WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:04.000 This lesson is about some basic principles of journalism. 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:10.800 More precisely, about the things that we expect to see in good media reporting. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:16.443 Our main questions are: What are the basic things that all news should have?, and 00:00:16.467 --> 00:00:23.000 What are the most important features of good reporting and the so called responsible journalism? 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:29.000 Most common principle in journalism is the so called 5 Ws and 1H principle. 00:00:29.200 --> 00:00:34.141 This means that your information should contain answers to the 00:00:34.165 --> 00:00:40.000 following 5 questions: Who, What, Why, When and Where, as well as How. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:47.000 If any of these questions remain unanswered, your information is considered incomplete. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:55.000 You can look at this in a way as a recipe, which contains all the ingredients used to make a cake or a meal. 00:00:55.500 --> 00:01:02.000 If any of the ingredients is missing you cannot make the cake or the cake is only partial and unfinished. 00:01:02.800 --> 00:01:07.888 A very interesting and useful blog Journalistics provides a convenient illustration of this 00:01:07.912 --> 00:01:13.000 rule by referring to the Three Little Pigs Story, which, I assume, is universally known. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.750 After answering these questions, we will have all essential 00:01:16.774 --> 00:01:21.000 information about the event in question, or in this case the story. 00:01:21.500 --> 00:01:24.000 So, we should start by asking Who was involved? 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:27.000 The three little pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. 00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:31.000 So, already we know the characters and their names. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:33.200 Where did it happen? 00:01:33.800 --> 00:01:40.000 Initially outside a straw house, then outside a stick house, and eventually outside the brick house. 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:42.000 When did it happen? 00:01:42.100 --> 00:01:43.500 Throughout the day. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:50.000 So far our answers were rather brief and covered only the basics. 00:01:50.100 --> 00:01:51.800 But, What happened? 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.000 This answer requires outlining the entire plot and is therefore more demanding. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:03.000 Every pig made a house out of different materials: straw, sticks and bricks. 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:10.128 Wolf threatened to blow over their houses and destroyed first the straw and then the stick house, 00:02:10.152 --> 00:02:13.000 but Pig one and two were able to flee to the brick house. 00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:20.000 The wolf failed to blow off the third house, and was burned when trying to enter it through the chimney. 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:34.000 Now, Why did all this happen? 00:02:34.200 --> 00:02:37.000 Well, because the Wolf wanted to eat the pigs. 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:44.000 However, as the pigs fled to their houses and mocked the Wolf, he was enraged and tried to blow off all their houses. 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:47.000 And, finally, How did all this happen? 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.488 Basically, the first two pigs were rather lazy and reckless, and 00:02:51.512 --> 00:02:55.000 they built their houses without much effort and of poor material. 00:02:55.500 --> 00:02:59.000 This enabled the wolf to blow their houses off. 00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:02.788 However, the brick house was solid, so the Wolf failed to blow 00:03:02.812 --> 00:03:06.000 it off too, and then decided to enter it through a chimney. 00:03:06.300 --> 00:03:13.000 But the third pig anticipated it, put a pot of boiling water, and the wolf got burned. 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:18.389 As we can see, these questions provide not only a framework required to acquire the 00:03:18.413 --> 00:03:24.000 essential information, but also the order that these information should be delivered by. 00:03:24.200 --> 00:03:28.596 Famous English writer Rudyard Kipling, even made a cute little 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:32.800 poem about the 5Ws and 1H and the poem reads as follows: 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:36.959 "I keep six honest serving-men, They taught me all I knew; 00:03:36.983 --> 00:03:41.500 Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who." 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.803 This poem can be useful as a reminder, so if you tend to forget 00:03:45.827 --> 00:03:50.000 some of these 6 elements, the rimes can help you to remember them. 00:03:50.200 --> 00:03:53.632 As I mentioned, we should start with basic information 00:03:53.656 --> 00:03:57.088 about the characters, time and place of an event, and 00:03:57.112 --> 00:04:04.000 then proceed with more in-depth questions about the plot and the reasons or intentions of its protagonists. 00:04:04.200 --> 00:04:08.000 This can conveniently be presented in a form of a reversed triangle. 00:04:08.200 --> 00:04:13.088 The first thing that you should expect to see as a reader/viewer, or you should 00:04:13.112 --> 00:04:18.000 provide as a producer of news, are these most important information - 5Ws and 1H. 00:04:18.200 --> 00:04:24.200 The second thing in the news are important details, details that are most relevant. 00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:28.800 Finally, you go to provide background information or other general things. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:35.000 The triangle also shows that these later things, statistically speaking, occupy most space. 00:04:35.200 --> 00:04:39.000 However, it is essential to cover adequately the basic questions first.