Why photographs make your article more appealing.

• Photographs draw attention to a story more quickly, clearly, and powerfully than any other means of communication. Your church provides many opportunities to use photojournalism.
• Bulletin boards display pictures of church events.
• Newsletters need pictures of people, events, and landmark occasions.
• Articles to the Pacific Union Recorder require pictures.
• Articles for local newspapers are enhanced by photographs.

How to take creative, action-based pictures.

• Know camera basics. Become familiar with your particular camera.
• Take enough pictures. (Someone is sure to have eyes closed in one.) If you have several pictures to choose from, a good one is usually assured.
• Editors look for pictures in sharp focus (unless intended to be soft focus for effect), clear, with good color contrast.
• Take action pictures of the person or group doing something, not just smiling for the camera. In addition to taking a picture of a person with an award or plaque, take a picture of what he or she did to receive the award.
• Simplify the background. Position the subject away from distracting background items such as trees, poles, furniture, etc.
• Employ the rule of thirds. Visually divide the picture into thirds, left to right and top to bottom. Instead of centering the subject, place it where one of the dividing lines intersects.
• When shooting outdoors, pose people so they don’t stare into sunlight. Position them with the sun off to the side so they don’t have to squint.
• Use natural frames for the photo. A house appears friendlier when framed with a tree branch in the foreground, or with a fence leading the eye off into the distance.
• Get close to the subject. Enlarge the point of interest.
• Photograph groups of people in a natural cluster, rather than in a stiff row. Perhaps have them casually sitting on steps, or standing at different heights.
• Experiment with different lighting at different times of day. You can get some very creative pictures using natural lighting.
• Be sure to get permission and names of the people you photograph, especially children. You need the date, place and signature of parent or guardian if the subject is a minor.
• When photographing groups, include people of different ages, gender and ethnicity, if appropriate to your article.

So Moses went down to the people and told them, “You have been delivered from slavery to newspaper editors. From now on you are free to publish on your websites anything you want, even if it is of no interest to anyone, is poorly written, and misrepresents the church. But see that you do it not.”     

1) You shall not publish copyrighted materials without permission, even if you give full credit to the writer and to the publisher who paid the writer. Publishing without permission is a violation of federal and international copyright laws.

2) You shall not advertise products for sale. Exception: if a school or church group sells a product to raise money for a project, announce that in a news story, but direct readers to another place to learn about the product and how to purchase it.

3) You shall not put all your news in the “Abstract” or “Description.” Those are only teasers. The full story goes in the story box.

4) You shall not leave the story box empty. Readers will feel insulted if they click on a link and find nothing. Their opinions of the church leaders’ intelligence will suffer.

5) You shall not shout at the readers. Do not put all your story in upper case, bold or large font. There are two or three fonts in newspaper stories for the headlines, subheads and text. Do likewise.

6) You shall not show off your design talents. As the old-time banjo plucker, Pete Seeger, said of Earl Scruggs, the inventor of bluegrass picking, “I wish I had the ability to pick like Earl, and the good sense not to.” Your editor enables you to underline, highlight, use fancy fonts, colors, align center, etc. Don’t. Keep it clean and uncluttered to make it more readable. 

7) You shall not share every little announcement with other churches. They may like to read about your special events, but if they see too many announcements, such as that the time of your next board meeting has changed, they will cancel your news feed.

8) You shall not write book titles for headlines. Headlines include a subject and a verb. Ex. Use "Church Family Reunites for Baptism", instead of "The Baptism".

9) You shall not insert pictures that are too small. They will look bad when resized.

10) You shall not go on and on. The majority of web visitors never scroll down. People go to websites to get information quickly, not to read the great American novel.

1. Accuracy

Time pressures, deadlines, or difficulty in contacting primary sources of information all contribute to inaccurate reporting. Yet accuracy remains the single most important aspect of news writing. Verifying information and double-checking quotes is fundamental.

2. Objectivity

For news to have value, it must be perceived as objective. A reporter cannot make subjective or promotional statements without doing irretrievable damage to the credibility of his or her news report. 

3. The “inverted pyramid” structure

“A good lead sentence is like ice—so slick that, before they realize it, readers have slid into the middle of your story.” –Professor Carl Sessions Stepp, University of Maryland

The basis of the so-called “inverted pyramid” style of news writing is arranging information and facts in descending order of importance within the article. Therefore, the lead, or introductory sentence, should draw out the most significant aspect or facts. The lead sentence must tell readers why this story is important and why they should keep reading it. 

Lead sentence/first paragraph:

Most significant aspect of the story and essential information—what, when, who.

Middle:

Develop the story with more information. Use quotes. Explain why, how. 

Tell What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who.

As a general rule, every news story must answer the questions: “What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who.” Don’t assume that your audience is already familiar with the context of the story or basic background information. Be concise, but be sure to include all essential information.

4. Avoid Adventist Jargon

Using Adventist jargon can alienate an audience unfamiliar with religious terms or administrative jargon of the church. In the unofficial dialect of “Adventist-speak,” a new church member may be referred to as a “precious soul won for Christ.” At evangelistic meetings, the speaker “preached the Word,” “hearts were touched,” and “the Lord blessed.” Such phrases can invade the work of any Adventist writer, raising communication barriers that obscure the main message. Effective communicators make the effort to recognize and translate Adventist jargon so that anyone can read and understand.

5. Other Style Points

Avoid sexist language, such as using “he” or “his” as generic for both men and women.

Acronyms should be spelled out in full when first used in an article. The acronym alone is sufficient for all subsequent usages, e.g. the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).

After unloading, you have up to 30 days to submit a damage claim.  Our claim policy is as follows:

If the customer, hereafter referred to as shipper, has followed the moving instructions and guidelines given to them in person, via fax, postal service, email, or web site and it is determined that the damages are due to the negligence or carelessness of the SECC moving department, the item will be replaced or repaired.  The decision for replacement or repair will be at the discretion of the Southeastern California Conference Moving Department.

Written notification of damages incurred must be received in our office no later than 30 days after the household goods have been unloaded.  This can be done either by filling out the damage report of the Bill of Lading provided by the driver or by letter.  Verifying pictures must accompany this notification.

If it is determined that the item is to be repaired, we recommend the shipper get three written estimates.  The shipper then chooses which estimate they wish to use and sends it to our office by mail or fax for approval.

We will supply the shipper with written approval.  When the approval is received by the shipper, the repair must be completed immediately and the paid receipt mailed to our office for reimbursement.  The receipt must be sent to our office no later than 60 days from the date the shipper receives approval notification from our office.

We will send a refund check up to the amount approved.  Anything over the approved amount will be the shipper’s expense.

We do not give cash settlements.