Category Archives: Conflict

What is news?

by Terri Reddout

Before we can start talking and writing news we need to know what news is.  Generally, a picture of the family cat is NOT news.  Unless the family cat kept mewing and clawing at the neighbor’s door and that woke them up so they got out of the house before it burned down to the ground.  Now your family cat IS newsworthy!

There really isn’t a magic formula for determining what news is.  I wish!  If there were, I’d bottle it up, sell it for a hefty price and retire someplace where temperatures are in the low 80s and bare-chested men bring me drinks with little umbrellas in them all day long.  (I can dream, can’t I?)

Which stories should we cover? What story leads the newscast?  What story goes above the fold?  Which story goes below the fold or on page 3? Do we commit a reporter and a photographers to this story?  Or do we commit the entire news team?

These are all tough questions, with a lot of variables you must factor in.  But… there are some guidelines to help us determine what is NOT newsworthy, what is newsworthy, and just how newsworthy a story is.  You’ll find various versions of these guidelines around the business, but they are generally combinations or more precise  divisions of these seven qualities or factors.

I call them T-P-P-I-C-H-U
Continue reading What is news?

Conflict is scary… but conflict can also be good for you


Written by Terri Reddout

Conflict.

It’s uncomfortable.  It’s energy draining.  It’s not fun.

The funny thing is… avoiding conflict is uncomfortable, energy draining and not fun.

Hummmm…

While dealing with conflict may not be one of your favorite things to do, understanding your conflict style and how others deal with conflict can make it easier and more productive.

Would you like a little KTI with your conflict?

KTI is the acronym for the Kilmann-Thomas Conflict Mode Instrument.  It’s a way of determining what your mode for dealing with conflict is.

One side of the instrument considers how assertive you are.  The other side of the instrument looks at your level of cooperativeness. Continue reading Conflict is scary… but conflict can also be good for you