How to Write a News Flash

A news flash is a short piece of breaking news that interrupts radio or TV programming and updates listeners on current events. It can be local, national or international and is a great way to keep your audience informed about issues that directly affect them.

The first paragraph of a news flash is known as the lead, and it’s your chance to grab readers’ attention and draw them into the story. It should be powerful and often utilizes a narrative hook or anecdote to simultaneously capture readers’ interest and entice them to learn more about the topic. The lead should also flesh out any additional details that need to be conveyed and cite the source. It’s a good idea to include a nut graph that ties the facts introduced in your lead into a bigger picture and explain why they matter. Finally, it’s a good idea to include ‘forward-looking’ sentences that zoom out from the specifics of the article and show how it will continue to be relevant in the future.

A news flash does not present developed stories, but can give out practical information like traffic or weather or even highlight something funny or entertaining (a kicker). It can also be a great opportunity to introduce a story that will be developed at length in a later bulletin (promotion). It is important to remember that a news flash should only be used to relay the latest news. Ideally, it will be no more than three minutes long and should follow the inverted pyramid style by conveying the most important information at the top of the article.

Avoiding a Government Shutdown

A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass a budget or a continuing resolution (CR). This results in some federal agencies and departments being forced to stop operating until the funding issue is resolved. Some of the agencies affected are those whose operations are deemed essential such as border protection, air traffic control, law enforcement and medical services including Medicare and Medicaid. Mandatory programs that are funded through permanent user fees such as visa fees also continue. Additionally, courts and congressional staff are protected based on a 1980 legal opinion.

Over two million people across the nation work for the federal government and miss a paycheck during a shutdown. This puts financial stress on their households and has a negative impact on local economies.

The impact on low-income communities is significant. Many of the federal programs impacted are vital to these residents, including food assistance and housing assistance. The loss of these programs can lead to hunger, homelessness and a loss in economic activity. This impact is multiplied when the length of a shutdown goes beyond just a few days.

The longer this shutdown continues, the more low-income families’ wages, nutrition, health, mobility, and safety will needlessly hang in the balance. The harm and uncertainty caused by this callous policy will take years to repair. The best way to avoid a government shutdown is for Congress and the president to reach agreement on full-year spending or, at the very least, to pass a short-term CR that extends funding through September 30.

When to Offer an Exclusive Report

An exclusive report is news that has not been shared with other media outlets or journalists and gives a brand the opportunity to create a big buzz around a particular development. This can be anything from a major partnership announcement, a unique project launch or even the acquisition of a competitor. However, determining when an exclusive is the best route to go can be difficult. PR pros must balance a number of factors including the type of news, level of trust with the journalist, timing and more.

PR experts like Joseph suggest that brands consider a few important things before deciding on whether an exclusive is the right move. First and foremost, they should make sure that their news is truly unique and worthy of a first-to-file story. It could be a new angle that hasn’t been explored, a development that is highly sensitive and so on.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you decide to offer an exclusive, it’s vital not to alienate other journalists or publications in the process. You should only offer an exclusive to one reporter at a time. Doing so can cause confusion, annoyance and potentially tarnish your relationships with other journalists and publications.

Finally, PR professionals should give themselves and the reporter plenty of time to work on the piece. Creating an exclusive requires time to craft the narrative, conduct interviews and provide assets for the story. Keeping this in mind, you should pitch the story under embargo to allow both parties to work on it and avoid any last-minute hiccups.

The Global Affairs Major

The study of global affairs provides students with a broad understanding of the interdependencies among nations and non-state actors in a rapidly changing world. It explores the complex interactions of diplomacy, trade, security and human rights. It also examines the impact of decolonization and the emergence of new countries on the international stage, where many sought recognition and legitimacy as they engaged in diplomatic negotiations with established powers. It also considers the role of organizations like the United Nations in fostering cooperation and conflict resolution.

Today’s globalized workforce requires professionals with a strong awareness of international perspectives and issues. The ability to understand the history, culture, and language of different regions around the world is increasingly important, especially as economies and societies continue to become more interdependent. As a result, graduates with degrees in global affairs are well-positioned to work in public policy, foreign affairs, law, business and education.

In the Global Affairs major, you take a set of core courses, a field seminar and a capstone project. During the capstone project, small groups of students work with an external partner, such as a government agency, a nongovernmental organization or nonprofit group, or a private-sector corporation in the United States or abroad. The final project is completed in the fall of your senior year (or, if you graduate in the spring, in the fall of your last semester). You must also complete a required L4 language course and, if you wish, one additional language course. Up to two courses taken during a summer or term-time program may count toward the major requirements with DUS approval.

What is a Front-Page?

A newspaper’s front page says a lot about its attitude towards the news. Even if the traditional format difference between broadsheet and compact tabloid newspapers is disappearing, one can still distinguish a serious newspaper from a more trivial one by its masthead, eye-catching pictures and bold typeface. A good front page will also ‘tease’ stories that appear on other pages of the same edition.

Front-page also refers to a WYSIWYG HTML editor from Microsoft that was part of its Office suite of software products until it was discontinued in 2006. The product’s name is an abbreviation of “Microsoft FrontPage”. FrontPage used a set of server-side extensions (called FrontPage Server Extensions or FPSE) for remote web content and publishing. FPSE was a proprietary technology and it had several security problems over the years.

The FrontPage Editor included features such as Intellisense (a form of autocompletion) for tags and properties that the user was typing in Code View. It also offered a Split View option that allowed the user to edit in Design View and preview in Code View simultaneously. Other useful features were Quick Tag Editor and Code Snippets.

The New York Times has a wonderful online collection of front-pages from around the world. This is an excellent resource for classroom activities and to study how different newspapers handle the news. For example, a famine in Africa that kills a few million people will get much more prominence in a front-page than an interview with the actress who won an Oscar.

What is a Refugee Crisis?

A refugee crisis is a serious situation where large groups of people are either fleeing from their home country or living in host countries that lack the capacity to address their needs and meet human rights standards. Displaced people can be forced to seek asylum because of persecution or conflict, or they may be escaping the impact of natural disasters – floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, often caused by climate change. They are seeking safe and dignified housing, food and water. They are also seeking security and hope.

The causes of a refugee crisis are complex and the solutions require political will, cooperation and action. In the 21st century, more people are displaced than at any other time in history. Persecution and conflict are still driving the majority of displacement, but now natural disasters, poverty, gang violence and other factors are also pushing people to leave their homes. This kind of internal displacement is not addressed in the international legal instruments such as the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

In the early stages of a refugee crisis, hosts are usually focused on meeting basic needs and coordinating aid with neighboring states. As the crisis becomes more protracted, however, destabilization and conflict can increase. Host states may feel pressure to limit refugee protection measures or cut back on funding to help them cope with the influx, and refugees are more likely to be seen as a threat. This is particularly true if the refugees share ethnic or religious characteristics with populations in conflict.

How to Write Headlines That Get Readers’ Attention

When it comes to headlines, some advice seems universal — make them short, snappy and pique the reader’s curiosity. Other suggestions are more specific — spell out numbers, use adjectives sparingly and drop articles (a, an, the).

One key lesson is that headline best practices differ depending on where they appear — NPR story pages, homepages, social media accounts and Apple News, for example. Headlines also need to be adapted for each context because the outcomes and success criteria vary.

As NPR’s Digital Lead, John Wood has a lot of experience with headlines. His current team of reporters and editors has a process they follow to create and test different headlines for their stories, which are published on the All Things Considered website. A version of the headline that works best in print is then used as a headline for the audio version of the story, which is posted on NPR’s homepage and other places.

The headlines that perform well online are often simpler and shorter than the ones that perform poorly, and they tend to communicate more about people rather than policy. This is important because it reduces the barrier between readers and a story they might have ignored. It also helps the headlines stand on their own and satiate readers’ curiosity without making them read the full article. Headlines that have a more conversational style — with more pronouns and less prepositions, for instance — also perform better than the more academic and formal headlines.

The Global Challenge of American Foreign Policy

The indisputable first objective of American policy must be to safeguard and enhance liberty, security, and prosperity for America’s citizens. That means promoting the kind of world order that America helped shape after World War II, a world in which democratic and free-market systems prevail. But it also must take on the challenge of integrating much of the rest of the world into this Western world order. That is not charity; it’s profoundly in America’s self-interest.

Today, the most significant foreign policy challenges are no longer defined by geography. Instead, many problems around the globe — terrorism, international slavery, climate change — stem from groups and issues that don’t fit neatly into friendly or enemy states. These issues require global cooperation to solve, not just between governments but with the involvement of other countries and even non-governmental organizations.

It’s a challenge that requires a complex machine, one whose many parts include the Department of State, the National Security Council, and other agencies; Congress; interest groups, think tanks, and academia; the media; and ordinary Americans. And it’s a machine that has grown in complexity and reach over the years.

But if it’s used poorly, the unquestioned power of the United States can become a liability rather than an asset. It can breed resentment in our allies, for example, as the American “way of life” is judged morally and culturally retrograde. And it can fuel the rise of new powers — Russia and China in particular — that are increasingly assertive on the world stage.

UN Watch Opposes Resolution 242

A UN resolution is a formal expression of the opinion or will of a UN body, backed by the authority of international law. They can range from recommendations on peace arrangements to sanctions, and are either binding or non-binding. A resolution may include an annex with further details and/or a series of “operative paragraphs” which direct action to be taken, such as imposing sanctions, sending envoys, or establishing missions.

Resolutions are numbered and begin with an unnumbered preamble that sets the context, sometimes using language from past actions. They also contain an operative section that lays out the body of the text, if it is binding or non-binding. While preambular clauses are usually written in a neutral tone, they can be more forceful, including invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter and imposing obligations or authorisations to use coercive measures and force.

In this case, the operative paragraphs of the resolution call for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout Gaza to facilitate the provision of essential goods and services to civilian populations, including food, water, sanitation, medical supplies, equipment and shelter.” The Council also calls on Hamas to abide by its obligations under international law.

UN Watch opposes this resolution because it undermines the delicate diplomacy taking place to reach a true and sustainable ceasefire, draws false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, and fails to recognise the disastrous shortcomings of previous methods of aid delivery to Gaza. In addition, the performative nature of this resolution is particularly harmful at a time when serious questions are being asked about the value and utility of the Security Council and its veto privilege.

Late-Breaking Abstracts

The term “late-breaking” refers to news that is deemed important enough for immediate dissemination. This can be as simple as a breaking story about a celebrity’s new relationship, as it could be as serious as the results of a medical study that has been published in a major journal.

The purpose of the late-breaking deadline is to provide a way for authors who are conducting highly relevant and potentially practice-changing research to present their work at the Congress if it will not be available by the standard abstract submission deadline. It is important to note that a submitted late-breaking abstract cannot be a revision of an abstract submitted by the regular deadline. Only a small number of late-breaking abstracts will be selected for oral presentation at the meeting.

In order to be considered for the late-breaking category, an abstract must describe a clinical trial with original investigational data that are NOT available by the abstract submission deadline. Please be sure to include a statement (on the Questionnaire submission page) explaining why your research could not be completed by the early deadline.

The submitting author must be an ASTS member (first or last author). To ensure that the appropriate author fee is charged, authors should log into the ASTS Abstract Submission system with the email address associated with their first or last author membership account. In addition, a $25 processing fee is required for each late-breaking abstract that is submitted.