A debate on jobskills for newspapers February 24, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Worth a read, general.add a comment
I always wondered how the West are taking journalism in all its avtars very serious.
India has to its credit a lot of bold, bright journalists even in the days of pre independence.
But the young are taking the career cool. It is a matter of concern and the effects will be felt only after a few decades. The freshers who have the urge to train and pursue journalism as a serious career are handful in numbers. Even if anyone is interested they look at the TV and the multimedia not at the mightier pen!
But if one is passionate, the field of writing, journalism and the career will keep him lively for his lifetime! The learning opportunities are immense. And if he wants to update himself with the latest technology in this field, he should just go online.
I guess these are all my opinions.
For a career, you require certain jobskills or acquire them as you train.
Here is a debate on the jobskills for newspapers! What’s your opinion?
Meaningless words! February 19, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Reporting, writing.add a comment
I was a casual user of ‘I am sure . . ‘ , ‘ It is sure that . . .’ till I realised that these are meaningless.
When I began a newsletter with a sentence “I am sure many of you would have gone to the …. fair at ….”
The editor made the first remark, “How are you sure? I am not!”
It was a bounce on the face. But he was right! No one is sure for that matter. Even I was. I had assumed that the fair was so attractive and popular that many of the local people would have gone to it.
But assumptions do not in any way get to the plates of a reporter. The first lesson in reporting!
When a newsletter to the subscriber is generally a one-to-one format of a letter with a personal touch, could it violate the basics of writing and reporting?
It cannot.
Have you come across these words – Scintillating, great, mind boggling. There are many more in this list.
For a short reading on meaningless words, go here!
Cleaning the copy February 18, 2008
Posted by Revathi in writing tips.add a comment
It had been a bad habit for me.
Yes, a very bad habit. I used to push the copy through email immediately after filing it. No reading it again. No correction. No rethinking on any sentences already framed and typed out.
It was not because I was confident. But, because I did not like to read what I wrote!
Does it sound funny? It sounded so to me too. But I hated to read what I have filed. It was like a job done and I cleaned up my table.
Once, when the report was nothing very important to be edited, it slipped down to the printing area as it is. And I was to proof-read it.
It was then I realised that I have been keeping the copy-editor or the editor fully engaged on my reports whenever I filed them.
From silly typos to incomplete sentences, spelling and spacing, colons and commas. I looked at the rough print out as though it was from a school kid’s grammar book. I corrected the report on that day just before it went for final printing. But made up my mind to go through what I have filed henceforth.
Anyway, a short free course at the News University will be fun and a lot of learning!
P.S. Do You know?
Anyway, as one word, is an adverb that means regardless.
Any way, as two words, means in any manner or any way.
All the best for clean copies from your desk.
So what and What next . . . February 17, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Journalism basics.add a comment
I wrote a post a few day ago on ‘So what?’
Yes, why should your story be of any interest to the reader? One of the best answers is that they relate to the story. It means the story is meant exactly for the readers of your newspaper. Or you tell them something that they relate to.
Now, when I relate to a particular issue, I would definitely be interested in what happened after a reporter brought the issue or the story out in print! What next?
Once my editor said, “There’s a lot to do within our stories!” I mistook it for doing the report better. I thought the report was not complete.
But he meant the follow up of many stories that we had brought to the public earlier. In a way, the theory of the-story-not-complete holds good. A report is never complete without follow up!
Classifieds – a place to shop for news! February 16, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Journalism basics, news tips.Tags: classifieds, news, story idea
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People sell and look for items, services, announce new shop openings, private tuitions.
All these activities make to a story idea or news.
They all appear on the classifieds section of newspapers which are generally looked at by people who want to make use of the services announced / advertised through classifieds.
But how they become story ideas is an interesting story by itself.
Here is one example:
There was an occasion when there was an announcement of inauguration of a new play school. The address was familiar. When we looked for a news, we came to know that the working women’s hostel in the place was closed down!
Reason – the woman who was running the hostel for a 10 years has died. The lady was a widow and alone. But was hosting a dozen women in a secured atmosphere. That was worth a news and an obituary too!
And about writing an obit – wait for a few more posts!
Beyond the Ws and H February 15, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Journalism basics, writing tips.Tags: basic journalsim, inverted pyramid, leads
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The theory of Journalism specifies the six basic elements – the five Ws and a H.
In the journey of learning more, I came across another question which is beyond the Ws and H.
It is ‘So what?’
So what? Yes, I came across this when I signed up for a course in News University’s ‘The Lead Lab’ course online.
The course material is drawn from the book ‘Reporting and Writing: Basics for the 21st Century’ by Chip Scanlan.
You can find this under the section – Refresh your lead basics - in this course.
In a world overloaded with information, people are hungry for stories that help them understand why the news matters. Readers and viewers are always asking,”So what?”. You should too to reach them with news, information and stories.
- Why should readers or viewers care about this story?
- How does this story relate to readers’ and viewers’ lives?
- Does this story reflect any larger themes? What are they?
- Why do people need to know this?What might it mean to their lives?
- Why does this story matter?
Just go through the exercise of asking these question before you file your copy. I bet you would come out with a very interesting and useful story that will make people look up to your byline next time when they read your paper!
Expect the unexpected February 14, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Journalism basics, writing.Tags: angles of a story, neighbourhood newspapers, tabloid
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When the competition is from TV, radio and online, you never have an exclusive story.
So it is always how different you tell the story from a different angle counts.
But local and neighbourhood newspapers are lucky to have such exclusive stories.
An interesting local story may not interest a national newspaper reader. But it will interest the localities and the people who have their roots in the neighbourhood as well.
When I was on an assignment to write about a store which specialises in ghee, I did not expect to come out with a multi-angled story.
It was a festival season. Naturally, ghee is consumed in plenty in all forms of sweets. The story on a ghee store is a favourite for all the weekly supplements of broadsheets. And a story with a colourful picture for tabloids.
My story was just one of the tens or twenties of such stories for the week, when I began. But when I read it again after completing the story I found it contained a lot of things.
- To which level butter is heated up to get the right form of ghee that is used to make sweets. (For other uses, the temperature differs!)
- Why the store procures the butter from a particular geographical location of the state. (The variety of grass, the cows eat up matters!)
- How his employer wrote off a part of his business to the current owner in appreciation for his sincere efforts.
- What is the role of the female members of the family in the business.
- How the demand – supply which varies from season to season is managed.
- How the door-delivery logistics is handled.
- What is the pattern of dividing the business among his sons and nephews, who lost their father. (Sons are in branches and the nephews manage franchises)
And, not the least is another lead about his neighbour who runs an exclusive weekly magazine on Law!
This experience is one of the many anecdotes I can quote on ‘expect the unexpected’, while working on the so called ’small stories’!
The definition of a reporter February 12, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Worth a read.add a comment
If you have been a journalist, know what exactly you are!
And if you are ‘just’ a reporter, know what does it mean these days!
Reporting talks and speeches February 7, 2008
Posted by Revathi in Reporting, writing tips.Tags: reporting speeches, storyline, talks
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I never thought that listening to a speech and reporting it would be difficult until I had to do one.
Of course, I had prepared for listening to the speech.
I had also done a bit of background research on the topic of the speech.
I had a pen and a pad with me and I am fairly a speed writer.
I had also tutored myself that I should report on the whole event, just not the speech – like venue, orgnisers, number and the category of the audience.
And had sat down to write down the report just after I was back. I had learnt from the online sources that I should file my report immediately, on such assignments!
And my report was published in print as well as online! Here it is.
Even while it was getting published, I could see a discontentment on the face of the editor.
Theoretically, the report fitted into every grammar content. But ’something’ was missing. The editor could put it precisely – “Your report should tell a story to a lay man like me!”
I smiled to myself – “lay man like me!”? He must be joking!
But, when I look back now, I realise that I missed a lot of things in this report. . .
- First of all, a nice lead for the story. I started like a dry essay!
- I did not keep an eye on what was happening around the edges.
- The report was cluttered with many references significant and insignificant!
- Definitely, the report did not introduce the terminology to a ‘lay man’!
- And the storyline is missing all through!
I felt a restructure of the entire report would have done some justice. But the stepping stone to practical reporting was laid and I could see myself climbing on it carefully!
