JOUR 271
Lecture outline: Writing a poll story for a newspaper

• Distribute copies of the sample Middle Tennessee Poll story. (The results reported in the story are real. They are from the Spring 2000 Middle Tennessee Poll. Blake's quotes are real, too, as is the background information about Workman and Coe. The two other sources, Sage and Skinner, are fictitious.)
• Ask students to read the story and be prepared to discuss the following questions:
  • Is the story newsworthy? Why? What news values does it exhibit?
  • What sources of information does the story draw from to provide background and context to the poll findings?
  • Is the story complete? Is anything missing?

Lecture & discussion

• Choosing which poll results to write about
  • A poll often will provide a large amount of information about a wide range of topics
  • Trying to write about all of the findings in a single story would be unwise
  • The resulting story would be long, unfocused and boring
  • It's better to choose a subset of results that address a single topic
  • Discussion:
    • What is the topic of the example story? (Middle Tennesseans' attitudes toward capital punishment)
    • Which specific poll findings make up the topic? (67 percent favor it, etc.)
• Writing the lead
  • Typically, a poll story lead follows a pattern
    • The topic's most interesting findings are summarized as an assertion
    • The assertion's verb or verbs are usually present tense, indicating that people still hold the opinions the poll found. Consider using the past tense if the poll's findings are likely out of date. But out-of-date findings probably aren't newsworthy in the first place, are they?
    • The assertion is then attributed to "a recent study" or some other abbreviated reference to the poll.
    • The assertion should appear first. The attribution should appear second. This approach puts the news at the beginning of the lead instead of at the end.
    • The lead also should give some idea of the people to whom the poll's findings can be generalized.
      • It would be misleading, for example, if the example story read like this: "Support for the death penalty remains strong despite concerns about executing wrongly convicted people, a recent poll shows."
      • Readers will assume the lead is describing all Americans. But the poll interviewed only Middle Tennesseans, so its results can't be generalized beyond Middle Tennessee.
  • Discussion:
    • In the example story's lead, which words make up the assertion? ("Middle ... people,")
    • Which words make up the lead's attribution? ("... a recent poll shows.")
    • What verbs appear in the assertion, and what tense are they? ("support" and "worry," both present tense)
    • Might there be other ways to write the lead of a poll story? (discuss a narrative approach, for example)
• Writing the follow-up grafs
  • These grafs come after the lead and provide support and elaboration
    • Usually provide the specific poll findings that back up what the lead asserted
    • Also give some idea of who conducted the poll and when
    • Must display smooth transition from the lead
  • Discussion:
    • How does the information in the second, third and fourth grafs of the example story "back up" or elaborate on the assertion made in the lead?
    • How are the "who" and "when" of the poll conveyed?
    • How did the author accomplish smooth transition from the lead to the follow-up grafs?
• Including sources
  • It's usually a good idea to get some kind of reaction to or interpretation of the poll results.
  • To do so, turn to people with some kind of expertise and/or first-hand experience with the topic you're writing about
  • If the topic is controversial, try to include a good balance of interpretations. Give all sides their fair say.
  • Discussion:
    • Evaluate the story's sources
      • Are they appropriate? Why?
      • What does each contribute to the story?
      • What other sources might be contacted for comment?
      • Have all points of view about the death penalty been covered? If not, what other ones could be included, and how?
• Including breakdowns
  • Usually, overall poll results are broken down somehow to contrast subgroups of the population - males vs. females, whites vs. minorities, or upper vs. middle vs. lower income class.
  • Such breakdowns increase the story's interest because they can suggest - but only suggest - why the overall attitudes exist.
  • When writing about such breakdowns:
    • Always contrast the same opinion across different groups.
    • In other words, contrast the percentage of people in one group who support a given measure with the percentage of people in the other group who also support the measure.
    • Or contrast the percentage of people in one group who oppose a measuer with the percentage of people in the other group who also oppose the measure.
    • But don't contrast the percentage of people in one group who support a measure with the percentage of people in another group who oppose the measure.
    • Example: Which is more clear?
      • "Seventy-five percent of men support the measure compared to only 25 percent of women"
      • "Seventy-five percent of men support the measure, but 75 percent of women oppose it."
      • Both say the same thing, but the first approach says it more clearly.
  • Discussion:
    • What breakdown or breakdowns are included in the example story? Why?
    • What other breakdowns might be interesting to look at, and why?
    • Does the example story follow the rule about contrasting the same opinion across different groups? Explain.
• Including the "nerd graf"
  • The "nerd graf" or "nerd grafs" contain all of the poll's technical information:
    • Who sponsored the poll
    • How the poll's respondents were chosen and interviewed
    • The poll's error margin, assuming the poll's respondents were chosen randomly.
  • The error margin gives readers - or at least the "nerdy" readers who know about such things - an idea of how accurate the poll's results are.
  • If, for example, a poll with an error margin of plus-or-minus three percentage points finds that 50 percent of Americans plan to vote for John Smith, then the actual number of Americans who plan to vote for John Smith ranges from 47 percent to 53 percent. In other words, 50 percent "plus or minus" three percentage points.
  • Most polls have an error margin of between plus-or-minus three and plus-or-minus five percentage points.
  • The "nerd graf" or grafs usually go at the end of the story because they are less important to most readers than the poll's results and interpretations.
  • Discussion:
    • Where is the "nerd graf" in the example story?
    • What information does it contain?
• Associated Press Style, grammar, syntax and miscellaneous points:
  • Poll stories use a lot of percentages. Note that percentages generally are written using a figure and the word "percent."
    • "Nationally, only about 52 percent of adults favor ..."
    • "However, 47 percent of Middle Tennesseans ..."
  • But if a percentage begins a sentence, the figure is spelled out:
    • "Forty-four percent would like to continue executions
  • Where possible, percentages can be rounded to the nearest half, quarter, third or fifth and written as fractions. This is a good way to vary the story's wording and improve its readability.
    • "Only about a quarter of Middle Tennesseans think ..."
    • "Just over half consider the scenario somewhat likely, and another fifth think it's very likely."
  • Remember that deciding whether the word "majority" should be singular or plural can be tricky. AP Style's guidelines are as follows:
    • If "majority" stands alone, it's singular and requires a singular verb.
      • A majority favors capital punishment for convicted murderers.
      • A majority thinks executions of innocent people are at least somewhat likely.
    • But when used before an "of" construction, "majority" can be singular or plural, depending on the sense of the sentence
      • A majority of Middle Tennesseans favor capital punishment for convicted murderers. ("majority" is plural because "Tennesseans" is plural.

        
        A majority of two votes is required. ("majority" is singular, because "majority of two votes," taken together, is a single thing that serves as the subject of the sentence.

Comprehension Exercise

• This exercise can be done in-class or as homework, depending on the time available and the instructor's discretion
• Distribute copies of the Poll Fact Sheet.
• Ask students to write and hand in a lead, a lead and follow-up grafs, or an entire story (your choice) from the facts given.
• Grade the submissions as an assignment, discuss them in class, or both.

Writing Exercise

• Once the poll data has been released, distribute copies of the Middle Tennessee Poll Writing Assignment
• Grade the resulting stories as writing assignments, discuss them in class, or both.
• You may want to send the better-written stories to Sidelines for possible publication.