Here are the slides from the presentation on writing for the Web used in class on Monday, September 16, 2013.

1. WRITING FOR THE WEB
The Context, the Content and
JN 325

2. • News through the filter
of the press to us with
few other options.
The traditional model for journalism
Source: The Buzz Machine (Jeff Jarvis) The press becomes the press-sphere
Web
Journalism:
THE CONTEXT

3. Journalism Ecosystem NOW
• Jeff Jarvis: “There’s a
fundamentally new structure to
media”
• Consumers are at the center of
the universe
• You don’t have to get
information from just the press
• You can search for it yourself
• You can get a link to it in your
e-mail or on Facebook or
Twitter
• YOU CONTROL the universe
of news and information
Source: The press becomes press sphere (Jarvis)
Web
Journalism:
THE CONTEXT

4. MONITOR
& LINK TO other online
content
The New York Times now owns a
tool that monitors blogs by
checking links to its articles &
creates “TOPIC Pages”
Web
Journalism:
CONTEXT

5. Web-specific writing
resources NOW AVAILABLE
• Example: SEO writing
guidelines
“Yahoo’s editors have given
the rules of the writing road a smart
and timely reboot. It’s Strunk and
White for the online world”
-Arianna Huffington
Web
Journalism:
CONTENT

6. Web Journalism:
Practice and Promise of a New Medium
Published in 2003
-distinguishing features of
the Web -- capacity,
immediacy, flexibility,
permanency, and
interactivity - offer new
storytelling possibilities.

7. Key Terms for Web
Journalism
• Layering
• Lateral Thinking
• Links
• Summaries
• Chunks
• Sub-heads
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

8. HEADLINE
Web Summary
Story Text
Sub-heading
Story Text
Link summary
Another website
W
riting
&
editing
as
“layering”
inform
ation
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

9. Lateral Thinking
• Most important REPORTING difference
between web and other forms of journalism
• Reporters conceive, execute a story BEYOND
the linear narrative (story text)
• Asks “How can the story expand?”
• Brings in multimedia aspects of web
• Involves a new PATTERN OF THOUGHT
second nature to the web journalist
• Uses text to explain, multimedia to show,
interactive to demonstrate/engage Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

10. Web Reporting Means Links
• WHY
– Adds content to story without interfering with flow of
story
• WHAT
– Research abstracts
– Consumer calculators
– Glossary/key terminologies
– Maps
– Forums for exchange
– E-mails to story sources
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

11. Web Reporting Means Links
• Two (2) types of links
1) Links to other previously established web
sites
2) Links (link lists) to related content (i.e.
resource page) created by the writer or
reporter
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

12. Writing the Link Summary
• Def: a few words used to introduce a web
link to another part of a story package or
different web site
• Goal: to tell reader what he or she will get if
he or she clicks the link
• Goes beyond the “click here” cue
• May be “embedded” in the presentation of
the story
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS
“Link text that reads click here is a missed opportunity. It
is meaningless to users and doesn’t tell search engines
what the page being linked to is about .”
-- The YAHOO! Style Guide

13. Writing the Web Summary
• Def: one, two or three sentence paragraph that
tells what the story is about (also called abstracts
in academic writing)
• Should not duplicate/mimic the lead of story
• Goal: to tell reader what story is about AND sell
him/her on reading further
• Summaries may use literary techniques
(alliteration, puns) and break from newswriting
style to draw reader into story
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

14. 3 Reasons why inverted pyramid works
1) Organizes information in an
efficient manner for the reader
2) Allows reader to get enough of
the story whether he or she
decides to continue or switch
to another story
3) Nonchronological structure
allows for most interesting,
important first no matter
where it occurred in sequence
of events
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

15. Web Reporting Means Chunks
• Inverted pyramid is
even more important
on the web
• Web writers split
writing into smaller,
coherent pieces
(chunks) to avoid
long, scrolling pages
Headline
Summary
CHUNK
CHUNK
CHUNK
Sub-Heading
Sub-Heading
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

16. What’s in a sub-heading?
• Def: Line of type within the body copy (of the
story) that informs the reader what is coming up
next
• Should come at natural breaks/shifts in story
• Goal: capture MOST IMPORTANT idea of the
paragraphs to follow
• Usually no more than three or four words
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS

17. From newspaper story to web
• “Repurpose” does not mean rehash
• “Repurpose” requires rewriting, re-
formatting to fit the needs of a different
medium
• JN 325 Reporting and Writing Across Media
focuses on mastering these web principles,
learning broadcast principles and developing
“lateral thinking”
Web
Journalism:
CONVENTIONS