How To Read The Newspapers (2nd Ed, 1970)

[Music] [Music] no matter what you're interested in you're likely to find something about it in the newspaper [Music] some of the features in a newspaper may interest you and some may not if you notice how the newspaper is organized you'll have no trouble finding the features that you want to read of course the main thing you look for in a newspaper is the news roger our guidance recommendations [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] few of us are interested in every item in a newspaper but no matter which articles you read you'll get more out of them if you read critically newspapers are made by people and people have opinions most newsmen try to be as objective as possible but even so their opinions may have an effect on the way the news is reported if you know something about how a new story is written you'll be better able to evaluate it all of the day's events cannot be reported in detail the editors must decide which stories they'll use and how much coverage they'll give to each of them your understanding of the news is also affected by the reporter who covers the event his approach to the story may reflect something of his newspaper's overall personality and reader appeal a reporter makes several decisions that you should know about he has gathered information from what in his opinion are the best available sources what the reporter considers the most important fact will be his first paragraph the lead of the story protests against the city's plans for an expressway extension were registered today by leaders of the city southwest side dr robert allen principal of the community high school declared that the proposed roadway would separate the school building from the athletic field and would be a safety hazard in other ways officials of the federal highway commission have stated that they will hold up approval of the plans until the objections have been considered and settled this kind of writing giving facts in order of descending importance is called an inverted pyramid the reporter has used his own judgment in deciding the relative importance of various facts how does this affect the reader's understanding of the story the news stories on page one are those which the editors consider to be the most important another newspaper might treat the same story in a different way how will these differences affect the reader's understanding of the event we've seen that a new story may reflect the reporters opinions about the relative importance of various facts the story may also reflect the policy of the newspaper toward political and social issues ignoring the governor's warnings of an imminent financial crisis the senate yesterday sentenced the administration's revenue bill to its customary burial committee the administration steamroller having pushed the governor's tax package through the house of representatives last week finally ran out of power yesterday as a senate coalition voted to defeat the bill in evaluating the information in a news article you should also check its source the reporter may be identified by a byline this usually means that he has considerable freedom to express his own opinions when you read a byline article be alert for such opinions a byline can help you in your evaluation by identifying the source of the information there are several other ways in which you may identify a new source ask yourself whether the source is a reliable one is it based on rumor or subject to censorship some articles are based on press releases issued by large organizations or by public relations firms you should be ready to evaluate the reliability of stories based on these sources newspapers are produced by people and people have opinions while a good newspaper man tries to keep his reports as objective as possible there is a place in the paper where frank opinion can be legitimately expressed newspaper editorials comment on a wide variety of topics this comment can help you to evaluate the paper's handling of straight news reports for example this newspaper favors redesigning of the expressway and commends the federal highway commission for its action this newspaper does not oppose the new design but it sees a danger in the government action and predicts increased costs to the taxpayer readers often agree or disagree with the editors these opinions may help you to evaluate the editorial policy of the newspaper syndicated columnists may also present views that differ from those of the editors of the paper editorial cartoons by a staff cartoonist usually reflect the policy of the newspaper syndicated cartoonists may present contrasting viewpoints by comparing the differing viewpoints you'll be better able to form an intelligent opinion of your own a newspaper contains opinion on a wide variety of subjects reviews do not usually represent an official policy of the newspaper they are the opinions of one person you probably enjoy comparing the reactions of the reviewer with your own reviews can also provide factual information that can add to your enjoyment since few of us have time to read an entire newspaper thoroughly we want to get the most benefit from the articles we do read we've considered several things that will help you get the most benefit from your reading the various features in the newspaper are arranged so that you can quickly find the articles you want to read as you read you should be aware that news articles may reflect the opinions of the newspaper staff the amount of space devoted to a story the size of the headline and the location of the story in the newspaper all these indicate the importance which the editors attached to this event the first or lead paragraph gives the facts which the reporter considered most important the sources of information are important ask yourself whether these sources are qualified and reliable your understanding of the news can also be affected by the writer's choice of words you can check on this by reading a report of the same event in a different newspaper the people who make newspapers usually try to be as objective as possible but in deciding what to report and how to present it a newsman must use his own selective judgment most newspapers have editorial policies which affect the way the news is evaluated and reported you can make your own evaluations and form your own opinions as you read the news [Music] to get the most out of a newspaper you need to learn to read it critically [Music]