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PART FOUR: WRITING FOR SPECIFIC MEDIA
CHAPTER 11 Writing for Digital Media
Overview
The art of writing for the Web is still a work in progress. No one has mastered this new
medium, and no one knows exactly where it is taking us. But there is one thing we do know
for sure: Writing for the Web is different from writing for print, and those who merely shovel
print onto their websites are making a big mistake.
This chapter begins with three important principles of writing online:
1. The reader rules. Readers read only what they want to read, when they want to read it and
in the order in which they choose to read it.
2. The writing is nonlinear. Your students have been taught the importance of coherence, of
outlining stories carefully, because after all, words follow words and paragraphs follow
the copy. The trick is to
chapter provides 10 ways to make divers out of surfers. Perhaps the most important thing to
stress is that the Web is about being connected. Writers no longer need to put everything in
one story. They can connect to other related aspects of the story that either they or someone
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information, see . . . .
In
-engine optimization is critical to getting
Teaching Tips
write and produce for the Web. Give them a chance to put the 10 guidelines into practice,
nnotated model of a page from a news
Lecture Notes
I. INTRODUCTION
A. The Syrian Civil War as a case study of the Web revolution and the changing media
landscape.
II. THE WEB AS A UNIQUE MEDIA FORM
A. A new medium demands a fresh approach.
B. The evolution of Web journalism mirrors the rise of television news.
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III.
A. Use all media forms (text, audio, video, photographs, graphics); most readers are
-and–pasted online from the print
product).
B. What readers expect:
1. Readers want the news right away.
2. Readers want to have their say.
3. Readers want multimedia variety.
a. Layers:
i. Opening paragraphs for basic understanding.
ii. A click or scroll to continue.
iii. Links to related content.
iv. Complementary information (photos, graphics, video, audio).
IV. GUIDELINES FOR WRITING FOR THE WEB
A. Ideas to turn surfers into divers:
1. Think immediacy update breaking stories quickly.
2. Save readers time.
a. Use simple words, short sentences, short paragraphs.
b. Highlight key words.
c. Simpler text will allow for better auto translation into foreign languages.
3. to get again, short paragraphs with one
idea per paragraph.
4. Think both verbally and visually graphics, photographs, online tools.
5. Cut your copy be crisp and clear.
6. Use lots of lists and bullets think of Web content as a database; faster; more
memorable.
V. WRITING WITH SEARCH ENGINES IN MIND
A. Search-engine optimization.
B. Metadata (tagging information).
C. Key terms in the headline and first two paragraphs.
VI. WRITING FOR BLOGS
A. Informal; more first person; allows reader interaction with reporters, columnists, guest
writers.
B. Few rules or best practices, but be interesting and accurate.
C. Wide-ranging subject matter.
D. Professional standards.
VII. THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
A. Verifying information.
1. Embrace audience participation but stay skeptical.
B.
C. Use Twitter to promote stories and solicit ideas and information from readers.
D. Writing effectively and correctly.
1. To obtain highest click-through rates via Twitter:
a. Keep tweets between 120 and 130 characters.
b. Place links about a quarter of the way through tweet (not just at end).
c. Tweet only once or twice per hour.
Class Activities and Discussion Questions
Activity 1: Pair students, and give each pair copies of four or five print newspaper or
magazine stories. Try to include some stories that do not use inverted pyramid structure. The
students should apply 3-2-2-1 formatting to each article add three subheads, two
external links, two internal links, and one graphic and then brainstorm one photo or
Activity 2: Break the class into small groups. Assign each group to a newspaper website.
(Choose major metro dailies such as The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles
Times, etc.) Have each student in the group read a different article and evaluate how well it
illustrates the nine guidelines from the chapter. When the students reassemble, they will
discuss their findings and choose the articles that are the best and worst representatives of the
guidelines. Each group will share its conclusions with the class. (If there is time, have
students repeat the activity using the websites of small-town newspapers and compare the
Activity 3: Post printouts of at least eight different Web news stories covering the same event
around your classroom. If possible, choose an event of strong local interest. Put your students
in pairs, and have each pair stand in front of one of the printouts. (Make additional sets to
accommodate more pairs of students.) Give students two to three minutes per station to
evaluate the Web story for overall effectiveness and to decide how well it follows each of the
nine guidelines in the chapter. After the walk-around is complete, have each pair remove a
Activity 4: Post around your classroom at least eight different newspaper stories that contain
factual information that can be put into list form. (For example, a story on the steps a
homebuyer must go through to get a mortgage, or a story about what an inventor must do to
the class. Discussion questions: What kinds of stories lend themselves best to lists? Which
stories that you looked at were the most difficult to turn into lists?
Activity 5: Pair students, and give each pair copies of four or five print newspaper or
magazine stories. For each story, have the student pairs write at least three story-related
tweets two that are trying to promote the story and drive traffic to the publication website,
Activity 6: Many reporters have thousands of followers on Twitter, to say nothing of the tens
of thousands who follow the tweets of specific publications. Bring up the tweets of a local or
national reporter, as well as a local or national publication, on a screen. Send the reporter or
publication a tweet asking how effective Twitter is for them, and track the response.
Solutions to Textbook Exercises
1. You need to be sure that all of your students do not attempt to interview the same people.
You might expand this assignment to local magazines or local corporations, especially for
those in your class who are more inclined toward a profession in magazines or in public
relations. Make certain that students ask their subjects about how writing for online sites
differs from writing for traditional media.
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2. This is a quick exercise that can be done in class without much difficulty or advance
writing cut the copy, use lots of lists and bullets, write in chunks and use hyperlinks.
3. Your journalism blog. The idea here is to get students to consider how websites and
newspapers treat news differently. This exercise helps students find their way as they
attempt to adjust their news writing techniques for Web-based journalism.
4. Links are an important part of online journalism. Web stories should provide links to
additional information, and many sites do that well. The BBC site (www.bbc.co.uk) does
a good job of providing related Internet links.
5. The BBC website uses lots of different techniques to tell stories, and students will see
examples of different media types in almost any story they choose.
6. Students should be able to quickly come up with this list of differences based on the
textbook description of how to write for the Web.
7. Adding hyperlinks and other related content is a key element of the contemporary strategy
for hooking online readers with shorter, snappier content and links. Before creating their
lists for the three Web stories in this exercise, students might examine actual online
stories to see the kinds of links, multimedia elements, and sidebars that are often included.
Solutions to Workbook Exercises
1. Have the student teams select the newspaper websites in class so there is no duplication.
We find that doing this exercise in teams leads to more complete reports because each
member of the team adds something to the analysis and discussion. Newspapers often do
nothing but shovel print copy onto the website. Better sites enhance the material with
audio and video. Do the chosen newspapers make good use of audio and video? Do they
link to previous stories on the subject? Do they link to related external sources? Is there
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evidence that the print story has been rewritten for the Web? If so, how do the two
versions differ?
2. The key point to remember about layering is that writers no longer need to worry about
continuity, about themes or about addressing all the elements of the story while keeping
the writing clear and coherent. Instead, the focus shifts to the relationships between the
3. Generally, readers do not go to the Internet to read. They go for information. Writers
should not hold important information back by putting it in the fifth paragraph. Online
4. The purpose of this exercise is to get students to think about not only one main story but
also sidebars. One characteristic of Web journalism is that several short related stories can
be grouped into a package. Readers can navigate more easily through material in short
How did parents of students in this school react when they heard the news?
What were the reactions of the teachers, especially the teachers of the student who was
caught with the gun?
How did fellow students react?
5. The technique of layering is illustrated by an online news package that consists of a short
main story accompanied by shorter sidebars and links to other related content. This
exercise will help students appreciate the different elements that can be used in the
6. Point out to students that there is no one way to publish these stories online. Here are a
few suggestions for each story.
a. There are clearly two or possibly three stories here. One is about the bill to create a
state no-call list for telemarketers. A second story concerns an anti-abortion proposal
that was attached to a bill about how to spend money obtained from the tobacco
industry. There is even another short news story about a proposal that bans
telemarketers from blocking caller-ID components on phones. Students should break
b. Students might suggest that the best way to handle this meeting, which delved into so
many matters, is to make a bullet list summarizing all of the ideas expressed. Students
might also want to include, in a separate sidebar, quotations from the candidates
regarding the ideas discussed.
7. This technique is especially helpful for students who have some print experience but little
or no online experience. Explain to students that the 3–2-2-1 technique (including three
subheads, two internal links, two external links, and one graphic) is the minimum for
8. This question assumes that many newspaper websites do not yet use audio, video or
animation extensively, although that number has shrunk over the last two or three years.
Students may find some newspaper websites that already make use of these media.
9. This matter is hotly debated. Students should point out arguments on both sides. Why
would you wish to send readers to another media outlet especially to your competition?
e source of information for your readers?
10. You may wish to assign the stories for this exercise so that you can compare different
se is intended to help
students develop the social media skills that can serve them well as contemporary media
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professionals. It also can lead to a discussion about differences in Twitter versus
Facebook and which format works best for journalists.
11. This exercise is designed to help increase the skepticism of your students when it comes
to journalists use of social media. It is critical that they understand that tweets and
Facebook posts should be a starting point, not an ending point, in their work as
journalists.
12. This assignment should be especially interesting for students focusing on magazine
journalism. City and regional magazines generally have useful websites. Have students
13. Some newspapers are requiring reporters to prepare two stories: one for the paper and one
for the Web. Often students will find that the Web story is merely a shorter version
without any of the other components of good online writing. They may find that the
CHALLENGE EXERCISE
14. Some questions students might consider are these: Do the ads look like editorial copy?
Can they be mistaken for editorial copy? Is a distinct typeface used for the ads? Are the
ads placed next to stories that relate to them? Does it appear that the ads were sold
because there was a story on a certain subject? A blatant example of this would be a story
about a local winery with an ad from the winery next to it.