List of modules

A fragment of a story that may be reused in other stories, or may be replaced in a given story by another fragment that carries out the same function. A fragment may be a sentence, a paragraph or a sequence of paragraphs.

Summary

M-1001

Definition: Summaries are the verbalization of the underlying semantic macrostructure of a text. They express the most important topics or themes of a text; that is, what the text is about. [...] They convey to the reader what the intended semantic macrostructure of the text will be, so that the reader need not construct this macrostructure from the sentences of the text, a bottom-up process that is much more difficult. [...] Summaries have similar functions for news discourse. In general, news reports are headed by a Summary that states the main event or events in two steps. First, the various headlines, such as the main headline, and possible upper and lower headlines, constitute the conventional category of Headline. [...] The initial Summary also contains a Lead category. The Lead features the fuller expression of the thematic structure of the news report, and often repeats the highest level macroproposition as it is expressed in the headline(s). [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs

Headline

M-1002

Definition: Semantically, the headline is defined in tercos of the highest Ievels of the thematic macrostructure of the report: The headline expresses the intended highest macroproposition, and therefore signals what is the most relevant or important information of the news report. Cognitively, therefore, it is the information in the headline that monitors the further processes of reading and comprehension. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs: Is this breaking news? | Can you tell me what happened in very few words?

Lede

M-1003

Definition: In news formats where there is no special marking of the Lede or Lead (as in much of the English and American press), the Lead is expressed by the first sentence or paragraph of the news report, and it then has not only Summary function, but also Introduction function. According to the normative rules of newswriting, the Lead must express the major semantic categories of a news event: Who, What, Where, When, How, and so on. Obviously, this rule is not fully explicit, since Leads do not express all the information about participants, actions or events, locations, or other properties of news events. Lead information pertains only to the macropropositions of the text, and hence to main actors, main event, main location, and so on. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs: Can you tell me what happened in very few words? | Who is it about? | When did it happen? | Why did it happen? | What happened? | Where did it happen?

Situation

M-1004

Definition: We identify as situation the container for events, consequences and background. Situations are distinct from comments.
User Needs

Episode

M-1005

Definition: The episode wraps the main events and their consequences.
User Needs

Background

M-1006

Definition: Even short news reports usually give at least a minimum of background. [...] Journalists also routinely use this category when gathering, selecting, or combining source data for the final news report. Background may be supplied by news agencies, by reporters or correspondents who simply know such background from experience, by other media, or by documentation of various kinds. Specific newsmaking routines (phone calls, interviews, and so on) are followed to collect information for the Background category of the news report. The presence of background information is often considered a criterion for the quality of news, and that evaluation is evidence for the schematic appropriateness of a Background category in the news. [...] In cognitive terms, background information is necessary for the reader to activate "situation models" from memory; that is, representations of accumulated personal experiences and knowledge about concrete situations. The major goal of news understanding is to update such models and to relate the model to other news situation models. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs

Main Event

M-1007

Definition: The main event is the most important information, and therefore should be summarized in Headline and Lead, and be presented first in the rest of the story. Context, History and Consequences may then follow in less strict order. Verbal reactions and especially Comments tend to occur toward the end of the article, even when an occasional element from them may be placed earlier. [...] Although the Main Event category tends to be actualized first, we do not get all the information from that category at once; that is, in one linearly ordered, continuous section. Rather, what we get is again the most important information of the Main Event (which often repeats the information in headlines or lead). Details of Main Event information may follow later in the article, after the realization of the higher level information from other categories. We first get some general Background information, the major Consequences (such as Verbal Reactions of the most prominent news actors), and possibly even first Comments. Then, the news article may revert to Main Events and deliver further, lower level information from that category. In other words, each category is realized in installments. Therefore, the relevance principle assigns what may be called a rather confusing zig-zag or installment structure to the news report. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs: What are the key facts? | Are there images / videos / audios about this? | Is there a step by step guide | What happened? | Is this ongoing? | What don't we know? | What do we know for sure in this moment?

Consequence

M-1008

Definition: The relevance and the importance of events are often measured by their consequences. [...] Journalists therefore often include a Consequences category in their news reports which covers information about the actions and events that immediately follow the main news events, and that may be seen as caused by the main events. Sometimes Consequences may become so important that they downgrade the actual main events within the same news story, or they receive attention in a separate article, much in the same way as background. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs: What is the impact on my community? | Are any people particularly or disproportionately affected? | Should I feel more or less safe because of this? | Who is most affected? | Is there an economic or financial impact? | Who profits? | How can I contribute / help? | Who pays? | Am I going to hear about this again?

History

M-1009

Definition: Temporally, History stretches back months or even years. Unlike [Context], it does not deal with the immediate causes of the main events. History is the past context that leads to the actual situation and its events. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs: How many times has this already happened? | What has got us here? | Are there any lessons from the past?

Context

M-1010

Definition: The Context covers all the information in the news report about the actual situation in which the main news event takes place. These are in general socio-political states of affairs, or current events during which the specific event takes place. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs: What do other people / communities / organisations / countries do in similar circumstances? | What are the misconceptions? | What is the big picture? | What is the context? | How can we fix it? | Are there bias / conflict of interest or missing data ? | Who is responsible for this? | What is the data? | What is the source material? | Are there pros and cons to this? | How can I find out more? | What is the problem? | What are the key facts? | Who is involved? | Is there a fun side to this? | Why is this important? | Is there a solution?

Comment

M-1011

Definition: News stories often feature various Comments categories. Although there is a widespread journalistic ideology that facts and opinion should be separated, many news reports have implicit or explicit information that has evaluative dimensions. These may simply be speculations or expectations about what might happen next. Opinion in that case need not be personal, although it is necessarily political and ideological, because it presupposes beliefs and attitudes about mies and laws of a social, political, or cultural nature.
User Needs

Verbal Reaction

M-1012

Definition: This category (a standard subcategory of Consequence) contains information about the routinely gathered and quoted declarations of immediate participants and in particular of leading national and international politicians who have opinions or comments on the news events. This category satisfies the news value that gives special prominence to influential politicians, and in most newspapers in the world emphasizes the prime importance of political news and political figures. But it also has strategic value. It allows journalists to objectively measure the political implications and evaluations of an event without themselves having to formulate them. In other words, it is a safe way to provide Commentary, and a strategically effective way of choosing and quoting those that satisfy criteria of newsworthiness or credibility. [Van Dijk, News Schemata]
User Needs: What do key people say? | What do the people involved say?

Conclusion/Reality Check

M-1013

Definition: This is the space for analysis and perspective. If a quote is present, then it gives room for a reality-check.
User Needs: What can I learn from this? | How can someone affect what happens next? | How many points of view are there on this topic? | What might happen next? | Should we read something between the lines? | Is there a catch? | What might make you sit up and think? | What you might have heard about this that is not verified or true? | Am I the only one that feels strongly about this? | How can we fix it? | Is what they say actually true? | What don't we know? | What happens if...? | Are any people particularly or disproportionately affected? | What we (meaning the newsroom) think about this? | What is the impact on my community?

Editorial Guidelines & Bylines

M-1014

Definition: This is not truly a module, but a collector for details pertaining a news artifact, its author or the outlet it appears in. User needs can be fulfilled in the editorial guidelines pages or the bylines or in other aspects of the UX.
User Needs: Did you correct any details about this report? | Why should I trust you on this? | Is the journalist part of the affected community? | Does the journalist have the expertise to cover this? | What is the methodology behind this report?