JUNIOR JOURNALIST JUNIOR JOURNALIST - First News

JUNIOR
JOURNALIST
GUIDE

FirstNews
I’m Nicky, Editor of First News, the award-winning
newspaper for young people in the UK. The First
News team love putting our newspaper together
each week and this booklet will tell you just how it’s
done. You’ll learn everything, from what makes a
good front page to how to edit your work. We hope
you’ll be inspired to write your own newspaper
reports, or maybe even have a go at putting a
whole newspaper together. Most importantly,
we hope you have fun!
Nicky Cox, MBE
Editor, First News
“What you should be doing if you
want to write is keep your eyes,
ears and hearts open and to read
lots of books and newspapers, like
First News, so that your head is
filled with the world around you.”
Michael Morpurgo
June 2011

FirstNews
IN THIS GUIDE
p4-5 What’s on the front page of a newspaper?
p6-7 What’s in a newspaper report?
p8-9 What’s in an interview?
p10-11 The perfect headline
p12-13 Essential editing
p14 Top tips for writing a newspaper report
p15 Write your own article!

FirstNews
what’s on the
front page
of a newspaper?
4

FirstNews
front page activity
Activity 1 – FRONT PAGE FEATURES
Look at three newspaper front pages and identify the different sections.
Can you find:
the logo?
the cover story?
the headlines?
the masthead?
the teasers?
Tick off each section on the page opposite if you find them on any of your three newspapers.
Do you notice any similarities in the layout between the different newspapers?
Activity 2 – ENGAGING READERS
The front page of a newspaper has to persuade potential readers in a newsagent to pick up
the paper and read it.
What does First News, and other publications, do on the front page to engage the readers?
Write a list below:
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Activity 3 – DESIGN your logo
Design a logo for your own newspaper in the box below.
What name will you give your newspaper? What colours will you use in the logo?
What style will the letters be?
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FirstNews
what’s in a
newspaper report?
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FirstNews
NEWSPAPER REPORT activity
Activity 1 – Leads
Write the lead paragraph for this newspaper report using the following information. Remember,
include the most important and interesting information to summarise the story.
WHO – Mrs Green, an eighty-year-old grandma from Basingstoke
WHAT – Stopped a thief by tripping him over using her walking stick
WHERE – Basingstoke city centre
WHEN – 12 June 2011
WHY – He tried to steal her handbag
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Activity 2 – Captions
Look at the pictures below. Make up a suitable caption to put under each one.
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Activity 3 – DIRECT Quotes
Direct quotes help to bring a story to life and add eye-witness viewpoints. As a journalist, when you
are researching a story you will collect more quotes than you need. The skill is to pick out the best,
most interesting ones for your report.
Which two of these quotes would you include in an article about comedian David Walliams charity
sponsored swim in the River Thames for Sport Relief. Put a tick by your choices.
“What a momentous occasion!” commented a bystander in the crowd.
After his swim, David Walliams said, “I think a bath is the only water I want to see for a while!”
“He’s done an amazing thing” said Stan from Bicester. “We’ve come to cheer David on, see the
sights and have a picnic.”
“It is an unbelievable feat to swim such a long way. The effort David has made to raise over
£1million is very much appreciated,” said a spokesperson from Sport Relief.
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FirstNews
What’s IN an Interview?
Headline
The title should summarise
the story and grab the readers
attention. It could also be
an engaging quote from the
interview.
Introductory Sentence
A brief introduction to
introduce the interviewee and
to explain why they are being
interviewed.
Photograph or Image
This could be of the
interviewee or of the topic
they are talking about in
the interview.
Interview
Questions
The questions the
journalists asked
are included.
Interview
Answers
The responses given
by the interviewee
form the majority of
the interview. These
are ‘tidied up’ by the
journalist as people
don’t always speak in
full sentences. They
also need to put in
punctuation to ensure
the answers are clear
to read. The journalist
does not need to
include everything that
was recorded, but they
can’t add information
or invent things they
would have liked the
interviewee to say!
I love his Richard Branson-esque quality
WE interviewed Eddie Izzard to find what it’ s like to be the
voice of Sir Miles Axlerod in the brilliant Cars 2!
What do you like the most about
your character?
I love the Richard Branson-esque
quality of Miles. I like his style and his
love of great new ideas, even though
there is a twist to my character that
takes him to a different place. He’s
been a lot of fun to play.
Did you have Richard Branson
in mind when you recorded the
dialogue for your character?
The idea of Richard Branson
was mentioned early on in the
production and I definitely identify
with the businessman in Sir Miles
Axlerod, so the character was a great
fit. I love his style of doing business
and the idea of being very positive
while thinking outside of the box.
How difficult is it to work in the
sound booth alone?
This is my fourth animated movie,
so I’ve gotten used to it by now.
You have to tap into that childlike
sensibility you had when you were a
little kid, because you’re imagining
the entire world of Cars 2. Even
though you’re standing
alone in a little space, you have to
imagine you’re standing alongside all
these wonderful characters.
What is it like to visit Pixar
Animation Studios in California?
It’s amazing. You feel like you’re
walking into a whole new world
when you step inside Pixar. The
animators are allowed to decorate
their work areas however they want
to, so you see their imagination
come to life as you wander around
the place. It’s very exciting. It’s
certainly not a drab, gray business
office. There’s a lot of life and
imagination there.
Cars 2 is out now on Disney Blu-ray
and DVD. Go to www.firstnews.
co.uk now to watch the trailer.
Concluding
Sentence
A brief sentence
explaining
where you can
find out more
about the
interviewee or
the main item
being discussed
in the interview.
In magazines
and
newspapers, if
a film, book or
TV programme
is being
promoted, the
details will be
‘plugged’ here.
Interview Writing Timeline
Step One
THE PREPARATION
Find an interesting person with a
story to tell (they’ve acted in a film,
climbed a mountain for charity, have an
interesting job or pet, etc.) to interview.
Write a set of questions that should
give interesting answers. Put them in a
logical order.
Practice saying your questions so you
almost know them off by heart.
Find a sound recording device.
Step Two
THE INTERVIEW
Set up your recording device to
record the interview.
Ask your questions.
Listen very carefully to what your
interviewee says. You may need to ask
an additional question, such as ‘why
….?’, to explain something they say in
an answer.
Make sure you ask all your questions.
Take a photograph.
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Step Three
THE WRITE UP
Listen back to your interview and
transcribe it (write it down) word-forword.
Choose the most interesting
questions and answers to include in
your write up of the interview.
Tidy up the answers given by
removing unneeded spoken words and
pauses. Put in punctuation needed to
make it easy to read.
Write your introductory and
concluding sentences, and a headline.

FirstNews
interview activity
Activity 1 – OPEN & Closed questions
In an interview, a journalist will use open questions that encourage the person being interviewed to
talk. They will not usually use closed questions. Closed questions can be answered by just YES or NO
and these answers would not be very interesting to read in an interview in a newspaper!
Can you identify open and closed questions? Read these questions and tick the relevant box.
Open Closed
Are you pleased with the book you have written?
What is your new book is about?
Why do you think your football team didn’t win their match yesterday?
Will you be starring in any other films this year?
Did you raise a lot of money for charity?
What other films can we watch you in this year?
Activity 2 – WRITING interview questions
Write six questions that you could use to interview wildlife TV presenter, Steve Backshall, about his TV
series Deadly 360 which finds out about some of the world’s most fearsome predators.
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Activity 3 – TIdy up these transcrips
After an interview, the journalist writes up the interview word for word. They have to tidy it up and
transform it from the spoken word of the interview into the written word that can be easily read in a
newspaper.
Can you add the punctuation and capital letters that are needed to make diver Tom Daley’s
responses to these interview questions clear and easy to understand?
When you first started diving, what did you
think of it?
I found it scary that was the main thing it’s a really
scary thing to do and when you’re stood on
the edge of a 10m diving board it’s a long way
down but once you do it once it’s a lot of fun
How do you start learning a new dive?
you start on a trampoline learning the basics of
it then you learn in a harness then you have to
learn it off the lower boards and just gradually
work your way up adding extra somersaults as
you go it takes a long time a couple of months to
learn a new dive
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FirstNews
THE PERFECT HEADLINE
What JOB DOES A HEADLINE DO?
Headlines simply tell the news story in as few words as possible. They try to engage the reader and
make them want to read the whole article to find out more.
Generous kids visit Downing Street
Health fears for children caught in Pakistan floods
Pets abandoned
Desert mystery
Every word counts in a headline and any unnecessary words are left out.
For example:
Libya celebrates the future after the death of Colonel Gaddafi
A baby is found alive two days after the earthquake in Turkey
WRITING THE PERFECT HEADLINE
A perfect newspaper headline also sounds good! This helps to grab the reader’s attention and
hook them into the story. To do this, journalists play with the language in the headline. Tricks of
the headline-writing-trade include puns, rhymes, well-known phrases, cliches, song references,
alliteration and assonance. Rhythm and puctuation also play an important role in making a good
headlines. Here are some examples:
Rhyming words:
Owl on the prowl
Rhymes sound appealing, like mini-poems.
Alliteration:
Bamboo bikes in Britain
Several of the words begin with the same letter.
Puns – altering words:
Baa-rilliant news!
Instead of ‘brilliant news’ for a story about Shaun
the Sheep having new website pages.
Puns – homophones:
Oh dear oh deer
The well-known phrase is altered with a
homophone for a story about problems an
increase in the deer population is causing.
Questions:
Could time travel be real?
Intriguing questions make effective headlines as
you need to read the story to find the answer.
Assonance:
Oil rig spill
The use of similar vowel or consonant sounds in
words near to each other. ‘Heat wave hits India’ is
another example of the use of assonance.
Well-known phrases:
Ready steady Cooke!
A well-known phrase is alterered slightly to fit
the story. The sporty phrase ‘Ready steady go!’
is changed for a report on athlete Jamie Cooke
winning the pentathlon.
Designed to cause shock & intrigue:
I was constantly upside down!
With these type of headlines the reader can’t
resist reading to find out the details in the story.
10

FirstNews
HEADLINE activity
Activity 1 – Headline HOOKs
Read the headlines below. Think about and discuss:
i) Which ones do you like best? Why?
ii) Which stories would you be hooked into reading first? Why?
iii) All these are headlines from First News. What might the story behind the headline be?
Taste not waste
Nuns learn karate to protect convent
Un-bee-lievable
Clever fish caught on camera
Fingertip grows from stomach
Can weather start a war?
Headline techniques used
Now, identify and write down the headline techniques the journalists have used.
Activity 2 – SHORT & SNAPPY
Get rid of the unnecessary words to make these headlines as short and snappy as possible.
Cross out the unneeded words.
Very rare sea horses have been found in the River Thames
Pandas are on their way to Scotland from China
Activity 3 – Write THE HEADLINES
Write two possible headlines for each of these stories. Try out different techniques and try to
improve on your first ideas.
Story A
Teachers at Netherthorpe School in Chesterfield might think they have double vision… there are
nine sets of twins in Year 7!
Headline 1 ..................................................................................................................................................................................
Headline 2 ..................................................................................................................................................................................
Story B
US president Barack Obama said that the framed crocodile insurance policy he received this week
was the “most unigue gift” he’s ever had.
Headline 1 ..................................................................................................................................................................................
Headline 2 ..................................................................................................................................................................................
Story C
Two species of manta rays, the gentle giants of the sea, have been added to the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature Red list, meaning they are a vulnerable species.
Headline 1 ..................................................................................................................................................................................
Headline 2 ..................................................................................................................................................................................
Now, identify the best headline you have come up with for each story. Turn to page 14 to find out the
headlines the journalists from First News wrote for these stories.
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FirstNews
ESSENTIAL EDITing
IS YOUR WRITING ready for publishing?
Editing is an essential part of writing for newspapers. It is really important that no mistakes
go unnoticed and end up being printed in the paper. Errors in an article distract the reader
and can make it difficult to understand the story.
Here are examples of common errors to look out for:
Common
Punctuation Mistakes
When you are
concentrating on the
content of your writing, it
is easy to miss out or add
unnessary apostrophes.
Always double check that
all apostrophes are in the
right place.
‘... it’s oil..’ does not need
one as this word is not
short for ‘it is’.
Common
Spelling Mistakes
It is also easy to muddle
homophones. Always
double check them
when editing.
Leek is the vegetable.
The spelling should be
‘leak’ here meaning ‘a spill
from a hole’.
Last Minute
Improvements
Try not to repeat key
words or phrases. Try to
write them in a different
way. ‘Around’ was used to
start the third paragraph.
Use a word like
‘approximately’ instead to
start the fifth paragraph.
Oil pumped off
stranded cargo ship
A GIANT cargo ship which got stuck
a reef off the coast of new zealand
has had all it’s oil pumped off to
avoid an ecological disaster.
Salvage teams decided to carry out the
tricky operation as the ship the Rena was in
danger of breaking apart.
Around 1,000 sea birds has already been
killed by an oil leek, but many more birds
along with other marine life would have
been at risk from the oil.
The ship is stranded in the Bay of Plenty,
an area afmous for its wildlife, including
dolphins and ppenguins, and also its long
sandy beaches.
Around 1,300 containers are still on board
and a special crane will start removing
these too.
The ship ran aground on a reef last month.
The captain and second-in-charge may
face prosicution.
Typos
What exactly have
you written?!
It is easy to miss out
words that you think
you have written or to
accidently repeat a word.
Here, the word ‘on’ is
missing from the first
sentence. It should say ‘...
stuck on a reef..’
Capital letters
These are needed for the
beginning of each
sentence and also for
proper nouns – the names
of people, places and
institutions.
The country ‘New Zealand’
needs capital letters.
Punctuation
As well as full stops,
question marks or
exclamation marks at the
end of every sentence,
check for commas needed
for lists, additional
information and phrases.
Commas are needed
around ‘the Rena’ as it is
additional information
about the ship - ‘...the ship,
the Rena, was in danger ..’
Grammar
Dictionary Check
Always check the spellings
of any words you are
uncertain of in a dictionary.
‘Prosicution’ should be
‘prosecution’.
Typing errors can happen easily.
The letters in ‘famous’ have been typed in
the wrong order and there is an extra ‘p’
at the beginning of ‘penguin’.
12
Check you have used
the correct verb forms
for singular and plural
subjects.
Here, ‘has’ should be ‘have’.

FirstNews
EDITING activity
How good are you at finding errors?
Now it’s your turn. Edit this science article.
Use the Editing Checklist to help you and to identify the type of error.
Editing checklist
1. Have you told the whole story accurately?
2. Can you make any last minute improvements?
3. Have you written exactly what you think you’ve written?
4. Have you done a dictionary check?
5. Have you checked your grammar?
6. Is all your punctuation in place?
7. Do you have all the capital letters needed?
8. Check for common spelling mistakes, e.g. muddled homophones.
9. Check for common punctuation mistakes, e.g. unneeded apostrophes.
10. Check for typing mistakes.
Tick when
checked
P
P
Can you find the 16 errors? Annotate the article and make a note of the changes that
would be needed before printing.
P1
What goes up might
come down
as First News went to press, the russians was
desperately trying to make contact with there
Mars probe, which is stuck in orbit around Earth.
P2
P3
P4
P5
How the Phobos-Grunt
probe should have looked
as it approached Mars
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)
launched the the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft on 8
November. Unfortunatly once the craft reached orbit
and seperated from its launch rocket, the probe’s thrusters failed to fire.
A Russian official said that the agency have two weeks to try to fix the problem, before
the probe lost for good.
The spacecraft has two parts. One was due to orbit Mars, while the other was supposed
to head to the surface of the red planets largest moon, Phobos once there, it wood take
soil sample’s and return them to Earth in a tiny rrocket.
Latest reports suggest that things aren’t looking good for the the mission, but check
www.firstnews.co.uk/discover to find out whether negineers figure out the problem.
13

FirstNews
TOP TEN TIPS FOR WRITING
A NEWSPAPER REPORT
ANSWERS Page 11 Activity Three: the headlines First News journalists chose – A. It’s twin-credible B. Peculiar present C. Vulnerable giants.
Page 13 The 16 errors P1: capital letter for Russians; grammar error - the Russians were desperately; homophone spelling error - their Mars probe,
P2: spelling errors - unfortunately & separated; punctuation error - comma needed after unfortunately .. Unfortunately, once the ...
P3: grammar error - the agency has two weeks; missing word - before the probe is lost for good
P4: missed apostrophe - the red planet’s largest moon; full stop and capital letters missing to mark new sentence - ... largest moon, Phobos. Once
there, it... ; homophone spelling error - it would take; unnecessary apostrophe - soil samples; typo - tiny rocket
P5: repeated word - for the the mission; typo - engineers
14

FirstNews
WRITE YOUR OWN ARTICLE
Now, it’s your turn to be the journalist and write a news report.
Step one: plan your article
What are you going to write about? E.g. a charity event, a school trip, etc.
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Who would want to read this article? E.g. your school, local community, etc.
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Lead Paragraph
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 4
Quote
Which paragraph will this go in?
Photograph
Headline
Step TWo: WRITE your article
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