PUBLIC RELATIONS

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public relations seeks to establish goodwill for the client by creating and molding attitudes. The public relations practitioner examines the interests, concerns and attitudes of the various publics that the organizations serves and then recommends a program to reach these groups. Practitioner carries out the program in a variety of ways – through press releases, news background sessions, brochures, employee publications, speeches and videotapes.
Planning a program is one of the four activities in the public relations process. The program is based on research to find out what the public thinks of the organization or individual for whom the program is planned.
Public relations is as an effort to influence opinion – to influence the attitudes of people. There are 3 things to public opinion:
- Try to change it, if it suits the purpose to do so
- Try to create new opinion, where non exists
- Reinforce existing opinion.

The PR man’s roles as:
- An interpreter to his client or clients of society and event
- An evaluator of the meaning and consequences of social and economic change
- A prognosticator of future troubles
- A prudent and imaginative preparer of program designed to deal with problems before they descend in full force upon his employer
- A transmission belt to carry the client’s messages to various publics and to convey back to the client the reactions of those publics to his programs and activities.

The purpose of public relations has not changed since Ivy Lee and George F. parker opened their doors in 1904 and since John W. Hill, founder of Hill and Knowlton Inc., advised his first clients more than 60 years ago that his job was to help influence the public to think well of them.
Public Relations News puts in this way:
“Public Relations is the management function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

Hill had a formula for what he called “lasting and substantial success” for his clients:
1. Integrity and truth. “Public opinion is entitled to the facts in matters of public concerns.”
2. Soundness of policies, decisions and acts viewed in the light of the public interest.
3. Use of facts that are understandable, believable and presented with imagination.

The Scope of Public Relations

Public relations covers a variety of activities that include: public information, public affairs, investor relations, corporate communications, employee relations or communications, marketing or product publicity and consumer service or customer relations.
The many and varied tasks of public relations specialist include:
- producing an in-house newspaper or magazine for employee;
- dealing with community relations;
- designing, writing, producing company reports;
- lobbying;
- staging events for the media;
- supervising junkets for the press

The task is to manage relations with the public so that the reputation of the client is enhanced, the image is positive. To bring this about, public relations counselors analyze trends, preferences, feeling, attitude through research; indicate the consequences of these findings to the client and device a pogram that will promote the client’s interests.
The Public Relations Society of America lists the major job classifications of the public relations specialist as writing, editing, placement of material, promotion of event, speaking, production (photography, layout for print, production for broadcast and motion pictures), program development and institutional advertising.

Mutual Dependence

As the media matured, so did public relations. The relationship between the media and public relations remains close. The press depends on public relations people for the tips and information,
The public relations worker and the journalist are interdependent. As much as a third or a half all the material used by newspapers and broadcast stations originates with a public relations or public information specialist. The journalist must rely on the accuracy and truth of the information supplied by the public relations specialist, especially since much of what is contained in press releases is accepted at face value.
True, journalists often rewrite the press releases they receive. But they are usually too busy to verify all material in a release. Studies indicate that fewer than a half of the press release reporters receive are subjected to additional reporting by the journalist. In short, journalists rely on the public relations specialists to do their jobs honesty and fairly. The reliance is sometimes considerable because the public relations worker has access to sources that the reporter may not, and often the public relations people is a specialist in a field with which the reporter is only superficially acquainted.

PR Makes News – or Something

The constant need of wire services for news works to the advantage of public relations firms. But public relations cannot control the uses to which its material is put by the press.
Public relations cannot control the uses to which its material is put by the press.

Many Tasks of PR Beginner

Most beginning public relations practitioners engage in a wide range of activities, form seeing that the coffee is warm at a news conference to writing a speech of a client.
The new employee will handle calls from news organizations and the public; write and deliver releases to newsrooms; write brochures, assist on research projects; read newspapers and report on developments of interest to the firm or the organization.
The beginner will be asked to help write reports and letters; draft presentations; produce displays and audiovisual material of many types; arrange for meeting; conduct surveys; and go over questionnaire results.

How It’s Done

Stripped to its essentials, the public relations process has four ties:
1. Research – Determination of what the public thinks of the seller, the individual, the organization.
2. Program – A public relations program or policy is adopted.
3. Communication – Positive information consistent with the program is distributed through appropriate channels.
4. Response – Reactions to the communicated material are evaluated.

News Releases

Just about everyone in public relations writes news or press releases, and for some it is a major part of their daily work. Since many news releases cross the desks of editors at newspaper, magazines, and broadcast stations, the release had better say something important, interesting or unusual and say it well enough to catch an editor’s attention.
The public relations practitioner must have several skills in addition to writing competence, especially in smaller organizations. If the job calls for editing on the employee magazine, the public relations practitioner may shoot the photos, write the story and design the layout.

Past and Present

Some of the critics of public relations contend that the whitewashing by the public relations expert covers truths that often are better opened to the public.
Some agencies advise their employees to understand the consequences of dealing at a distance with people. Person-to-person communications makes people less prone to exaggeration, to truth-stretching. But when the copy-writer sits down to write about a product, he or she is isolated from the buyer or user and the temptation is to enter a world of words. There, the copywriter manipulates language, free of the possible stares of disbelief and incredulity of an audience.
The writer can be a master stylist, can be a fountain of information on subject large and minute. But unless he or she has an awareness of and a respect for the people at whom the work is directed, the best-crafted news release, the most persuasive and advertisement is stripped of value.

What Employers Look For

Most advertising and public relations agencies test job applicants. The interviewer looks over the applicant’s college record, work experience and references. A journalism major is helpful. For the large agencies, experience may be necessary, but this is not always required. However, for the applicant without previous work in the field, some sign of commitment to advertising, journalism or public relations is usually essential. The agency also looks for imagination, an ability to get along with people, creativity and an appetite for work.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public relations seeks to establish goodwill for the client by creating and molding attitudes. The public relations practitioner examines the interests, concerns and attitudes of the various publics that the organizations serves and then recommends a program to reach these groups. Practitioner carries out the program in a variety of ways – through press releases, news background sessions, brochures, employee publications, speeches and videotapes.
Planning a program is one of the four activities in the public relations process. The program is based on research to find out what the public thinks of the organization or individual for whom the program is planned.
Public relations is as an effort to influence opinion – to influence the attitudes of people. There are 3 things to public opinion:
- Try to change it, if it suits the purpose to do so
- Try to create new opinion, where non exists
- Reinforce existing opinion.

The PR man’s roles as:
- An interpreter to his client or clients of society and event
- An evaluator of the meaning and consequences of social and economic change
- A prognosticator of future troubles
- A prudent and imaginative preparer of program designed to deal with problems before they descend in full force upon his employer
- A transmission belt to carry the client’s messages to various publics and to convey back to the client the reactions of those publics to his programs and activities.

The purpose of public relations has not changed since Ivy Lee and George F. parker opened their doors in 1904 and since John W. Hill, founder of Hill and Knowlton Inc., advised his first clients more than 60 years ago that his job was to help influence the public to think well of them.
Public Relations News puts in this way:
“Public Relations is the management function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

Hill had a formula for what he called “lasting and substantial success” for his clients:
1. Integrity and truth. “Public opinion is entitled to the facts in matters of public concerns.”
2. Soundness of policies, decisions and acts viewed in the light of the public interest.
3. Use of facts that are understandable, believable and presented with imagination.

The Scope of Public Relations

Public relations covers a variety of activities that include: public information, public affairs, investor relations, corporate communications, employee relations or communications, marketing or product publicity and consumer service or customer relations.
The many and varied tasks of public relations specialist include:
- producing an in-house newspaper or magazine for employee;
- dealing with community relations;
- designing, writing, producing company reports;
- lobbying;
- staging events for the media;
- supervising junkets for the press

The task is to manage relations with the public so that the reputation of the client is enhanced, the image is positive. To bring this about, public relations counselors analyze trends, preferences, feeling, attitude through research; indicate the consequences of these findings to the client and device a pogram that will promote the client’s interests.
The Public Relations Society of America lists the major job classifications of the public relations specialist as writing, editing, placement of material, promotion of event, speaking, production (photography, layout for print, production for broadcast and motion pictures), program development and institutional advertising.

Mutual Dependence

As the media matured, so did public relations. The relationship between the media and public relations remains close. The press depends on public relations people for the tips and information,
The public relations worker and the journalist are interdependent. As much as a third or a half all the material used by newspapers and broadcast stations originates with a public relations or public information specialist. The journalist must rely on the accuracy and truth of the information supplied by the public relations specialist, especially since much of what is contained in press releases is accepted at face value.
True, journalists often rewrite the press releases they receive. But they are usually too busy to verify all material in a release. Studies indicate that fewer than a half of the press release reporters receive are subjected to additional reporting by the journalist. In short, journalists rely on the public relations specialists to do their jobs honesty and fairly. The reliance is sometimes considerable because the public relations worker has access to sources that the reporter may not, and often the public relations people is a specialist in a field with which the reporter is only superficially acquainted.

PR Makes News – or Something

The constant need of wire services for news works to the advantage of public relations firms. But public relations cannot control the uses to which its material is put by the press.
Public relations cannot control the uses to which its material is put by the press.

Many Tasks of PR Beginner

Most beginning public relations practitioners engage in a wide range of activities, form seeing that the coffee is warm at a news conference to writing a speech of a client.
The new employee will handle calls from news organizations and the public; write and deliver releases to newsrooms; write brochures, assist on research projects; read newspapers and report on developments of interest to the firm or the organization.
The beginner will be asked to help write reports and letters; draft presentations; produce displays and audiovisual material of many types; arrange for meeting; conduct surveys; and go over questionnaire results.

How It’s Done

Stripped to its essentials, the public relations process has four ties:
1. Research – Determination of what the public thinks of the seller, the individual, the organization.
2. Program – A public relations program or policy is adopted.
3. Communication – Positive information consistent with the program is distributed through appropriate channels.
4. Response – Reactions to the communicated material are evaluated.

News Releases

Just about everyone in public relations writes news or press releases, and for some it is a major part of their daily work. Since many news releases cross the desks of editors at newspaper, magazines, and broadcast stations, the release had better say something important, interesting or unusual and say it well enough to catch an editor’s attention.
The public relations practitioner must have several skills in addition to writing competence, especially in smaller organizations. If the job calls for editing on the employee magazine, the public relations practitioner may shoot the photos, write the story and design the layout.

Past and Present

Some of the critics of public relations contend that the whitewashing by the public relations expert covers truths that often are better opened to the public.
Some agencies advise their employees to understand the consequences of dealing at a distance with people. Person-to-person communications makes people less prone to exaggeration, to truth-stretching. But when the copy-writer sits down to write about a product, he or she is isolated from the buyer or user and the temptation is to enter a world of words. There, the copywriter manipulates language, free of the possible stares of disbelief and incredulity of an audience.
The writer can be a master stylist, can be a fountain of information on subject large and minute. But unless he or she has an awareness of and a respect for the people at whom the work is directed, the best-crafted news release, the most persuasive and advertisement is stripped of value.

What Employers Look For

Most advertising and public relations agencies test job applicants. The interviewer looks over the applicant’s college record, work experience and references. A journalism major is helpful. For the large agencies, experience may be necessary, but this is not always required. However, for the applicant without previous work in the field, some sign of commitment to advertising, journalism or public relations is usually essential. The agency also looks for imagination, an ability to get along with people, creativity and an appetite for work.

ADVERTISING

Advertising is used to create goodwill for a company or organization as well as to sell goods and services. When such advertising is designed for public service organizations, advertising agencies donate the work of their employees and the media donate time and space for the advertisements.
Advertising brings seller and buyers together. It helps sellers to compete for a share of the market by encouraging people to try new products, to maintain product loyalty or to switch brands. Most advertisements are the product of a process involving:
- Research – observations, interviews, focus groups to help the advertiser understand consumer behavior
- Positioning – selection of an audience and a theme or concept to make the product or service appear favorably among comparable products and services.
- Media selection – from among the television and radio programs, newspapers and magazines that the target audience watches, listens to and reads.
- Composition of the advertisement – the teamwork of creative directors, copywriters, photographers, artists.

Though superficially alike, advertising and public relations differ significantly. The advertiser buys time and space to reach the public. Public relations operate more quietly, behind the scene. “The advertising man must know how many people he can reach with the media, the public relations man must know how many people he can reach within the media.”
The advertiser reaches the public through the media, and the media depend on advertising for survival. Newspapers receive about three-fourths of their income from advertising, a fourth from circulation. Commercial broadcast stations receive all their revenue from advertising.

How Advertising Works

The purpose of advertising, and the goal of the advertising employee is to put seller and buyer together. Advertising works in five ways to do this:
1. By making the product or service familiar to the people
2. By reminding people about the product or service
3. By spreading news about the product or service to the people
4. By overcoming inertia in potential costumers
5. By adding value to a product that is not in the product

Positioning

Advertising is used by sellers to influence buyers to select their product or services. The choice usually is made from among several similar goods and services, which means that the advertiser must position his product so that the buyer decides to choose the seller’s particular product or service.
To position the product successfully, to reach the buyers successfully, the advertiser tries to understand costumer behavior. Buyers characteristic that advertisers study include sex, age, education, where potential buyers live, the kinds of homes they occupy, their family makeup, their attitudes towards the seller’s product. On the basic of market research an advertising program is drawn up.
The agency’s job was to direct the market to the new product. The copy writer came up with the line.

Promising Pleasure

The theme that is selected implies that if the costumer acts on the advertising he or she will be pleased. The theme may be the low price of beef at the local market – which promises the satisfaction of saving money. Some advertising people say the sell an emotion, not a product. Examples: Automobile advertisements promise neighbor-envy. Perfume and cologne advertisements promise the attraction of the opposite sex. Insurance advertisements promise a feeling of security.

The rule of three:
- Advertise to people ready, willing, and able to buy
- Use the media that reach them
- Make advertisements that win their business

Image Making

Advertisements combine information and image making. How to build an image of the product to appeal to intelligent, cultural costumers? Once the objective and theme are set, the advertisement is composed. Illustrations are selected, copy written, the commercial recorded and shot. The advertisement is then placed.

Media Selection

Agencies place advertisements for maximum effectiveness. So the media selection depends on the product that wants to be advertised and the reader or viewer that will hear or see that products. As themes for commercials, advertisers used comic relief, celebrities, cute kids and the tear-jerker.
Shades of Opinion

Some people say different things about advertisement. They look at the use and affectively advertisement for the reader/ viewer and costumer.
“Advertising is a meter off social and cultural change, though advertising is rarely controversial, only when a new idea no longer is threatening do marketers exploit it through advertising.”
“In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store, we sell hope.”
“Advertising can either increase or decrease the degree of sanity with people respond to words. Thus, if advertising is affirmative, witty educational and imaginative, it can perform its necessary commercial function and contribute to our pleasure in lift without making us slaves to be tyranny of affective works.
“Advertising, projects an image of what like could be and associate this image with it product.”
“The advertisements are by far the best part of any magazine or newspaper. Advertisements are news. What is wrong with them is what they are always good news.”

Team Work

The advertisement is the result of teamwork. In fact, teamwork is involved from the very time the client selects an agency. At that time, the client meets with the people who will be handling his or her account, media planners and the creative team. When the program is worked out, the media or medium selected, the creative team takes over.
The team plots the strategy:
1. Who is the audience?
2. What’s the theme?
3. What’s the message?

Saying It: The Content

What should the copy say? What kind of pictures should illustrate the message? The creative team has the job of bringing the advertising to life. The copywriter and the art director will assimilate and generate ideas.

Vocabulary for Copywriters

The psychology department of Yale University identified 10 words as the most personal and persuasive. They are:
1. New. Human beings continuously crave novelty
2. Save. Everybody wants to save something, whether it be time, energy or money.
3. Safety. This word indicates long-lasting product quality and personal well-being.
4. Proven. Documentation works.
5. Love. Everybody wants the inner satisfaction this word connotes.
6. Discover. Stimulates feelings of adventure and excitement.
7. Guarantee. Today’s costumers often demand a guarantee of some kind.
8. Results. Ultimate results are every costumer’s desire.
9. You. This is possibly the most persuasive word of all in ad copy.
10. Health. The health consciousness of the ‘80s can be applied to a wide variety of products.

The Results

There is actually no solid evidence that advertising alone can sell goods. Costumers, studies show, care about quality and cost, and unless they are given both they turn their attention elsewhere sooner or later.

Types of Advertising

Product advertising and institutional advertising make up the two broad classes of advertising:
1. Product Advertising.
The purpose of product advertising is to sell goods or to make the buyer favorably disposes toward the product. Product advertising can introduce a new product, maintain market position or improve it.
2. Product Institutional.
The purpose of institutional advertising is to make friends for the company or organization, to create goodwill.

Newspaper, magazines and broadcast stations and networks examine advertisements for acceptability and usually reject advertising that they find it questionable taste or that make outlandish claims. Finally, advertising personnel subscribe to a code of ethics.

Foto-foto Buat Tugas

melasti

VISUAL REPORTING

The photojournalist uses the camera to give us pictures that provide information and insight about people, events and ideas. The photojournalist sees and portrays the world in visual terms. Good news and feature photos are truthful, informative, interesting and have significance or impact. They may be educational or entertaining.

The Picture Is Universal

Pictures tell our stories. They are universal language. Pictures extend our reach. They allow us to see events that have passed into history, to travel to places we will never visit, to experience the emotions of others. They communicate feeling, set moods.
Today’s picture-storytellers work for newspapers, magazines and television stations. Called photojournalists, they combine the skills of journalist and photographer. The news writer seeks to capture the essence of the event in words: the photojournalist uses the camera to capture the essence of the event in visual terms.
The photojournalist’s picture enables us to understand and emotionally identify with the event. By using scene or setting and the expression, gesture and body language of those in the picture, the photojournalist communicates with us at a personal level. Sometimes, a news photograph comes to symbolize the issues and the problems of a period in history. The good photograph can be described as interesting, informative, educational. It may be entertaining. The good photograph has impact; it has a message.

Reporting Visually

Clearly, the photojournalist has to be able to recognize the news and to freeze in visual form the news point. The photojournalist must have the talent and ability to portray events and ideas in “unusual visual terms.” Most important is the knowledge of human beings and how the live, work and play. That knowledge must be built on sensitivity, the capacity to identify with what is being photographed.

Helping the Reader

Every photo incorporates at least two aspects: content and pictorial treatment. For newspaper, the content must be significant. Pictorial treatment involves “training the eye and mastering the technical side of the medium in order to organize reality into a visually interesting photograph.” This process involves the photojournalist in selection – choosing what is significant, paring away the extraneous. Using light composition, camera angle and space, the photojournalist is able to help the reader to recognize the significant.

Concentrate on Subject

The starting point is internal – thinking, feeling and looking before the shutter is snapped. Know what it is your want to show, the experts say, and then examine what you have done with that in mind. Ask yourself, what do I want to print to say?

The Process

As does the news writer, the photojournalist moves through four steps in handling a story:
- Idea generation
- Planning, preparation
- Observation
- Writing
The photographer develops an idea or concept; decides on the appropriate lenses, speed, and aperture and selects locations from which to shoot; decides when to shoot, and then does the darkroom work that will enhance the story’s point. For a feature, the photojournalist moves carefully and deliberately through these stages. On a breaking news event, the thinking and the decisions come quickly, seemingly instinctively.

The Camera

Most photojournalist use the 35mm camera, a single-lens reflex (SLR) with a fast lens. The same lens is used for viewing the scene and exposing the film; what you see in the viewfinder is what you will see in the print. The camera usually has a built-in exposure meter that measures the light on the scene and allows the photographer to determine how to expose the film. Some cameras are automated so that the proper amount of light is a automatically let in.

Technology Rampant

Faster and faster film. Point and shoot camera. New cameras, new lens come every month. There seems no end to the advance in photography. Some of the most memorable pictures were taken with the simplest equipment, even with a shoebox with a pinhole. Some early equipment was so bulky and heavy it had to be carried by pack animals when early photographers went into the countryside to photograph.
The key element is obvious, the photographer. No mechanism has yet replaced the man or woman who is able to see clearly the faces and events of the times and who can transfer these insights to film. The photographer records the happenings of the day – accidents, fires, wars, birth and death.

Social Document
Some pictures do more than supplement the news story. They provide news insight, new ways of looking at the world. The photograph can capture a face or a scene with arresting impact.

Photo Essay

The photo essay or picture story is a series of pictures with a common theme that documents an event or tells a story about a person or a place. While single photo are effective, the series can reveal subtleties and make distinctions that one photograph cannot.
Usually, the picture story is built around the strongest single photo, the picture that describes or defines the theme. The photographer keeps this in mind while shooting, as well as the necessity to take pictures that will make the display interesting and exciting. Pictures are taken from a variety of positions. Close-ups that focus a single aspect of the subject vary the perspective. Called detailing, these close-in shots give the viewer an intimate relationship with the subject, and in some cases provide a view that would be difficult if not impossible otherwise.
The film is printed and the pictures cropped according to a layout that emphasize the theme and presents the photos in varying sizes and shapes. The theme photo is placed in a dominant area and is surrounded by supporting photographs.

FROM THE OFFICE AND ON THE BEAT

�Beat reporter move quickly to cover breaking news such as accidents and fires, and they develop feature stories from their beats when they have time.�

The essential elements of many types of stories are described:
- Accident stories focus on the names of the dead and injured.
- Fire stories center on two themes: human casualties and physical damage.
- Crime stories usually are written from police reports. Additional reporting gives these stories human interest. Coverage of the courthouse beat emphasizes large damage suits and trials for major crimes.
- Obituaries give the name, age, address, major accomplishments and survivors of the deceased.
- Sports stories are most effective when the writer knows the sport players and coaches and when the writer makes the action, rather than supercharged language, propel the stories.
- Weather forecasts and stories about unusual or extreme weather include data from official sources and are enhanced by human interest.
Types of writing stories:
- Briefs or shorts includes precedes, or advances, personal and other short items that run no more than five or six sentences.
- Folos are stories that follow up on a theme taken from another story.
- Sidebars emphasize an aspect of the main story printed nearby.
- Roundups combine two or more stories into one by finding a theme common to the stories and using that theme in the lead.

ACCIDENTS

In all accident stories, the names of the dead and injured must be reported. The victims are identified by age, address and occupation. The extent of the injured are also given.

Accident Essentials:
- Names and identification of accident
- Time and location of accident
- Types of vehicles involved
- Cause (quote official sources)
- Source of information
- Names and identification of drivers and of others in vehicles if relevant
- Where dead and injured were taken
- Extent of injuries
- Condition of injured
- Funeral arrangements, if available
- Arrests or citation by officers
If the accident merits a longer story because of its severity, add the following:
- Damage to vehicles
- Speed, origin and destination of vehicles
- Unusual weather or highway conditions
- Accounts of eyewitnesses and investigating officers

Caution: Do not try to fix blame, to give the cause of an accident, or to give information about excessive speed or drinking by a driver unless the information comes from an official source.

FIRES

Stories about fires usually are given good play. Fire stories interest readers, possibly because of our fear of fires. Whatever the reason, the beginner will likely find himself of herself handling a fire story within days, whether it is a farmhouse fire that cause $20,000 in damage or an apartment house fire that kills eight people.

Fire Essentials:
- Death, injuries
- Full identification of victims
- Location
- Types of structure
- Official cause
- Investigation of cause
- Source of information
- How victims were injured or killed
- When and where fire started, and how and when it was brought under control
- Rescue attempts
- Where injured, dead taken
- Extent of injures
- Damage to structure, cost, insurance coverage
- Number of units and firefighters, amount of water used
- Name(s) of fire company(ies) responding
- Quotes of witnesses, firefighters, residents
- Human interest details
- Time of first alarm; who called fire department

When there are several deaths or many injuries the lead usually will focus on this essential. When property is the only loss that usually is the basis of the lead. If possible, try to work into the lead human interest material � a narrow escape, heroism, pathos, coincidence.

CRIME STORIES

The main job of the police reporter is to handle reports of violent and property crimes, investigations and detection, and arrests. The police reporter may also cover the police and municipal or crime report courts to follow up the arrests he or she reports.
Violent Crime: refers to events that may result in injury to a person.
Property Crimes: are unlawful acts with the intent of gaining property that do not involve force or threat of force.

To help clear the way through the flood of police information, the police reporter usually concentrate on violent crimes and spends less time on property crimes.

Violent Crimes Property Crimes
-Murder -Burglary
-Rape -Larceny
-Robbery -Motor vehicle theft
-Aggravated assault

Crime Reports

Few police reporters have ever seen a crime committed. Most of their information comes from crime reports. These are the forms filled out by officers who have investigated the crime. The reporter supplements these reports with interviews with the officers or their superiors and with those who witnessed the crime of were its victims.

Crime Essentials:
- Victim(s), full identification
- Nature of crime
- Date, time, location of crime
- Violent crime: official cause of death or injury; weapon used; motivation; background of victim, if relevant
- Property crime; value of loss; method of theft or enty
- Suspects (no names unless charges filed), clues
- Unusual circumstances
- Quotes of witnesses, victim(s), police
- Source of information

Robbery and Burglary

Beginning reporters sometimes confuse robbery, a violent crime and burglary, a property crime. The difference is this: Robbery is a crime against a person. Burglary is a crime against property.
Robbery involves taking or attempting to take something of value from a person by force or threat of force or violence. The writer approaches robbery stories from two avenues � the value of good stolen and the prominence of the person involved. Usually the value of good taken is the element chosen for the lead, but when a widely known person is robbed, that is the lead, regardless of the amount taken from the person.

Detection

Early information about suspects may compromise not only the investigation but the court case. A reporter must weigh all this before running any but officially sanctioned material.
Detection Essentials:
- Progress of investigation
- Suspects
- Additional clues
- Personnel assigned to case
- Summary of crime

Arrest

Some of the best crime stories are of arrests. Again, the information usually comes from a report, in this case an arrest report, which the reporter examines on his or her rounds of the police department. For arrests in serious crimes, the police or district attorney may call a news conference to make the announcement for all the media.

Arrest: A crime suspect is flushed out of a field by police officers and is handcuffed. Arrests are handled carefully: Names, and addresses are double-checked, and the reporter makes it clear that the person has been arrested in connection with some crime. The reporter avoids any implication that the arrested person is guilty.

Arrest Essentials:
- Name, identification of person arrested
- Crime person is charged with�
- Details of crime, including name and identification of victim
- Circumstances of arrest
- Officers involved in arrest
- Source of information

For serious crime, add these:
- Investigation
- Background of suspect
- Motive
- Circumstances of arrest announcement
- Booking, assignment, any other procedures

The arrest lead: Generally, the lead of arrest story is based on the name and identification of the person arrested and the crime that the person is accused of committing. If the arrest is the result of extraordinary police detection or unusual circumstances, a delayed lead may be put on the story, with the arrest coming as a climax.

Obituaries

Obituaries tell about someone who was died and have interesting story in his or her life. Obituaries are among the most frequently read items in newspaper. A third to a half of the readers regularly read them. Occasionally, obituary is called in by a person identifying himself or herself as a friend or relatives. Be careful. Unless you know the person well, always verify the information.

Obituary Essentials:
- Names, age, address and occupation of the deceased
- Time and place of death
- Cause of death
- Date and place of birth
- Survivors
- Funeral and burial arrangements
These are the bare essentials. For the longer obituary, add:
- Accomplishments and achievements
- Membership in organizations
- Armed forces service
- Anecdotes of friends and relatives

School Sports

A loss in sports is not a tragedy, but players and fans do take it seriously and so the reporter must be careful neither to over dramatize nor understand the loss. The quality of the written story depends on the quality of the reporting. The reporter who knows the players well, who keeps up on the strategy coaches use for different opponents, and who knows the sport he or she is covering, is able to write an interesting story.

Game Story Essentials:
- The score
- Name of the teams, type of sport
- When and where the game took place
- Key incident or play
- Outstanding player(s)
- League
- Scoring
- Effect of game on league standings
- Strategy
- Crowd size, behavior, if a factor
- Statistics
- Injuries
- Winning or losing streaks
- Duration of game
- Record(s) set
- Postgame quotes

Behind the Score.
Scores are remembered for a few hours, says a sport writer. But the emotions endure. By capturing the human element in the game, the writer may tell a story that moves beyond the athletic field.

Be Imaginative
Imagination is vital to the sport story. There are so many sports, such as multitude of games that after the sports pages seem to swim in team names and numbers. Sport is the story of men and women straining mind and body to reach beyond their limits, of unusual people and strange event. The stories should reflect this.
�Writing is simpler that you might expect. Just tell the reader what happened. Who won and who lost? What was the score? Who was the hero or goat? How did the team or individual triumph or lose? Say it simply and you�ll be on your way.�

Structuring the Sports Story

When possible, the sportswriter tries to match the drama of the game with her or his account of it. The difference between the fans� observation and the sports story is the knowledge that the sportswriter takes to the game. For this reason, sports writer often like to begin their stories with the little thing that are the turning points of the game.

Increasingly, delayed lead are put on sports stories. The first paragraph or two may contain an incident, anecdote, a key play or a strategic move. Then in the second or third paragraph, the writer gives the score. Next, a few paragraphs are devoted to the important points of the game- the scoring, significant substitutions, injuries or changes in the standings.

Tips on Covering Games
1. Baseball lives on numbers and that is where you�ll generally find your lead: a low number (e.g. a one-hitter for a pitcher) or a high number (e.g. four home runs for a batter). Account for all scoring and remember to mention outstanding defensive plays and unusual incidents such as fights or injuries.
2. Basketball is a sport where points come to rapidly to mention all the scoring, so focus on the players with the biggest or most important numbers and key stretches where the game is won or lost.
3. Bowling is an easy sport to describe because it basically involves two plays, a strike and a spare. Total pints and decisive plays, such as missing a key spare or covering a difficult split, are essential to any bowling story.
4. Football stories should begin with a summary, a graf or two that disposes of the most important things that happened in the game. For football (and basketball as well) every lead must have a hero in it. Include anything unusual.

Briefs

The trick to writing briefs is to give the reader the basics. It needs the Five W�s and an H. No more two or three paragraphs.

Precedes

The precedes, or advance, tells people about events they may want to attend or at least want to know about.
Precede Essentials:
- Event or activity planned
- Date, time, place of activity
- Purpose
- Sponsor
- Fee, admission charge, if any
- Background, if a significant event

PersonalS

Names make news. In big cities, the names that make news are those of public figures � television personalities, the wealthy, politician, athletes. These news items are called personals.
Personal Essentials:
- Name, identification
- Newsworthy activity
- Connection of individual(s) to activity
- Special of unusual activities in connection with the event
Personals are usually handled in a straightforward manner. If there is a special of unusual activity connected to the events, that can become the lead.

Localizing the News

The logic of localizing news stories is simple. Readers prefer to read about people and events close them. Proximity is a basic news determinant.
Localizing Essentials:
- Name of local person or situation that justifies localizing
- General situation or background
- Source of information � name of wire service or organization

Follow-up Stories

A folo is a story that follows up on a theme in another story. If a national educational organization reports that a growing percentage of high school graduates is putting off college, the enterprising reporter who sees the wire story hits the telephone to call area high schools, junior colleges and four-year schools. Follows usually run the day after the original story appears.

Folo Essentials:
- Reaction, response, local aspect of an event
- Event or situation that gives the folo its news peg
If the reaction story had appeared the next day, it would have been a folo. But since the reporter was able to report and write the story so quickly the reaction appeared alongside the story about the code. The accompanying story became a sidebar.

Sidebar

A sidebar is a story that emphasizes an aspect of another story that is printed nearby. The essentials for the sidebar are the same as those for the folo. The news peg of the original story and the reaction or response are placed high up and close together.

Roundup Stories

The roundup is frequently used to combine several stories into one. The roundup is based on finding an element common to two or more events and then writing a lead that reflects the common element.
Roundups are frequently used for traffic accident stories. You can spot them after a weekend or a holiday, or when bad weather has caused a number of accidents.
Roundup Essentials:
- Lead focuses on a common element
- Body takes each incident or event and elaborates it in turn
- Causes, consequences, quotes may be inserted high in story they explain the situation.

Weather Stories

Locally, people want to know how the weather affects them � what the forecast is and the full story when there is anything out of the usual. Weather stories are often routinely written but they need not be.
There are two types of weather stories, the daily forecast and the longer piece for unusual or extreme weather. Here are the essentials for both types:
Weather Essentials:
- Forecast for next 24 hours
- Long-range forecast
- Most recent temperatures, humidity and precipitation
- Record highs and lows, if any

When weather is severe, the writes must consider the consequences. The effects are included along with the basics:
- Death, injuries, property damage
- Amount of precipitation (or drought)
- Strength of wind, depth of snowfall and height of drifts
- Any record(s) set
- Predicted duration of severe weather
- Consequences:
Traffic � road, bridges, blocked, accidents
Travel � air, bus, rail, local travel curtailed or stopped
Mail � any delivery or collection changes
Public services � power, water, and telephone outages
Business � crops, tourism affected; business shut down
Schools � closing or changed hours
Aid � declaration of disaster area or aid from government

Writer try to show the consequences of unusual weather by introducing human interest, the effect of the weather on people.

CAPTURING THE SPOKEN WORD

CAPTURING THE SPOKEN WORD

Interviews are at the heart of just about every news spoken. Examples: A reporter may seek information about the injured in a fire or automobile accident from the paramedic at the scene. Or the interview may provide background for a story about taxes. A major use of interviews is the profile.

Interviews are of two types:
1. Spot news interviews develop information that supplements the news story. The emphasis in the spot news interviews is on the event.
2. Profiles and personality interviews focus on the person. The depth interview emphasizes the individual being featured.

To carry out a successful interview, the reporter acquaints himself or herself with the nature of the event or the person being profiled, asks direct questions, listens and watches carefully.
Meeting stories focus on the decision reached if one is made; if not, the focus is on the consensus reached or the most significant issue raised in the discussion.
For panel discussions and symposia, the writer looks for an area of agreement or significant differences among the panelists to use as the lead. If there is no common ground, the writer may single out important points made by one or two speakers, or may use the lack of common ground as the lead.
Most news conferences are called for a specific purpose, and this is usually the lead.
Speech stories concentrate on the speaker’s main point, audience reaction or the answer to questions asked by reporters after the speech.

THE INTERVIEW

Most stories are based in part or wholly on an interview of some kind. Since we know that the news story should reflect the nature of the event, we have a starting point for stories that contains or are based on interviews. Use quotes – but not just any quotes. Use quotes that capture the meaning of the event.

● Spot News Interview

The spot news interview is used to gather material to supplement the theme of the news story. Properly interviewed – asked the right questions – the source can add information that makes the story complete.
The questions to ask for as spot news interview are based on the story type essential. For example, a fatal traffic accident, the reporter first asked the essential questions. When the officer mentioned the wreckage, the reporter asked for more details and elicited the descriptive question.
Information from sources of spot news stories usually is summarized or paraphrased. But the reporter who listens attentively can sometimes find the quote that breathes life into the news story. A good direct quote is better than any paraphrase.

● Theme Story Interviews

Reporters are interviewing people for theme stories. These are stories that examine an idea or current development. For example: People have talking about teen-agers adjusting to the pressure of modern life. How well are they adjusting, and what do they see themselves doing in 5, 10, or 20 years? It would be possible to do a poll. But more interesting story is one based on interviews with some of these youngsters.

Interviewing Techniques

Whether the interview is for a spot news or a profile, the key to a successful interview is knowing what you want to find out. The reporter must be knowledgeable. A firm grasp of the topic shows the subject that the reporter took time to look into the person and his or her fields and interests.

Some guidelines for interviews:
- Have a good idea of what you want to learn from the source or subject.
- Get the point quickly
- Listen for the pertinent comments
- Ask if there is anything important you did not ask about
- Ask the source if she or he can be called back should you need further information. (Some sources will not take calls at home after the leave the office. Ask for the name of another person who can be called).

THE PROFILE

The fact that people have always been curious about the lives of others has made the profile the most frequently written feature story. Sooner or later, every reporter writes a profile.
The first requirement for the profile: It must capture the person. Many profiles are written about people in public life – politicians, entertainers, athletes, television personalities, business leaders – that never get beneath the public personality they have manufactured.
Caution: Never select an exciting or colorful quote only because it is provocative. The quote must be consistent with the personality being drawn.

4 guidelines for successful interviews for the profile:
1. Prepare carefully: Know the subject matter and the person who is to be interviewed.
2. From these preparations, device a theme or two as the basis of questions.
3. Establish a relationship with the subject that induces him or her to talk.
4. Listen carefully and watch attentively. Be alert to what is said and how it is said. Look around at the room or office for clues to the subject’s interests, tastes, personal life.

Preparing for the Interview

Careful preparations begin with the newspaper or broadcast station library. The library material provides background and suggests questions to ask at he interview. (Many reporters prepare lists of questions for their interview). The next step is a quick look at references. To up date frequently, biographical material should always be checked with the subject. Sources are flattered by a reporter’s interest in them and their work.

Devising a Theme

Sometimes, the theme is the news peg, the reason the individual is newsworthy. But often, though, the news peg is not the theme. In a profile of the new college president, the news peg was the appointment, but the theme of the profile was the appointee’s ideas for recognizing the college curriculum.
The news peg tells the reader: Here is a newsworthy person. The theme says: Here’s something interesting or revealing that you ought to know about this person.
The depth interview is a confrontation between reporter – with – theme, and subject – with – idea. By this, we mean that both interviewer and interviewee have point of their own they want to make.
The reporter devises a theme from checking the background of the subject and from knowledge of the situation in which the subject is involved. The theme or themes are launching pads for the reporter’s questions. If nothing comes of the questions, the reporter works up new themes. A profile or personality sketch cannot be shapeless biography. The story must have an interesting point to make about the subject.

Inducing the Subject to Talk

Reporters use many tactics to induce their subjects to talk freely and to act naturally. The unpleasant questions always come last, often apologetically. A reporter learns the technique best suited to him or her. Of course, the nature of the interview will often determine the technique used. An interview with a manufacturer whose factory has been polluting the city’s air and a nearby river cannot be much else but a confrontation.

Interview Victims

All reporters, sooner or later interview the victim of an accident, fire, crime, disaster, even of a disease. Such interviews require sensitivity. In some cases, the situation have a built-in sensational aspect, such as the interview with a victim of a sex crime, or the family of a person who has died in an unusual or gruesome way.
There are some considerations when interviewing the victims:
- Talk to the victims right after the even. Wait too long and the victim may become to grief-stricken to talk.
- Be human. Console them. Express your sympathy any way you can. You’ve got some responsibility for the emotions that are going on.
- Sometimes it’s not necessary to talk to the victims or grieving relatives. Calling a relative or victims is a hideous invasion of privacy. So look for a way to avoid it. You can often get better material from an eyewitness police officer who not only what happened but might know something about possible motivation for the crime or other circumstances that surrounded the tragedy.
=So, be human, gain the trust of those you interview, be polite, be gentle=

Asking Questions

The first questions asked in an interview for a profile may be throw-away questions designed to put the subject at ease if the source is not accustomed to being interviewed. The first meaningful questioned will reflect the theme that the reporter has in mind for the money.
Questions should be simple and direct. The point of the question is to induce the subject to talk. Complicated questions overwhelm the source. To be effective, questions must be specific and preferably short.
Generally, the tactics used and the questions asked in interview depend on the source and the kind of information sought. A source may prefer to say little or remain silent. The subject is not the only person a reporter should interview for a prose. Friends, relatives, employees, employers, teachers – the list of those who can provide interesting information about the subject is endless. Sometimes, these sources may have a perception of the subject that gives the reporter a fresh insight, material for a theme the reporter had not thought about.
“Expert appreciate you’ve done your homework and can ask intelligent questions, but the don’t want to hear you talk. Don’t try to impress them. Let them impress you. Remind yourself to listen.”

Listening and Watching

By asking good questions and listening carefully, the reporter usually can find the one quote that best sums up the person or the even.
Gestures can speak. The narrowing of a person’s eyes as he or she is talking can emphasize a statement as emphatically as boldface type in written sentence. And if the source turns away as he or she says something, this may signal that the person is uncomfortable about what he or she is saying. This is the area of nonverbal communication, and good reporters are alert to the situations as well as the words of the source.
When the interview is conducted in the subject’s home or office, notes the made of the furnishings, pictures on the wall, magazines on the coffee table or desk. These sometimes reveal a person’s interests, tastes and concerns.

Taking Notes

Many reporters use tape recorders for profiles, but some prefer the note pad, finding it less obtrusive. There are two reason reporter should take note, first, establish the reporter’s authority and second, is used to seeing reporters.

On and Off the Record

The reporter’s job is to write stories. Most experienced reporters are reluctant to go off the record, and they almost never bring up the possibility with a source. Off – the – record material may be used only on the grounds the source stipulates.
Here are some ground rules sources may set:
- Quotes are not to be attributed to the source but to “an official”, or some such vague source.
- The statement is to be paraphrased and used without attribution.
- Material is to be used only if it is obtained from someone else and then not attributed to the original source.
- For background use only – not for publication in any circumstance.

Writing the Profile

Most profiles are feature stories, and as such they must move quickly. Story movement is accomplished through the use of quotes, description, anecdotes and incidents.
Profile essentials:
- Name and identification of the subject of the profile
- Theme of profile
- Reason for profile (This is called the news peg)
- Background of person
- Incidents and anecdotes from the subject and from friends and associates of the subject
- Physical description
- Direct quotes from the subject and sources
- Observations of the subject at work, home or play: mannerisms gestures
- Strong ending

“The story should be written as soon after the interview as possible. In fact, all writing should be done quickly following the even, while impression and recollections are still fresh.”

Ending the Profile
A good idea in writing the profile is to use an incident or anecdote at the end of the piece that reinforces the major theme.

MEETINGS

Much of the public’s business is conducted in meetings. Important as they may be, few people attend them. It is the journalist’s job to write clear, complete stories so the people know what their appointed and elected officials are doing. Reporters are entitled to attend these meetings.
Once admitted to a meeting, a reporter can report anything that is said unless the reporter is allowed to attend a meeting of a private organization that sets limits on coverage. When meeting are closed, the reporter can use anything he or she obtains by interviewing those who attended the meeting.

Two Types of Meetings

Meetings usually have a purpose, and often the matter at hand is resolved by agreement or vote. Sometimes, there is only general discussion. Each time of meeting is handled differently.

The story of a meeting that results in an action emphasizes the action taken.
Meeting (Action Taken) Essentials:
- Vote, decision, agreement
- Summary of the issue
- Reason(s) of action taken
- Arguments for and against issue
- Names of those for and against, if important issue
- Consequences of decision
- Discussion leading to vote or action
- Background of the issue
- Significant additional issues discussed
- Purpose, time and location of meeting
- Additional agenda items
- Makeup of audience and number attending
- Statements, comments from audience
- Significant departures from agenda
- Agenda for next meeting
Any one of these essential can be the basis of the lead, and the story need to follow the order outlined in the list of essentials.

Meeting (Discussion) Essentials
- Most important aspect of discussion: consensus (stated or implied); significant statement; strong disagreement
- Arguments for and against issue(s)
- Names and identifications of those for and against
- Background of major issue(s)
- Purpose, time and location of meeting
- Additional matters discussed
- Makeup of audience, number attending
- Statements, comments from audience
- Significant departures from agenda
- Agenda for next meeting

When the meeting does not lead to a decision, vote or action, the writer’s task is more difficult. In this situation, the writer may want to focus on what seems to be the consensus of the participants, a conflict, or on some important statement made during the meeting.

Panel Discussions and Symposia

A panel or symposium is actually a meeting, but usually there is no intention to reach a decision. A consensus may emerge, however. If so, that should be the basic of the lead. When it is possible, an area of agreement should be use as the basic of the lead. It may be that the speakers’ only agreement is to disagree. If so, the subject of their agreement ca be the basic of the lead.
It may not be easy to find a common theme, but the reporter should try. Editors know that singling out a single speaker for the lead is the easiest way to write a lead. They value the reporter who has the ability to put the statements and ideas of different speaker together, to pattern his or her observations. The ability to extract a meaningful theme from separate ideas is a competence that every writer tries to cultivate.

News Conferences

The news conference has two scenes. Scene 1, the curtain-raiser, consists of the statement by the person calling the conference. The press politely hears out the message. The scene 2 begins, the questioning of the subject. News can be made during both scenes. Most often, the news comes out of the questions-and-answer period, such as at the press conference.

Announcement
People in public life – and those who seek publicity – call news conference to achieve maximum exposure to newspaper readers and on television and radio.. when the source and the announcement are newsworthy the press does turn out, as it did when Gary Hart announced his withdrawal and then his re-entry in Democratic presidential primary.

A major obstacle to news gathering at heavily attended news conferences is the inability of reporters to develop a line of questioning. Every reporter has his or her own questions, and each is allowed to ask one or two. Should a question turn up something worthwhile, the reporter has no opportunity to develop it. A reporter described the major news conference as a “series of virtuoso performances.”

News Conference Essentials:
- Major point of speaker
- Name and identification of speaker
- Purpose, time, location and length of conference
- Background of major point
- Major point in statement; major points in questions-and-answer period
- Consequences of announcement

Speeches

The speech story is almost always based on the answer to the question: Who said that?
- Who : The speaker
- What: The major theme of speech
The key to writing speech stories is to isolate the major point the speaker is trying to make and then to select quotes that amplify this point. The major point goes into the lead, in the writer’s own words. The quotes go into the body of the story.
Since speeches are often long and may include several themes, the reporter has to be choosy. A speech story should not include more than three or four of the speaker’s points. There are exceptions – a major policy speech will be covered in detail – but the usual, everyday talk can be covered in a few hundred words.

Speech Esssentials:
- Name, identification of speaker
- Major point of speech
- Quotes to support main point
- Purpose, time and place of speech
- Nature of audience; prominent people in audience
- Audience reaction
- Background of major point
- Speaker’s dress, mannerisms, if important
- Speaker’s comments before and after speech, if any
- Additional points made in speech
- Material from question-and-answer period, if any

Writing the Lead

The lead of the speech story generally answers the question: Who said what? It does so in S-V-O fashion, the speaker’s name or identifying label first and what he or she said next. For broadcast news writing, and increasingly for newspaper usage, the S-V-O structure is preferred.
The identification of the speaker is essential. This gives him or her the credentials to merit our attention. The identifying label usually establishes the speaker’s credentials at once in the led. We use a albel when the name of the speaker will mean little to readers or listeners. With widely known people, the name alone usually establishes the person’s authority to speak.
In additional to identifying the speaker and stressing the speaker’s major point, two other essentials may be place in the lead:
- Where the talk is given – location
- To whom the speech is given – audience

The Audience

The word of audience refers to those directly addressed. Audience can also mean the people the speaker hopes to reach through the press. Many speakers have the general public in mind when they speak.
Sometimes, as we have seen, the audience may provide the lead element. An usually small audience for a presidential candidate’s major speech can merit the lead, unless the candidate says something extraordinary. An expectedly large audience can be the basis of the lead as well, as can the use of a small hall to make the audience seem to be a crowd.

Constructing the Story

The speech story is built on direct quotes, the words of the speaker. Careful: The sign of the beginner is using a direct quote in the lead. A great orator is able to reach out and grab the audience and shake it with ringing sentences worthy of a lead. Such a speaker comes along once in a decade.
Most of the time, the writer begins with a paraphrase of the speaker’s major point. This is followed closely by a direct quote that best makes the point. The speech story is a blend of direct and indirect quotes, of the speaker’s exact language and the writer’s paraphrasing.

Caution:
Sometimes a writer is tempted to take a clever or flashy quote and put it high in the story to attract the readers’ interest. This can create problems. Often, the quote is only the speaker’s way of getting attention and may not relat to the news point. Placed high in the story, the quote may mislead the reader. The same cautions should be taken with the anecdotes speakers sometimes use to spice their talks. Unless they lead directly to the news point, they should not be used high in the story.
A tipoff to the theme can be the title of the talk, if there is one. Watching the speaker’s demeanor can indicate the emphasis of the speech. When the words come slowly and deliberately, the speaker I trying to stress his or her point. When the arms wave or a finger points, listen closely or follow the prepared text, pencil ready to underline.
When in doubt about the speaker’s theme, ask the speaker. Post-speech interviews can sometimes turn up better leads than the speech itself.

Follow-Up

When a speaker does not explain a point adequately or the reporter needs additional information, the speaker should be interviewed or telephoned after the presentation. The story should state how the information was obtained. If the follow-up does not work out, the story should state that the point was not clarified. The writer should not hesitate to do this. Otherwise, the reader will presume the writer neglected to explain something important.

Prepared Texts

The texts of important speeches are often distributed to the press ahead of their delivery. Examination of the prepared text gives reporters time to study the material and to write without pressure. It also allows newspapers and broadcast stations to use the material before the talk is given – unless it is embargoed (restricted for use) until after delivery.
Reporters always cover important speeches with eyes on the text and ears on the speaker. News can be made by last-minute insertions to or deletions from the prepared speech.

CAPTURING THE SPOKEN WORD

CAPTURING THE SPOKEN WORD

Interviews are at the heart of just about every news spoken. Examples: A reporter may seek information about the injured in a fire or automobile accident from the paramedic at the scene. Or the interview may provide background for a story about taxes. A major use of interviews is the profile.

Interviews are of two types:
1. Spot news interviews develop information that supplements the news story. The emphasis in the spot news interviews is on the event.
2. Profiles and personality interviews focus on the person. The depth interview emphasizes the individual being featured.

To carry out a successful interview, the reporter acquaints himself or herself with the nature of the event or the person being profiled, asks direct questions, listens and watches carefully.
Meeting stories focus on the decision reached if one is made; if not, the focus is on the consensus reached or the most significant issue raised in the discussion.
For panel discussions and symposia, the writer looks for an area of agreement or significant differences among the panelists to use as the lead. If there is no common ground, the writer may single out important points made by one or two speakers, or may use the lack of common ground as the lead.
Most news conferences are called for a specific purpose, and this is usually the lead.
Speech stories concentrate on the speaker’s main point, audience reaction or the answer to questions asked by reporters after the speech.

THE INTERVIEW

Most stories are based in part or wholly on an interview of some kind. Since we know that the news story should reflect the nature of the event, we have a starting point for stories that contains or are based on interviews. Use quotes – but not just any quotes. Use quotes that capture the meaning of the event.

● Spot News Interview

The spot news interview is used to gather material to supplement the theme of the news story. Properly interviewed – asked the right questions – the source can add information that makes the story complete.
The questions to ask for as spot news interview are based on the story type essential. For example, a fatal traffic accident, the reporter first asked the essential questions. When the officer mentioned the wreckage, the reporter asked for more details and elicited the descriptive question.
Information from sources of spot news stories usually is summarized or paraphrased. But the reporter who listens attentively can sometimes find the quote that breathes life into the news story. A good direct quote is better than any paraphrase.

● Theme Story Interviews

Reporters are interviewing people for theme stories. These are stories that examine an idea or current development. For example: People have talking about teen-agers adjusting to the pressure of modern life. How well are they adjusting, and what do they see themselves doing in 5, 10, or 20 years? It would be possible to do a poll. But more interesting story is one based on interviews with some of these youngsters.

Interviewing Techniques

Whether the interview is for a spot news or a profile, the key to a successful interview is knowing what you want to find out. The reporter must be knowledgeable. A firm grasp of the topic shows the subject that the reporter took time to look into the person and his or her fields and interests.

Some guidelines for interviews:
- Have a good idea of what you want to learn from the source or subject.
- Get the point quickly
- Listen for the pertinent comments
- Ask if there is anything important you did not ask about
- Ask the source if she or he can be called back should you need further information. (Some sources will not take calls at home after the leave the office. Ask for the name of another person who can be called).

THE PROFILE

The fact that people have always been curious about the lives of others has made the profile the most frequently written feature story. Sooner or later, every reporter writes a profile.
The first requirement for the profile: It must capture the person. Many profiles are written about people in public life – politicians, entertainers, athletes, television personalities, business leaders – that never get beneath the public personality they have manufactured.
Caution: Never select an exciting or colorful quote only because it is provocative. The quote must be consistent with the personality being drawn.

4 guidelines for successful interviews for the profile:
1. Prepare carefully: Know the subject matter and the person who is to be interviewed.
2. From these preparations, device a theme or two as the basis of questions.
3. Establish a relationship with the subject that induces him or her to talk.
4. Listen carefully and watch attentively. Be alert to what is said and how it is said. Look around at the room or office for clues to the subject’s interests, tastes, personal life.

Preparing for the Interview

Careful preparations begin with the newspaper or broadcast station library. The library material provides background and suggests questions to ask at he interview. (Many reporters prepare lists of questions for their interview). The next step is a quick look at references. To up date frequently, biographical material should always be checked with the subject. Sources are flattered by a reporter’s interest in them and their work.

Devising a Theme

Sometimes, the theme is the news peg, the reason the individual is newsworthy. But often, though, the news peg is not the theme. In a profile of the new college president, the news peg was the appointment, but the theme of the profile was the appointee’s ideas for recognizing the college curriculum.
The news peg tells the reader: Here is a newsworthy person. The theme says: Here’s something interesting or revealing that you ought to know about this person.
The depth interview is a confrontation between reporter – with – theme, and subject – with – idea. By this, we mean that both interviewer and interviewee have point of their own they want to make.
The reporter devises a theme from checking the background of the subject and from knowledge of the situation in which the subject is involved. The theme or themes are launching pads for the reporter’s questions. If nothing comes of the questions, the reporter works up new themes. A profile or personality sketch cannot be shapeless biography. The story must have an interesting point to make about the subject.

Inducing the Subject to Talk

Reporters use many tactics to induce their subjects to talk freely and to act naturally. The unpleasant questions always come last, often apologetically. A reporter learns the technique best suited to him or her. Of course, the nature of the interview will often determine the technique used. An interview with a manufacturer whose factory has been polluting the city’s air and a nearby river cannot be much else but a confrontation.

Interview Victims

All reporters, sooner or later interview the victim of an accident, fire, crime, disaster, even of a disease. Such interviews require sensitivity. In some cases, the situation have a built-in sensational aspect, such as the interview with a victim of a sex crime, or the family of a person who has died in an unusual or gruesome way.
There are some considerations when interviewing the victims:
- Talk to the victims right after the even. Wait too long and the victim may become to grief-stricken to talk.
- Be human. Console them. Express your sympathy any way you can. You’ve got some responsibility for the emotions that are going on.
- Sometimes it’s not necessary to talk to the victims or grieving relatives. Calling a relative or victims is a hideous invasion of privacy. So look for a way to avoid it. You can often get better material from an eyewitness police officer who not only what happened but might know something about possible motivation for the crime or other circumstances that surrounded the tragedy.
=So, be human, gain the trust of those you interview, be polite, be gentle=

Asking Questions

The first questions asked in an interview for a profile may be throw-away questions designed to put the subject at ease if the source is not accustomed to being interviewed. The first meaningful questioned will reflect the theme that the reporter has in mind for the money.
Questions should be simple and direct. The point of the question is to induce the subject to talk. Complicated questions overwhelm the source. To be effective, questions must be specific and preferably short.
Generally, the tactics used and the questions asked in interview depend on the source and the kind of information sought. A source may prefer to say little or remain silent. The subject is not the only person a reporter should interview for a prose. Friends, relatives, employees, employers, teachers – the list of those who can provide interesting information about the subject is endless. Sometimes, these sources may have a perception of the subject that gives the reporter a fresh insight, material for a theme the reporter had not thought about.
“Expert appreciate you’ve done your homework and can ask intelligent questions, but the don’t want to hear you talk. Don’t try to impress them. Let them impress you. Remind yourself to listen.”

Listening and Watching

By asking good questions and listening carefully, the reporter usually can find the one quote that best sums up the person or the even.
Gestures can speak. The narrowing of a person’s eyes as he or she is talking can emphasize a statement as emphatically as boldface type in written sentence. And if the source turns away as he or she says something, this may signal that the person is uncomfortable about what he or she is saying. This is the area of nonverbal communication, and good reporters are alert to the situations as well as the words of the source.
When the interview is conducted in the subject’s home or office, notes the made of the furnishings, pictures on the wall, magazines on the coffee table or desk. These sometimes reveal a person’s interests, tastes and concerns.

Taking Notes

Many reporters use tape recorders for profiles, but some prefer the note pad, finding it less obtrusive. There are two reason reporter should take note, first, establish the reporter’s authority and second, is used to seeing reporters.

On and Off the Record

The reporter’s job is to write stories. Most experienced reporters are reluctant to go off the record, and they almost never bring up the possibility with a source. Off – the – record material may be used only on the grounds the source stipulates.
Here are some ground rules sources may set:
- Quotes are not to be attributed to the source but to “an official”, or some such vague source.
- The statement is to be paraphrased and used without attribution.
- Material is to be used only if it is obtained from someone else and then not attributed to the original source.
- For background use only – not for publication in any circumstance.

Writing the Profile

Most profiles are feature stories, and as such they must move quickly. Story movement is accomplished through the use of quotes, description, anecdotes and incidents.
Profile essentials:
- Name and identification of the subject of the profile
- Theme of profile
- Reason for profile (This is called the news peg)
- Background of person
- Incidents and anecdotes from the subject and from friends and associates of the subject
- Physical description
- Direct quotes from the subject and sources
- Observations of the subject at work, home or play: mannerisms gestures
- Strong ending

“The story should be written as soon after the interview as possible. In fact, all writing should be done quickly following the even, while impression and recollections are still fresh.”

Ending the Profile
A good idea in writing the profile is to use an incident or anecdote at the end of the piece that reinforces the major theme.

MEETINGS

Much of the public’s business is conducted in meetings. Important as they may be, few people attend them. It is the journalist’s job to write clear, complete stories so the people know what their appointed and elected officials are doing. Reporters are entitled to attend these meetings.
Once admitted to a meeting, a reporter can report anything that is said unless the reporter is allowed to attend a meeting of a private organization that sets limits on coverage. When meeting are closed, the reporter can use anything he or she obtains by interviewing those who attended the meeting.

Two Types of Meetings

Meetings usually have a purpose, and often the matter at hand is resolved by agreement or vote. Sometimes, there is only general discussion. Each time of meeting is handled differently.

The story of a meeting that results in an action emphasizes the action taken.
Meeting (Action Taken) Essentials:
- Vote, decision, agreement
- Summary of the issue
- Reason(s) of action taken
- Arguments for and against issue
- Names of those for and against, if important issue
- Consequences of decision
- Discussion leading to vote or action
- Background of the issue
- Significant additional issues discussed
- Purpose, time and location of meeting
- Additional agenda items
- Makeup of audience and number attending
- Statements, comments from audience
- Significant departures from agenda
- Agenda for next meeting
Any one of these essential can be the basis of the lead, and the story need to follow the order outlined in the list of essentials.

Meeting (Discussion) Essentials
- Most important aspect of discussion: consensus (stated or implied); significant statement; strong disagreement
- Arguments for and against issue(s)
- Names and identifications of those for and against
- Background of major issue(s)
- Purpose, time and location of meeting
- Additional matters discussed
- Makeup of audience, number attending
- Statements, comments from audience
- Significant departures from agenda
- Agenda for next meeting

When the meeting does not lead to a decision, vote or action, the writer’s task is more difficult. In this situation, the writer may want to focus on what seems to be the consensus of the participants, a conflict, or on some important statement made during the meeting.

Panel Discussions and Symposia

A panel or symposium is actually a meeting, but usually there is no intention to reach a decision. A consensus may emerge, however. If so, that should be the basic of the lead. When it is possible, an area of agreement should be use as the basic of the lead. It may be that the speakers’ only agreement is to disagree. If so, the subject of their agreement ca be the basic of the lead.
It may not be easy to find a common theme, but the reporter should try. Editors know that singling out a single speaker for the lead is the easiest way to write a lead. They value the reporter who has the ability to put the statements and ideas of different speaker together, to pattern his or her observations. The ability to extract a meaningful theme from separate ideas is a competence that every writer tries to cultivate.

News Conferences

The news conference has two scenes. Scene 1, the curtain-raiser, consists of the statement by the person calling the conference. The press politely hears out the message. The scene 2 begins, the questioning of the subject. News can be made during both scenes. Most often, the news comes out of the questions-and-answer period, such as at the press conference.

Announcement
People in public life – and those who seek publicity – call news conference to achieve maximum exposure to newspaper readers and on television and radio.. when the source and the announcement are newsworthy the press does turn out, as it did when Gary Hart announced his withdrawal and then his re-entry in Democratic presidential primary.

A major obstacle to news gathering at heavily attended news conferences is the inability of reporters to develop a line of questioning. Every reporter has his or her own questions, and each is allowed to ask one or two. Should a question turn up something worthwhile, the reporter has no opportunity to develop it. A reporter described the major news conference as a “series of virtuoso performances.”

News Conference Essentials:
- Major point of speaker
- Name and identification of speaker
- Purpose, time, location and length of conference
- Background of major point
- Major point in statement; major points in questions-and-answer period
- Consequences of announcement

Speeches

The speech story is almost always based on the answer to the question: Who said that?
- Who : The speaker
- What: The major theme of speech
The key to writing speech stories is to isolate the major point the speaker is trying to make and then to select quotes that amplify this point. The major point goes into the lead, in the writer’s own words. The quotes go into the body of the story.
Since speeches are often long and may include several themes, the reporter has to be choosy. A speech story should not include more than three or four of the speaker’s points. There are exceptions – a major policy speech will be covered in detail – but the usual, everyday talk can be covered in a few hundred words.

Speech Esssentials:
- Name, identification of speaker
- Major point of speech
- Quotes to support main point
- Purpose, time and place of speech
- Nature of audience; prominent people in audience
- Audience reaction
- Background of major point
- Speaker’s dress, mannerisms, if important
- Speaker’s comments before and after speech, if any
- Additional points made in speech
- Material from question-and-answer period, if any

Writing the Lead

The lead of the speech story generally answers the question: Who said what? It does so in S-V-O fashion, the speaker’s name or identifying label first and what he or she said next. For broadcast news writing, and increasingly for newspaper usage, the S-V-O structure is preferred.
The identification of the speaker is essential. This gives him or her the credentials to merit our attention. The identifying label usually establishes the speaker’s credentials at once in the led. We use a albel when the name of the speaker will mean little to readers or listeners. With widely known people, the name alone usually establishes the person’s authority to speak.
In additional to identifying the speaker and stressing the speaker’s major point, two other essentials may be place in the lead:
- Where the talk is given – location
- To whom the speech is given – audience

The Audience

The word of audience refers to those directly addressed. Audience can also mean the people the speaker hopes to reach through the press. Many speakers have the general public in mind when they speak.
Sometimes, as we have seen, the audience may provide the lead element. An usually small audience for a presidential candidate’s major speech can merit the lead, unless the candidate says something extraordinary. An expectedly large audience can be the basis of the lead as well, as can the use of a small hall to make the audience seem to be a crowd.

Constructing the Story

The speech story is built on direct quotes, the words of the speaker. Careful: The sign of the beginner is using a direct quote in the lead. A great orator is able to reach out and grab the audience and shake it with ringing sentences worthy of a lead. Such a speaker comes along once in a decade.
Most of the time, the writer begins with a paraphrase of the speaker’s major point. This is followed closely by a direct quote that best makes the point. The speech story is a blend of direct and indirect quotes, of the speaker’s exact language and the writer’s paraphrasing.

Caution:
Sometimes a writer is tempted to take a clever or flashy quote and put it high in the story to attract the readers’ interest. This can create problems. Often, the quote is only the speaker’s way of getting attention and may not relat to the news point. Placed high in the story, the quote may mislead the reader. The same cautions should be taken with the anecdotes speakers sometimes use to spice their talks. Unless they lead directly to the news point, they should not be used high in the story.
A tipoff to the theme can be the title of the talk, if there is one. Watching the speaker’s demeanor can indicate the emphasis of the speech. When the words come slowly and deliberately, the speaker I trying to stress his or her point. When the arms wave or a finger points, listen closely or follow the prepared text, pencil ready to underline.
When in doubt about the speaker’s theme, ask the speaker. Post-speech interviews can sometimes turn up better leads than the speech itself.

Follow-Up

When a speaker does not explain a point adequately or the reporter needs additional information, the speaker should be interviewed or telephoned after the presentation. The story should state how the information was obtained. If the follow-up does not work out, the story should state that the point was not clarified. The writer should not hesitate to do this. Otherwise, the reader will presume the writer neglected to explain something important.

Prepared Texts

The texts of important speeches are often distributed to the press ahead of their delivery. Examination of the prepared text gives reporters time to study the material and to write without pressure. It also allows newspapers and broadcast stations to use the material before the talk is given – unless it is embargoed (restricted for use) until after delivery.
Reporters always cover important speeches with eyes on the text and ears on the speaker. News can be made by last-minute insertions to or deletions from the prepared speech.

HOW REPORTERS WORK

HOW REPORTERS WORK

“The reporting process begins with two closely related actions – assignment by the editor and idea formation by the reporter. As soon as possible following the assignment, the reporter develops ideas for the story, and these direct the reporting.”
Reporters develop an idea or framework for their stories before and during their reporting. This preparation guides their observations and determines the questions they ask their sources. If a reporter’s observations or the statements of sources point in a different direction, the reporter adopts a new idea for the story. Reporters follow the facts. When the idea or framework is supported by facts, it becomes the lead of the story and the supporting facts becomes the body of the story.

Give Direction to Your Reporting
The reporting process is much like any other investigative process, whether it is conducted by a detective, a nuclear physicist or an historian. First, either support or refute the story. If the theory is not supported by the facts, the investigator develops a new theory.
Unlike the master detective, the reporter cannot spend hours in seclusion mulling over particles of evidence. The reporter sometimes has only minutes to prepare. Remarkable as it may seem, reporters develop the ability to generate useful ideas under pressure.
After the idea or framework is substantiated by reporting it becomes the lead of the story, and the supporting evidence – the observations, quotations and research – makes up the body of the story. This is the reason we are spending so much time on this concept. An understanding of the process of news reporting makes writing the news story easier.
Remember: The idea or framework is always tentative or experimental. It used to get the reporting moving. It used in the story only if the facts obtained in the reporting support the idea. The framework is only as strong as the beams and joints supplied by the reporting.

Story Essentials
The essentials are the writer’s starting point in all reporting. They determine the reporter’s early observations and the first questions asked of sources. One of the most frequent failings of beginning reporters is that they do not cover the essentials in their stories. In the newsroom, the editor will say that the writer has left a hole in his story, or that she has failed to anticipate and answer the reader’s questions.
Once the essentials are tucked away in the notebook, the reporter moves on to more specific and detailed observations and questions. The answer to the routine essential questions usually provide leads for more questions. In preparing – whether the preparation lasts a few minutes on a breaking story or a few hours for a profile of a lawyer – the reporter reviews the essentials, and may even jot down a few questions to ask. Also, the story assignment will set up ideas for observations and questions that move beyond the essentials.

Details Make the Difference
It is the details that make all stories unique. Solid reporting will dig up the details they make stories stand out. Details help the reader and listener to see and understand the event.

Good Reporting = Good Writing
Why is the second account so much better than the first? Only one reason – better reporting. This is what editors when they tell their reporters: You don’t write writing; you write reporting. No matter how proficient a news writer may become at manipulating words, there is only so much even the most gifted writer can do without good material to work with.

On the Beat
The heart of news gathering for the newspaper is the beat. Reporters are placed at strategic locations where news usually develops. These locations are designed as beats – the police station, the country courthouse, the city hall, the federal courthouse. The reporters assigned to these locations are called beat reporters.
Some reporters have topical rather than geographical beats. While the police and the city hall reporters spend most of their time at one location (a geographical beat), the educations reporter moves over a wide territory and examines a variety of topics of this subject (a topical beat). The education reporter visits grade schools, looks in on community colleges, attends school board sessions and even goes to the state capital to cover legislative session – that deal with educational matters. Other topical beats include medicine, science, labor, agriculture, politics, and the performing arts. Sports is considered a topical beat because most sports writers handle a variety of sports events.

Know the Subject Matter
Beat reporters are expected to have a thorough knowledge of the subject matter of their beats. This enables them to work quickly and accurately, whatever the deadline pressure. Their knowledge of how things work on their beats also enables reporters to do enterprise story. These are the stories that are dug up by the reporter’s own initiative.

Sources Are Essential
Good sources and persistence are essential. Sources provide tips and ideas, but not all of them lay out their information like merchants displaying their wares at a flea market. Some sources have to be pushed or praised and patted. Extracting information is an art. Usually, though, sources are cooperative.
A reporter cannot be everywhere on the beat. In the courthouse, where hundreds of transactions occur daily, the reporter who has good sources will be called by a lawyer who is about to file a request for an injunction. Or the court clerk will leave a call for the reporter to check with her about the injunction. A school principal will call the education reporter to invite her to look over a new reading program intended for the fourth grade.
Courtesy, a cheerful word or two and personal interest often are enough to make friends of potential sources. People on the fringes like to be thought to be close to those in power and to feel they are a part of important activities. They do this by feeding information to journalists. Sources also are essential for background stories. Every reporter has friends who can be counted on to explain the complexities of certain stories.

Five Keys to Covering the News Beat
1. Know how things work. Know the law that guide those in charge, the regulations and rules and the processes that underlie the daily activities of the agency, department or unit.
2. Cultivate sources. Good sources are not always those in charge. Secretaries, elevator operators, clerks, deputies, telephone operators can provide valuable information.
3. Keep abreast. Know what is happening in the field you are covering by reading good newspapers and specialized journals.
4. Be persistent. Dig beneath the handout and the press release. Do not take “no comment” for an answer from public officials.
5. Anticipate developments. Follow developments on the beat closely so that you have a sense of what logically must follow the present situation.

On the Beat
Beat reporters do most of the reporting on newspapers. The business reporter covers news construction, local business conditions and changes in company personnel. The sports reporter covers participatory sports activities such as fishing, hunting, bowling as well as the games and the athletic activities of local schools and professional teams. The education reporter covers campus and school activities such as student protests, changes in curriculum and personnel and school budgets.
General assignment reporters cover a wide range of news events. They are not assigned to a specific beat. Whereas the beat reporter has specific geographical or topical area, the general assignment reporter may be assigned to a speech at the Rotary luncheon, a housing development opening in the afternoon, and a landfill protest in the evening. Common to the beat and general assignment reporters are knowledge of the subject and the ability to write quickly and clearly under pressure.
Beat reporters face two dangers in dealing with sources: writing for them and getting to close to them. Sometimes, a reporter will become too technical. The sources will understand, but the average reader will be lost. Since reporters are in frequent touch with their sources and can only visualize their readers and listeners, the tendency often is to write for the sources. A more insidious pitfall is becoming to close to sources, so close that the reporter may be soft on his or her friends. A reporter also may not want to risk losing a good source by writing a tough story.

Checking A Source’s Credibility
- Previous reliability: Has this source proved accurate in the past?
- Confirmability: Is the source able to supply material that will confirm the information he or she is giving you?
- Proximity: Was the source in a position to know the facts he or she gave you?
- Motive: Is the source’s reason for giving you information logical?
- Contextually: Does the information fit with known facts?
- Believability: Does the source appear to be stable and rational?

Investigative Reporting
Investigative reporters seek to uncover material that people want to hide. Some of the activities are illegal, and some are legal but abusive. By abusive, we mean that activities in some way hurt people or deny them their rights. In recent years, investigative reporters have paid as much attention to the affairs of private industry and organizations as they did to governmental abuses and illegalities.
Investigative reporting is based on digging, the scrutiny of records, documents and files. Investigative reporters also rely on sources for tips and inside information. Although some reporters are assigned investigative reporting as a special beat, all reporters are expected do dig out information on their beats. The reporter who accepts without checking handouts and press releases and who relies on the assertions of authorities without checking them fails to inform readers and listeners of the full dimension of his or her beat. Such a reporter can never hope to do investigating reporting. Editors also want reporters who can do interpretative reporting and writing.

Interpretive Stories
The reporter who knows his or her beat, who has good sources and who can place current events in the context is often asked to write interpretive pieces. These articles, sometimes in the form of columns, sometimes called news analyses, give the causes and consequences of events. For instance, a writer might try to show how a city ordinance came into existence – the groups that pushed for it, the organizations that opposed it and lost and the reasons for their positions. The writer will also describe the effect of the new ordinance.
The term interpretive reporting means that the writer seeks to find the meaning of the event. This is not editorial writing. Editorial writers tell readers or listeners that something is good or bad. That is, they make value judgments. The interpretive news writer puts the event in its context. By placing an event in context, we mean that the interpretive writer’s job is to place the news event in the stream of cause and effect. An event that is isolated for a news story is plucked from a larger cycle or stream of related event. The interpretative story shows the news event to be part of a stream of events.

Aids and Impediments to Reporting
In making news, we have stressed the logical, thoughtful approach to reporting. We have talked about reporters adopting tentative ideas, then going out on the story to find supporting material. If the material is not there, the reporter adopts another idea. All of this makes the reporter seem cool and detached, dispassionately jotting down data from his or her observations, a scientist tracking electrons. Most journalists don’t work that way. Like everyone else, they have feelings, attitudes, and personal values. No one is exempt from these emotions, prejudices and biases. Some are positive and can reinforce good journalism.

Moral indignation
The persistent underlying sentiment of many investigative reporters is a sense of moral indignation. They want to make the world a better place, and they cannot abide the misuse and abuse of wealth and power that makes life painful and arduous for so many. No content with official statements, versions or excuses, reporters blessed – or afflicted – with moral indignation get things done. Although emotional involvement can lead to good stories, some feelings and attitude can distort observations and can blind the reporter to some kinds of stories.

Personal Biases
News reporting and writing is the art of selection. Reporters choose what they want to observe, and then select from those observations the elements they want to put into their stories. Many reporters do have strong political views, but they hold them in check. They realize that the complexities of life cannot be reduced to the simplistic absolutes of our young liberal and conservative. Some reporters are unaware of their biases, of the distorted pictures they carry around with them. We all grew up with images of things and people we like and dislike, of ideas we find admirable and those consider repulsive. Our parents, church or mosques, our friends, our school, our favorite television programs – all these and more influence us to see the world in certain ways. Journalists see these images, too, and sometimes they can distort a journalist’s perception.

Useless Baggage
The aspiring journalist should remember that no one, not even those who follow a credo that calls for an open mind, compassion and a commitment to democratic values, is exempt from the prejudice of time and place. One of the most difficult tasks young journalists face in freeing themselves from the weight of the past is establishing a proper attitude toward authority.
There is a middle road. The journalist must be skeptical of authority. An assertion Is not true simply because someone in power or an expert said so. The journalist’s task is to check statements, claims and declaration, no matter authoritative the source. Skepticism is not cynicism. It makes no sense to turn away from someone authority merely because the person has a credential or a title. An open mind, a broad outlook, association with all kinds of people and the realization that although people have much in common they are different – these are useful to counter the pictures in our heads that can distort reality.

Story Essential
Every story that a reporter writes can be fitted into a type or category. There are game stories that sports writers handle, fire and arrest stories police reporters write, meeting stories that a variety of beat and general assignment reporters cover and write. There are also news conferences, meeting, obituaries, accidents, crimes, weather and personals. Each of these types of events has essential ingredients or elements that must be included in the stories.
Here is what we mean by the essential elements of the news story. An obituary obviously must include the name or the person who died. Since the reader wants to know something about the person, every obituary must also include the person’s address or home town and his or her occupation and accomplishments. There are other absolute necessities for the obituary, one of which was left out of the following wire service story.

Non-negotiable Essentials
Journalists like to say that there are no rules for journalism. Since no event is quite like another event, there can be no rigid rules for writing stories. All events are different. Each should be handled with an individual touch, with full attention to its unique characteristics. However, every basketball game story must include the score, the names of the teams, the key plays and the names of the players scoring the most points. All accident stories tell the reader or listener the names of those injured, where the accident occurred, the names of the drivers involved and the cause.
To sum up, there are essential elements for every type of story and they must be included. They are non-negotiable. You can complain about being forced into a rigid style by these requirements all you want. These essential can be placed anywhere in the stories – in the lead, the middle, at the end. Placement is up to the news writer and his or her feel for the relative importance of the elements and the structure of the story.
Journalism is not mechanical. It cannot be carried out by the number, like a drill team automatically stepping out its patterns. Journalism is an art that requires it practitioners to look with a fresh eye at each event so that the unique aspects of the events can be captured in the story. But the eye must have a focus, a direction in which to begin looking. The essentials point the news writer in the proper directions.

FINDING INFORMATION AND GATHERING FACTS

News is developed from the journalist’s observation of events, from interview with the people involved and by research in records, files and reference material. This material is supplemented by the journalist’s general knowledge, primarily on how things work. To enrich background knowledge, the journalist seeks a wide range of experiences, reads widely and knows how to use a variety of reference materials.

The news story stands on facts, and the facts that are most convincing are those that the reporter gathers by direct observations.

●Terror Underground

Pushing to the front of a crowd, asking questions that embarrass sources, refusing to be put off by an uncooperative official – this can be the daily routine for reporters. Some newcomers to journalism find this behavior aggressive and discourteous. No reporter should be impolite, but the reporter’s job is to gather information for people who want to know and who need to know, and so beginners must overcome their timidity.

The reporter who has observed the event is able to make the story come alive for readers. But it is not always possible to witness the event, such as, when a bank is robbed, truck slams into a car or a flash flood rips out a bridge. These happen so quickly, only sheer luck would have the reporter there at the moment the news breaks. In these situation, the reporter turns to sources for information – eyewitnesses and authorities.

●Talk to Participants

The reporter covering a flood will try to reach those on the scene, someone who saw the water’s surge carry off the bridge. If he or she cannot find an eyewitness, the reporter will settle for quotes from someone who can attest to the storm’s fury.

The reporter covering a fatal accident will try to talk to a passenger or the driver, if the accident is worth a detailed story. If this is not possible, the reporter will try to reconstruct the event from the investigating officer’s written report.

Three Basic Sources of Information:

1. Direct Observation
2. Human sources. People who have witnessed the event; authorities and experts who know about the subject, and people who are involved in the event.
3. Reports, documents, and reference material. This includes newspaper clippings; film and tape form broadcast station libraries; minutes of meeting; tape recordings; court, police and legislative records; budgets or tax records.

Most stories combine all three types of sources. The only problems for the journalist are knowing what’s available and knowing how to locate it.

* What’s there. There is no easy way to learn this. But the journalists who know how systems work can put their hands on records and documents because they know what has to be filed, when it is filed and where it is.
* Getting it. All information – with few exceptions – in departments and agencies that are tax supported is available to the public. The beat reporter who befriends the people who keep records is likely to have access to them.

●Data Base

A computerized data base is a machine-readable storehouse of information. A data base saves the reporter time, provides the most recent information and allows access to information usually not available anywhere else, or available only through expensive travel and telephone calls. An important source of information is the federal government.

●Polls

Public opinion polls are a major source of information for news stories. Polls are a systematic way of finding out what people say they are thinking about at a given time. They are use to determine how people feel about a wide variety of issues. Polls are conducted by hundreds of organizations, including newspaper and broadcast stations.

The results of polls can be use to predict how people will act in the immediate future. But since people change their minds, long-range forecasts are dangerous. Also, times change and new circumstances influence people. Polls can tell us what people in various group prefer: what ethnic and racial groups favor. The can identify groups by income, education, occupation, religion, politics and tell us what these subgroups favor.

●Background is Essential

Another source of material essential to the content of the news story is the reporter’s background knowledge, the information he or she has about the subject. When a reporter is sent out an unfamiliar story, he or she has to take a quick course in the nature of the event. No one is expected to know every detail of every subject. But editors do expect their writers and copy editors to consult the appropriate references.

●A Reporter’s Range of Knowledge – Know the Beat

A reporter should know how things work on his or her beat. The police reporter knows the chain of command in the police department, why police officers sometimes throw the book at offenders and how juveniles are used by drug pushers to avoid felony arrests.

●Know the Community

The reporter should also know how things work in the society. The reporter should know about:

* The political process – how the major and the city council are elected; who appoints the police chief; whether the mayor or the council is the source of power; how the judicial system work.
* The social setting – who the influential people in town are; how people get along with each other; the racial, religious and ethnic makeup of the community.
* The economics of the city – how people make a living; the major employers; who the power brokers are; the relationship of business and politics.

●Press Law and History

Journalists also need to know press law, the history of the press and the special needs of their newspapers and stations. An understanding of the laws of libel and privacy helps reporters avoid troublesome legal suits and encourage them to be venturesome.

Understanding the history of the press opens the past to the journalist. Knowledge of those who helped to make the press a bastion of democracy gives the journalist courage when attacked, stamina when the routine approaches drudgery and confidence when journalism is belittled.

●The Perpetual Student

The reporter never stops learning. He or she is always replenishing the storehouse of knowledge essential to the journalist. A good reporter is a student all his or her life. Each new assignment demands a crash course in the theory and practice of yet another profession or system. Information has a way of linking, of patterning. As the journalist finds out, often to his or her amazement, knowledge comes together.

●Current Events

The journalist also knows what is happening in the community, state, nation and the world. Reporters keep up by moving among all kinds of people and by seeking out diverse experiences. But experience is not enough. Journalists read – they read everything from geography and history to fiction.

Ideas and information valuable to journalists can also be found in magazines. Keeping up also involves learning what the tangled events of the nation and the world mean. This requires the journalist to seek out interpretative columns in newspaper and in magazines of opinion.

●Favorite Authors

Books are helpful in two ways. Non-fiction books can aid the reporter in the accumulation of background information. Fiction has been an inspiration to many news writers teaching style and the use of dialogue and description.

●References Work

The references begin with the telephone directory and the dictionary. In cities where there is a city directory, this should be added to the list of essentials. The telephone directory is the authoritative references for the spelling of names and for address and telephone numbers. The dictionary is the authoritative source for correct spelling. There is no excuse for incorrectly spelled words.

●Research

Journalists seem unwilling to admit that they do research. Too stuffy, too academic. But a lot of reporting is research. The computer has helped reporters do sophisticated research. The computer, an information processing machine can digest, sort and present vast amounts of material that would take reporters weeks to put together.

●Localizing

Extensive reading and thorough research turn up materials that reporters can localize. By localizing a story, we mean taking some national or international development and applying it locally.

●Last – or Lost – Words

No matter how wide the reporter’s range of knowledge may be, no matter how assiduously he or she keeps up with the news and events in city, state and nation, all this will be wasted unless the reporter has common sense.

●Taking Notes

In gathering all this information – from references, research, interviews, and direct observation – reporters take notes. Few reporters have total recall, and only the suicidal would dare to trust to memory the spelling of names, exact addresses and other specific information. Some reporters put their faith in the tape recorder, which is all right for the sit-down interview. But on breaking stories and with people who might freeze up at the idea they are being recorded, notes are best.

FIVE TUNING THE STORY

“The writer’s task is to find the words and the form that allow the reader to see, hear and understand what the writer has experienced.”

The news writer uses everyday words in short sentences and paragraphs, structures the story so that it moves logically from beginning to end and includes quotations, incidents, and specific details that make the story interesting and convincing.

Writers select a style for each story that reflects the nature of the event. A story about a game decided in the last minute may contain unusually short sentences to give a sense of the quick movement of the game, whereas a story about a teacher retiring after many years will have longer sentences and a relaxed pace. Writers are scrupulously careful to keep errors out of their copy- incorrect grammar, misspellings, improper word use. Copy is edited by the writer before turning in it.

Short sentences and ordinary words lead to clarity, one of the most important ingredients of the news story. The news story must be understandable. If it is not, it is words cast to the wind. The good news story has two other ingredients. It is convincing, and it is natural. By this, we mean that the story can be believed and that the style suits the nature of the event.

1. Easy to Understand

Clarity is achieved through familiar language and logical structure. Sentences are short and follow the S-V-O pattern. The story moves in a linear progression. A theme is stated in the lead and immediately developed. If there is more than one theme, the themes are developed in the order stated in the lead. When a delayed lead is used, the incidents and quotes used in the first few paragraphs move directly to the theme.

● Verbs Provide Action

The power of sentences comes from their verbs. Action verbs propel the sentences. They move the subject to the object.

● Know Your Audience

Simplicity and clarity are important because of the different kinds of people who read and listen to news. Most journalists are aware that the public is diverse, and that they must direct their writing at a wide range of readers and listeners.

2. Readability

Studies of written material find sentence length to be a key factor is readability. Some studies also conclude that paragraph length and word length are factors. This table is given to wire service reporters:

Average Sentence Length Readability

8 words or less Very easy to read

11 words Easy to read

14 words Fairly easy to read

17 words Standard

21 words Fairly difficult to read

25 words Difficult to read

29 words or more Very difficult to read

If sentences are long, one way out of the trouble is to cut a word out. A good place to start cutting is with adjectives and adverbs. A sentence that repeats a previous idea should be cut. An old rule for journalists helps to cut sentence length: one idea to a sentence.

Paragraph should not be long. A long paragraph can discourage a reader. By dividing the number of words in the articles by the number of paragraph, an average paragraph length is obtained. Some editor say they prefer no more than 50 to 70 words to a paragraph. One way to keep paragraph length down is to limit paragraphs to no more than three or four sentences.

To test the readability of a story look at:

Sentence pattern – Average number of words per sentence. An average of 20+ means the story is hard to read.

Fog index – Abstract or complex words per sentence. Simple words are understood easily. Replace “rendezvous” with “meeting,” “compelled” with “forced”, and so on.

Human interest – People are interested in people. Name people; show them talking and acting.

3. Convincing

The combination of on-the-scene reporting and persuasive writing carries conviction. By convincing writing we can mean stories that illustrate with examples (show, don’t tell), that quote people involved in the event and that contain specific details.

Writers usually are most convincing when they have witnessed the event they are describing. Watching people act, listening to them speak, the reporter is able to catch the flavor of the event.

● Quotes Convince

Quotes carry conviction. Handling quotes can be an art – the art of knowing when to use direct quotes and when to paraphrase. Not everything a person says should be quoted directly.

Use a direct quotation when :

It is important to put a person on the record with his or her own words.

The quotation sums up what the person is saying

The quotation lets the reader or listener visualize the person or situation.

The quotitions are essential in question and aswer stories such as those about meetings, trials, and confrontations.

Quotes are not only convincing but also memorable.

● Be Specific

Finally, conviction is achieved through specifics. The writer who writes, “There were about a dozen people in the courtroom” is not taken as seriously as the writer who writes, “There are 11 people in the courtroom.” We know that the write who wrote “11” was there.

Readers love details, specific details. Readers can visualize the event if the writer told them specifically, such as the suspect was five-foot-four, thin, wore blue jogging shoes, had a close-cropped haircut and use a small handgun that fit in the palm of his hand.

Notice that the specifics have been linked to particular things that can be seen, touched, smelled, or heard. Writers use images that appeal to the sense to make their specifics spring to life and to give them the exactitude of reality.

Words as well as observations can be abstract. Just as we avoid saying around a dozen or small, we do not use abstractions, such as patriotism, equality, affection, unless they are tied directly to a specific event or situation or we are quoting someone.

● Natural Style

Natural style means the style of the story fits the subject. Words, sentence patterns, even the paragraph lengths are chosen to consistent with the subject matter.

The Shift to Storytelling

Generations of student journalists were given two writing rules:

Structure all stories in the form of an inverted pyramid. This means that all important material is placed high in the story, preferably in the lead.

Leads should answer the questions: 5W + 1H.

Clutter

One of the enemies of clear writing is the cluttered sentence, the sentence that bumps and grinds its way from capital letter to period without regard to meaning, structure and coherence. A sentence makes a single point. Each word is chosen to make that point. The useless words are tossed out. Concrete nouns – the names of specific things – are used instead of vague nouns propped up with adjectives. Action verbs help to move the sentence. Adverbs are unnecessary.

Tell it Simply and Directly

Basically, the story should be told in declarative sentence that pull the reader along. Subject, verb, object, period. A more complicated sentence can lead the writer into trouble.

Clear Writing Muddy Prose

Simple language Flowery language

Active verbs Passive verbs

Straightforward sentence Complex sentence

Tight writing Loose writing

Easily understood Difficult to follow

Rewriting

Good writing is rewriting. Even on deadline, a good writer will take at least 20 or 3o seconds to glance over a piece of copy, not really editing it, but simply because it is the writer’s habit to reflect on what he or she has written before letting go of it.

Here are some checkpoints for the writer as he or she re-reads copy:

Is the lead on target or buried? What is most of the body of the story about? If it is not about the theme selected as the lead, the lead is wrong.

If a delayed lead is used, does the quote or incident move directly into the main theme?

Is the story organized properly, or does it jump from one topic to another and back? Is secondary information placed above primary material in the body?

Does the story move? Don the nouns and verbs carry it forward with an internal momentum? Do the facts that are chosen give movement to the piece?

Do quotes, incidents, details support the lead?

Rewriting Press Releases

One of the most frequently performed tasks in the newsroom is rewriting releases. Publicity and press releases are essential to the news operation because they provide information no news staff is large enough to gather. As much as half to three-fourths of all news can be traced to a press releases, also known as a handout.

Whatever the source, however perfect the material may seem, the reporter always checks before using the release. Nothing is accepted at face value. The first check is with the newspaper files. No matter how searching the reporting and checking may be, however interesting the writing, all this work can be underdone by a small slip, an error in spelling or incorrect grammar.

Muddy Thinking = Mistakes

Every person who works with tools knows just what each tool can do. The auto mechanic would not think of using an air pressure gauge to measure the gap of a spark plug. It makes no sense. Writers sometimes fling words around with that kind of abandon. They reach into their word kit and haul out something that looks or sounds as though it can do the job.

Word Usage

Writers can sometimes profit their mistakes and the mistakes of others. Example: Tragedy is a strong word. Familiar with accounts of people being trampled at rock concerts, the reader expects the worst. What actually happened: A pianist suffered a broken hard and others had cuts and bruises = that is tragedy. The most frequent misuse of language is called cliché.

Cliché

At one time, the writer pick phrases that have already used and overused them so it is called cliché.

Redundancies

Redundancies are repetitions which is not necessary and meaningless. One way to avoid redundancies and other mistakes is to train yourself to be wary of adjectives and adverbs:

totally destroyed – adverb

first annual – adjective

serious crisis – adjective

successfully docked – adverb

Journalese

The dictionary defines journalese as the language style characteristic of newspaper writing. That’s the sanitized version. Among journalists, journalese is known as the combination of clichés, hack writing, overwriting, exhausted phrases and supercharged prose that are the signs of the hopeful beginner or the hopeless veteran.

20 Tips for Good Writing:

1. Be fair. Presenting all sides of as story is not copping out.

2. Observe good taste.

3. Make the lead provocative, clear and simple

4. Sentences should be short.

5. Quotes improve a story. Use them

6. An important story need not be long

7. Select adjectives carefully. Too many are dangerous.

8. Don’t be impressed with an important assignment.

9. Go directly to the source on every story when possible.

10. Leave no reasonable question unanswered. Do not assume readers know the background. And don’t be afraid to write a good story you think readers already know.

11. Be polite, but don’t be servile.

12. Get details. If your congressman wears high-top shoes, scratches his ears and uses a spittoon, you’ve created a word picture.

13. Don’t be afraid to try something that isn’t in the book.

14. Even if you have mastered the language, use short, easy words.

15. Stories are improved by the injection of the time element.

16. After the lead, blend the story from paragraph to paragraph.

17. Don’t insult a race, an ethnic group, a minority group or other separate entity. Identify when it adds information. The distinction is thin at times.

18. Don’t abuse your privileges or the weapons of your industry.

19. Admit errors quickly and fully.

20. Name the source of your story when possible. If it is an expose from a confidential source, protect that source.