Building Blocks of Quality NewsLab Storytelling Strategies What It Takes Quality Checklist One goal of the Project for Excellence in Journalism is to identify models of quality in local television news. The project grades local newscasts based on criteria of quality developed by a team of television professionals. Using the following checklist, you can apply these criteria to any newscast, by assigning letter grades or rating each element on a numerical scale.
Some stories are longer than two minutes, including lead-in and tag.
These include video of gore and violence, especially if used repeatedly. Better stories focus on ideas, issues or policy, politics, major events, or substantive trends. Better stories include on-camera sources with expertise in the subject or refer to expert sources or data. Better stories are clear and easily understood. Use the following tables to assess a newscast's quality.