A news judgment test

[writerintraining]

I have an interview for an Internet position and part of the interview requires a news judgment test. What does that comprise of? How should I go about preparing for it? I've done writing tests but never a news judgment test.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[spaceman]

Multple choice: Which of these is news?

a. Dog bites man.
b. Man bites dog.
c. Both.
d. Neither.

 

[Ace]

Just use your best judgment, unless it's bad. Then do the opposite.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

It's very subjective. Years ago, I was bitched at for overplaying something by putting it bottom of the cover. I liked the page anyway and included it my clips. When I interviewed a few months later at a larger, better paper, the sports editor said I underplayed it. But I got the job anyway.

You could look at their current product to get an idea of how they think, but that would do you no good if they believe their current product needs a lot of improvement, which is sometimes the case. Best to just consider their audience and decide what most of their readers would find interesting and go with that.

 

[dixiehack]

Multple choice: Which of these is news?

a. Dog bites man.
b. Man bites dog.
c. Both.
d. Neither.

D, if you're in SE Asia.

 

[writerintraining]

Thanks for all of the advice. Is this type of test a multiple choice or something else?

 

[Flash]

I would think you'll be given a number of items and asked to rank them according to newsworthiness.

 

[Football_Bat]

I would say you have nothing to worry about, as long as you're prepared to defend your answers. As in many subjective tests, there are probably multiple "right" answers.

 

[Driver 8]

Don't forget your No. 2 pencil.

 

[accguy]

I think a test like this is good for both sides. They get to find out how you think/what you value. You get to figure out what these people think. How? Because if they hire you, they probably have a reasonably similar news judgement. If not, you probably didn't want the job because you'd be constantly fighting.

Better to know that ahead of time rather than two months into the job.

 

[spnited]

Just use your best judgment, unless it's bad. Then do the opposite.

Ace is Yogi Berra.
Who knew?

 

[WSKY]

Sounds like a catch-22 to me.