Editing checklist for web stories

1. Five Ws and the H — does the story have the who, what, when, where, why and how in the opening grafs?

2. Does the story have at least three sources? If not, why?

3. Have all parties had their say? Did we give people or institutions a chance to respond?

4. Check attribution — will it be clear to the reader where we got all our facts and figures? Did we hyperlink where appropriate?

5. Does the story give prominent placement to information that’s of interest to our audience?

6. Are there other Annenberg Media assets that can be embedded in the story? Social media? Video? Audio?

7. Is the story appropriately tagged and categorized? Are there roadblocks linking to more of our coverage? Is there a featured and social media image?

8. Double check the headline, byline, dek and lede

LET YOUR EDITOR KNOW WHEN THE STORY IS READY FOR REVIEW

About This Site

This is a resource hub to help student reporters at the Annenberg Media Center.

If you’re new to the Media Center, check out this one-page guide to see what it’s all about.

Contact the Media Center

Media Center Director, Professor Christina Bellantoni
bellanto@usc.edu

Annenberg Media Executive Editor, Tess Patton
tepatton@usc.edu

Annenberg Media Assignment Desk:
(213) 740-3847

For equipment-related issues:
(213) 740-5739
ascequip@usc.edu
annenbergtechops.com