Reporting/Photo Procedures

Proposing Story Ideas

(Also called "Pitching" a story.) For every issue, a number of standard articles need to be reported and written. However, The Pioneer also constantly looks for new ideas for articles, comics, games, surveys, polls, etc. You should ‘pitch’ stories to Mr. Miller and Mr. Hessert or the editors during Week 1 of the Publication Cycle.

A good Pioneer news story…

• • …is currently in the news;

  • …is relevant to the Maine East community;

  • …has accessible sources and information.

Writing Articles

• Use a Google Doc to write your article.

• Articles (news, sports, reviews, and editorials) are 500-750 words in length; feature stories are 750-1000 words.

• Effective news writing is NOT FANCY: Use simple sentence structure and straightforward language.

• Try to use at least one direct quote in every story.

• Do NOT add photos or graphics to story on Google Doc –– photos/graphics must be submitted separately (see below)

Taking Photographs

• The Pioneer has 2 cameras to check out, or you may use any digital camera or phone-camera with good resolution.

• Take MANY photographs at an event.

• After event, go through all of the photos and choose the best 7-10 photos of the event (THIS STEP IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!!).

• Upload the 7-10 best photos into a Google Folder and share the folder with Mr. Miller (mmiller@d207.org) and Mr. Hessert (dhessert@d207.org) OR you can attach photos to an email to Mr. Miller and Mr. Hessert.

Conducting Surveys

• Think of a question that has only 2-3 possible answers to it

• Ask 100-150 students, try to avoid asking the same student more than once

• Compile the statistics using Google Sheets or MS Excel and make a chart or diagram that shows the data

• Capture the chart/diagram as a photo file (jpg, pdf) and send as an email attachment to Mr. Miller and Mr. Hessert

Submitting Stories

• Import your Word document into Google Docs (obviously, you don’t need to do this if your story is already in Google Docs)

• Invite Mr. Miller and Mr. Hessert to edit your document (mmiller@d207.org; dhessert@d207.org)

Submitting Photos / Graphics

• Submit photos or graphics to Mr. Miller or Mr. Hessert via email attachments (mmiller@d207.org; dhessert@d207.org), or by sharing them via Google Drive.

Newswriting Techniques