SLO

Later this period you will be taking a quiz about caption and headline writing and I wanted to review the items you will need to know for this test. All of these things have been covered in the past few months, so it's just a reminder. You have 45 minutes to complete this task.

First: The reasons we would cover an event in the newspaper, there are seven of them, you just need to remember these as best you can:

Timeliness - the newness of the facts. 
Proximity – the nearness of a given event to your place of publication. 
Prominence – the “newsworthiness” of an individual, organization or place
Impact – the effect or consequence of an event on the audience. 
Conflict – the meeting of two or more opposing forces. These forces can be physical, emotional or philosophical.  
Human Interest – the drama the surrounds people involved in an emotional struggle.
Novelty – the attraction people have to unusual things and events.

Second: Captions - there are some questions about these ideas AND you will need to actually write a caption.

Remember captions are always two sentences.

The first sentence is written to explain the action happening in the photo. It is written in present tense as though the action was going on in front of you. Use strong action verbs where possible.  The first sentence should try to answer the 5 Ws and 1 H (who, what, where, when, why and how).

The second sentence is written to provide background information not available or understood by simply looking at the photo. It is written in past tense because the information is typically based on events that happened in the past.

Present tense action verbs describe the moment captured in the image as if it is happening now, is more engaging for the audience to read, and it helps the reader to understand the action in the image.

Captions should identify by name when there are three or fewer people identifiable in the photo.

Do not use words like "pictured here", "in this photo", or "here you see" as these are assumed. Start with a name, a grade, or an identification method.

Third: Headlines, these are just questions, you will not have to write a headline

Headlines are written in a similar fashion as a complete sentence and have both a subject and a verb.

Headlines do NOT include ending punctuation like a period, an exclamation point or question mark.

Avoid using "to be" verbs like is and are, was and were. These are removed because the tend to make longer headlines which are difficult because of space requirements.

Use full names if possible in headlines and do not use pronouns like he or she.

Here are some practice examples in each of the three categories. Answers are at the bottom, but please do your best without looking. Please create a new post called SLO practice and answer these on your blog.

1. In the following, which news value is most clearly represented in the caption below?

Caption: Courtney Suel (left) and Lesia Bridges navigate a flooded Aquarena Springs Drive in San Marcos on Tuesday. One gauge in the city recorded nearly seven inches of rain.

A. Conflict
B. Human Interest
C. Impact
D. Proximity

2. In the following, which news value is most clearly represented in the caption below?

Caption: Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday in Nogales, Ariz: "This is a new era. This is the Trump era. The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws....are over."

A. Prominence
B. Human Interest
C. Impact
D.Proximity

3. Which of the following is an example of a present tense action verb?

A. painted
B. gets painted
C. paints
D. getting paint

4. What is the most wrong with the following headline?

Headline: Big win

A. The date and the place
B. The background information
C. The lack of a verb
D. The lack of a subject

5. What information is missing from the first sentence of this caption:

Caption: On Wednesday, March 13 senior Sarah Smith captures the flag.

A. The date
B. The location
C. The name of the subject
D. A present tense verb

6. What information is missing from the second sentence of this caption:

Caption: On Wednesday, March 13 senior Sarah Smith captures the flag in the annual senior games event held at Bowie High School. Smith lives at 10405 Johnston St. in Austin.

A. The date of the event
B. A present tense verb
C. Background information about the senior games
D. The name of the subject

Caption Writing:

Please write a correct 2 sentence caption for the following photo - remember that you get to make up all the information, but you still need to follow the correct format as described above:

Photograph: Chris Wattie/Reuters

Good luck on the quiz!!!