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ENGLISH-II
CONTENTS: Unit I
01-31
Principles of reporting, functions and responsibilities, writing news-leadtypes of leads; body-techniques of rewriting-news agency copy Unit II
32-55
Reporting techniques-qualities of a reporter-news-elements, sources-typespitfalls and problems in reporting-attribution-off-the –record-embargo-pool reporting, follow-up
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Unit 1
Principles of Reporting News reporting is a type of journalism, typically written or in news style. News is often reported by a variety of sources, such as newspapers, television, and radio programs, wire services, and web sites. Most news is investigated and presented by journalists and can be distributed to various outlets via news agencies. The reporting and investigation of news falls within the profession of journalism. Good reporting, whether you are doing it face-to-face or over the phone, is to getting a story done well. And, since misquoting people can ruin your reputation, you need to make sure you do more than just ask the right questions -- you need to listen well and get information down correctly. Basic rules to develop good Reporting skills Reporters are responsible for the collection of news from the field. They ought to have some basic skills in the field. Some required basic skills are: 
Reporter must do home work for every story. Analyzing the background of the story or the personality is essential for the reporter. The Reporter needs to be quick on their feet, as they might need to chase a story down quickly, you should always know your subject matter. If you do have a scheduled interview with someone, do your homework. Know the person's background and sketch out the questions you want to ask.

The bottom line of a journalist's job is to report what's happening. If you're unclear on something someone says to you, you won't be able to logically relay the story to the public. A reporter should always, always ask to have an explanation. If something's unclear, phrases like 'What do you mean by that?' or 'Can you explain that further?' often work. If someone's using a lot of jargon, ask them to explain what they're saying in laymen's terms.
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To ensure that your story is hole-free, you need to put a lot of time into your reporting by doing lots of interviews and gathering plenty of background information. Most reporters will tell you they spend the bulk of their time reporting, and much less time writing. So how can you know what information you need to gather? Think back to the five W's and H of lead writing - who, what, where, when why and how. If you have all those in your story, chances are you are being thorough in your reporting.
When you have finished writing your story, read it through thoroughly and ask yourself, "Are there any questions left unanswered in this story?" If there are, that means you need to do more reporting. Sometimes it also helps to have a friend read your story, and has them ask the same question.
Sometimes a news story will lack certain information because there's no way for the reporter to get access to that information. For instance, if the official holds a closed-door meeting with the colleagues and does not explain what the meeting is about, then you probably have little chance of finding out much about it. In that case, explain to your readers why that information is not in your story: "The officer held a closed-door meeting with his colleagues and neither official would speak to reporters afterward."
Another aspect of thorough reporting is double-checking information, everything from the spelling of someone's name to the exact amount of the new budget. So if you interview mugarji, check how he spells his name at the end of the interview.
Objectivity and fairness are the basic principles of journalism. To be fair when covering issues of controversy it's absolutely vital to get both sides, to interview people of opposing viewpoints. But aside from issues of fairness, it's also part of doing thorough reporting.
Reporting skills In newspaper jargon a beat is the subject area that a reporter is assigned to cover. “Beat reporters” can cover everything from local crime to a specific sports team.
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Beat reporters are expected to develop sources, i.e. people who have information about their subject matter, so they can better gather news and find scoops. Sources for a reporter on a crime beat would be local cops. By talking to the local cops and developing a rapport with them, the beat reporter can more easily get information about crimes happening in the neighborhood. A good journalist needs to have great reporting skills. Since it takes time to develop great reporting skills, you should work on this area if you are trying to land a job as a reporter or magazine editor. The reporters must possess many professional qualifications. The reporter ought to have following basic qualifications Seeing and Hearing Taking Notes Finding information Asking Questions Checking and verifying information Analyzing and Interpreting information Writing News The Basics of New Writing How do you write a news story? News writing follows a basic formula; there are key elements every news story follows. While styles can diverge more dramatically depending on the kind of story -– a feature story may look and sound very different than a hard news one -- all news stories are cut from the same mold. The first element of news writing is, of course, to deliver the news. Most people have heard of the 5 W’s, even if they’ve never taken a journalism class. The W’s in question, as you probably know, refer to the Who, What, When, Where and Why that every story should address. For example if there is an accident story in the news paper. The reporter must
explain, what happen? When did it happen? Where? Why? Who involved?
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And how many people are in trouble? Depending on what the story is, how and when you answer those W’s may change.
The people or documents you use when reporting a story are called your "sources." In your story, you always tell your readers what sources you have used.
Whenever you are interviewing someone, observing something happening or reading about something, you will want to write down the answers to the "Five Ws" about that source:
Who are they?
What were they doing?
Where were they doing it?
When they do it?
Why did they do it?
Figuring out what details to give a reader, and when, is key in constructing a story. The answer, of course, depends on the facts. Inverted pyramid Newspaper stories are usually written in an inverted pyramid style. This means that the basic facts, the conclusion, the lead, etc., comes first. As you move through the story, more and more detail and background is provided.
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The "inverted pyramid" form puts the most important information at the top, followed by other information in descending order of importance. This shape is useful when reporting important or breaking news, when timeliness is of the essence. In the inverted-pyramid structure, information following the lead expands or develops the point that is made in the lead. In the case of the storm report, the writer might describe the scene of the worst devastation, and then include a quote from a survivor or an emergency worker. Supporting paragraphs would elaborate on the topic, filling in details and providing background on the storm. In a longer story, a reporter might include secondary information that is related to the primary theme but not directly. The storm story, for example, could include information about international relief efforts, and the needs of survivors, both immediate and long term. One reason for the popularity of this structure is that editors can cut from the bottom to save space and time without worrying about cutting vital information.
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Hourglass A modified form of the inverted pyramid is known as the "hourglass" structure. It begins, in a similar fashion, with the most important information — but after a few paragraphs it takes a turn and becomes a narrative, usually told in chronological order. Sticking with the example of the story about the massive storm, a reporter could start with a hard lead, provide a few paragraphs of support, and then tell the story of the storm as witnessed by one survivor. This kind of story form requires a clear transition between the opening section and the narrative. A reporter might write something like, “Khan was in his shelter when the wind kicked up ..." to begin the bottom half of an hourglass story. Some stories are written in a purely chronological form, but this structure is most often used for features. Diamond Still another story form is the "diamond" structure. A reporter using this structure would begin with an anecdote, introducing a character whose experience illustrates what the story is all about. This small story would then broaden out to show its wider significance. Toward the end, the reporter would return to the individual character's story as a way of concluding the narrative. Reporters using this structure often use a device known as a "nut" paragraph (or nut graph) to explain why the story matters — the word nut signifying the hard center of the story. The nut graph needs to be early enough in the story to make clear to the reader why he or she should bother to keep reading. The diamond form is frequently used in television news and newspaper reports. For example, a reporter might begin a story about a new AIDS treatment by introducing a patient who needs the treatment, then describe the experimental drug and how it works, and conclude by noting that doctors give the patient we met earlier only a limited time to live if the new treatment is not effective. Whatever form you choose, the middle of the story should keep the audience engaged and interested. Good writing, a magazine editor once said, makes the reader want to find out what happens next.
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Endings Unless you are using the traditional inverted pyramid style and you expect the bottom of your story to be trimmed by an editor, it's a good idea to have an ending in mind when you begin writing, much as it is helpful to have a destination in mind when you set out on a journey. This is particularly important in broadcast news because of the way it's presented. Endings often echo beginnings, in that they return to an important place or a person. In a chronological narrative, the ending is what happens last. If a story has raised a problem, the ending might offer a solution. Endings frequently look toward the future, to what might happen next. And occasionally a story may end with a strong quote or a sound bite. Make a news story Use the following information to write a news story. All the information came from the police. Write the story using inverted pyramid format, which means that the main facts are written first, and the secondary facts are written in descending order of importance. The paragraphs need to unfold in a way that makes sense, unfolding the story to give the reader the Who? What? Why? Where? When? Attribute the sources. Remain objective. Do not use words that create judgments or state opinions. Avoid redundancy. Be concise. Show, don’t tell. Use quotes, when possible and appropriate, to build the story. Witnesses said the plane took off, rose 60 feet in the air and then crashed to the ground. Mr. Verma K. Agarwal is a veteran of the Kargil War. He won the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor, for bravery during that war. The plane was completely destroyed. The plane was a small plane, a Cessna. The crash occurred at our town Municipal Airport. The cause of the crash in unknown. Mr. Verma K. Agarwal told police he “just lost control.”
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Lead It is the beginning of a story which may be a sentence, a part or several paragraphs depending on the elements forming the story, In other words, it is the intro or the first paragraph of a story. The readers expect all the basic facts in a story’s first one or two paragraphs. The lead must be accurate, short and crisp. The lead should reflect the mood of the story. If the story begins with preliminaries or unimportant facts their interest never develops; they turn to an article with a lead offering provocative facts. The lead should try to answer the six basic questions: What? Where? Who? When? Why? How? The order which it answers them will depend on the relative importance of each. In the above example, the question what? (Killed) is clearly the most important. How? (In a car crash) obviously follows. Who? and where? are probably of equal importance. This would yield an intro like this “A man was killed when the car he was driving collided with another in cenotaph Road, Chennai yesterday He was Mr...” Years ago, reporters attempted traditionally to crowd as many facts as possible into a lead. The effect was burdensome and difficult to read, because all the facts were not necessarily that the lead should be confined to the facts vital for telling the reader the story’s contents. If interested, the reader can continue the article; if not, his eyes will move to another item. Leads not only give a good idea of the story’s contents but also give briefs. The opening words immediately shed an element of doubt on the whole story. The reporter himself is clearly not as certain as he would like to be. There are other obvious weaknesses. The increase in party strength could mean anything or nothing, depending on the previous strength. Did it increase by one, or by ten, or by twenty? In this case the story did not enlighten us at any point in the narrative: The intro ought to contain facts, not speculation. This chapter cites several examples from practicing Journalism book and the Professional Journalist and The AP Writing Handbook.
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Types of Leads Emphasis Lead This lead highlights generally the ‘who’. It does not have to highlight any of the important elements. The attempt is to make the beginning the most interesting part. With greater emphasis being laid on human interest stories, this style is becoming popular. Upright Pyramid or Sequence Lead Some stories can be told effectively in the order in which the events occurred. This is the opposite style of most newspaper articles. A short story or a novel follows the format of this type of lead. The reader begins with preliminary or introductory facts and finds out the facts at the end. Quotation Lead As the name implies, a quotation lead starts with a dramatic statement made by someone who matters. It picks up possibly, a policy announcement, or declaration on behalf of the government, official plans or decisions. A direct quotation lead that contains abstract ideas, or is unclear, will turn the reader away whether used in the lead or body of a story. This type of lead runs somewhat as follows: Example:
India has lodged a strong protest with the U.S. about the latest supply of arms to Pakistan. This was declared by the Foreign Minister, Mr. - This is one of the easiest ways of starting an item.
``I was furious that that disreputable young man had the audacity to sit in my antique rosewood chair.''
That's how tiny, 82-year-old Louise Freeland today described her brush with a gun-toting escaped convict whom she talked into surrendering to Sheriff's officers.
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Direct Address lead Although quotation marks are not used, the second person (‘you’) approach reaches one to involve the reader and capture his attention while occasional direct-address leads help add sparkle, overdoing them can create monotony and cause them to lose the impend of involvement. Dialogue lead This type of lead begins with a dialogue. Dialogue lead can add flavor to many stories with a human interest. Example: “It was so cold in Shimla that the coffee froze almost as soon as we poured it.” Crowded lead When many points are boiled into a single paragraph, the advantage of crowding a great deal of information into a lead is the use of less space. Its disadvantage is the loss of impact for important material that would be more readable in shorter sentences. 1-2-3-4 Lead Often a story situation contains a number of news-making elements which the reporter would like to emphasize. By listing them in ‘1-2-3-4’ order, the writer concentrates them all. Shirt Tail lead An alternate to the crowded and ‘1-2-3-4’ lead which contains several news items is to include them in two or more brief paragraphs. This type of lead can be used as a compromise to the above two leads; it permits the combining of a number of news elements without using a great deal of space. Bang lead This is also called cartridge lead. It is brief and contains one single news incident, to be expanded later in the story. Its impact makes it a lead to reserve for important stories. If this
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lead is used for minor news, it can magnify,’ an article, cause the reader to lose interest, as well as faith in the newspaper’s integrity when he reads the full article. Negative lead This type of lead is required only in order to clarify certain situations. If there have been earlier reports about a possible government decision, and then the government declares that ‘no possibility exists,’ it is essential to have a clarification. In general, this is not very effective, unless the proposed government step has gained a degree of unpopularity. The exception is when, for example, firmness is demanded towards a neighboring country. Then, it becomes somewhat like ‘India has not accepted the terms proposed by Pakistan. This was disclosed by…. Pie face Lead A brief quotation or a few appropriate lines from a poem or familiar saying, preceding a story can form a background that helps increase enjoyment of the article. Blind lead The blind lead permits the writer to hurry in to the story without crowding too much into the first paragraph. The purpose of a lead is to both inform and interest the reader. This is a difficult job in an age when readers have so many distractions in their lives and when the newspaper has so much competition for readers’ time. Readers spend very little time with newspapers these days and tend to read only stories that look especially interesting. They skim and skip. If a summary lead is packed too full of details, if it looks too formidable, the reader will hurry on the something that looks more appealing. The blind lead, by limiting the information in the first paragraph and picking it up in the second, attempts to give the reader the summary in two stages: a partial summary in the first paragraph and details in the second. Delayed-identification lead Somewhere between the blind lead and the summary lead lies the delayed- identification lead. Here the name is given in the first paragraph of the lead, but full identification is held back and
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given in the second paragraph—or sometimes later. Delayed-identification leads leave out some information and by so doing make the first paragraph of the lead more concise and more readable. Substantive Clause lead A substantive clause, usually starting with ‘that’ or ‘when’, helps achieve variety and usually contains interpretive elements Familiar sanging lead A familiar quotation or sanging can be woven into a story to help create a light touch. Care must be taken that the effect comes naturally and is not strained. Parody lead Brightness can be added to appropriate stories with leads parodying well- known motion pictures, songs, or books, or sayings by noted people. Punch lead One method for attracting attention is concentrating with a brief, to the point lead sentence and developing details later in the story. Cumulative interest lead These types of lead start with a brief news fact and lead the reader’s interest to the end of the story. Suspended interest lead Unlike the previous construction, the ‘suspended interest’ lead contains no news element. The reader must obtain the news by reading to the end of the story. Historical or literary lead It draws some character or event in history of literature in relation to an event or person in the news.
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Question leads This lead starts with a question addressed to the reader and is highly popular with budding journalists. Question lead can be good or bad according to the news situations involvement and how the questions are phrased. Six basic rules for writing straight news leads Every news story begins with a lead, so learning to write a good lead is the first step in learning to write a good story. Journalists use many different styles of leads, depending on the situation. But most media writing students begin by learning the simplest and most common style: the straight news lead. Below are six rules for writing good straight news leads. A straight news lead should be a single paragraph consisting of a single sentence, should contain no more than 30 words, and should summarize, at minimum, the most newsworthy "what," "where" and "when" of the story. 
Example: "Fire destroyed a house on Main Street early Monday morning." o
The lead is a single-sentence paragraph. Note, please, that a lead should be written in ordinary English, not the clipped phrasing reserved for headlines like "Main Street home destroyed in early morning fire." Headlines, which appear in large print above the stories they introduce, are written that way to conserve space.
o
It contains 10 words -- far less than the 30-word limit. Notice that the word count includes even little words like "a" and "on."
o
It summarizes the main "what" of the story, which is that fire destroyed a house.
o
It also provides the "where" of the story with the phrase "on Main Street."
o
Finally, it gives the "when" of the story with the phrase "early Monday morning."
The lead's first verb should express the main "what" of the story and should be placed among the lead's first seven words. 
Example: "Fire destroyed a house on Main Street early Monday morning." o
The verb "destroyed" expresses the main "what" of the story.
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o
"Destroyed" is the lead's second word -- a position that puts "destroyed" well in front of "Street," the lead's seventh word.
o
Again, notice that the word count includes even little words like "a" and "on."
o
There are no other verbs in front of "destroyed," so "destroyed" is the lead's first verb.
o
Following this rule will force you to quickly tell readers what the story is about.
The lead's first verb -- the same one that expresses the main "what" of the story -- should be active voice, not passive voice.
A verb is active voice if the verb's subject did, is doing, or will do something. o
Example: "Fire destroyed a house on Main Street early Monday morning."
o
"Destroyed" is the verb.
o
"Fire" is the verb's subject.
o
"Fire" did something. It destroyed.
A verb is passive voice if the verb's subject had, is having, or will have something done to it. o
Example: "A house was destroyed by fire on Main Street early Monday morning."
o
"Was" is the verb.
o
"House" is the verb's subject.
o
"House" had something done to it. It "was destroyed."
If there's a "who" involved in the story, the lead should give some indication of who the "who" is.
First example: "An elderly man died Monday when an early morning fire raged through his Main Street home." o
The "who" is "an elderly man?"
o
In this case, the "who" probably isn't someone whose name readers would recognize?
o
As a result, the "who" angle of the lead focuses on what things about the "who" might make the "who" important to the reader? In this case, it's the fact that the man was older and lived in Murfreesboro. That's called writing a "blind lead." The man's name will be given later in the story.
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Second example: "Murfreesboro Mayor Joe Smith died Monday when an early morning fire raged through his Main Street home." o
Smith is the local mayor, and most readers probably will recognize his name.
o
As a result, the lead gives his name.
The lead should summarize the "why" and "how" of the story, but only if there's room.
Example: "An elderly man died early Monday morning when fire sparked by faulty wiring raged through his Main Street home." o
"... Fire ... raged through his Main Street home ..." explains why the man died.
o
"... Sparked by faulty wiring ..." explains how the blaze began.
If what's in the lead needs to be attributed, place the attribution at the end of the lead
Example: "Faulty wiring most likely sparked the blaze that claimed the life of an elderly man last week, the city's arson investigator concluded Monday." o
Attribution is simply a reference indicating the source of some bit of information.
o
In this case, the attribution is the phrase, "the city's arson investigator concluded Monday."
o
Generally, attribute assertions that represent anything other than objective, indisputable information.
Here, there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that the man is dead, that his house was destroyed, that it all happened early Monday morning, and that he house was on Main Street.
But the arson investigator's assertion that faulty wiring caused the blaze represents the investigator's opinion (based, of course, upon his training and expertise - but an opinion nonetheless). Therefore, the assertion needs to be attributed to the investigator so readers can decide how credible the assertion is.
Writing the lead (intro) exercise For each of the following stories, decide what is the most important key point or points and then write the intro for the news story and see the suggested lead or intros for the stories.
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Here are some examples News Story 1 Dr Michael Kai is a scientist with the Papua New Guinea Department of Primary Industry. He has been working for ten years on a project to breed larger pigs. One of his pigs, an adult male, has been weighed at 350 kgs. This is the heaviest pig ever to have been bred in Papua New Guinea. Mr Kai hopes to use this animal to breed other very large pigs. 
Suggested Intro A government scientist has produced the biggest pig ever to have been bred in Papua New Guinea. Notice how we have put a human face on our story by starting with the scientist, even though the most unusual aspect is the pig. We do not give the scientist's name or details of the size of the pig. These can wait until later in the story.
News Story 2 A school bus ran off City Road in Suva, narrowly missed an electricity pole and came to rest in a garden. Most of the bus windows were smashed. There were more than 30 children on the bus. They were going to Martyr School. It was a 36-seater bus. All the children escaped serious injury. Some of them jumped out of the bus and grazed themselves. Eye-witnesses said the children were helped from the bus screaming and shouting and in a state of panic. This happened this morning. 
Suggested Intro More than 30 children escaped serious injury when a school bus crashed in Suva today. The main point of this story is obviously the children. This intro tells us just enough about what happened to interest our audience, without overloading it with details which can come later. We could have written an intro which said that 30 children were in a bus
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crash, but that alone would have been unfair to our readers or listeners if we know that they all escaped serious injury. This fact alone is newsworthy. News Story 3 
In July last year, Mr Sione Tuanuku went to work for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in Nuku`alofa, cleaning out the dog pound and caring for the dogs. Yesterday he was sacked by the manager of the dog pound, Mrs Anita Chan. She said that he had mistreated one of the dogs.

Mr Tuanuku said: "The dogs always barked at me and sometimes they tried to bite me. I didn't like it. Yesterday I got fed up with one dog that tried to bite me, so I bit the dog in the leg to teach it a lesson. Now I have been dismissed from my job." Suggested Intro A cleaner at the Nuku'alofa dog pound has been sacked for biting one of the animals in his charge. This is the classic "man bites dog" story, but that alone would not be enough for the intro. We have included the fact that the cleaner was sacked for biting the dog because that is important human interest - the man is now out of work. We have written this intro in a serious tone. However, it could also be written in a humorous tone, stressing the strangeness of the event: A man whose job is caring for animals has been sacked - for biting one of them.
News Story 4 Mr John Erikub and his wife, Laura, were driving to their home in Majuro yesterday afternoon, after shopping in Uliga. Mr and Mrs Erikub were in the front of their Toyota pick-up. Their three children were travelling in the back - Paul, aged nine; Rachel, aged seven; and Miriam, aged three. Driving past the cemetery, they met a truck travelling in the opposite direction. This was a semi-trailer belonging to Pacific Earthmoving Inc, carrying a 12-ton bulldozer. The
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truck was driven by Mr Lewis Kili, who comes from Jaluit Atoll. The pick-up ran out of control and collided head-on with the semi-trailer. Police and ambulance were sent for. Mr and Mrs Erikub and their two elder children died instantly. Miriam was taken to hospital with serious injuries and died later. The pick-up was a write-off. The semi-trailer suffered only minor damage. Mr Kili was also taken to hospital and treated for shock, but was later allowed home. Police have interviewed Mr Kili. They say they are unlikely to charge him with any offence. 
Suggested Intro A Majuro couple and their three children died when their pick-up collided head-on with a semi-trailer. There is only one possible angle for this story - the fact that five members of a family have died in a road crash. Notice, though, how we gave this fact more impact by splitting the family into parents and children. The deaths of the children are especially tragic. Notice too that, apart from mentioning where the family came from, there are no other specific details to overload the intro.
Techniques of re-writing Finding News You are waiting at the local railway station and you overhear two people talking about a commotion the evening before at a local park. The gist of their conversation is that a youth group that meets community hall adjourning the park is out of control, and that the group spill noisily into the park where there is drinking and other illicit activities. The speakers agree that the police don’t seem to be doing much about it. Before making a story following points should be taken for consideration. Is there a story here? Would people be interested to know about this? Why? Could it harm anyone?
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Is the harm justified? Who are the stakeholders?
What news values are attached to these conclusions? Is the story worth pursuing? Why?
What do you already know? How do you know it? Have you assumed anything? Can what you know be verified? By whom?
How do you choose interviews? Do they have first-hand experience of the alleged problem? Could they provide quotes enhancing reader understanding? Can they provide verifiable facts? Do they provide an authoritative perspective? Are they entitled to a right of reply? Are they directly affected by the alleged problems?
What information do you expect to get from them? What are the facts as they see them? Is their information specific or generalized? Is it information that can be verified, and how?
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Do the interviewees seem credible? Why? Could the interviewees have an undeclared motive?
What are the facts? Is that any information that you’ve collected that you can’t verify? Is it so important to the story you can’t leave it out? Why leave it in? Are you satisfied your sources are credible? Are some sources intrinsically more credible than others? Why? Could defend your choice in court? Can you substantiate everything you assert? What have you assumed you already know? Are there any questions that remain unanswered? Why? Is there another angle to the story? Is there are single statement or quote that embodies the central issue in the story? Can a story be structured around this? Which news values are given priority as you consider the information? Why? Have you identified a ‘hero’ or a ‘villian’? Is the story newsworthy? Why? How much does your perceived audience influence this? Yes What are you going to do next? No
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What other potential stories are prompted by this one? Investigation into costs of community vandalism as affecting audience Investigation of facilities for youth groups in community Investigation of juvenile crime (including drugs) in the community Investigation into successes of youth groups/individuals in the community
Writing and Rewriting The last step before your report goes public is the writing and rewriting. After days or weeks of intense reporting effort, the writing strikes some investigative reporters as a chore — necessary but unimportant. The Editing Process The editing process is used to correct over-writing, clumsy sentence construction and faulty grammar. It translates jargon into plain English, and explains technical or complex ideas. This process includes deleting unnecessary words and checking the vocabulary of a story to ensure it suits the audience. Sub editors also ensure that punctuation, grammar and spelling are accurate. Most news organizations have ‘style guides’ that offer preferred usages and spellings. For example, newspaper style dictates that numbers from one to nine are spelled out while twodigit numbers such as 10 are expressed numerically. Readers want to comprehend immediately. Simple sentence structures and transparent paragraph structure lead the reader to continue reading. Rules for Editing Process There are some simple ground rules to guide the editing process.
The first step is to understand exactly what the writer intended. A sub editor does not impose his or her own interpretation of the facts, but aims to make the writer’s intention clear. A good way to begin is to read what the story is about. Once you have a clear idea, you can evaluate how successful the writer has been in getting the story across.
You as a sub editor apply your news sense to the facts and evaluate the choices made by the reporter. Sometimes copy needs to be restructured or re-ordered to emphasize
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the most newsworthy aspects. Newsworthiness is a relative value and your decision is partly based on your understanding of the audience, their interests and values.
Third, you know a news story must contain who, what, where, when and why. If this information is in the story but not at the beginning, you need to rework it. Decide in what order those elements should be presented. Does ‘who’ come before ‘what’? Is ‘where’ more important than ‘who’? Sometimes ‘when’ is the most important fact but rarely does stories begin with ‘why’ although ‘why’ should never be left to the end of the story. Often ‘why’ is followed by the sixth element of news, ‘how’.
Fourth, sometimes a report contains answers to the five Ws but the reporter has missed the main point. Ask yourself again ‘What is the most interesting part of the story?’ The ideas in the story should flow logically and easily. Are the ideas in rational order? Do they lead on naturally from one to another? If you were telling this story, where would you begin? If the place where you would start the story is not at the beginning of the story in front of you, then the ‘lead’, or most newsworthy information, is said to be ‘buried’ in the story. It must be ‘on top’ or in the first sentence.
Fifth, if the order of information needs improvement, you may be able to fix it without rewriting the whole story. Try re-ordering the paragraphs. Once the paragraphs are in the right order, look for gaps in the way the story is told. You will probably need to reconstruct some sentences or change their direction so that the new order makes sense. You will need to write a new introduction. Some information may need to be moved from one paragraph to another, tenses may need correction, nouns and pronouns may need to be re-arranged. If you attend to the structure first, you avoid wasting time correcting typographical errors in paragraphs that you cut out or change for structural reasons.
Re-writing Re-writing is a factor in dealing with complicated copy. It has to be borne in mind that many times the information given may appear to be useless, but is not only really so. The writer has all the knowledge about what he has written. He is writing with the background of that knowledge. The sub-editor sees the copy only at its face value and some statements might
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appear to be giving useless information. Before re-writing it may be necessary to contact the writer and see the points clarified. In re-writing change of tenses is sometimes involved. This is not easy; again, because the author is in the know of the actual time of happenings. his carelessness, he may have mixed up the tenses. The sub-editor has to understand the actuality of the happening, and then change the tenses suitably. A good re-write job calls for incorporation of important related facts. They may be inserted in the story in individual paragraphs, but should not hamper the flow of the narrative. In case this is likely to happen, it is worth considering the possibility of carrying the additional information in the form of a box to go along with the main item. Sub-editing is a production tool used by journalists to ensure that reporting fits the style. Length and news priorities of the publishing organization, Editing is also the process by which writers polish and refine the messages they create. Developing editing skill and processes for evaluating the strengths of various parts of your writing is important from the beginning. The better the editor you are, the more effectively you can see your writing as the sum of its parts, the better writer you will be. As a reporter, you should apply the same process to your work as sub editors do, before you submit the story. Good Writing has the following characteristics: It is precise It is clear It has a pace appropriate to the content. It uses transitional devices that lead the reader from one thought to the next. Precision Words should be used precisely. They should mean exactly what you intend them to mean. You should never use ‘uninterested’ when you mean ‘disinterested.’ Nor should you use ‘allude for ‘refer’, ‘presume’ for ‘assume’, ‘farther’ for ‘further.’ If you report that fire has destroyed a house, you mean it must be rebuilt, not repaired. Precision however, means more than knowing the etymology of a word, it means knowing precisely what you want to say.
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Incorrect: The Bill will make it illegal. Correct: The Bill would make it illegal... The use of ‘will’ is imprecise because the legislation has not been passed. By using ‘would’ you are saying “if the legislature passes the Bill,” it would — — Precision
means
using
the
correct
sentence
structure
to
communicate
explicitly what you mean. The following sentence is technically correct but imprecise The state government passed the Ordinance, and the 150 supporters cheered It is imprecise because the compound sentence gives equal importance to the two thoughts expressed. Because the writer meant to show cause and effect, he should have used a complex sentence: Because (Or when) the state government passed the Ordinance, the 150 supporters cheered When you write implicitly, you force the reader to make inferences. Say what you are thinking.
Clarity Before typing a single word, reporters should remind themselves of three simple guidelines: • Rely on simple sentences. • Use correct grammar and punctuation. • Avoid clichés • Think clearly. The result will be clear writing; such as: in fact, nevertheless, however, for instance. There is pretty fine difference between the colon and semi-colon. The semi-colon marks a longer pause than that indicated by a comma while the colon indicates an even longer pause than the semi-colon. The semi-colon is more useful in double sentences where there is no conjunction. For instance: Rumors spread that the army had mutinied; the crowd believed it.
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The principal function of the colon in newspapers is that it should always be used before opening quotes. The Prime Minister said: “This is a very good result.� The colon is also useful if you are listing things in a story, Rajesh sold everything: his house, his car, his scooter and even his clothes. Full stop denotes the end of a sentence. A sentence is a complete Simple sentences One remedy for unclear writing is the simple sentence. Simple sentences create an impact on the readers. So the message should be stated clearly in a simple sentence. Grammar and Punctuation Errors in grammar are far too common in newspaper writing, and because of them, meaning is obscured. No one who aspires to be a writer will succeed without knowing the rules of grammar. Dangling
participles,
split
infinitives,
noun
verb
disagreements,
pronoun-antecedent
disagreements and misplaced modifiers are like enemy troops. They attack your sentences and destroy the meaning. The best defense to construct tight, strong sentences, Here are some typical errors and ways to correct them. Incorrect
:
Each of the boys brought their sleeping bags.
Correct
:
Each of the boys brought his sleeping bag.
Incorrect
:
The Mayor told the taxpayer to submit a claim to the clerk, bringing it to her before noon.
Correct
:
The Mayor told the taxpayer to submit a claim to the clerk before noon.
Incorrect
:
The Major agreed to soon submit his resignation.
Correct
:
The Major agreed to submit his resignation soon.
Improper punctuation also creates ambiguities at best and inaccuracies at worst, the most important punctuation marks are: the comma, the semi colon, the colon and the full stop.
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Commas are more used than any other punctuation marks and many of them are superfluous. A comma replaces the word ‘and’ to separate a series of words. A reporter should ensure that his stories are clear, concise, easy to read and accurate. A comma is essential in words or phrases. Yet again, you will write a good sentence much more easily if you make a conscious effort to make it short. There are plenty of excellent one-word sentences. Some of these are: Yes. No Rubbish! All these words are complete thoughts, completely expressed.
Clichés It is almost pointless to warn reporters to avoid clichés. The problem is, just what a ‘cliché is’ there are a few to be going on with: Blow by blow Bitter end Crying need Each and every Fair sex Interesting to note Last but not least Long years Marked contrast Ones and above
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True colours Matter of life and death Acid test There are hundreds more. Reporters should try to alert themselves to spot clichés in their copy and take them out before handing the story in. The reporter should train himself to spot jargon and then translate it into terms that can be understood by a common man. When a reporter is interviewing someone who uses jargon the reporter does not understand (for example, a scientist explaining some complicated technicality) he should not take refuge in playing safe by scrupulously ensuring that at least he has the correct spelling of the particular term or word which he does not understand. When he does not understand a particular term used by a man, the reporter must say: “Could you please put that in words which the average reader of my paper will understand.” The reporter who says that he is not displaying his ignorance; he is displaying his skill. Good spelling is primarily a matter of remembering. No reporter is going to get very far in his career if he is bad at spellings; for if he cannot spell he almost certainly does not know the meaning of many of the words he cannot spell. Clear Thinking A story must have a beginning, middle and end. Put in a maze, rats make many mistakes before they find their way out. So do writers who start a sentence, a paragraph or a story without knowing where it will end. The problem is most obvious when the reporter is unsure of the lead. The - result usually is a story that jumps from one idea to another without transitions and without supporting evidence for each idea introduced. When you are sure of your lead, the rest of the story often will fall into place. Pacing The untrained observer looking at a new car may see the glossy finish, flashy chrome and stylish lines. An engineer may see the hundreds of complicated working parts under the hood. Like the untrained observer, the reader enjoys a story because of the message. Another writer will recognize the author’s skillful use of techniques that make the story readable.
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One of those rarely noticed but important techniques is pacing sentences, as much as the words themselves, give a story mood. Short sentences convey action, tension, movement. A series of long sentences conveys a more relaxed mood, long sentences slowly down the reader. Between these two extremes are sentences of varying lengths, and good writers use them all. Not all sentences should be long or short. Nor should they all be of medium length. An abrupt change in sentence length draws attention to the sentence. Giving precisely selected words the proper pace is a skill of the creative writer. Some writers read their copy aloud to themselves. Their ear tells them if the story has proper pace and variety. The beginning writer should count the number of words in each sentence. Transitions Besides being well-paced, good writing also uses transitions to lead the reader imperceptibly from one thought to the next. Transitions assure-the reader that the writer has a sense of direction. A transition is a bridge. It can be a word, a phrase, a sentence or a paragraph. These linkages help you achieve coherence, the logical connection of ideas. The linkages transfer you from one sentence to the next, from one paragraph to the next. The different types of linkages are called transitions. Writers unfamiliar with transitions merely stack paragraphs, like wood, atop one another. Transitions keep the story if not the woodpile, from falling apart. Repeating a word or phrase is one way to keep the story from falling apart. Repetition of a phrase or of sentence construction, called Parallelism is another way to guide readers through a story. Writers frequently use parallelism to achieve coherence. Chronology and references to time are other ways to tie a story together. Words and phrases such as ‘now’, ‘since then’, and ‘two days later’ are invaluable in helping readers understand where they have been and where they are going. Chronology is important in everything from reports of automobile accidents (which car entered the intersection first?) to recaps of events that occurred over months or even years. News Agency Copy The main source of news for a newspaper is news agencies or wire services. We find their credit lines—Reuter, AP, TASS, AFP, PTI, UNI, etc. with the dateline of the story or in some papers after intro such as ‘reports PTI’
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The wire services have large network of tele printer circuits connecting hundreds of cities and towns from where their reporters gather news and after processing it deliver to newspaper subscribers in their news room at a tele printer receiver set. India has two wire services or news agencies —PTI (Press Trust of India) and UNI (United News of India). News agencies or wire services do not sell newspapers but they collect and sell news to newspapers. They also have reporters, sub-editors, news editors, special correspondents and foreign correspondents. News agency desk processes copy from reporters and foreign news agencies not for printing but for creeding to newspapers on their tele printer network. News agency copy is also called creed in the newspaper news room. The following are the specimen copies of agency Agency copy I Dravid sets new catching record
Joseph Hoover Wellington, Apr 6 (PTI) Rahul Dravid scaled another lofty peak in his illustrious career when he created the world record for the most number of Test catches by a fielder here today.
Levelled with Mark Waugh's 181 (128 Tests) before going into the match, Dravid pulled ahead in his 134th match when he gobbled up Tim McIntosh at third slip off Zaheer Khan on day four of the third Test against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve.
Having snared Nasser Hussain off Javagal Srinath to open his 'catch' account in his debut Test at Lord's, Dravid is now clearly ahead of Ricky Ponting (148 in 131 Tests), Jacques Kallis (147 in 131) and Mahela Jayawardene (142 in 102) among current players.
The milestone had been on his mind for quite a while and when he achieved it, he showed rare emotion by planting a kiss on the cherry. The accomplishment should possibly help to ease his
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frustration at not scoring a hundred on this tour.
"The way I was batting, I should have scored a hundred in each of the Tests," said Dravid, ruing his dismissals in the third Test against New Zealand.
He carved scores of 66, 8 not out, 83, 62, 35 and 60, but failed to convert those four half centuries into hundreds, falling once to a sharp in-cutter at Hamilton, a dubious leg before decision at Napier and poor shots in the rest. PTI Agency copy II Despite numbers, Independents losing ground in LS polls
New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) Though the number of Independent candidates contesting general elections has been on the rise, candidates trying their luck without party affiliation have been losing ground. They have, however, added to the government exchequer with forfeited deposits. A total of 533 Independents candidates contested in the first Lok Sabha elections in 1952 and 37 emerged victorious. The winning number, however, dwindled down to five in the 14th Lok Sabha where 2385 Independent candidates participated.
According to officials figures, Independents constituted 28 per cent of total candidates in 1952 with winning percentage of 6.94. Whereas, in 2004, the number rose to 44 per cent, Only 0.20 per cent of these could make it to the house.
The 8th General Election of 1984 witnessed 98 per cent of Independents losing their deposits. This trend continued from 10th to 14th Lok Sabha. During these five elections 99 per cent independents lost their deposits.
The first four polls saw fluctuating fortunes of Independents. In 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, data show winning numbers of Independents were 37, 42, 20, 35, while numbers of contestants were
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533, 481, 479 and 866 respectively.
In spite of poor performance in 5th General Elections, the number of Independents contesting polls further rose in successive elections. PTI
Source :PTI
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Unit II Reporting techniques Stereographic (Listening and taking notes) Interviewing and questioning Observing Investigating Preparing a Script On air presentation Basic Reporting Reporting speeches, Press conferences and Meetings Speeches About the speaker About the Meeting About the theme Important Points Audience reaction (If any) Side lines (if any Press conference Interview session Preparation Controversial points/questions Meetings Communication among the cadres/Members News Releases Press communiqués, Press notes, Hand outs, unofficial hand outs Reporting Accidents, Disasters and obituaries Accidents Road, train, plain accident Fire, Electric circuit… Obituaries Death of a celebrity, Time and place of funeral service, Time and burial place, Achievements, Occupation Types of Reporting Investigative Reporting Development Reporting Business Reporting Sports Reporting Crime Reporting Political Reporting Foreign Affairs Military
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Entertainment Life style Health Weather Agricultural Reporting
Beat Reporting Skills Whatever beat a journalist chooses or is assigned to cover, one basic skill is essential: the ability to understand the institutions that dominate the beat. No one ever got a story sitting around the newsroom, says veteran American journalist Mike Mather
Build a source list with as much contact information as you can pry loose, and stay in touch with those people by making regular beat checks.
In addition to covering the key players on the beat, a good beat reporter also looks at how their actions affect people in the community. Beat reporting requires strong organizational and personal skills. Staying organized means using a calendar to track meetings, hearings, and due dates for reports or action. It means having a reliable, portable system for filing and retrieving contact information, especially phone numbers and e-mail addresses. And it means keeping a file of future story ideas, with daily lists of things to follow up on Covering a beat means getting to know people well enough that they will trust you, while still maintaining a professional distance General qualities of a News Reporter Modern journalism demands outstanding performance from the reporters. But basic qualifications remain same. This chapter summarizes the excerpts of N.C.Pant’s Dimensions of Modern Journalism. Besides the above duties a reporter should also remember the following points:
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Reporter should never repeat a story which has been told to him confidentially or in good faith, unless he takes the prior permission of the person concerned to make it public.
While collecting the local news, a reporter should keep in mind the great value of giving the names of persons in his stories, however, the names should be spelled correctly.
Every reporter should try to develop the qualities of a descriptive writer.
A reporter must remember that practice makes a man perfect. Therefore, he should always try to improve his method of reporting and his style.
Every reporter should use plain English. He should avoid difficult words. He should enable his reader to visualize the scene described by him as clearly as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
A good reporter should avoid the use of stereotyped phraseology.
A reporter should try to be accurate in his reporting. Whenever his accuracy is called in question, he should be able to produce his original notebook.
One main cause of the complaint against misrepresentation in newspapers is that certain persons in the heat of excitements say things, which they do not mean. And when reported accurately in the press, they deny having said such things.
Whenever a reporter has to report on the court proceedings, he should be very careful in his report. For example, use of a wrong name or adverse comment might land him into legal problems.
While reporting ordinary public meetings, a reporter has to produce only a summary, which he should try to write up as the meeting progresses.
The reporter must master the art of condensing while reporting the speeches made in the public meetings. This will greatly help the reporter in writing his summaries.
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A reporter must know what is newsworthy and what is not. Recognition of news values implies the need of “news nose”. Without it a reporter cannot hope to achieve success in his career
Desired persona of a Reporter
It is the basic quality of newsmen. Every reporter has to have news sense or nose for news to distinguish news from non-news. He should be able to compare various news values and decide where to begin his story and should not miss important details.
A reporter should have clarity of mind and expression. A person who is confused himself cannot tell a story to others. Only clarity of mind is not enough unless it is accompanied by clarity of expression. Without clarity of expression clarity of mind has no meaning.
Reporter and sub-editor should aim at objectivity while dealing with a story. They should not allow their personal bias or ideas to creep into a story. They should not take sides but try to cover all the different viewpoints to achieve balance in the story.
A reporter should strive for accuracy. He should check and re-check his facts till he is satisfied that he has them accurate. In this respect he should not take any chance as accuracy is directly proportional to the credibility of a reporter and his newspaper.
A reporter should always be alert while dealing with his subjects. Many major news breaks in the past were possible because of alertness of reporters. Scoops don’t walk into newspaper offices—alert reporters catch them in air and pursue.
A person who cannot work fast cannot be a good reporter. While main- taming all other desirable qualities a reporter should strive to work faster. He should think fast, decide fast and write or type fast for he has to meet deadlines or may have to go to another assignment.
Reporters often work in trying circumstances. They have to remain calm and composed in most exciting and tragic circumstances. In many situations they have to be calm— devoid of hysterical actions or utterances and apply appropriate mental and physical effort to write or edit the story.
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Reporters should have an insatiable curiosity. For reporters it is useful in developing lust for facts that may lead to better stories. This characteristic will keep on improving a subeditor for with every passing day a curious sub editor will have a better background to do his job the next day. Reporters and sub-editors should read as much as possible to constantly improve their awareness level.
It is another necessary quality which a reporter and a subeditor should cultivate. They should not take anything for granted. They should have an unwavering posture of doubt until faced with undeniable proof.
Reporters should be more vigilant for many forces constantly try to use them, and through them their paper. Many people try to plant on reporters a wrong story for their own ends. Many a time reporters’ fall into such traps in good faith. They should have enough scepticism to avoid such plots.
It is a good habit. For reporters it is a must for if they are not punctual they may miss something for which they may have to depend on secondary sources. It is always better to-be punctual and then wait than reach late and ask others—a rival may misinform you or hide some important information.
It is a quality which helps a reporter in a big way for many a time almost daily he has to test his patience, the voluntary. Self-control or restraint that helps one to endure waiting, provocation, injustice, suffering or any of the unpleasant vicissitudes of time and life. Most of the time a reporter waits for someone or something and patience gives him the willingness to wait without becoming disgruntled or anxious. Many a time he has to tolerate other people’s shortcomings and has to remain unperturbed by someone else’s slowness or other quirks.
Patience also helps sub-editors as they work long hours in trying conditions. They have to put up with many annoying situations everyday vice versa reporters, proof readers or printers.
This basic mental faculty helps reporters in writing better stories that retain the reader’s interest. For a sub-editor this creative faculty is very useful as he can add sparkle to
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somebody else’s copy and make it lively Besides, imaginative headlines attract the reader and improve the quality of a newspaper.
An intelligent envisioning of the future helps newsmen in general. The quality helps them in identifying processes and people who will be important in future. Reporters can watch such processes and cultivate people who may become important news sources in the future.
One can achieve a degree of proficiency in sub-editing or reporting by systematic effort and self-control. In this sense self-discipline suggests dedication and firm commitment. It helps in journalism as in any other field.
It is a virtue in itself and implies undeviating honesty and strict adherence to a stern code of ethics. This human quality is important for journalists. It is more important for reporters for they are more exposed to temptations as compared to subs-editors.
These qualities help reporters in asking unpleasant questions and taking risks to find out truth. Nobody gives a story on a platter. The reporter will have to probe, question, authenticate and exercise his power of deduction to get a good story.
A reporter should be tactful. He should have the ability to handle sensitive people and situations gracefully without causing hurt or angry feelings. He should be considerate of others and should be careful not to embarrass, upset or offend them. A reporter should have flexible and sociable personality and should have a nature that relishes variety of experiences. He should have an understanding of human behavior and emotions. This will help him in developing contacts that are so essential for news gathering.
A reporter who works in the field should have an outgoing nature with initiative and drive. These qualities will help him get acquainted with news sources and get stories from them. A meek, retiring or shy person is not fit for reporting. He may be good at his desk. Reporters need a fair amount of assertiveness and aggressiveness to be successful in their career.
A reporter should be mobile. He should enjoy moving around and should not hesitate traveling distances to get stories when required. He should go to his news sources as
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often as possible for such constant contacts help him get news. A mobile reporter is seldom caught napping when a major story breaks.
News Values Generations
of
journalists
have
used
similar
criteria
in
deciding
the
news
value of each day’s happenings and in deciding which news stories are more important than others. All such decisions take into account the audience for which the news is intended because no audiences are identical. Most of them probably differ substantially from you in background, interests, age, education and outlook on the world. Therefore what seems interesting or important to you may not be viewed that way by your readers. People are more concerned about things that affect their lives directly. A big part of the journalist’s job is figuring out what these things are and what the effects may be. Some of the important criterions for judging news value are: Timeliness — News is perishable. It loses value as it ages. Readers want to know now. What happened yesterday, last night, or this morning is more newsworthy than what happened last week. A new twist, angle, discovery, or disclosure, however, will make an old story timely again. The same holds true for news of future events. The closer an event is to the publication date, the more new value it has. Prominence — important people are more newsworthy than others. Politicians, actors, singers —anyone in the public arena or public eye —are newsworthy. The same holds true within your school system. The president of the senior class is more prominent than Joe Freshman. Prominence can also be determined by the facts rather than the people involved. For example, a national award is more prominent than a local award. “Names makes news,” goes the cliche, still, happening that involve well- known people on institutions are likely to be interesting even if not important. Stories about well-known people
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have a higher readership than those about persons in the lower rank. The more important a person, the more valuable, he or she is as a news source Proximity — News closer to home has more news value than that from far away. The geographic nearness or distance of an event can make a story more or less attractive to the reader. People like to read about what is near to them. Proximity means news happens close by readers and viewers want to learn about their neighborhood, town, or country. All other things being equal, news from close to home is more newsworthy than news from a foreign country. A train derailment in England for example, is less likely to be reported than a similar derailment in your country. Similarly a tragic auto accident in your local area will receive attention because people are familiar with the terrain and may even know the injured. A fire in Chile is less newsworthy than a fire in your hometown. However, if something happens far away but involves local people, then the news value increases because of proximity. For example, if the fire in Chile involves a local student away on a foreign exchange program, then the news value of that fire increases for your readers. Consequence — that which directly affects readers has more news value. How many readers will this affect? How will this information affect the readers? Will it cost them money? Will it influence their career choices? Will it affect their health or well being? The greater the impact of the information upon the readers, or the more readers affected by the information, the greater the news value of that information. Currency
More value is attributed to stories pertaining to issues or topics that are in the spotlight of public concern rather than to issues or topics about which people care less. Stories come and stories go. For example: At the beginning of the 1990s, there were stories about the First Gulf War, the Savings and Loan Crisis, and Senate confirmation hearings on Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court.
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Conflict
As time passed, those stories became less interesting and were replaced by the Los Angeles Riots, the Miami hurricane, the new World Wide Web, a comet colliding with Jupiter, and the presidential elections. Oddity — Readers are intrigued by the unusual or out-of-the-ordinary. Conflict — Most reporters spend most of their time covering conflict—whether wars, politics, crime or sports. Conflict is both a contributing and a complicating factor in news. Usually present, it is often hard to understand and harder to describe. Nearly every story on each of our front pages is a story of conflict. The murders and manhunt are the most graphic. Conflict is a central feature of most news. Sometimes it is physical, as in war or sports. Readers want to know who will win in elections, wars, sports, etc. Emotion Readers become emotionally involved in stories about children, animals, etc. Other stories can evoke humor, sympathy, anger, etc. Take into account human interests that touch our emotions Impact
Another important criterion for determining news value is impact: how many people an event or idea affects and how seriously it affects them determine its importance as news. The facts and events that have the greatest effect on the audience are the most newsworthy .The number of people whose lives will be influenced in some way by the subject of the story. For instance, a cine people strike may have less impact than a postal strike Human interest These are stories that arouse some emotion in the audience’s stories that are ironic, bizarre, uplifting or dramatic. Typically, these items concern ordinary people who find themselves in circumstances with which the audience can identity.
For example the story may involve a
child’s unusual pet or a senior citizen’s success in a field usually reserved for younger people.
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Journalists classify such situations as ‘human interest’ stories, even though all stories presumably are of interest to people. The ‘human interest’ category covers several subjects that may lack story elements such as prominence, real consequences, disaster, or conflict. The story situations are worthy because they deal with such elements or youth or senior citizen’s, pets, adventure, attractive girls or women, the problems of disease or poverty, overcoming handicaps, romance, strange places or merely unusual people. Another term which can be used for these stories is ‘feature’ stories.
The Unusual
When a dog bites a man it's not news. But when a man bites a dog, it is news. (Old journalistic cliché) Usefulness Help the audience answer questions and solve problems in their daily lives
Educational Value Make readers more knowledgeable rather than merely informed The degree of and/or combination of these factors will help determine the news value of information These stories often are timeless and can be held with the photographs that usually accompany them until the newspaper has the space to display them properly. Sources of News From where do newsmen get news, or what are the sources of news is a question that a layman generally asks. Sources of news are innumerable, if has one nose for news he can get it while walking on the road or even casually talking to people. At times news comes to the newspaper
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office without any effort just because it is a newspaper. But a lot of effort also goes into news gathering. The innumerable sources of news can be classified into various categories depending on the criteria applied. Similarly, there is no fixed source that is proper for all kinds of stories. A particular source, however highly placed, may be relevant for one kind of story but totally irrelevant for another. This makes it necessary to determine in each case the appropriate source or sources. The source should always be named in the stories except in special circumstances. Some important news sources are: News Agencies Though news gathering is the job of the reporters, all the news that is printed in a newspaper is not gathered by its reporters, correspondents and special correspondents. Some comes from them and some from retainers or stringers who are not on the regular staff but send news to the paper as and when they get it. The main source of news for a newspaper is news agencies or wire services. We find their credit lines—Reuter, AP, TASS, AFP, PTI, UNI, etc. with the dateline of the story or in some papers after intro such as ‘reports PTI’ The wire services have large network of tele printer circuits connecting hundreds of cities and towns from where their reporters gather news and after processing it deliver to newspaper subscribers in their news room at a tele printer receiver set. India has two wire services or news agencies —PTI (Press Trust of India) and UNI (United News of India). Both have a language wing Univarta (of UNI) and BHASHA (of PTI). News agencies or wire services do not sell newspapers but they collect and sell news to newspapers. They also have reporters, sub-editors, news editors, special correspondents and foreign correspondents. News agency desk processes copy from reporters and foreign news agencies not for printing but for creeding to newspapers on their teleprinter network. News agency copy is also called creed in the newspaper news room.
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Besides these sources that are normally reflected in the byline or credit line, there are other classifications of news sources which find mention in the intro or body of the story and indicate from where or how the news has come to the reporter. These include: Press Release or Handout Signed or unsigned statement issued by a government department, civic body, political party, institution or organization released to the press is called press release, press note, or press handout. Press Conference or Briefing A formal conference of pressmen invited by a dignitary in whom after initial announcement he answers
questions
of
newsmen,
it
is
also
called
news
conference.
Press briefing is similar to press conference in that newsmen are told something and they can ask questions. The difference is that briefing is done by spokesman who is authorized to make a statement and answer questions on behalf of a dignitary, department, or party. Interview Interview is also growing in importance these days. More and more news items are based on interviews of dignitaries. Sometimes even news agencies creed stories based on interviews which are to be published by some newspaper or magazine. Legislatures Legislatures and civic bodies when in session become major sources of news. When parliament is in session all government decisions are announced in parliament. Similar is the case of state legislatures and civic bodies. Courts All courts serve as sources of news. Proceedings of various courts on important cases and important judgments by High Courts and the Supreme Court come in the news.
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Conferences, Seminars and Symposia These are also sources of news depending on the subject and organization involved. Meetings Speeches in legislatures, in seminars and conferences, public meetings, diplomatic dinners and bodies like UN form a major source of news. In addition to these conventional news sources, computerized information sources like full text database, government publications, Public records, personal information images are available from various commercial media outlets. Commercial on line services like nexis, dialog, burrelle, broadcast data base, CompuServe, America online, Delphi, prodigy are regularly worldwide news fees to the media outlets. Attributions All statements of opinion or fact not generally available or known must be attributed to someone. Example: 
According to police house is empty, house is empty.

Police said he seriously injured.
was
Omit the word "that" when its absence will not affect the reader's understanding of the statement.
Although the word "said" will be used most often for attributing information, work to use other words where they may be appropriate Attribution is stating who said something. Attribution is essential in all the media, including radio and television. Journalists do it so that your readers or listeners can know who is speaking or
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where the information in the story comes from. You can use attribution for both spoken and written information, so that you attribute information gathered from interviews, speeches, reports, books, films or even other newspapers, radio or television stations. In a moment we will discuss when you need to use attribution. First, however, we will look briefly at how attribution works in reported speech. Reported speech In the previous chapter, we mainly looked at attribution as it applied to quotes. However, attribution should be used whenever you want your readers or listeners to know where your information comes from. For example, in reported speech the attribution is still part of the sentence, although it is not as distinct as when you use a direct quote. In both of the following sentences, we attribute the words to Ms Mar. In the first, her words are in quotes; in the second they are put into reported speech. The attribution is in italics: Quote: Ms Mar said: "Students can expect no special treatment if they go on strike." Reportedspeech Ms Mar said that students could expect no special treatment if they went on strike. Notice how, in the reported speech, we had to change the verb "can" to "could" and the verb "go" to "went". This is because, although quotes must be word-for-word, reported speech is a report of something which was said in the past, so the tenses have to be changed. The use of the linking word "that" is usually optional in reported speech. It is often left out to reduce the length of the sentence, but should be included whenever it makes the meaning of a sentence clearer. It is often used to separate the verb of attribution from a following verb. Compare the two examples. Notice how including "that" in the second example makes the meaning clearer: The doctor felt many women worried about their health. The doctor felt that many women worried about their health.
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How often should you use attribution? The good journalist has to strike a balance between the need to make clear attribution of statements and the risk of boring the reader with too many phrases such as "he said". It helps to change the word "said" occasionally, in attributing both quotes and reported speech. Some useful alternatives are "warned", "suggested", "urged", "asked� and "disclosed". But beware: each of these has a specific meaning. Check that it is the correct one for what your speaker said and the way they said it. The phrase "according to" can be used in attributing reported speech, but do not use it more than once with any single speaker. Although it is usually a neutral term, not suggesting either belief or disbelief, if you use it too often it can give the impression that you doubt the information the speaker has given. There are other, more obvious danger words to avoid. Words such as "stated" and "pointed out" both imply that what the speaker said is an undisputed fact. You can, for example, point out that the world is round, but you cannot point out that this cake is delicious, because that is an opinion. Also avoid the word "claimed", which suggests that you do not believe what is being said. Be especially careful when reporting court cases. Lawyers and the police like to use the word "claimed" to throw doubt on opposition statements. You must not do the same. The exact balance of attribution depends on the kind of story you are writing or the material you can use. If the statements are reliably factual throughout, you only need to attribute occasionally. If, however, the story is heavy with opinion or unreliable statements, you should attribute at least once every two sentences. Attributing facts and opinions One of the greatest dangers facing young journalist is accepting what people say as the truth. Just because someone tells you that something is a fact does not make it so.
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There are some things which are universally accepted as true, for example that the world is round, that Tuesday follows Monday, that Fiji is in the Pacific. But there are also things which people want you to believe are true but which are either not provable or are lies. These people may not knowingly tell a lie, but many people are careless with the truth. Also, situations may change; so that the truth at one moment may be wrong the next. Attribution helps you to overcome some of these problems. Attribution is the act of specifying who said what. If you attribute the words to the person who said them, you do not have to prove or disprove the truth of their words; you simply report them. Also, people judge what is said by the person who says it. Statements made by people in authority carry more weight than statements made by other people. Look at the following example. The attribution is the phrase said the vice-chancellor Ms Una Mar: Striking students who miss exams will be given fail marks, said the vice-chancellor Ms Una Mar. In this case, you may have very little doubt that this is exactly what will happen. But there is always the chance that Ms Mar will change her mind and give the students a second chance. By attributing the statement to Ms Mar, you protect yourself against this possibility. Thus, if the students do get a second chance, you can say to your critics: "We didn't say it, Ms Mar did." In any case, your readers will be interested to know what public figures believe to be true. Even if it is later found that Ms Mar was mistaken, it is interesting to know that she once believed she would fail the students. As soon as you find out she has changed her mind, you can carry a news story saying so, recalling the previous story attributed to Ms Mar. Clear and undisputed facts In cases where there is undeniable evidence that something is so, you obviously do not have to attribute facts. In the following example, the weather was observable. Who is going to argue?
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High winds and torrential rain lashed Port Moresby today, bringing down trees and flooding parts of Waigani Drive. Neither do you need to attribute if you have witnessed the event yourself, for example while reporting from a court: The National Court sitting in Kieta has sentenced a man to 12 years imprisonment with hard labour for rape. The court has found the man guilty of rape. You saw the judge sentence him. You can state it as a fact. There is another category of stories which appear to be true because of the reliability of the sources. These are statements made by people in authority who are in a position to know, such as the police chief telling you about an arrest or the farm manager talking about his cooperative. In such cases, you might not attribute the facts in the intro, but your readers and listeners will still want to know how reliable your information is. So you must attribute the facts further down the story: A gang of youths ran riot through Boroko shopping centre yesterday, smashing car windscreens and shop windows. Police said about 30 youths were involved and all are thought to be from Morata. or: The Pago Farm Cooperative plans to double its rice production to 200 tonnes next year. Manager Mr Irwin Neman revealed the plans yesterday at a ceremony to mark the cooperative's second anniversary. In both cases, the sources are reliable enough for the intros to stand on their own. Attributing the information has added extra weight to them. Your readers or listeners can judge how reliable the information is.
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Opinions There is no alternative to attribution when statements made are opinions. If you do not attribute an opinion to an individual, your audience will assume that it is your own opinion - and there is no excuse for that kind of confusion in a news story. Your problem may come in deciding what a verifiable fact is and what only opinion is. In many cases this is easy: Localization in the public service has been rapid, but the quality of work is still below expectations, according to Home Affairs Minister Mr Barney Kina. With a concept as vague as "quality of work", this can only be an opinion, even expressed by a senior minister. You will often find that opinions use vague and unspecific language. In cases where fact and opinion are not easily separated, play safe and attribute the story. Attributing a statement to someone is no defense in a claim for defamation. If you wrongly accuse a person of being a thief, it is no excuse to say that you were just quoting someone else. Reliable sources In some cases, your sources of information may not want to be named, for fear of revenge. Journalists who are sure of their facts often attribute such information to "usually reliable sources", "informed sources" or "sources within the department/company". In some cases, they use phrases like "it is widely believed that" or "it is understood that". Be warned! If your information is wrong, the blame will rest at your door. The greatest danger comes in "off the record" interviews. You must always consult your news editor or chief of staff about what you can and cannot say in such cases. Off-the Record The information is provided to inform a decision or provide a confidential explanation, not for publication. Unofficially, in confidence, not for publication, as in what he was about to say, he told the reporters, was strictly off the record. Probably alluding to striking evidence from a court
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record (because it is irrelevant or improper), this term came into wide use in the mid-1900s, especially with reference to persons who did not wish to be quoted by journalists Embargo A news embargo or press embargo is a request by a source that the information or news provided by that source not be published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met. The time when something can be released, News may be released early so that news outlets can be ready to publish or air it, but there may be a restriction on when it can be released to the public. Embargoes are usually arranged in advance as “gentlemen’s agreements“. However, sometimes publicists will send embargoed press releases to newsrooms unsolicited in hopes that they will respect the embargo date without having first agreed to do so — the phrase “For Immediate Release” often found at the top of press releases indicates that the information in the release is not embargoed. Pool reporting An arrangement for media coverage of military operations or other activities by which a limited number of reporters, cameramen, etc., are selected from the entire media corps and permitted to cover the events in progress and then report their observations to the remaining members of the media. A follow-up is a journalist's term for a story which is written so that you can report more of a story which has already been published or broadcast. Those extra details can be new facts, later developments, reactions or new issues which have been raised by the original event. What all follow-ups have in common is that they depend for some of their news value on a story which has gone before. Why are follow-ups needed? Follow-ups are needed because one story on its own may not cover all aspects of an event or controversy properly. Although life goes on second-by-second, day-by-day, journalists cannot
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report it all. Journalists have to concentrate on bits of life and report them to their readers or listeners in 20 centimeter stories or 40-second news reports, three-minute current affairs segments or half-page features. Journalists impose space and time limits on their reports which do not always reflect how important the event is in the real world. Journalists also attempt to show continuing events in self-contained "chunks" called news stories. With the amount of information now available from throughout the world, you have no alternative if you are to share out your limited time effectively. However, just because you as a journalist have described an event in a single-column story or a 30-second report does not mean that the event itself has been described completely. There are often side-issues which have not been touched or later events which will need reporting themselves. We have to distinguish follow-ups from what we call breaking stories, which are reports of events which are still happening as we report them. The hourly reports on a hijacking are part of a breaking story; the report of the eventual trial of the hijackers is a follow-up. We normally catch lines the latest version of a breaking story UPDATE (for example "HIJACK UPDATE") because it still relies on the same news angle (what is happening at the hijack) but gives us a more up-to-date report. By contrast, we would normally catch line a follow-up according to the angle of the follow-up story itself. For example, we might write a follow-up story about the Transport Minister announcing new security measures to prevent further hijackings. We might catch line it "SECURITY PROMISE Because events are often connected, it is not always easy to know the difference between a follow-up and a new story or an update of a breaking story. However, a special feature of a follow-up is that it relies for its significance or interest on at least one previous story. Remember though that just because your follow-up describes the effect of a previous story, you cannot expect all of your readers or listeners to remember the original story, even if they did see or hear it. Later in this chapter we will discuss how you should use background information to remind your audience of the original story.
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The term follow-up will have no meaning to your readers or listeners; it is simply a label we use as journalists. We use follow-ups for a variety of reasons: Continuity Follow-ups show how different parts of life are connected. Whenever we finish writing a story, at that point we limit our report of the event or debate to a single moment in time. Follow-ups help us to set stories in context over a longer period of time and to explain cause-and-effect. Most events are like dropping a stone into a pool of water: the stone forces ripples to spread out, disturbing the water in all directions. Just because we stop reporting an event (such as the stone dropping) does not mean that the ripples themselves stop spreading. We must watch and report the ripples too. To satisfy curiosity When we arouse the reader's or listener's curiosity with a news story, we have a duty to satisfy that curiosity. With issues or events which are self-contained, a well-written news report or feature article will tell your audience everything they want to know. However, very few events and issues can be packaged so conveniently. Many news reports raise questions, particularly: "But what happens now?" Having given your audience an appetite for the story, you have a duty to provide answers to those kinds of questions. Every time you think that you have finished with a story, put yourself in the place of your readers or listeners and ask: "Is there anything else I want to know about it?" If there is, perhaps you should research and write a follow-up. To add balance Because of a shortage of time or because sources were not available when you needed them, you are often forced to run stories which are not properly balanced. The follow-up gives you a second chance to provide that balance. If the Finance Minister announces a controversial new tax, you need to report what the opposition and people affected by it think. If you cannot get them in time for the first story, you
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must write a follow-up which concentrates on the reaction rather than the measure itself. Such reaction stories are vital in maintaining your reputation for fairness. Also, major events or controversies produce large amounts of information. Your readers or listeners need time to absorb all that information. Giving it all in a single story may only confuse them, so you can split it up into a series of follow-up stories run over a number of days or weeks. To cover missed stories No matter how good a journalist you are, you will occasionally miss stories which the competition gets. Perhaps the first you know of this is when you hear the story on another station or read it in another newspaper. By that time, it is usually too late to report the same story yourself. It is usually best to accept that you have been beaten for this story, and try to produce a follow-up. The follow-up in this case still needs to have the information from the original story (which you did not carry), but should have a fresh news angle. For example, the competition may beat you to a story about a government decision to deport someone. Rather than repeat this in your next edition or bulletin, try to interview the person or a relative, to get their reaction for a follow-up. The story will be up-to-date, and anyone comparing your story with the competitions will not think that you are copying from them. The structure of follow-ups Although follow-ups rely on previous stories for their news value, you should still treat them as separate stories when writing them. They should be written in the inverted pyramid style, with the most important aspect (the news angle) first, in the intro. Although the news angle will usually refer to a previous story, your story will not be news if it only reports something your readers or listeners already know. The strength of the follow-up is that it tells your audience about a new aspect of an old story, preferably in a refreshing and lively way.
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For example, the original story may have been that the Finance Minister imposed a consumption tax of 10 percent. In the follow-up, the opposition attacked the tax, so you would write: The Opposition has attacked the Government's new consumption tax as unworkable. Labour leader Filo Toro said the 10 percent tax would be a nightmare to administer and impossible to collect. Finance Minister Jo Hero announced the tax in an emergency debate in Parliament on Wednesday etc... Background All follow-ups must contain at least one paragraph of background to put the whole story in context. That background can come anywhere in the story, The more essential it is to understanding the latest aspect, the higher up the story it should come. If the follow-up is full of new and very important material, you may have to put the background near the end of the story, even in the last par. If you do this, it is sometimes useful to insert a few words of background higher up the story, again just to place the story in context. For example, in your consumption tax story, the third par on Hero's announcement is enough to set the story in context. The real background details (what will be taxed and how) can come at the end of your story. With major events or arguments, you may have to do several follow-ups over a period. You could use the same background pars, but it is more usual to shorten the background as you get further away from the event. Besides, each follow-up may provide material which needs including as background in subsequent stories.
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Sources Some follow-ups, such as a reaction, automatically suggest a different source to that used in the original story. With other kinds of follow-ups it may be more natural to go back to the original source for more information. Such stories could be news of a plan, with the follow-up a story about the plan in action. In this case, you might go back to the same source for new information. However, it is better to find new sources for follow-ups. They not only add variety (with a new name or voice), but they also add a different view, even though your new source may only be another spokesman from the same department. The diary A journalist without a diary is totally at the mercy of events. The diary allows you to plan ahead and keep track of current events and controversies. If you see the chance for writing a follow-up sometime in the future, make a note in the diary to remind you.
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