JORM 2085: ENGLISH NEWS

REPORTING AND WRITING

WEEK 8: DIGITAL JOURNALISM

MR SIU CHI YUI, PHILA

PROJECT
 Feel free to discuss your idea with me!
 Presentation date: Nov 26
 Submission deadline: Nov 24, 11.59pm
 Submit in Word doc
 File name should be your name
 Your Word doc will be graded
 You’re may use a PPT to assist you with
presentation. But your PPT won’t be
graded
 In your presentation: explain hw you
came up with the story + why it’s an
interesting story + how you executed the
idea
 Email me your PPT
 NEWS DISCUSSION
 https://
docs.google.com/document/d/1L5Hht6gKs4x9qQ3u42kStiIDq
NxmtJ9WtSl_xhApueo/edit?usp=sharing
 Check out this press release and think about how to write this
story
 What will you focus on? What will be your lead?

 Who else will you talk to to make this a comprehensive story?

 DIGITAL JOURNALISM: HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED:

 Anyone heard of 中原地圖 / 地圖王 ?

 When I started in 2009: No smart phone. Drew maps on
paper where the press conference will be held.
 Cover it. If there’s time, you can even have tea with
other reporters
 Go back to newsroom and write it.
 HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED
 Vert fast-paced!
 No need to draw maps. Use Google map.

 Go to press conference. If it’s important, another colleague

watching live broadcast and will write the story. You focus on
asking the Qs. Story published before conference ends.
 Otherwise, if it’s still quite important, you write at the scene
right after the conference.
 Take videos.

 These days, people want the news the moment they happen,
not tomorrow
DIGITAL JOURNALISM AND SOCIAL
MEDIA
 Why are news outlets’ websites important?
 SCMP daily print circulation: about 100,000

 SCMP website traffic: much more than that!

 Overseas readers can read the articles on the website

easily. Advertising revenue.

 Social media tools:

 Facebook

 Twitter

 Instagram
DIGITAL JOURNALISM AND SOCIAL
MEDIA
 Why is social media important for media companies and
journalists?
 Brand awareness: build your brand, sell your story

 YOU and I are on social media all the time. Perfect

platforms to sell good journalism
 Engage with readers

 Tipoffs
DIGITAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA
 Which HK media outlet has the most “likes” on
Facebook?
 Take a guess?

 RTHK vs Commercial Radio?

 SCMP vs Mingpao vs NYT?

DIGITAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA

How come RTHK has so many more likes?

What’s the diff between “likes” and “followers”?
DIGITAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA
WHY SUCH BIG DIFF?
 Spend some time to think about this
 Look at their social media strategy
 Managing a FB page:

 Scheduling posts: I can schedule a Facebook post to go up

hours later.
 For example, a FB post for a story of interest to US readers
may be scheduled during the US daytime
 By the same token, a FB post for a story of interest to
European readers may be scheduled during the Europe
daytime
 Same goes for other social media platforms such as Twitter

 Third-party applications, such as Echobox, uses AI to tell

which what is the best time to publish what stories
 Writing a FB post:
 A very short summary of what this article is about

 Can be a direct quote (best quote of the stort)

 How would you post these articles on FB?

 1) https://bit.ly/3bJxaiC

 2) https://bit.ly/3bJxfCW
TWITTER
 I use it to…
 1) look for story ideas, because people from around the
world are tweeting! It’s a party with friends and strangers
from around the world. But make sure you fact check if you
want to use any info for reporting
 https://
www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2142643/whats-dir
ty-secret-western-academics-who-self-censor-work-china

 2) To sell your stories! You tweet it, other people can see it.
 3) To interact with people: foreign journalists; academics;
activists.
 4) Popular among Western journalists. Blocked in Mainland
China. Started becoming popular in HK since protest
movement
TWITTER
 3) To sell your stories! You tweet it, other people can see
it.
 4) To interact with people: foreign journalists;
academics; activists.
 5) Popular among Western journalists. Blocked in
Mainland China. Started becoming popular in HK since
protest movement
 Only 280 characters in each Tweet, so be concise in
getting your msg across!
 You can: like, retweet, or retweet with comments. (fun
thing: You can reply with a GIF ) Send inbox messages
 “Pin” your tweet so it stays on top of your page

 Use hashtag # and you can @ people to tag and talk to

them
 https://
www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3021301/mong
-kok-march-kicks-warnings-zero-tolerance-violence-pro
 Embedding tweets
TWITTER
 Things to remember or to do on Twitter:
 Be prepared for criticism - but you can block anyone
who is aggressive, rude or obscene
 Only respond with facts, avoid engaging trolls

 Don’t tweet everything you are working on  (don’t let

your competitors know the scoop!)
 Don’t tweet in anger

 Tweet like your comments are being published in the

newspaper. Remember: you are a public figure. Keep
your swear words of any groups to your Whatsapp
groups
 TWITTER
 Should I quote someone who has some interesting comments on Twitter?
 Should I use his photos or videos?

 Find out:
 Is this person real?

 Does he / she have the blue ticks?

 Is this a re-post or an original?

 Did they take this photo?

 Is this person at the scene now?

 You want to maximise the reach of your posts / article.
 Google Trend: In deciding what words to use, esp on
headlines, check out which words are trending

 https://trends.google.com.hk/trends/?geo=HK

 How would you write the headline / tweet a story about ex

US President Trump?
 What about a story about the coronavirus outbreak?
DOMAIN NAME SEARCH
 https://domainbigdata.com/
 Exercises: find out as much about this websites as
possible
 https://www.consulum.com/
 LIVE BLOGS
 Increasingly common these days, especially in protests
with a lot of developments
 https://
www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/303104
4/chaos-expected-across-hong-kong-anti-government-pr
otesters
 (SCMP Live blog October 1)
LIVE BLOGS
 Introduction: what is it about?
 Short blog posts, usually every 15 mins

 Lots of photos and videos

 Lots of description

 Your readers should develop a sense of “presence” as

they read it

 BUT: don’t be too trivial

 Problems: sometimes you forget about your safety as
you always feel you need to send stuff back to newsroom
VERIFYING PHOTOS
 Tools to do reverse image searches:
 Yandex: https://yandex.com/

 Tineye: https://tineye.com/
 Someone just tweeted this photo and said this terrorist attack
just happened in New York. How do you verify?
 Someone just posted this on Facebook to say this
happened in London. How do you verify?
 Who is he?