How to write? (News, articles, stories)

Course No.: 15 [Mass Communication and Media Studies]

                                                                                               Batch: 2014-16

Name: Vanita Tadha

Roll No.: 30

Qualification: MA Part–2 [Sem-4]

Enrollment No.: Pg14101029   

Submitted to: Department of English [Maharaja Krishnakumarsihji Bhavnagar University, Gujarat, India.]

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How to write? (News, articles, stories)

“A minute observer and listener can do better journalism”

First thing require is to gather information and for this several activities a journalist have to do. You have interviewed all the people involved and observe everything and then you have to write. Now you have pages of your note book in which you have written and highlighted fact and information. You may have something which can help you like internal thought, media, and some from experts.

When should start writing? 
                                                     

“A best building is that which created out of plan”

Do not start until you have plan. Read your note twice and thrice try to understand. First differentiate the information like most important piece and less important. Note down the quotes you want to use. This gathered information is not only important but you have to decide what is more important and what is less important, to establish a hierarchy of pieces of information. And this is the part wher you must think about you audience. “Put yourself under the shoes of your audience” It is not necessarily what interest you most, but what will interest them. It may not be the same thing, like feeling, emotion understanding etc. but it is more important. You could imagine as you are reading and what things audience give joy or entertainment or information.

 “A minute observer and listener can do better journalism”

It also depends on the situation, issue, area, and course for whom you are writing. You can assume more knowledge if you are writing for a specialist publication, or a specialist selection of newspaper, magazine or anything.

For examples:

1.      A cricket, football or any game can assume knowledge of the rules of that game.

2.    Any magazine or newspaper assumes the reader knows what a super is.

3.    In educated field it considers the level of the student.

But some specialist publication set out things for education computer and magazine are good example of this. Through the interest of the reader you can assume how to use specific piece of software cannot. So understand the intention of the publication you write for or if you are a freelance you seek to sell it.

What can be background of news?

The background of the area like in which sector and how it is relevant is also suggesting how to write. The vocabulary and phrase should be related with that point for example if you want to write political things than there must be the vocabularies which are contextual because otherwise it may create problem among people. An article writer must have bunch of vocabulary of hybridity life so all can get equal favor to understand or explain.

As a writer with large vocabulary is not giving the sense of impression or attractive because some may misinterpret it or ordinary man can’t get it so it may be the reason of losing audience’s attention. Sometimes familiar words also help to understand in better way.  One thing is they do not use it in regular speech but it damage or insult the reader and may they feel inadequate and that turns them off.

The best writing for popular journalism is hard to do. It is readily understandable, instantly readable and, if it is done well, makes you want to read on. Space is always the most precious commodity in a newspaper. Long words and sentences take up more space. Self-indulgent writing pleases nobody except perhaps the writer.

What are the messages for writing?

Stephen King, who has sold more novels than most, reflected on his craft in On Writing, and drew a similar message: "One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed."

So the attractive message in journalistic writing is: Keep it simple and short because of speedy era people do not like to go for hard.

One of the greatest editors and journalists is Harold Evans, who has written one of the best books on journalistic writing, Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers. He summed it up thus: "It is not enough to get the news. We must be able to put it across. Meaning must be unmistakable, and it must also be succinct. Readers have not the time and newspapers have not the space for elaborate reiteration. This imposes decisive requirements. In protecting the reader from incomprehension and boredom, the text editor has to insist on language which is specific, emphatic and concise. Every word must be understood by the ordinary reader, every sentence must be clear at one glance, and every story must say something about people. There must never be a doubt about its relevance to our daily life. There must be no abstractions."

Tips for use of language and encouraging reader

The intro

This is about the staring or the opening paragraph. The traditional form of beginning paragraph is still dominant.

There are two related purposes:

1)     To engage the reader instantly and

2)    To summarize

This structure is known as “inverted pyramid”

It was always easier and faster to cut a story from wherever we want to make it short. The best way to cut is from bottom. News article always have to be cut because reporters write them too long and it could not find apace in newspaper.

An article must give the answer of few question:

Why story is being published?

What is the newest, most interesting, most important, most significant, most attention-grabbing aspect of the story?

Its not just the summary of everything but there should contain two or three facts in it. The best intro of anything is to demand for more reading that you read more. The worst will make it likely that you will move on.

As Tony Harcup puts it in his Journalism, Principles and Practice: "The intro is crucial because it sets the tone for what follows. A poorly written intro might confuse, mislead or simply bore the reader - a well-written intro will encourage the reader to stay with you on the strength of the information and angle you have started with."

How to finish rest of the story or article?

Now you got the intro so after this there will be second important paragraph that you are going to write. Reader got key ideas and passing through it they will hold your story until the end. You have already planned structure, hierarchy of information.

After the intro you can add subordinate information, detail and quotes. And doing this entire thing story reads smoothly. News stories are providing information, and there is nothing more frustrating for the reader than finishing a story with unanswered questions still hanging.

Journalism students are taught about the five Ws:

1. Who

2. What

3. When

4. Where and

5. Why

 These are a useful tool to check you have covered all the bases or not. This question method all will always apply. It is difficult to depersonalize the self when you read or write but there must look according to mass.

 There is always a problem over how much knowledge to assume, particularly with a running story of which today's is another episode. You cannot always start from the beginning for the benefit of reader recently arrived from Mars, but you can include sufficient to ensure it is not meaningless. It is a matter of judgment.

Be Active not passive

Always use active tense in news writing, and particularly in intros. The active tense is immediate react to reader.

Be Positive even if it is negative

If it is negative yet use positive sense otherwise It will gives negative impact to reader. News is more engaging if it describes something that is happening, rather than something that is not.

Foe Example:

Not: "The government has decided not to introduce the planned tax increase on petrol and diesel this autumn." But: "The government has abandoned plans to raise fuel taxes this autumn."

Which type of quotes should use?

Long quotes make story hard to understand so the quotes should be direct, short, and simple. Journalists paraphrase speeches and reports to focus on the main points, and to make them shorter and more comprehensible. It is also there like people uses indirect quotes to understand in better way. Quotes can add different tone, voice, emotion and feelings.

Quotes can make from the event or the sentence used by people or the natural or current languages. Never use past word like “said”.

Officials

Rough or the particular regional language may trouble to reader because words and meanings are contextual or relational. If the letter is from bank manager, council officers then there should be official language.

Acronyms

Because of ver limited space people ar using Achronyms but sometime reader are not aware of this there shoud be expalanation

What do the following acronyms stand for? If you don't know instantly, then you can be sure there will be plenty of readers who don't.

Acronyms: OECD, SEO; CBI; ISA; Fifa; PCT

Answers:

OECD: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

SEO: Search Engine Optimisation

CBI: Confederation of British Industry

ISA:  Individual Savings Account

Fifa: Fédération Internationale de Football Association

Extra source:

1.  Writing a news article is different from writing other articles or informational pieces, because news articles present information in a specific way..... Read more...

2. Here's something very few people realize: Writing news stories isn't particularly difficult. It does take practice and not everyone will be an expert but if you follow the guidelines below you should be able to create effective news items without too much stress... Read more...

3. News writing is a key skill for journalists, but it helps with other types of writing as well. That’s because news writing is about telling a story quickly and concisely... Read more...

Conclusion

Things should be clear if you want to be a successful journalist. There are many works for journalist to publish something. A small mistake can be problematic for his/her job so he/she must take care of language, pattern of article, story or news. It is not just summary you have to provide but beyond it they have to do like collect the information, differentiate it, Arrange in chronological way. They should be aware of ancient issue as well as present because it will help you to connect the dot. Every time they have to take care of how, where, when, who is doing? To be a better journalist first thing need is to be good listener, good observer.

Works Cited

about . http://homeworktips.about.com/od/paperassignments/a/How-To-Write-A-News-Article.htm. 26 2 2016. <http://homeworktips.about.com>.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/sep/25/writing.journalism.news. 25 9 2008. <http://www.theguardian.com>.