Types of reporting

eporting:
Reporting is just a genre of writing, alongside essays and stories, and bloggers
most certainly fall into that genre."
When they talk about reporting on a show like Frontline, they mean the process a
reporter goes through.
1. Interviews, research.
2. Assemble a story.
3. Fact-checking and editing.
4. Publishing.
Most bloggers aren't doing this whole thing. Our process is different, and I'd argue
no less rigorous, just more distributed, and step 2 is something everyone does for
themselves.
Key point in last night's piece -- sources are part of the reporting process, and
more and more, the sources are becoming bloggers.

Types of Reporting:
GENERAL REPORTING
Reporting means gathering facts and presenting them
objectively with ail news writing skills. It is an active, creative, long
and tough process of news, gathering, ideas and opinion collection,
fact finding in order to serve the general public by informing them
and enabling them to make judgment of the issues of the time.
The reporter either he/she is general assignment reporter, beat
reporter or specialized reporter wants to know at all costs, what is
going on and why, what has happened and why and who is involved in
what manner. He/she reports it to satisfy the curiosity of the public
by giving due coverage to 5Ws & 1H which the people want to know.
News is not planted and cultivated in neat row for efficient
harvesting and not necessarily in the tidy news offices. They are not
developed in a vacuum. News is more likely to be found among the
people, institutions, organizations, history etc. By the reporting of
short news stories the reader can receive the information about the
citizens, social, cultural and religious groups. Conducting interview is
another part of reporting. Through interview news, personal ideas
and opinions can be reported. Without reporting process there can be
little business in news, and without news there can be no newspaper.
Political Reporting
Generally the coverage of a political campaign oPa political
personality is not sufficient. Much time and coverage needs to be
given in following a candidate around and listening to the political
speeches over and over again. Most of the political reporter's time is
spent while covering the purely political aspects of government and
personalities who run the government. He/she goes beneath the
surface of routine political events and comes up with stories of great
importance. For political reporting the broad knowledge of election
laws, system and organizational setup of different political parties,
political organizations, precampaign activities, campaigns, election
practices, polling laws and techniques and way of result coverage and
their proper interpretation are required by the political reporter
He/she has to interview candidates, write biographical sketches and
evaluate the candidates' position on major issues during a political
campaign
Education and Research Reporting ,
Research and education go together Through research one can
add new knowledge which is necessary for educating the nation and
also for national development. The research programmes of different
institutions and their findings •and achievements should be reported.
The education system, its merits and demerits are the main sphere of
education reporting. Public and private schooling and what
is happening in universities and colleges regarding academic activities
and developments, teachers and students training facilities, co-
curricular activities, unions and a»ociatson« should be highlighted in
the news stories. The budget allocated for education and its
utilisation, literacy rate and programmes to increase literacy rate,
adults education are the topics about which public has some curiosity
to know. Trends in classrooms teaching and dozens of other
significant problems can also be reported. The education and
research reporter is normally expect-d to cover activities at all levels
of the research and schooling system from policy making to the
teachers in the classrooms. The research and education beat offers
the opportunity for many routine stories as well as major news
breaks, features and interpretative pieces.
Environment Reporting
The environment affects everyday life. People, sensitive about
it, demand the due coverage of environment and the factors causing
pollution, etc. Therefore the environment reporting can become a
human service reporting. What are the government measurements for
the prevention of pollution and what is public part in creating and
preventing the pollution. Nowadays environmental protection has
become a political movement and a sensitive reporter uses the
techniques of all kinds in environmental reporting. It merited
attention, with most of the early focus being on water pollution, air
pollution, sanitation and urban sprawl, etc. The reporter has to cover
the horror stories about the possible diseases and destruction of the
planet. The reporter has to point out particularly the development of
what lie/ she considers dangerous system for producing energy and
importance of energy for national development. Through
environmental reporting the public can be well aware about the rate
at which natural fuels are being consumed and pollution caused b\
the burning of these fuels. He/she has to inform the readers about
present happenings and future impact on human life.
Religious Reporting
Religious news are also part of the newspaper contents. It is one
of the most sensitive beats, and demands great care and
responsibility on the part of the reporter covering various religious
events. However, impartiality is the only effective means to deal with
this beat. The reporter has to report in fair, factual, impartial and
unbiased way and maintain objectivity.
The religious reporter must have clear understanding of religious
sects, groups, organisations, institutions and worship services in the
country and particularly in the city where he/she is working. The
reporter uses simple way of explaining the news events for general
readers by interpreting the refigious voiding, terminologies
In religious reporting political motives of the local and national
leaders must foe covered. Incorrect use of titles in religious reporting
discourages the
i s' interest while their correct use builds confidence in the
reliability of the
news. A reporter has to be cautious in religious reporting and should
always keep in view the highly sensitive nature of religious ideologies,
conflicts and controversies.
Speech Reporting
Speeches are the basis for sound stories published daily in the
press. All those speeches taking place from time to- time in the city
are important to the participants but few are worthy of news
coverage. Advance stories are also being written about speeches
through which the readers are informed about the person to be
delivering the speech, venue and topic, etc. The reporter in speech
reporting must be well aware of the ways of covering an event, and
how to get, write, arrange and structure the facts of speech in a news
form. The additional information can be gathered at the end of the
speech or to clarify some points which is a good practice.
The most significant criteria in speech reporting are to include
all the positive as well as negative aspects of various speeches. The
reporter takes only the essential parts of the speech and report these
points in a concise way. The main points of the speech go into the
lead or intro while quotes go into the body of the story.
Cultural Reporting
Cultural reporting requires a reporter to cover not only
individuals i.e. artists, craftsmen etc. but also to cover different
cultural organisations, institutions and other events by upholding
public interest . For this he/she has to dig out that how many cultural
organisational setups exist in the city. The cultural reporter is actually
a cultural promoter. The reporter has a great responsibility to
stimulate interest and participation in various cultural functions.
He/she has to get ideas, opinions and news about culture from
different materials printed by these organizations. When actually
covering culture, it is preferable to visit the scenc of cultural activity
personally. Familiarity with cultural heritage and history is a special
qualification of cultural reporter. He/she must be conscious about
manipulation by the artists. The cultural news story writing style and
contents must be based on information, entertainment and of general
public interest. Music world-cinema, theatre, television-literature,
fairs etc. have great newsworthy material of public interest.
SPORTS REPORTING
Sports reporting field is broad and interesting enough to
challenge tije finest talent. The sports coverage remains the life blood
of most sports pages. More opinions and news analyses appear on
these pages. Sports reports are read mostly due to their contents and
style. Sports reporter should take into account all the compulsory
elements of the sports news item while reporting a news event.
Sports reporting requires qualities of background knowledge and
judgement, critical evaluation of sports besides sound general
knowledge about games and their rules & regulations. The
performance of the teams should be covered fairly, impartially
and in an unbiased way. The quality of a written sports item depends
on the quality of its reporting. The sports reporter who, among other
things, Knows the players well, the strategy they use during game,
key incidents, crowd behaviour and the game which he/she is
covering, is able to write an interesting sports story. But while writing
a sports story or its advance story the reporter must follow the
regular news writing and reporting principles in building the story and
other requirements of sports writing Sports reporting ranges from
straight news reporting through all degrees of interpretation and
feature writing and the editorialised column. A sports event may be
treated in any one of these degrees or in all of them combined. For an
important sports event, an advance story, a straight story, similarly
background, prediction, follow-up types of stories may be used.
PARLIAMENT REPORTING
Parliament and its proceedings have always been the main
interest of newspaper readers. Parliamentary reporting offers
opportunities to the reporter to conduct first hand study of the
practical working procedure, responsibilities, role and functions of
parliament, their members, different officials, the offices which they
hold and their biographies besides the working of government.
He/she remains in touch with the parliamentarians who may become
an important source of news. In parliamentary reporting, all the
techniques, proceedings and requirements of political and court
reporting are involved because it is highly technical and sensitive. It
needs professional skills and there are chances that even an
experienced reporter may misinterpret the arguments and the
proceedings. He/she must, have access to legal parliamentary
literature, reports, periodicals to improve his/her knowledge and
skill. A parliamentary reporter should be well acquainted with the
legislative procedure in both the Houses of parliament and could
write reports of adjournment and privilege motions, as well as of
questions hour, tea break discussions on private bills and proceedings
of the Senate. A lot of information can be obtained through private
dealings with the members of the parliament. Parliamentary report
has to be composed in prevalent parliamentary terminology.
COURT/CRIME REPORTING
Reporting crime news can be a demanding task and at times, if
properly done, it even amounts to public service that perhaps can
even be deterrent to certain types of crimes. However, crime news
reporting needs technical care on the part of reporter while covering
his beat. A crime reporter should know what is meant by crime. A
breach of law is a crime and may be either felony or a misdemeanour.
The basic principle of crime/court reporting is that NOTHING is
permitted which may prejudice the right of any accused to a
completely FAIR and IMPARTIAL trial. Crime and court reporting may
be completed in four steps, i.e. the crime, the arrest, the trail, the
verdict In the selection of facts for crime/ court news story, the
reporter must be well-alert and these facts should be carefully
handled by observing the ethics of crime/court reporting. The length,
the headline size and lead formation of a court/crime story is
determined by the seriousness of the crime and court proceedings.
WAR REPORTING
The coverage of war imposes major responsibilities on reporters. On
the one hand, they must exercise the greatest care not to spread
rumours and on the other hand, they must expose themselves to
danger if necessary to determine the magnitude of war event. But
whatever they do. they must always be conscious that careless war
reporting can cause untold harm in a tense situation. The greatest
care must be taken in reporting killings, injuries, prisoners, property
loss and the area captured etc. The kind of weapons being used in
the*war can a!so be reported. The position of armies on land, in the
air or oceans, bombing on different areas and types of bombing can
be explained The 1SPR in Pakistan also releases information about
war situation.
The cause of war, beginning of war, major areas of war and who is at
fault must be covered in war reporting. The fundamental precautions
regarding war should be followed. Different news story types can be
used in war reporting to give full coverage of war.
reporting:
Reporting is just a genre of writing, alongside essays and stories, and bloggers
most certainly fall into that genre."
When they talk about reporting on a show like Frontline, they mean the process a
reporter goes through.
1. Interviews, research.
2. Assemble a story.
3. Fact-checking and editing.
4. Publishing.
Most bloggers aren't doing this whole thing. Our process is different, and I'd argue
no less rigorous, just more distributed, and step 2 is something everyone does for
themselves.
Key point in last night's piece -- sources are part of the reporting process, and
more and more, the sources are becoming bloggers.

Types of Reporting:
GENERAL REPORTING
Reporting means gathering facts and presenting them
objectively with ail news writing skills. It is an active, creative, long
and tough process of news, gathering, ideas and opinion collection,
fact finding in order to serve the general public by informing them
and enabling them to make judgment of the issues of the time.
The reporter either he/she is general assignment reporter, beat
reporter or specialized reporter wants to know at all costs, what is
going on and why, what has happened and why and who is involved in
what manner. He/she reports it to satisfy the curiosity of the public
by giving due coverage to 5Ws & 1H which the people want to know.
News is not planted and cultivated in neat row for efficient
harvesting and not necessarily in the tidy news offices. They are not
developed in a vacuum. News is more likely to be found among the
people, institutions, organizations, history etc. By the reporting of
short news stories the reader can receive the information about the
citizens, social, cultural and religious groups. Conducting interview is
another part of reporting. Through interview news, personal ideas
and opinions can be reported. Without reporting process there can be
little business in news, and without news there can be no newspaper.
Political Reporting
Generally the coverage of a political campaign oPa political
personality is not sufficient. Much time and coverage needs to be
given in following a candidate around and listening to the political
speeches over and over again. Most of the political reporter's time is
spent while covering the purely political aspects of government and
personalities who run the government. He/she goes beneath the
surface of routine political events and comes up with stories of great
importance. For political reporting the broad knowledge of election
laws, system and organizational setup of different political parties,
political organizations, precampaign activities, campaigns, election
practices, polling laws and techniques and way of result coverage and
their proper interpretation are required by the political reporter
He/she has to interview candidates, write biographical sketches and
evaluate the candidates' position on major issues during a political
campaign
Education and Research Reporting ,
Research and education go together Through research one can
add new knowledge which is necessary for educating the nation and
also for national development. The research programmes of different
institutions and their findings •and achievements should be reported.
The education system, its merits and demerits are the main sphere of
education reporting. Public and private schooling and what
is happening in universities and colleges regarding academic activities
and developments, teachers and students training facilities, co-
curricular activities, unions and a»ociatson« should be highlighted in
the news stories. The budget allocated for education and its
utilisation, literacy rate and programmes to increase literacy rate,
adults education are the topics about which public has some curiosity
to know. Trends in classrooms teaching and dozens of other
significant problems can also be reported. The education and
research reporter is normally expect-d to cover activities at all levels
of the research and schooling system from policy making to the
teachers in the classrooms. The research and education beat offers
the opportunity for many routine stories as well as major news
breaks, features and interpretative pieces.
Environment Reporting
The environment affects everyday life. People, sensitive about
it, demand the due coverage of environment and the factors causing
pollution, etc. Therefore the environment reporting can become a
human service reporting. What are the government measurements for
the prevention of pollution and what is public part in creating and
preventing the pollution. Nowadays environmental protection has
become a political movement and a sensitive reporter uses the
techniques of all kinds in environmental reporting. It merited
attention, with most of the early focus being on water pollution, air
pollution, sanitation and urban sprawl, etc. The reporter has to cover
the horror stories about the possible diseases and destruction of the
planet. The reporter has to point out particularly the development of
what lie/ she considers dangerous system for producing energy and
importance of energy for national development. Through
environmental reporting the public can be well aware about the rate
at which natural fuels are being consumed and pollution caused b\
the burning of these fuels. He/she has to inform the readers about
present happenings and future impact on human life.
Religious Reporting
Religious news are also part of the newspaper contents. It is one
of the most sensitive beats, and demands great care and
responsibility on the part of the reporter covering various religious
events. However, impartiality is the only effective means to deal with
this beat. The reporter has to report in fair, factual, impartial and
unbiased way and maintain objectivity.
The religious reporter must have clear understanding of religious
sects, groups, organisations, institutions and worship services in the
country and particularly in the city where he/she is working. The
reporter uses simple way of explaining the news events for general
readers by interpreting the refigious voiding, terminologies
In religious reporting political motives of the local and national
leaders must foe covered. Incorrect use of titles in religious reporting
discourages the
i s' interest while their correct use builds confidence in the
reliability of the
news. A reporter has to be cautious in religious reporting and should
always keep in view the highly sensitive nature of religious ideologies,
conflicts and controversies.
Speech Reporting
Speeches are the basis for sound stories published daily in the
press. All those speeches taking place from time to- time in the city
are important to the participants but few are worthy of news
coverage. Advance stories are also being written about speeches
through which the readers are informed about the person to be
delivering the speech, venue and topic, etc. The reporter in speech
reporting must be well aware of the ways of covering an event, and
how to get, write, arrange and structure the facts of speech in a news
form. The additional information can be gathered at the end of the
speech or to clarify some points which is a good practice.
The most significant criteria in speech reporting are to include
all the positive as well as negative aspects of various speeches. The
reporter takes only the essential parts of the speech and report these
points in a concise way. The main points of the speech go into the
lead or intro while quotes go into the body of the story.
Cultural Reporting
Cultural reporting requires a reporter to cover not only
individuals i.e. artists, craftsmen etc. but also to cover different
cultural organisations, institutions and other events by upholding
public interest . For this he/she has to dig out that how many cultural
organisational setups exist in the city. The cultural reporter is actually
a cultural promoter. The reporter has a great responsibility to
stimulate interest and participation in various cultural functions.
He/she has to get ideas, opinions and news about culture from
different materials printed by these organizations. When actually
covering culture, it is preferable to visit the scenc of cultural activity
personally. Familiarity with cultural heritage and history is a special
qualification of cultural reporter. He/she must be conscious about
manipulation by the artists. The cultural news story writing style and
contents must be based on information, entertainment and of general
public interest. Music world-cinema, theatre, television-literature,
fairs etc. have great newsworthy material of public interest.
SPORTS REPORTING
Sports reporting field is broad and interesting enough to
challenge tije finest talent. The sports coverage remains the life blood
of most sports pages. More opinions and news analyses appear on
these pages. Sports reports are read mostly due to their contents and
style. Sports reporter should take into account all the compulsory
elements of the sports news item while reporting a news event.
Sports reporting requires qualities of background knowledge and
judgement, critical evaluation of sports besides sound general
knowledge about games and their rules & regulations. The
performance of the teams should be covered fairly, impartially
and in an unbiased way. The quality of a written sports item depends
on the quality of its reporting. The sports reporter who, among other
things, Knows the players well, the strategy they use during game,
key incidents, crowd behaviour and the game which he/she is
covering, is able to write an interesting sports story. But while writing
a sports story or its advance story the reporter must follow the
regular news writing and reporting principles in building the story and
other requirements of sports writing Sports reporting ranges from
straight news reporting through all degrees of interpretation and
feature writing and the editorialised column. A sports event may be
treated in any one of these degrees or in all of them combined. For an
important sports event, an advance story, a straight story, similarly
background, prediction, follow-up types of stories may be used.
PARLIAMENT REPORTING
Parliament and its proceedings have always been the main
interest of newspaper readers. Parliamentary reporting offers
opportunities to the reporter to conduct first hand study of the
practical working procedure, responsibilities, role and functions of
parliament, their members, different officials, the offices which they
hold and their biographies besides the working of government.
He/she remains in touch with the parliamentarians who may become
an important source of news. In parliamentary reporting, all the
techniques, proceedings and requirements of political and court
reporting are involved because it is highly technical and sensitive. It
needs professional skills and there are chances that even an
experienced reporter may misinterpret the arguments and the
proceedings. He/she must, have access to legal parliamentary
literature, reports, periodicals to improve his/her knowledge and
skill. A parliamentary reporter should be well acquainted with the
legislative procedure in both the Houses of parliament and could
write reports of adjournment and privilege motions, as well as of
questions hour, tea break discussions on private bills and proceedings
of the Senate. A lot of information can be obtained through private
dealings with the members of the parliament. Parliamentary report
has to be composed in prevalent parliamentary terminology.
COURT/CRIME REPORTING
Reporting crime news can be a demanding task and at times, if
properly done, it even amounts to public service that perhaps can
even be deterrent to certain types of crimes. However, crime news
reporting needs technical care on the part of reporter while covering
his beat. A crime reporter should know what is meant by crime. A
breach of law is a crime and may be either felony or a misdemeanour.
The basic principle of crime/court reporting is that NOTHING is
permitted which may prejudice the right of any accused to a
completely FAIR and IMPARTIAL trial. Crime and court reporting may
be completed in four steps, i.e. the crime, the arrest, the trail, the
verdict In the selection of facts for crime/ court news story, the
reporter must be well-alert and these facts should be carefully
handled by observing the ethics of crime/court reporting. The length,
the headline size and lead formation of a court/crime story is
determined by the seriousness of the crime and court proceedings.
WAR REPORTING
The coverage of war imposes major responsibilities on reporters. On
the one hand, they must exercise the greatest care not to spread
rumours and on the other hand, they must expose themselves to
danger if necessary to determine the magnitude of war event. But
whatever they do. they must always be conscious that careless war
reporting can cause untold harm in a tense situation. The greatest
care must be taken in reporting killings, injuries, prisoners, property
loss and the area captured etc. The kind of weapons being used in
the*war can a!so be reported. The position of armies on land, in the
air or oceans, bombing on different areas and types of bombing can
be explained The 1SPR in Pakistan also releases information about
war situation.
The cause of war, beginning of war, major areas of war and who is at
fault must be covered in war reporting. The fundamental precautions
regarding war should be followed. Different news story types can be
used in war reporting to give full coverage of war.

News Writing Fundamentals

Reporting

One of the most fundamental differences between journalism and other forms of writing is the
way journalists obtain the information they write about. Journalists obtain information through a
variety of reporting techniques, which can include interviewing sources, looking through
government documents, researching old articles, and observing events firsthand.

Good news writing begins with good, accurate reporting. Journalists perform a public service for
citizens by presenting truthful facts in honest, straight-forward articles.
News Values

Journalists commonly use six values to determine how newsworthy a story or elements of a story
are. Knowing the news values can help a journalist make many decisions, including:

 What information to give first in a news article, and in the lede

 Which articles to display on a newspaper’s front page
 What questions to ask in an interview

The six news values are:

1. Timeliness- Recent events have a higher news value than less recent ones.
2. Proximity- Stories taking place in one’s hometown or community are more newsworthy
than those taking place far away.
3. Prominence- Famous people and those in the public eye have a higher news value than
ordinary citizens.
4. Uniqueness/oddity- A story with a bizarre twist or strange occurrences. “Man bites dog”
instead of “dog bites man.”
5. Impact- Stories that impact a large number of people may be more newsworthy than
those impacting a smaller number of people.
6. Conflict- “If it bleeds, it leads.” Stories with strife, whether it’s actual violence or not, are
more interesting.

The newsworthiness of a story is determined by a balance of these six values. There is no set
formula to decide how newsworthy a story is, but in general, the more of these six values a story
meets, the more newsworthy it is.

Libel

Libel is defined as the published defamation of a person’s character based on misleading or

inaccurate facts. Newspaper reporters can often run into issues of libel because it is their job to
write truthful articles about people that might not always be flattering.

Even though we live in a country with a free press, journalists cannot write anything they want.
Reporters do not have the right to state something about a person that could damage their
reputation and that is untruthful.

One of the easiest ways to protect oneself from libel is to make sure to always do accurate
reporting and to attribute all information in an article. If you write something about someone that
you’re unsure about, just ask yourself if it’s true, and how you know it’s true. Rumors, gossip,
and information you received from an anonymous or unreliable source are all dangerous to
report, and they could run you the risk of a libel case.

Lede
The lede (or lead) of a news article is the first sentence, usually written as one paragraph, that
tells the most important information of the story. When writing a lede, it is helpful to use the “tell
a friend” strategy. Imagine you had to sum up to a friend, in one sentence, what your story is
about. How would you sum up quickly what happened? A story’s lede answers the “Five W’s” in
a specific order: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

For example:

The Atlanta Police Department will hold a memorial service Wednesday at Holy Christ Church
in Buckhead for fallen officer Lt. James Montgomery.

WHO: The Atlanta Police Department

WHAT: will hold a memorial service
WHEN: Wednesday
WHERE: Holy Christ Church in Buckhead
WHY: for fallen officer Lt. James Montgomery

Other Examples:

Gwinnett County Public Schools was awarded $250,000 early Wednesday as a finalist for what’s
considered the Nobel Prize of public education.

A man beat an Army reservist in front of a Morrow Cracker Barrel, yelling racial slurs at her as
he kicked her in the head, Morrow police said.
Examples courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Inverted Pyramid

News articles are written in a structure known as the “inverted pyramid.” In the inverted pyramid
format, the most newsworthy information goes at the beginning of the story and the least
newsworthy information goes at the end.
After you have written your story’s lede, order the information that follows in terms of most
important to least important. There is NO formal conclusion in a journalism article the way there
is in an essay or analysis paper.

Attributing information

ALL information in a news article MUST be attributed to the source where the reporter got
his/her information. The reporter must indicate in his/her article where material was obtained
from – from an interview, court documents, the Census, a Web site, etc. Direct quotes and
paraphrasing can be used to attribute information obtained in an interview with a source.

For example:

According to a police report, the suspect threatened the cashier with a gun before running away
with the money.

In a 500-page government report, investigators reported evidence that the army had committed
crimes against humanity.

Integrating quotes

The first time a source is introduced in an article, you should use that source’s full name and
title. After this initial reference, use the last name only.

For example:

“The swine flu vaccine is an incredible advance in modern medicine,” said Health and Human
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
When attributing a direct quote, always use the verb “said” and never any other verbs such as
“explained,” “whispered,” etc. It is also more common to use the format “XXX said” instead of
“said XXX.”

For example:

“The housing crisis is growing out of control,” Bernanke said.

Even when information from a source is not used in a direct quote and is paraphrased instead, it
still must be attributed to that source.

For example:

Bernanke said the recession is probably over.

The recession will most likely begin to recede in six to eight months, Bernanke said.

Basic news writtin skills

Objectivity, fairness and contemporary confusion about both

In his book Discovering the News, Michael Schudson traced the roots of objectivity to the era
following World War I and a desire by journalists to guard against the rapid growth of public
relations practitioners intent on spinning the news. Objectivity was, and remains, an ideal, a
method for guarding against spin and personal bias by examining all sides of a story and testing
claims through a process of evidentiary verification. Practiced well, it attempts to find where
something approaching truth lies in a sea of conflicting views. Today, objectivity often is
mistaken for tit-for-tat journalism, in which the reporters only responsibility is to give equal
weight to the conflicting views of different parties without regard for which, if any, are saying
something approximating truth. This definition cedes the journalist’s responsibility to seek and
verify evidence that informs the citizenry.

Focusing on the “Journalism of Verification” chapter in The Elements of Journalism, this class
will review the evolution and transformation of concepts of objectivity and fairness and, using
the homework assignment, consider how objectivity is being practiced and sometimes skewed in
the contemporary new media.

The language of news

Newswriting has its own sentence structure and syntax. Most sentences branch rightward,
following a pattern of subject/active verb/object. Reporters choose simple, familiar words. They
write spare, concise sentences. They try to make a single point in each. But journalistic writing is
specific and concrete. While reporters generally avoid formal or fancy word choices and
complex sentence structures, they do not write in generalities. They convey information. Each
sentence builds on what came before. This class will center on the language of news, evaluating
the language in selections from America’s Best Newspaper Writing, local newspapers or the
Pulitzers.

The lead

No sentence counts more than a story’s first sentence. In most direct news stories, it stands alone
as the story’s lead. It must summarize the news, establish the storyline, convey specific
information and do all this simply and succinctly. Readers confused or bored by the lead read no
further. It takes practice to craft clear, concise and conversational leads. This week will be
devoted to that practice.

Students should discuss the assigned leads in groups of three or four, with each group choosing
one lead to read to the entire class. The class should then discuss the elements of effective leads
(active voice; active verb; single, dominant theme; simple sentences) and write leads in practice
exercises.

: Attribution

All news is based on information, painstakingly gathered, verified and checked again. Even so,
“truth” is an elusive concept. What reporters cobble together instead are facts and assertions
drawn from interviews and documentary evidence.

To lend authority to this information and tell readers from where it comes, reporters attribute all
information that is not established fact. It is neither necessary, for example, to attribute that
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first elected president in 1932 nor that he was elected four times.
On the other hand, it would be necessary to attribute, at least indirectly, the claim that he was one
of America’s best presidents. Why? Because that assertion is a matter of opinion.

In this session, students should learn about different levels of attribution, where attribution is best
placed in a sentence, and why it can be crucial for the protection of the accused, the credibility of

Quoting and paraphrasing

“Great quote,” ranks closely behind “great lead” in the pecking order of journalistic praise.
Reporters listen for great quotes as intensely as piano tuners listen for the perfect pitch of middle
C. But what makes a great quote? And when should reporters paraphrase instead?

This class should cover a range of issues surrounding the quoted word from what it is used to
convey (color and emotion, not basic information) to how frequently quotes should be used and
how long they should run on. Other issues include the use and abuse of partial quotes, when a
quote is not a quote, and how to deal with rambling and ungrammatical subjects.

As an exercise, students might either interview the instructor or a classmate about an exciting
personal experience. After their interviews, they should review their notes choose what they
consider the three best quotes to include a story on the subject. They should then discuss why
they chose them.

METHODS OF GATHERING NEWS

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Recognize the most commonly used methods of gathering Navy news.

The four most commonly used methods in news gathering used by Navy journalists are
observation, telephone conversations, research and interviews.

OBSERVATION

Observation consists of your actually seeing an event take place and then reporting what you
have seen in the form of a news story. The difference between a good story and a poor one is
often in the skill of the observer. Skilled observers use their eyes, ears, mind, notebooks and tape
recorders. They make sure they get the concrete facts, specific figures and accurate information.
They look for the colorful, the dramatic or the unusual in any situation.

Skilled observers always try to get more information than they actually need. They know it is
easier to discard excess material than to retrace their steps after the story is cold. Developing
your powers of observation can come only through experience. You cannot become a skilled
observer by simply reading a book. The key to becoming a good observer is to look for more
than you see on the surface.

TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS

The telephone plays an important role in your daily work as a journalist. It saves you time,
legwork and it often enables you to reach people who are ordinarily too busy to see you in
person.

Telephone conversations may range from full-scale interviews to brief queries to verify or
amplify information. But regardless of how often you use this method of news gathering, you
should keep the following points in mind:

l Know what information you want before you dial. Keep your pencil and paper handy. Do not
call someone and then ask that person to wait while you look for writing materials.

l Speak politely indistinct, well-modulated tones.

l Be cheerful and businesslike.

l Make sure you get your facts straight. Ask the other person to repeat figures or spell out names.
l Avoid three-way conversations among yourself, the person on the telephone and somebody else
in your office.

l Recheck your information by reading it back to the person who has given it to you.

RESEARCH

Research is nothing more than digging out information from files and reference works. Research
is used to verify or amplify facts in news stories and to give depth to feature stories and
magazine articles. Very few

Navy public affairs offices have adequate reference libraries. To do any extensive research, learn
to use the facilities of the nearest Navy, public or college library. Here you can find the
necessary books, encyclopedias, almanacs, magazines, atlases, directories, indexes and similar
References. The Naval Historical Center (OP-09BH), Washington, D.C., is a good source of
additional information about the Navy.

INTERVIEWS

About 90 percent of everything in a news story is based on some form of interviewing - either in
person, by telephone, or occasionally, by correspondence.

As a Navy journalist in search of information, you must learn who to get information from and
how to record facts. You must learn techniques for handling different kinds of people - how to
draw some out, how to keep others on the topic and how to evaluate the motives or honesty of
others. In short, you must learn how to get along with people and how to treat them with tact and
understanding while still accomplishing your purpose

Process of gathering information

Gathering Information

The first step to writing a story involves gathering information about your topic. In order to do
so, you need people who witnessed the event first hand or have extensive knowledge on said
topic. In writing, especially in journalism, the information you use is the heart of your writing.
Perhaps without details, sources, evidence, one’s writing will not have the intended impact of
informing your audience.

Conducting an Interview

When interviewing someone related or involved with a story, you are receiving information from
primary sources. Before you begin interviewing someone, you need to make sure you know what
questions to ask and how to ask them. Plan your interview as best you can and think carefully
about the topics you want to cover. It would be helpful to write your questions out beforehand if
you have time.
Questions to ask yourself before the interview:

1. What do you know and what do you need to know?

2. What are you trying to inform your audience about?
3. What are some of the outcomes? Not everyone will like your story or the topic you choose to
write about so be prepared for negative feedback. Be aware of any ethical issues pertaining to
your topic as well.

Rich Martin author of the book, “Living Journalism”, who has more than 30 years of reporting
and teaching experience, offers his advice about interviewing. These are some questions adopted
from his list:

1. What organizational policies or professional guidelines should you consider?

2. How can you bring people with different perspectives and ideas into your decision making?
3. Who will be affected by your decision? Think about your topic and who will be reading about it.
4. How would you feel if roles were reversed and you were the subject of the story?
5. Are there ways to minimize harm while remaining true to the facts of the story?

Once you have answered these questions and feel as though you know a lot about the subject of
matter then you can consider questions that you want to find out from the person you are
interviewing. It’s a given that you want to hear all sides of the story to prevent a biased opinion ,
but also keep in mind that there may not always be two sides to a story, so do your research.
University of Delaware Professor of Journalism Ben Yagoda refers to this instance as False
Equivalency. He refers to this example:

 The flu vaccine. The question parents are asking themselves is should or shouldn’t my child get
the flu vaccine? Reporters may think there are two sides of this story and the truth lies in the
middle, but it doesn’t. “That would be saying that only a portion of children should get the flu
vaccine when medical reports prove that all children should,” says Yagoda.

With this in mind, think carefully about your topic to your story and whether it’s apparent or not
that there’s two sides to look into. If so, plan for multiple interviews because as a journalist you
do not want to have a biased opinion. If there is only one side of the story then do the research
and interview accordingly.

Here are a few examples of types of questions you can use (adapted from Rich Martin). We have
further explained underneath each type.

1. Ask open-ended questions: This means questions that have no fixed limit or that require your
subject to provide details. Example: Do you like animals and why? As opposed to a closed-ended
question that only requires one word answers. Example Do you like animals?
2. Avoid charged language or loaded words: This means questions that are not biased or come
across to the subject as trying to persuade them towards a particular viewpoint. Your questions
should not sound tough, but they should probe and issue.
3. Keep your questions short and focused: Don’t overload them with details that will allow the
subject to answer selectively.
Good questions illuminate issues and capture the personality and character of the people you’re
writing about. Also when interviewing someone, you need to be sure to explain who you are and
what your job is. Journalism is about directness, precision, clarity, and not about confusing
people. Questions are supposed to get answers. Questions that fail to get answers are not tough
enough.

Tips on questions to ask the interviewee according to Yagoda:

1. Ask follow-up questions-which are sometimes the most important: Example: Yagoda read a
story and in it the reporter quoted that his interviewee, “once drank a fine wine that helped him
remember a specific memory”. There was nothing further on the subject and Yagoda wanted to
know more about what was stated in the quotation. He says, “This would be an example of an
opportunity to ask a follow up question so the readers aren’t left with questions. What was the
type of wine he drank? What was the memory?
2. Do not just read off all the questions you have prepared.
3. If something the interviewee says is surprising or not clear then ask to explain further.
4. If another topic is brought up ask about that as well.
5. Educate yourself on the general topic.

After the questions are prepared and you feel confident about them, remember these final tips
about conducting your interview:

1. Be Yourself. Don’t act out of character.

2. Choose the right setting. Offices and homes are both appropriate and convenient to conduct
interviews. Outdoors is also convenient if the story calls for it, but it can be noisy.
3. Tap into your subject’s ability to remember the details of the event or situation.
4. Always ask why in order to fully understand what is being said.
5. Take notes.
6. Don’t be late.
7. Dress appropriately

Interviews can be a multifaceted tool not just restricted to Journalism. They can also be used to
help strengthen other forms of writing such as argumentative or research. Using interviews in
this form of writing may prove to be more difficult than in Journalism due to the fact that
Journalism is based on other people’s accounts of an event and stories, while other forms of
writing are based on other things such as data and research. An interview adds multiple points of
view to help inform the reader of the topic and allow them to create their own opinion. If you are
able to conduct an interview with a reliable source, it is strongly advised to do so as this will help
strengthen your writing.

Using Credible Sources

One of the most important things in any form of writing when using an outside source is to make
sure they are credible. A credible source is someone or a group of people respected in their fields
of study. A Harvard Law professor is going to be a more credible source than a freshman at your
local community college when looking for information about law, for example. If even one of
the sources that you cite in your work is not credible, every single one of the other sources in that
piece will be called into question. Credible sources are not hard to come by, but you must take
the extra time to make absolutely sure that nothing your sources are saying could be called into
question for credibility.

According to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, there are a few questions you can ask
yourself to determine if your sources are credible. Below, we expanded on some of these
questions to better understand them.

1. Who is the author?

A credible author is going to be someone that has extensively studied the specific field you are
writing about or need information about. Not only that, but they also will cite all of their sources
in which you can check those as well for validity and backing to what your original author has
written. This is also a great chance to find more possible sources to further your story.

2. How recent is the source?

The time in which a certain source was published will be important depending on what your
topic is. A perfect example for this is found in the Purdue OWL which states that while
information on the Civil War may be very old but still accurate, more modern topics such as
computers or engineering must have more recent sources to stay relevant,

3. What is the author’s purpose?

A very important thing to keep in mind when deciding to use a source or not is what the
standpoint of that source is. Is it neutral or is it biased to one particular side? This can be very
detrimental to your writing if you only choose sources that limit your information to one side of
a debate.

4. What type of sources does your audience value?

What this question essentially means is that you need to write to your audience, so you should
use sources that could be respected by your audience. Peer-reviewed journals and research logs
would be a good source for academics and professionals, but people in your hometown might not
value that as much as a mainstream source of information.

Writing a News Story

Now that you have asked the questions, checked the sources, and have all of your information
gathered, it is time to write the story. Peter Cole says that journalistic writing is different than
creative writing. A journalist’s goals are to inform readers about what’s going and to adhere to
just the facts. What sets journalism apart from other forms of writing is not only the eye-catching
titles and lead sentences, but also the focus on human interest that makes the reader feel close to
the story. These are crucial tools to incorporate into your writing for successful journalism.
Structure of a Story

Before you begin writing your story you need make sure you organize your information. This
means picking out key points and quotes from interviews, investigative notes and observation to
support your story topic. Unlike an academic essay, the most important information should be in
the beginning of your story and supporting facts throughout the rest of it. Matthew Speal, writer
for Freelance Writing, and Jim Hall, author of “Beginning Reporting,” highlight some key points
to keep in mind when writing a news story:

The Lead:

“The Lead” can be one to two sentences in the opening paragraph or a separate introduction. It is
used to grab the reader’s attention and persuade them to keep reading, making it the most
important part of the story. There are two main types of leads-direct and delayed. A direct lead,
also called a summary lead, immediately reveals what the story is about. It answers the
questions; who, what, where, why, and how in a couple sentences. A delayed lead sets the mood
of the story rather than answering the what, where, why, and how questions right away. This lead
can be used to create anticipation and gives the reader a reason to keep reading.

Heart of the Story:

When writing your story you need to be sure you’ve answered the following questions
previously mentioned. Using this structure will help you to avoid any conflict pertaining to a lack
of information. You also need to make sure your story flows together and is easy for the subject
to read. Using quotes, an active voice, and short sentences are important as well.

Conclusion:

Two ways to end a story are with a quote and a circle ending. A circle ending means you return
to a key point or idea mentioned in the lead. Find a quote that ties your story together and draw a
conclusion from it.

Non-Biased Writing

One of the single most difficult things for a journalist to do is write their story without bias. Bias
is the showing of favoritism towards a specific topic or view point. As a journalist, you will be
faced with a wide variety of topics to write about; some of these topics you may have never
heard of, while others may personally affect you or a loved one. Writing a story without bias is
difficult because if that topic personally affects you, your first instinct will be to write to
persuade the audience. This, however, is not the job of the journalist. A journalist’s job is to
truthfully inform the public about the facts of the story.

We conducted an interview with advertising student Nikki Marini of West Virginia University
who also works at The Daily Athenaeum, West Virginia’s school newspaper. During this
interview, Marini was asked about her thoughts on non-biased journalism. She advises the
following:
1. Your first obligation is to the truth and your first loyalty is to the public. By this Marini
means that it is up to the journalist to bring the unbiased truth to the public.

2. Avoid making generalizations with potentially controversial subjects. Instead of using the
word “all” use “some,” or “often” instead of “always.”

3. As you work through the writing process, try to remind yourself of the assignment you were
given. With each sentence you add, ask yourself whether you are including it to better the article
or to better argue your personal opinion on the topic.

4. Collaboration is key. When working on a story, you are sure to have some form of copy editor
that will look over your work when you are done writing. A copy editor is someone who checks
spelling, grammar, punctuation, and overall appearance of your story. Inform this person that
you feel as though you may have been biased in your writing and they will be able to take a
neutral look at your writing.

Nose for news

. A “nose for news” means the instinctive skill or facility for discovering things. In journalism,
specifically, it means the ability to ferret out newsworthy things from routine or trivial day-to-
day activities or occurrences. A person who has a nose for news is naturally inquisitive and with
a strong interest in affairs or events other than those that involve himself or herself. When you
have a strong nose for news, that means you have the potential to become a news reporter
someday, whether for your campus paper or for the mass media.