Annotated Working Draft and Hotspots in Written Journalism

Component Assignments

1. Communication and Persuasion in Written Journalism
   A journalist’s job is to communicate and persuade. I think it is obvious that journalists try to persuade readers with their stories, so I wanted to explore another area in which they persuade and communicate: pitching ideas to superiors.
   
2. Storytelling Written Journalism
   Journalism is storytelling. Stories vary in length, style, and arrangement based on topic. The stories are written to best explain a particular subject.
   
3. Written Journalism with the History of CivilizationJournalism has likely been around as long as news. It has seen changes, but it is currently moving through one the biggest changes ever—from print to digital.
   
4. Institutional Authority and Communication
   The SPJ has a Code of Ethics puts accuracy over speed, but with changes in medium, many journalists are publishing the info they have now and fixing it with updates later.

Hot Spots

• Hotspot #1 (in the field): Moving from print to digital. Journalists have to think about how stories will appear online. Visuals aside, the text has to be compelling and concise. Journalists have to keep digital in mind when they pitch stories.
  
• Hotspot #2 (personal): The story of pitching ideas in my journalism class for our website rather than for a newspaper.
  
• Hotspot #3 (similar, but more on history and ethics): How will this change affect the industry/business of journalism? Changes have occurred historically, but this one is arguably the largest. We have to figure out how to keep ethical standards and quality in journalism with a new business model.