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.

STRUCTURING THE STORY

STRUCTURING THE STORY

“Building the news story begins with the lead as the foundation. One the news writer knows what or she wants to emphasize the story begins to form a shape or pattern.”

The news story is put together or structured according to the number of main elements or themes the writer decides to use in the lead. The single-element story is the most common. The body of news story includes the facts, quotes and incidents that explain, buttress and support the element used in the lead.

Some stories have two or three important elements. Leads for these stories include all the elements or a summary of the elements. The body of the story explains each element in order, supplying the reader with the supporting material to buttress the element in the lead.

The news writer is a builder. From notes, background and personal knowledge he or she constructs a logical and complete structure. The news writer has to work from plan.

Single theme story : if one idea, action or event clearly stands out as the most important or unusual aspect of what was said or done. A single-element theme story requires a single-element lead.

Two or three elements: the lead will include two or three aspects.

ORGANIZING THE STRAIGHT NEWS STORY

A story may contain many facts but only one, two or three major themes or elements. It might be that a theme or element of a story is the summary of a set of facts.

Example:

- The city council votes 3-4 in favor of a major street paving program.

That become the major element for the lead. The arguments for and against the program, the present condition of city streets, the city engineer’s statement that twice the proposes amount is needed to fix the streets- all the are facts that go into the body of the story to support the major element in the lead. These themes are secondary in importance to the street-paving program and are included in the story after the news writer has given ample attention plan, that would have been a major element in the body in the street-paving program, which is the major theme.

The score in the soccer game is the major element of the story and usually goes are addition into the lead. The names of the players who scored, the key offensive and defensive plays, the change in the standings and the home’s next game are additional facts that are placed in the body of facts that are placed in the body of the story.

● SINGLE-ELEMENT NEWS STORY

These are spot news story.

Example:

- A plane crash kills three people.

- A local clothing store is swept by the fire.

- The president flies to Mexico for a conference.

All single-element news stories take the basic structure:

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The first paragraph contains the lead.
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The second paragraph either elaborates on the lead or provides the necessary background.
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The story continues with additional supporting and buttressing information about the lead.

When the writer has finished with all the relevant material to support the main element of the story, secondary themes are needed.

● TWO-ELEMENT NEWS STORY

There are three ways to structure the two-element story:

1. If the two elements conveniently fit into a single sentence, the writer can put them both in the first paragraph.

2. If combining both elements into a single sentence requires more that 35 or 40 words, the writer will have to give each elements sentence of its own.

3. If the two element cannot be squeezed into a sentence (option one) and the writer does not want to write a two sentence or two-paragraph lead (option two) because it would be too long and cumbersome, a third option is available.

Organize Supporting Material

The body of the single-element story consists of background of information and the explanation or elaboration of the lead. Additional or secondary material is included deep in the story. The two-element story follows the same general outline with one major difference.

The important principle to remember in writing-element stories is not to jump around or the reader or listener will be confused. The guideline is to put similar material together. Put all the supporting material about lead element A together before you begin to elaborate on element B. To jump from element A to element B need a transition. A good transition tells reader where they have been (action on dump) and then informs the where they are being taken (action or summer program).

Use conjunction to connect the different elements in a story and make the piece have the structure of a linked chain.

Here are some other conjunctions: and, but, however, on the other hand, meanwhile, although, then, now, next, before, after, in addition to, moreover, later, furthermore, nevertheless.

No reporter should be a slave to a formula. Sometimes, a news writer handling a two-element story will amplify A and B with a paragraph or two for each before moving into the fairly rigid compartmentalizing of the supporting material for each. Some news writers will bring up secondary material before the have finished with all the supporting material for the lead elements. They do this when they consider the secondary material to be important but not important enough for the lead.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL APPROACH

In the chronological approach the story is told twice. The lead tells the reader what happens and a few paragraph of buttressing and supporting material amplify the lead.

Inverted Paragraph:

The stories do not end with a climax. The climax is at the beginning, in the lead. The major information is clustered at the top of the story, so the leads to a top-heavy story. The writer gives the major material, then the secondary information. It’s the traditional story structure. This is a perfectly good overall guide to the straight news story. For important events, readers and listeners want to know what happened-now.

A symbol of the limitations of journalistic writing.

ORGANIZING THE FEATURE STORY

The feature is journalism’s grab bag. One difference between the straight news story and the feature is that while the news story informs us by involving oru reason and logic, the feature informs us entertains us by engaging our feelings.

Another distinctive mark of the feature is its style. The straight news is just that, a straightforward account of an event. The feature may well be humorous, somber dan some cannot be catalogued. The style of the feature is simple and relaxed.

Writing the Feature:

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Style : Relaxed, informal. Let the people in the story do things; let them talk. Underwrite. Keep the story moving with the quotes and incident. If possible, use dialogue. Use verbs that make pictures for the reader. When possible, use present tense to give the reader a sense of continuing action or of being present at the scene.
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Lead : Delayed lead are preferred. An anecdote or incident can be used to begin. Stress human interest in the lead by using someone directly involved in the situation. Make sure the lead fits into the main theme of the feature.
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Body : Avoid overwhelming the reader with detail. A few well-chosen quotes and incidents will tell the story. Selection is the essence of the feature. What is left out is as important as what is put into the piece.

FOCUS ON A THEME

The feature can be about any subject that the reporter thinks will interest or entertain readers. Good reporters initiate features. Recalling a community’s pas can lead to an interesting feature. Feature must have a main theme that is clear from the beginning, certainly by the fourth of fifth paragraph of the feature.

The Ending

Most features have a strong ending. Rather than end on a secondary piece of information, the feature may have what is called a kicker, a punch at the end. It can be exciting quotation or a significant anecdote or incident. The ending usually drives home the theme of the feature.

The News Feature

- The news feature takes its content and structure from the feature. In content, it emphasizes human interest and drama. It uses the dramatic quote and the telling incident to point up the major theme. In structure, it may use the delayed lead to lure the reader into the story, and then get to the point of the piece after several paragraphs, or it may put the led theme in a kicker at the end

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TUGAS INGRISSS

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RUDIMENTS OF THE STORY

RUDIMENTS OF THE STORY

“News is etched more deeply when the reporter puts event in human terms.”

LOOKING AHEAD
Just as the basket player must abide by the rules of the game, so the news writer adhere to set a guidelines. These guidelines, the rudiments of the news story, are accuracy, attribution of statement, background, balance, brevity, clarity, human interest, identification of those named in the story, focus on the news point, objectivity and verification of information. The news writer who follows these guidelines will write stories that are accurate, thorough, fair dan readable.

The Rudiments of the Story:
1. Accuracy – Word spelled correctly, the correct middle initial in names and the exact addresses of people in stories. Accuracy begins with the reporter’s painstaking attention to every detail when gathering facts and information. Names, ages, addresses – check. The reporter must check or even double check to verify the spelling the names, streets or tittles. Reporters are presumed never to make errors because the editor tire of telling them, there is always a source to check. “Good reporter gets the facts right. They seek comment from all sides. They check. They don’t cut corners” (AP).
2. Attribution of Statement
- All information and statements, except the most obvious, must be attributed to the source of the material.By the ‘obvious’ we mean any statement, idea or situation that is commonly accepted as true. When there is no absoulute proof or common acceptance, there must be attribution.
- Generally, when we speak attribution, we refer to what is called ‘sourcing a quote or statement. That is, responsibility for the material is placed with the source. When there is no attribution, the reporter, newspaper or station is considered the source. Attribution to a source does not guarantee to the reader or viewer the truth of the statement. But it does place responsibility for the assertion. When reporters doubt the accuracy or truth of a statement, then try to verify it.
- Example: when the reporter is sent to the scene of a accident, the reporter can describe the way divers pulled the woman from her submerged car. No attribution in needed for what the reporter sees or hear on the scent. The reporter who is not present when a slaying occurs must reconstruct the even from the comment and reports of investigators and attribute the account of the event to them. The reporter can describe, without attribution, what the scene looks like.
- Some news writers say that attribution in the lead sometimes makes it too long or spoils the intended effect. They prefer to cite the source in the second or third paragraph. This works, but only if the material is from an official record or document or it is not controversial. No source is necessary in this lead because the event is obviously on record with the police.
- Anonymous Sources – When anonymity is promised to source, the reporter may not use the name under circumstances. Anonymity is reserved for the case in which the information is newsworthy, factual and not available from any source of the record. The use anonymous sources only on matters of fact, not on matters of opinion or judgement.

3. Background
- The additional material that a reporter digs up on his or her own that helps the reader of listener to get close to the truth often takes the form of background. Most often, backgroung material comes from the reporter’s knowledge and from checking refences and clips.
- Background material gives readers explanations, traces the development of the event and adds facts that sources may not have provided. Reporters spend must time backgrounding their stories.

4. Balance and Fairness
- By balance, the both sides in controversy are given their say. In a political campaign, all candidates should be given enough space and time to present their major points. In debates, each speaker is entitled to reach the reader or listener.
- By fairness, all parties involved in the news are treated without favoritis. If someone makes a charge against another person and the newspaper or station carries the allegation, it is obliged to obtain the response. Fairness requires that is reporter tie the charge and use answer together whenever possible.

5. Brevity
- News writing is the art of knowing what to leave out and considering the rest. But sometimes, news writer are born as storytellers and tend to be long-winded. To make a lot of solid information and still be brief, there are some tricks to trade:
- (a) by choosing a concrete noun – a noun that refers to an actual person, place or thing, the news can avoid adjective; abstract nouns (patriotism, freedom, values, hope) have different meanings to different people. The news writer should avoid using abstract nouns, except in direct quotes.
- (b) by using action verbs that whisper, sing and shout, the news writer can avoid adverbs. Good writer try to make their verbs and nouns work for them. They consider the overuse of adverbs and adjectives an admission of weak writing.
- Example:
Weak : He was hardly able to walk
Strong : He staggered. (He stumbled. He faltered.)
Weak : He left the room as quickly as possible
Strong : He ran out. (He rushed out. He dashed out.)

6. Relevance
- A major cause of unwanted length is the piling on of irrelevant themes and details. The average news story has one, two or sometimes three themes. It’s up to the reporter to pick the most important. After the theme(s) has been selected, the reporter must pick the best quotes, anecdotes and illustrations for the supporting detail.

7. Clarity
- There are several ways the reporter achieves clarity. The common starting point is clear thingking, that is the writer must understand the event before writing.
- Short, crisp, to-the-point leads and logical story structure are the basic guides to clarity. We can add another essential guideline: the S-V-O sentence structure. The sentence that has someone saying or doing something I usually clear.
- Some tips:
(a) avoid excess punctuation. Too many commas confuse readers.
(b) Stay away from adjectives and adverbs if possible. They usually are unnecessary.
(c) Watch out for long sentences linked with the words and, but, for and other conjunctions. Usually long sentences can be broken into two sentences with a period in place of the connecting words.

8. Human Interest
- Readers and listeners want to see, hear and read about the way people are affected by events. Since the human elements catches the reader’s interest, it should be put high in the story. Tell the story in human terms.
- Good stories answer our questions. They give us the information we need and want.
- Human interest takes the reader to the heart of the event. A strike involves people seeking to change their circumtances.

9. Identification
- Writers identify the people they are writing about so that readers and listeners can visualize, locate and identify these people. The standard identifying material is name, age, address and occupation.
(a) Name – The best source for the proper spelling of a person’s name is the invidual. The telephone book and city directory are usually accurate. It a person use a middle initial, include that in the story. Nicknames are rarely used except in sports strories or features.
(b) Age – A person’s age should be used only when it bears directly on the story. It always used in obituaries and in stories about the victims of accidents and fires. It is also used when it helps to make the point of the story.
(c) Address – Where a person lives can telll the reader a great deal. The address also helps the reader to put the person in a setting – large lawns and single residence homes or low-income city projects. The address can indicate a lifestyle.
(d) Occupation – Work defines many people. The jobs that people hold often describe their character and personality.
- The writer can use more visual details, such as height, weight, hair color, posture, the way he or she speaks to distinguish physical characteristics. They are used in profiles and features stories when the writer is trying to draw a full portrait of the subject.
- Another kind of identification is essential in stories that quote a source as an authority. In this situation, the source must be identified by title or background to give the person the authority to speak on the subject on which he or she is being quoted.

10. News Point
- Every story has a theme, a central idea, the point the writer is trying to make. This is also the focus of the piece and usually placed at the beginning of the story. This paragraph sums up the key points of the story.
- Reporters determine the news point or lead as soon as possible so that the can gather supporting and buttressing material for the lead while reporting. Writer who discover the news point while writing often find they lack the supporting facts and quotations for the body of the story.
- No reporter should start to write the story without a sure grasp of what his or her point is.

11.Objectivity
- Newspaper readers and listeners and viewers know that the news is written by journalists who are impartial and independent. That is, the journalists’ loyalty is to the public, not to a political party, or organization o a sect.
- Objectivity has two meanings:
(e) The work itself : A story is objective when it is balanced an impersonal; the reporter does not include his or her opinions, feelings, biases. Information is verified through the reporter’s direct observation of the event or bay documents and records to which the reporter can point as proof of his or her account. The objective writer subordinates feelings to the facts.
(f) The tradition : Journalism in the so-called free world represents “an impartial third party, the one that speaks for the general interest.”
- The material has been examined by a reporter for errors, misstatements, vagueness. In other word, the reporter is not a transmission belt but acts as a filter to ensure the reader and viewer that the information is balanced, fair and accurate.
- Objectivity requires that the reporter keep to himself or herself feelings and opinions. A reporter may believe it is tragic an unnecessary that children suffer from poverty. But in his or her story the reporter is confined to the facts about poverty. By presenting the facts, by showing a child in povertym the reporter communicates informations that leads the reader to feel compassion, perhaps anger at the child’s plight.

12.Verification
- When a reporter checks his or her information against some kind of objective source, we say that the material has been verified.
- Verification requires checking spelling and meanings in the dictionary, addresses in the telephone directory, background in clippings and reference work. It also requires that the reporter ask sources for proof of their important assertions. Reporters are not megaphones for sources.

Hoaxes
- The point of verifying or confirming material is to try to guarantee its truth for the reader or listener. Accuracy is important, but it is not enough. “The fact without the truth is futile; indeed, the fact without the truth is false.”
- Bad story structure is one of the three most common faults of newswriting. The others are the wrong lead, and vague or unclear writing.
- When we say a story is badly put together or structured, we usually mean that the newswriter is jumping here and there, from one topic to another so that the reader or listener is left on ther corner as the story goes whizzing by in six different directions.

What is News?

 

News has been defined as a break in the normal flow of events, an action or statement so important or unusual that it is worth sharing with others, such as airplane crashed, elections results, fires and floods.

 

A rule of thumb for determining what is newsworthy: The smaller the community or the audience, the greater the amount of personal news.

 

The Three Basic Determinations of News

1. Impact/ Consequence – events that have an impact or many people. Means that the news is important and significant. The way to judge impact is to figure out the result of consequences of a news story about the event might be – if many people will be affected so the reporter knows the event is important enough or not.
2. The Unsual – news that make a reporter stop, stare and wonder, exclaim, so the reporter knows that the news is worthy.
3. Prominence – people like to read about those in the spotlight. So reporter can make the news is prominent. What prominent people do, even if unimportant, is ogen newsworthy. Names make news. Ex: People who are widely or who have positions of authority are said to be prominent.

 

More determinants:

 

1. Conflict – is a constant in life, ex: war, quarrel, violence
2. Proximity – anything that close to the reader or audience is more important that something remote. Proximity usually refer to something physically or geographically close. Another meaning: people feel attached to those like themselves and to those who with whom the share common interests.
3. Timeliness – what occurs today has greater impact than an event that occurred a week ago.
4. Currency – the latest news is the most important information.

 

 

Finding focus:

● Focusing on the Person

-          A person who said or done something important or interesting, or people to whom something important or interesting has happened (who???).

●● Focusing on the Event

-          An event of importance or interest to many people (what happened???)

-          When the event is the most important aspect of the story, the writer uses the lead to describe what occurred in the briefest way possible.

-          When the news event involves an incident of occurrence, what has happened is emphasized.

 

 

 

 

Features or News Story?

 

● News Story – A story takes its form from its purpose. If the purpose is to tell people quickly about the important event, then the reporter writes a spot news story.

● Features – If the purpose is to entertain, the reporter writes a feature story.

Each type of story has a different kind of lead and structure.

 

n      Writing the Lead

-          The lead organizes the story, as we will see when we turn in the next chapter to structuring the story

-          The right lead sets the writer on the right track.

-          Should be short, less than 35 words if possible (depend on whether the story is straight news piece or a feature)

● Delayed and Direct Lead

-          Direct lead : when the event is important or significant, the story stressed the theme at once. It is used for important, breaking news events.

-          Delayed lead; when the story is about an unusual, odd or strange event, the story does not need to describe what happened or what was said at once. It is used on feature and news feature stories.

n      Lead Guideline

-          You should know that the most senteces in the news story are simple, declarative senteces. They begin with a subject, which is closely followed by a verb and then an object. To put it another way, these senteces describe someone doing or saying something or the show something happened.

-          The form is S – V – O component

-          Another approach is the time tested “Five W’s and an H”. (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How)

 

 

 

MAKING OF STORY