Writing news

Writing news.

The conventional structure of news stories is called the inverted pyramid. A first paragraph or ‘lead’ summarises the major facts. The rest of the story elaborates the leads and includes other important facts. The facts are arranged in order of decreasing importance. The last few paragraphs are the least importance and ,in a lengthy story could be omitted without depriving the reader of any information.

The structure has certain advantages. A busy reader can know the major facts by reading the lead and the next few paragraphs. Also, it allows the editor to chop off one or two paragraph from the bottom of the story to solve a problem of space.

The lead is the most importance part of a news story and the most difficult to write. A lead should not, as a rule, exceed 30 words and it is often possible to write it in fewer words. A lead that the reader cannot read aloud at one beneath is a bad lead.

There are different types of leads, but all have a common purpose; to make the reader read the story. Attracted by the headlines the busy reader glances at the lead. If the lead is effectively by written, the reader wants to have a look at the paragraphs that follow.

The summary lead is particularly useful. This type of lead gives an outline of the event and its major facts-Who, what,where, when, why, and how. A news report is not complete unless it answers these basic questions, which a reader may be expected to ask.

Some of the answers may not be included in the lead, however . Sometimes we find, why or how or both, answered in the paragraph that immediately follow.

Responding to Adverse Coverage.

No matter what you do or well you do, it is likely to have negative publicity at some point. After a negative story is aired or published the damage might have already been done. But you may minimise the damage or even turn it to your advantage.

When a negative story appears, the first step is quick to assess it and its likely impact.

1. How widely was the story circulated?
2. Did it come from a credible source?
3. Were the facts and statistics accurate?
4. Was it based on personal opinion, emotion or bias?
5. Was it as the isolated event or the start of ab organised campaign?

The courses of actions to counter the negative story published are.

Do nothing. This could be the wisest course of action if a response would only magnify and prolonged the problem.

Ask for correction.

If the story is inaccurate and reaches conclusions on the basis of obvious errors,consider discussing it with the reporter and asking for the correction. Editor and Broadcaster usually are willing to correct factual errors particularly if they can do so in a follow-up story that reports new developments.

It does not help, however, to question the judgement or challenge the integrity of a journalist even,if you have been treated unjustly.

-Ask for comparable space or air time.

An attack on your report provides an opportunity for you o state your own position, without necessarily responding directly to the attack. Editors and broadcaster often welcome contrasting views.

Respond indirectly ,over time.

To counter negative publicity without directly responding you can encourage a series of accurate stories in various news media over the next few months.

Reply directly and immediately.

Defend the position of your organisation by responding directly and immediately. Three avenues for such response are writing to the editor,issuing a new release and calling a news conference.

Appraisal writing.

The assessment of a situation is to be presented in the form of a report called Appraisal writing. A report on job-performance is an example of Appraisal writing. If the assessment is done by comparing the situation before and after the application of development inputs, the report is called Evaluation Report.

Content Analysis.

It is the analysis of the contents of the communication materials such as newspaper, articles, editorials, Televisions programs are written documents such as letters, Diaries, Ethnographic material, The minutes of meeting etc. The unit of the analysis may be any one of the following.

1. 1. Words
   2. Themes
   3. Character
   4. Items
   5. Space and Time measures.

The analysis is done to determines the relative emphasis or frequencies of various communication phenomenon such as propaganda , Trends, Style, Change in the contents and Readability of the materials. The analysis is the quantitative method of categorising of units and phenomenon.

The word is the smallest unit of content analysis and is categorised s value words. Difficult, Medium and Easy word. In the Thematic units, the sentences making propositions about something are categorised. The self-reference sentences that use, I, me and other words indicating references to the writer's self is an example of thematical sentences.

Reference

Kerlinger, F.N. Foundation of Behavioural Research. New Delhi: Surjeet Publication, 2000.

Kothari, C.R. Research Methodology. India: Vishwa Prakashan, 1990.

Singh, M.L. and J.M Singh. Understanding Research Methodology. 1998.

Singh, Mrigendra Lal. Understanding Research Methodology. Nepal: National Book centre, 2013.