Praxis Journalism cheat sheet

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Libel (civil defamation of a private figure) requires a false statement of fact, publication to a third party, fault amounting at least to negligence, and harm; public officials and public figures must additionally prove actual malice - knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth (New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 1964).

Defenses to libel: truth (substantial truth suffices in most jurisdictions), fair report privilege for accurate accounts of official proceedings, neutral reportage in some jurisdictions, opinion/hyperbole (not provably false fact), and statutes of limitations.

Actual malice is a subjective standard about the defendant's state of mind at publication; it is proven by circumstantial evidence such as ignored contradictory sources, departure from standard editing, or an intent to harm.

Invasion of privacy torts (Prosser): intrusion upon seclusion, public disclosure of private facts, false light, and appropriation of name or likeness. Newsworthiness is the leading defense to private-facts and false-light claims.

Shield laws and reporter's privilege vary by state; Branzburg v. Hayes (1972) held there is no absolute First Amendment privilege before a grand jury, but Justice Powell's concurrence recognized case-by-case balancing. Federal DOJ guidelines restrict subpoenas of journalists but are policy, not statute.

Open-meetings and open-records laws (e.g., state sunshine laws, FOIA at the federal level) presume access; common exemptions include personnel records, ongoing investigations, trade secrets, and deliberative process. FOIA has nine exemptions and requires a written request with reasonable description.

Copyright: facts and ideas are not protected, only original expression; fair use weighs purpose (commercial vs. educational), nature of the work, amount used, and market effect. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act governs takedown notices.

Ethics: SPJ Code of Ethics principles - seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, be accountable and transparent. Conflicts of interest (political donations, financial ties, freebies) are disclosed or avoided; corrections are published promptly and visibly.

News values (Galtung and Ruge, extended): impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, novelty/oddity, conflict, human interest, and usefulness. Editors rank stories by these criteria when building a budget or rundown.

Story structure: inverted pyramid (most newsworthy first, descending importance) for hard news; nut graf (a paragraph stating the story's point and why it matters) within the first few grafs of a feature; hourglass blends narrative and inverted pyramid.

Lead types: summary lead (who, what, when, where, why), delayed/narrative lead, question lead (sparingly), and anecdotal lead. A hard-news lead typically runs 25–35 words and answers the five W's and H.

AP Style essentials: numbers one through nine spelled out, 10 and above as numerals; dates as month-day-year (Jan. 5, 2024) with abbreviations for months longer than five letters; titles capitalized before a name, lowercase after; no serial comma unless needed for clarity; 'over' not 'more than' for amounts in AP style is now both acceptable (AP changed guidance in 2019 to allow 'over').

Attribution: on the record (name and title usable), on background (attributable to a described role, e.g., 'a senior State Department official'), on deep background (information usable without any attribution), off the record (not for publication). Always negotiate terms before the interview.

Interviewing and sourcing: corroborate with at least two independent sources for contested factual claims; documents outrank memory; anonymous sources require an editor's approval and an explanation to readers of why anonymity was granted.

Editing and verification: check names, numbers, dates, titles, and quotes against primary documents; the reporter and editor share responsibility for accuracy; corrections are logged and never silently deleted.

Media law and ethics tension: prior restraint is presumptively unconstitutional (Near v. Minnesota, 1931; New York Times Co. v. United States, 1971 Pentagon Papers), but courts may enjoin publication in narrow circumstances such as obscenity or incitement.

Diversity and representation: sourcing audits measure the demographics of quoted sources; avoiding stereotypes and including affected communities in coverage are professional norms reflected in SPJ and RTDNA guidance.

Data journalism: compute rates, not raw counts, when comparing populations; show both absolute numbers and percentages; state the denominator, the time period, and the source. Correlation is not causation; control for confounders or state the limitation.

Polling: a margin of error of ±3 points at 95% confidence means repeated samples would fall within that range 95% of the time; sampling method (random-digit dial, online panels, weighting) matters more than sample size alone. Report the sponsor, dates, sample size, and population.

Visual journalism: a misleading chart can truncate the y-axis, use inconsistent scales, or cherry-pick a time window. Best practice: label axes, start bar charts at zero, and disclose data sources and methods.

Broadcast and audio: broadcast writing is conversational, uses active voice, avoids symbols and abbreviations, and reads to time; a typical broadcast story is 90 seconds to 2 minutes (roughly 200–300 words).

Digital and social: headline writing for search (keywords early), SEO, and social cards; corrections and updates should be timestamped; engagement metrics (time on page, scroll depth) inform but do not determine editorial judgment.

Photojournalism ethics: avoid staging or altering news images beyond standard tonal adjustments; caption accuracy (who, what, when, where) is part of the photograph's truth claim; graphic images require a public-interest justification.

Freelance and business: contracts should specify kill fees, rights granted (first serial, reprint, electronic), indemnification, and payment terms; work-for-hire transfers copyright, while a license retains ownership.

Freedom of Information: FOIA requests should be specific, cite the statute, request a fee waiver when in the public interest, and note the 20-working-day response window (extensions possible). Appeals go to the agency and then to court.

SPJ and RTDNA codes: avoid conflicts of interest, refuse gifts that could influence coverage, distinguish news from advertising and opinion, label sponsored content, and disclose political activity that could compromise credibility.