: Don't use as source
•Side Bar: Story which runs next tithe main story on the same topic
•Op-Ed: An article written by an expert that is positioned on the page opposite the
editorial page. Not to be confused with Letters to the Editor.
•Periodical: A publication circulated at regular intervals, such as a weekly or monthly.
•Producer:The person in charge of the coordination of all details pertaining to a television or
radio program.
•Publication: A newspaper, magazine, or newsletter with information, news, and feature
stories, usually produced to be sold or as a service to members of associations or
organizations.
•Reach:The geographic area of the audience and the number of readers, listeners, or viewers
who can access the media in any region.
•Roundup Story:
A story geared to look back at what has happened over specific period of time, such as
the previous year or quarter. Also, a story in which a reporter wants several opinions on a
subject.
•Masthead: The newspapers nameplate that tells the official name of paper
•Ears: Short messages printed on the side of each masthead
•Banner/Streamer: Headline that runs the entire width of front page
•Cut Lines: Captions underneath cuts
•Cut: Any kind of illustration
•Top Story: Story in most prominent position on page one
•Deck: A smaller headline that appears directly beneath the main headline
•By-Line: The name of who wrote the story
•Dateline: Where the story is reported from
•Lead Or Intro: First paragraph that tells the 5 w's and how
•Subhead: Small headline within the body of a news story
•Jump line: shows where story continues
•Angle:The approach a reporter takes when writing or reporting story.
•Clip or Clipping:A story cut from publication or a segment cut from a video or
audiotape.
•Editing:The act of rewriting, viewing, listening, and cutting print publications,
video, or audio in order to perfect the story.
•Editorial: A piece that expresses an opinion (as opposed to anew article, which
presents facts without opinion) and appears on the editorial page, separate from
news stories.
•Feature: A special or prominent article in a newspaper or magazine that is not a
"hard news" story but that is of interest to readers
•Graf: A paragraph.
•Hard News: This kind of piece presents the facts of an eventobjectively and in
descending orderof importance.
•Inverted Pyramid:
A style ofwriting in which the mostcomprehensive information is putin the
lead, followed byinformation that is of less and lessimportance. This construction
isused so that an editor can cut thestory after any paragraph and stillhave a
complete story that meetsspace limitations.
•Lead Story:
The most importantarticle on page one, which mayhave a headline that extends
acrossthe entire top of the page.
•News Conference:
An arrangedgathering of media representatives toannounce and explain a significantand
newsworthy subject or event.
•News Feature:
A special story orarticle in a print publication orbroadcast program that goes intodetail about
concepts and ideas ofspecific market interest.
•News Hole:
Space reserved formaterial other than advertising.
•News Peg:
An immediate event thatprovides an occasion for printing afeature.
•News Release:
Also referred to as apress release: The most commonwritten form of public relations,usually
used to announce a client'snews and information.
•Nut Graf:
One or more paragraphs,particularly in a feature story, thatexplains the news value of the
story.The nut graf, which is often the thirdor fourth paragraph, will explain whatthe story is
about, so as to keep thereader interested.
•Slug:
A brief heading
—
usually oneword
—
that designates an article orassignment.
•Sound Bite:
A very short piece of audio orfootage that is taken from a longerspeech or an interview,
usually when thespeaker has said something that isconsidered by those editing the
speech orinterview to be the most important point.
•Spot News:
Current news that is reportedimmediately.
•Tease:
An enticing lead to a story thattells just enough about the story to urgethe reader
or listener to continue.
•Dub -to make a recording of a recording.
• “Happy Talk”
 –
the casual banter thatgoes on between news anchors and other
“on air” people. Mostly considered light hearted.
•Kicker
-An offbeat or humorous storythat typically is used to mark the end ofthe news
segment and the beginning ofthe sports/weather segment. The kickercan also be
used to end a newscast.
•ad
: Short for advertisement.
•add:
Additional copy, to be added to astory already written.
•ad-lib
: Unscripted talking, usually by abroadcaster. From the Latin
ad libitum ‘at one's pleasure’.
•advocacy journalism
: A type of journalism in which journalists openlyand intentionally takes sides on
issuesand express their opinions inreporting. It attempts to be factuallybased and is not to be
confused withbadly-practised objective journalism or propaganda.
•all caps:
A printing instruction to set aword or sentence using all capitalletters.
•anchor: A person who presents anews bulletin from a television studio,usually on a regular
basis.
•assignment:
A job given to a journalistby an editorial supervisor, such as anews editor.
•attribute:
To identify who saidsomething, either as a quote or asreported speech.
 Attribution
isimportant to maintain credibility.
•balance:
A basic journalismprinciple of giving both sides of anargument in a fair way so
readersor listeners can make up their ownmind.
•
blind interview:
A publishedinterview where the interviewee is not named, e.g. ‘a senior
official’,sometimes called non-attributable. See also
off-the-record. Also, to conduct an interview not knowingthe subject matter.
•blockline:
A caption for aphotograph.
•blog:
Short for web log, a n   o n l i n e commentary or diary often writtenby individuals
about their specialistinterests, hobbies, family etc.
•blogger: A person who writes ablog. They can be professionalcommentators or
amateur Internetusers.
•blogosphere:
Collective name forthe medium of bloggers.
•
break:
(1) A story that is first publishedwhile the event is still happening.Sometimes called
breaking news.
(2) Ashort news bulletin which interrupts aradio or television program to bring
thelatest news.
•broadsheet:
A large format newspaper,usually measuring at least 56 cm (22inches) long. Also used
to describe moreserious, less sensational styles ofnewspaper journalism. Compare
with tabloid.
•bulletin:
A organisedcollection of newsstories broadcast on radio or television ata regular time.
Can also include elementssuch as sports reports, stock marketinformation, weather reports
etc. In US,more commonly called a newscast .
•caption:
In print, short pieces of textplaced below or beside pictures todescribe them and
identify thephotographers and/or owners. Also called cutline. In television,
informationsuperimposed over a picture, usually atthe top or bottom of the
screen,describing what is being shown. Oftenused to name and describe the
personspeaking.
•chief reporter:
The most senior reporter in anewsroom. In larger
newsrooms, may be called a newseditor .
•chief of staff :
A senior journalist in a newsroom who assigns stories toreporters and organisesand
monitorshow they do their work. Oftensecond-in-command to a
news editor .
•chief sub: Short for chief sub-editor
.The person in charge of sub-editors,who assigns work to down-table subs.
•citizen journalism:
Journalism outsidethe established media, usually byordinary citizens without
professionaltraining or organisationalexperience.
•closed question:
A question which can be answered with a simple ‘Yes’ or‘No’. Contrast with
open questions, which require longer, more involved
answers. ‘Can you tell me?’ is a closedquestion. ‘What can you tell me?’ is
an open question.
•column:
(1) In typography, acolumn is a vertical block of texton a page, separated by
marginsand/or rules.
(2) A regularfeature often on a specific topic,written by a person known as a
columnist.
•commercials:
Paid foradvertisements on television.
Radio usually calls these ‘ads’.
•cover story:
The most importantstory featured on the front coverof a magazine, often by
anillustration.
•credit line:
Text next to orfollowing a story or pictureacknowledging its source.
•crop:
To cut unwanted portionsfrom a photograph forpublication.
•
cub
: Old-fashioned term for atrainee journalist. Also known as a
rookie
.
•
curtain raiser
: Story written beforea predicted event, setting thescene for when it happens.
Oftenused at the start of an electioncampaign, sporting competition orseason etc.
•
cyber-journalist
: A journalistworking on the Internet.
•
double-spread
: Two facing pagesof a newspaper or magazine acrosswhich stories, pictures, adverts
andother components are spread as ifthey were one page.
•
draft
: The first version of an articlebefore submission to an editor.
•
editorial cartoon
: A cartoon whichappears on the editorial page,commenting on a currentcontroversy.
•
editorial conference
: A meeting ofsenior editorial managers and staffto plan the day's coverage.
•
editorial page
: A page where thenewspaper or magazine's
editorial(1)
is printed, often with letters tothe editor. Also called an
opinion page
.
•
end
or
ends
: Typed at the end of
copy 
to signify the end of thearticle and there is no more tocome.
•
ezine
: (Pronounced e-zeen). AnInternet magazine.
•
file
: To send a report from areporter on location to thenewsroom or studio.
•
filler
: (1) A short news item oradvertisements, usually timeless,used to fill small spaces
in anewspaper or
bulletin
. (2) Alsocalled
 fill-in
, a short piece of mujsicto fill a gap between programelements.

•
follow-up
: A story which is written to reportnew or more detailed information on a storywhich has
already been published orbroadcast.
•
gutter journalism
: A derogatory term formedia which use sensational reportingwithout concern for the
harm it will doindividuals.
•
house style
: An
organisation’s
set of rules forhow language and other elements are used,usually contained in a
style guide
available toall editorial staff. Style guides can vary frombasic rules on spelling and
grammar tocomplex documents on how words are usedand pronounced.
•
human interest story
: A news story or featurewhich focuses on individual people and theeffects of issues or
events on them. Humaninterest stories are often used to make ideasmore real and concrete
in the minds of theviewer, reader or listener. Human intereststories can also cover unusual
and interestingaspects of other people's lives which are notparticularly significant to
society as a whole.
•
imprint
: Information printed in anewspaper or magazine showingthe publisher details.
•
interview
: A formal, usuallystructured conversationbetween a journalist and asource to get
information for astory.
•
investigative journalism
:Finding, reporting andpresenting news which otherpeople try to hide. It
usuallytakes longer and requires moreresearch that ordinary newsreporting.
•
 jingle
: Short piece of musicplayed on radio to identify aregular feature, program orproduct
being advertised.
•
kill
: To cancel or delete all or partof a story.
•
layout
: (1) A plan of how stories,pictures and other elements are toappear on the finished
page of anewspaper or magazine.Sometimes called a
dummy 
. (2) Aset of stories, pictures andillustrations about a single subject.
•
leader
: An article written by theeditor or a specialist giving theopinion of the newspaper
on anissue.
•
mug shot
: A head-and-shouldersphotograph of a person facing thecamera.
•
multimedia
: The way of presentinga subject using different types ofmedia, such as video, audio,
textand images in combination.
•
news editor
: The person incharge of which news events arecovered and how news storiesare
gathered and written by
reporters
in a
newsroom
. Insmaller newsrooms, this is oftendone by a
chief reporter.
•
newsroom
: A specially equippedoffice where
 journalists
workproducing
news
.
•
online journalism
: Reportingand writing news specifically foruse on the Internet.
•
pack journalism
: Whenindividual journalists competingfor coverage of an event or issueact together,
like a pack of dogschasing the same quarry.
•
pad
: To add extra material to astory only to make it longer.
•
presenter:
A person who presents aradio or television program on air.Called an
anchor 
in US.
•
put to bed
: When journalists havefinished their work on preparing anewspaper and it is sent to thepresses
for printing.
•
re-jig
: To rewrite a story or reorganisea page, usually by moving elementsaround.
•
retraction
: Withdrawal of story or partof a story after publication, oftenbecause a mistake has been
made or alegal problem has arisen.
•
review
: A description of an event witha critical assessment of how well itwas done. Reviews are
typicallywritten of plays and other theatreperformances, concerts and recitals,new recordings,
movies, radio andtelevision programs, books,restaurants, exhibitions and otherforms of
entertainment.
•
scoop
: An important or significantnews published or broadcast beforeother competing media know of
it.
•
series:
A group of related stories orfeatures ona single topic, generallyrun in successive or
regular editions ofa newspaper, magazine or program.
•
soft news
: Stories about topics whichare interesting and new but whichhave little or no material
effect on
people’s lives. Soft news focuses on
interesting individuals rather than onmajor events or developments whichimpact on lots of
people.
•
station format
: Usually applies to themix of talk and music presented by aradio station. Some stations have
amainly news and current affairsformat, others may have a mainlymusic format or a news/talk
format.
•
straight news
: A straightforwardaccount of factual news withlittle or no comment or analysis.
•
stringer
: A regular contributor toa newspaper or broadcaster whois not a member of
staff.Stringers are often paid by thelength of stories they provide.
•
tabloid
: A small, compactformat newspaper, usually lessthan 43 cm (17 inches) long.Also used
to describe anewspaper style that uses short,simply-written stories andheadlines
with lots of pictures toillustrate more sensationalcontent. Compare with
broadsheet 
.
•
talk radio
: A radio station whosemain format is speech-basedprogramming, not music-
based.Talk radio is usually moreinformation oriented, often withnews and current
affairs servicesand talkback programs.
•
time check
: A announcement
onair 
of the time.
•
yellow journalism
: An old-fashioned US term for sensational journalism.
•
voxpop
: From the Latin
vox populi 
‘voice of the people’, short
interviews where several membersof the public are stopped atrandom and asked
questions togauge approximate public opinionabout an issue.
•
write-off story
: A short, front-pageversion of a story which is repeatedin full with more details
inside thenewspaper.