You have several options when it comes to the structure of your story.
You will use one of the three
traditional news forms: the inverted pyramid, the narrative or the hourglass.
The most popular structure for news stories is the inverted pyramid. In the inverted
pyramid, the information is arranged in descending order of importance. The most
important material is placed at the beginning of the story, and less important
material follows. Succeeding paragraphs explain and support the lead. The inverted pyramid is popular because it still serves readers well. It tells them
quickly what they want to know. It also serves the reporter by forcing her to
sharpen her news judgment, to identify and rank the most important elements of
the story.
But the inverted pyramid has big disadvantages. Although it delivers the most
important news first, it does not encourage good writing. Many times stories do not
have an ending crafted by the writer; they simply end. There is no suspense.
Reporters tend to lose interest, time and energy. Writing in the second half of the
story is casual at best, and poor at worst.
Another one is narration or storytelling. Narration uses
scenes, anecdotes and dialogue to build to a climax. People are prominent in the
story, and they are responsible for the action. The story has a beginning, middle
and end. Quotations sound like real speech. The words and actions of the
characters reveal motives.
A third story structure, the hourglass, combines some of the best elements of both
the inverted pyramid and the narrative. It consists of three parts: a top, which tells
the news quickly; the turn, a nimble transition; and the narrative, a chronological
retelling of events. The hourglass works well with police stories, courtroom dramas
and other incidents that lend themselves to chronological narration.
The hourglass
has several advantages:
Readers get the news high in the story; the writer gets to
use storytelling techniques; and it encourages a real ending.
The Inverted Pyramid journalistic writing is the most basic fundamentals of journalism.
Writing in the Inverted Pyramid style has so many benefits for your readers. Journalists are taught to write news stories using this inverted pyramid structure.
This style calls for a very direct approach.
The beginning with the most important, followed by less important, and then finally ending with the least important.
1.
The beginning or The lead,The introductory paragraph should contain the key information you wish to share, answering the five Ws (who, what, where, when and why).
It should ideally answer these essential questions. In here putting the essential in a few sentences and most attention-grabbing elements first, thus write a brief summary or overview of our article. Include your most important keywords in the summary and put it at the beginning of your article. This allows users to quickly assess what your article is about, and helps search engines to identify your most important keywords.
1.The second layer of the pyramid is the body of the story and should contain, any additional information to support the introduction, expanding on the information provided.
y- Sequence of events, quotes, evidences, arguments, the central issue, key details etc.
The third layer is referred to as the tail, The least important information is put in the tail part. It should contain the least important information such as other background information, trivial details and so on. This can also, in some circumstances, include the assessment of the journalist.
Journalism historian David T. Z. Mindich argues that one of the first inverted pyramid leads was written by an Associated Press reporter after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865.
“The inverted pyramid organizes stories not around ideas or chronologies but around facts,” says journalism historian Mitchell Stephens in “A History of News.”
It’s also an extremely useful tool for thinking and organizing because it forces the reporter to sum up the point of the story in a single paragraph.
Critics of the inverted pyramid say it’s outdated, unnatural, boring, artless, and a factor in the declining readership that newspapers have been grappling with for decades.
Structure and scope of News Reports
‘Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph, sink your thumbs
into his windpipe in the second and hold him against the wall until the tag line.’-
Paul O’Neill.
News report writing always starts with the most important fact. When you report
on a football game, you do not start with the kick-off; you begin with the final
score. A news report has a beginning, middle and an end. News stories in contrast
to this will blurt out something and then explain themselves. News reports are
mostly active rather than in passive voice and are written in concise language.
Paragraphs are short so as to set in newspaper columns. Shorter paragraphs are
more likely to keep the attention of readers. Attribution meaning ‘somebody
saying something’ is used in the news- reports to present a range of views over
which the reporters can appear to remain neutral.
Most news reports follow the ‘Kiss and tell’ formula- Kiss standing either for
‘keep it short and simple’ or ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ Complexity, abstract notions,
ambiguity and unanswered questions tend to be frowned upon and deleted out of
news copy.
News reports structure should have-
Stories should have the main idea given to the journalist for covering of an
incident.
Content of the news report should be comprehensive and balanced.
The intro should contain the main point of the story and should be clearly
developed with the most important information coming early in the story,
followed by a coherent, logical and readable structure.
Personal comments should be avoided.
Facts should be presented logically.
The style, context and facts should be accurate.
The news reports aim is to meet the requirements of everyday life as lived by
everyday readers.
So it largely depends on elements like directness, pace, variety
and information. It aims to state the facts quickly and clearly.
A news report has three parts:
1. The headline:
a Byline. In design, a byline is a short phrase that indicates the name of the author of an article in a publication. Used in newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other publications, the byline tells the reader who wrote the piece.
2. The first paragraph -Lead
3. The remainder of the news story
1. The headline:
The Headline first attracts us. It stands out in bold black type. It message is abrupt and often startling. It makes us stop and look. It tells us quickly what the story covers. Its function is to attract our attention. Though, the headline writing belongs to the copyreader’s province and not to the reporter’s.
The first paragraph -Lead
The Lead One of the most important elements of news writing is the opening paragraph or two of the story. Journalists refer to this as the "lead," and its function is to summarize the story and/or to draw the reader in depending on whether it is a "hard" or "soft" news story .
The opening paragraph of the introduction paragraph of the news story is called the ‘lead’. Though in journalistic practice we also use this word for biggest headline on the front page of newspaper, calling it the ‘lead story’. The main purpose of the intro or the lead is to make the reader want to read on, motivate them to move further into the news story and state the important facts first. Lead to a story "grabs the reader, informs the reader, and teaches the reader how to read the rest of the story."
The lead remains the primary concern of the news writer. As the present day
reader is the man who both runs and reads, present day newspapers seek to
facilitate his getting the information quickly. The convention has developed of
telling the main facts of a news story in its first lead paragraph. Writing this lead
also involves answering the questions, which would occur to any normal person
when confronted with the announcement of a news story.
These questions, called
the five W’s are:
Where?
Who?
What?
When?
Why?
Suppose the news story concerns a fire. In writing the lead-the reporter would
answer the questions, ‘What?’ “Fire broke out,” he would write. He would answer
the question, ‘Who?’ and ‘Where?’ by telling whose premises were burnt and
giving their location. He would answer “When” by telling the time the fire broke
out and how long it lasted. ‘Why?’-in this case the cause the usual carelessly tossed
cigarette butt. The reporter can also answer the ‘How’ in this story in several ways
by describing the type of fire, or by answering ‘How much’? Here, he would
estimate the probable lost and find out if premises had been covered by insurance
and if so by what amount.
The Body
The Body The body of the story involves combining the opinions of the people you interview, some factual data, and a narrative, which helps the story flow.
The role of a reporter is to find out what people are thinking of an issue and to report the opinions of different stakeholders of an issue. As a reporter, you are the eyes and ears for the readers. You should try to provide some visual details to bring the story to life this is difficult if you have conducted only phone interviews, which is why face-to-face is best. You should also try to get a feel for the story.
Keep your eyes and ears open; listen to what your friends are talking about.
Read everything you can get your hands on; get story ideas from other newspapers and magazines.
Think of a youth angle to a current news story.
3The remainder of the news story=Conclusion
The end is the conclusion of the news reports. From the headline and the lead one
comes to the rest of the story. He selects the most important incident or fact for his lead. Then he
proceeds by selecting the next most important incident, fact or detail, the next most
important after that, and so on till he reaches least important phase of all. Guided
by his idea of news importance, the story assumes graphically the shape inverted pyramid
The end will be at the peak of the inverted pyramid with
the facts or incidents of least value. When writing a news story for an organization
you should always retain the idea that your text is to be read and understood by
others. Thus a story is like building blocks, which should be linked logically to
each other.
Therefore, there should be continuity between the intro, the lead and
the end of the news story.
Thus, the most popular format of news writing is the Inverted Pyramid This is the most widely used approach in news writing. The information is given in
the descending order of importance.
The work of journalists dealing with television and radio is fundamentally similar to the work of press journalists. The same principles and values of news production and conveying information are still valid.
Visual journalism is the combination of text, images and layout. Visual journalism is a much wider concept than photojournalism. It is essentially creating the overall visual appearance of a newspaper, magazine, TV-channel or so on. The visual appearance of a media channel, newspaper or magazine is created with typography, photographs, videos, illustrations, cartoons, maps, infographics and other graphical solutions.
One is that a good radio journalist is required to know recording and publication technology and needs to have clear vocal expression. A television journalist is also required to have a pleasing outward appearance.
In television work, the news value is determined by the visual aspect of the topic in addition to the news criteria related to press work. A common objective is that some footage from the location itself or some relevant illustrative footage is available, but often programmes have to resort to so-called talking heads or pundits.
Tips for addressing audiences verbally on TV or radio
Voice and image: Support the story without adding ambiguity.
Text reading and pronunciation: Clear and organised.
Vocabulary and grammatical rules: Simple, correct and to-the-point.
The speed of reporting: Slow enough that the viewer can follow the news and understand it the first time.
Sound vibrations: Compatible with the content and meaningful. For example, a funeral cannot be a subject for any sarcastic tone.
Here are some useful tips for beginning TV journalists who are heading for a field coverage.
Before going into the field for live coverage, prepare some background information and go through the objectives with the anchor and photographer.
When coverage goes on air, any new information should first be provided in brief then elaborated on and explained, if time allows. It is a good idea, for example, to provide a summary of all information that has been previously gathered.
If a critical moment in the event appears, pause in talking and let the actions speak for themselves.
Getting extremely close to the location of the event will not bring any special acclaim. The reporter is there as a transmitter of facts and not a TV star or a war hero. For the reliability of reporting, it is sufficient to know that a journalist is present at the location of the incident. Always remember that the security and safety of the work team comes first.
At the scene, the same information is available to many people at the same time. A reporter can try to distinguish themselves from others by their choice of expressions and points of view.
Not all confrontations are violent and not all rallies are massive, so things should be conveyed with reference to their actual magnitude. Avoid blowing things out of proportion.
Reporting is teamwork. The praise and fame for successful reporting are not for the reporter only. A fair reporter gives credit to the whole team
News is what people want to hear or need to know. But it is difficult to define largely because stories can be presented in a variety of ways. News can inform, educate or even entertain. Hard news dealswithserioustopicsandevents. So, it must be accurate, truthful and fair.
The characteristics
of TV and radio journalism
The same principles of journalism are relevant no matter what news channel a journalist works for, but there are differences. One
is that a good radio journalist is required to
know recording and publication technology and needs to have clear vocal expression.
A television journalist is also required to have
a pleasing outward appearance.
In television work, the news value is determined by the visual aspect of the topic in
addition to the news criteria related to press
work.
A common objective is that some footage from the location itself or some relevant
illustrative footage is available, but often programmes have to resort to so-called talking
heads or pundits.
However, there is no need to have footage on everything and everybody you talk of.
The reporter may handle abstract topics by
showing images of activities related to the topic while they narrate the information. Nevertheless, the tone of images and the language
used should also be compatible with the topic, and the images must be carefully selected.
Tips for a TV reporter working in the field
Before going into the field for live coverage, prepare some background information and go through the objectives with
the anchor and photographer.
When coverage goes on air, any new
information should first be provided
in brief then elaborated on and explained, if time allows. It is a good
idea, for example, to provide a summary of all information that has been
previously gathered.
If a critical moment in the event appears, pause in talking and let the actions speak for themselves.
Getting extremely close to the location of the event will not bring any
special acclaim. The reporter is there
as a transmitter of facts and not a TV
star or a war hero. For the reliability of
reporting, it is sufficient to know that
a journalist is present at the location
of the incident. Always remember that
the security and safety of the work
team comes first.
At the scene, the same information is
available to many people at the same
time. A reporter can try to distinguish
themselves from others by their choice
of expressions and points of view.
Not all confrontations are violent and
not all rallies are massive, so things
should be conveyed with reference to
their actual magnitude. Avoid blowing
things out of proportion.
Reporting is teamwork. The praise and
fame for successful reporting are not
for the reporter only. A fair reporter
gives credit to the whole team.
News values are the elements of story that journalists have used for decades to quickly assess and determine whether an idea or event is worth sharing — and if so, how prominently.
Twelve Factors in Newsworthiness
As the TV news business continues to grow, so does demand for better journalists. Those involved in broadcast news must understand 12 factors that constitute
news value, or newsworthiness.
¤ Timeliness
¤ proximity
¤ exceptional quality
¤ possible future impact
¤ prominence
¤ conflict
¤ the number of people involved or affected
¤ consequence
¤ human interest
¤ pathos
¤ shock value
¤ titillation component
Radio is oldest news medium, after print media and radios accessible to wider sections of the society.
Even people who cannot read or who are staying remote part of the country can access radio
news. It is available in villages as well as in cities.
According to UNESCO It is “the mass
medium that reaches the widest audience in the world”.
Compared to newspapers and television, radio is inexpensive to produce and distribute. it is also
the easiest form of broadcasting to produce. Anyone with an ability to talk can take part in a
radio broadcast.
It can transmit on a local level, in regional language, addressing issues of
importance to local listeners. It can be interactive using telephone or SMS.
However, the radio newscast is consumed
sequentially. So the stories in a radio newscast need to be
chosen and made to be interesting to a significant
number of listeners.
In radio, a complete story is called ‘wrap’ and its duration varies from 30 second to 90 seconds. It includes of the reporter’s narration, also called “track,” and often includes sound bites and natural sound, sound that occurs naturally on location.
Radio news listeners are hardly, attentive. Usually, people listen to radio while doing something else. The radio listeners are often driving, working, or engaged in some task other than absorbing the latest news. Hence radio news stories are told in familiar words combined into sentences, which run at comfortable lengths in a conversational style
The radio news writing style includes the choice of simple words with short declarative sentences, Clarity in both sentence length and word choice is important in
radio news reporting. Sentences must be crisp and short. Since the listeners have no opportunity to go back and hear it again. Sentences in a radio news story generally contain just one idea and do not contain multiple clauses and internal clauses. Jargons or highly technical words are also avoided
The
script contains less information than a print story, so the picture building is very important.
The radio report with audio is an informative bulletin about current affairs and does not includes
opinion.
The reporter speaks during the report – providing the voice-over.
The addition of
various pieces of recorded material (known as audio clips, cuts, or sound bites) makes the report
more lively, authentic, and interesting.
Radio news is shorter than newspaper news and hence requires
comprehension and filtration of facts while writing the news.
It
focuses on the essence of the broadcast item to follow, avoiding too many facts and figures.
The presenter uses
basic storytelling principles.
The
content of the lead-in should always have relevance and appeal for the listeners and it should not double up on any of the information in the actual broadcast item.
A CV is termed as Curriculum Vitæ, which means ‘course of life/ journey of my life’ in Latin. It is an in-depth document.
üIt can be laid out over two or more pages and it contains a high
level of detail about your achievements. It is a career biography. The CV
covers your education as well as any other accomplishments like achievements,
awards, honors, etc.
üThe document tends to be organized chronologically and should make
it easy to get an overview of an individual’s full working career.
üA CV is static and doesn’t change for different positions, the
difference would be in the cover letter.
üMost countries outside of the United States
use a CV. However in the United States, a CV is commonly used for individuals
with extensive educational and work experience. Ex: Lawyers, Doctors, certain
Engineers, etc.
A CV Should
Highlight:-
1. Educational Qualifications, 2. Awards 3. Internship Experiences 4. Presentations 5. Positions of Responsibility 6. Skills/Tools 7. Professional organization memberships and licenses8. Extra-Curricular Activities
Resume
§A resume, or résumé, is a concise document typically not longer
than one page as the intended reader will not dwell on your document for very
long.
§RESUMEs are short,
no particular format rule and highly customizable
§The goal of a resume is to make an individual stand out from the
competition
§The job seeker should adapt the resume to every position they
apply for.
§It is in the applicant’s interest to change the resume from one
job application to another and to tailor it to the needs of the specific post.
§There is a technique that
increases your chances of visibility
This is your way to help your
reader gain insight to your talents and possible value in order to call you in
for an interview.
·A
resume is a short document (at least 1 -2 pages) that you use
to give future employers a brief overview of your work history. There is a
strategy to write a resume so that it can highlight all your best work since
the document is a gist and you can’t describe every single achievement in your
career.
·A Resume Should
Highlight:-
§Educational Qualifications
§Academic Achievements
§Research Experience (Heavy
emphasis on this section)