Reporting and Editing. Source of news

Reporting

Reporting, means collection or gathering of facts about current events or background material required for a news story or feature.

Reporters do it through interviews, investigations and observation. Reporters are given directions by editors to cover a particular event, known as assignments. They may be general assignments or special ones. Reporters write the news stories, which are called copies. A reporter should write with clarity, objectivity and accuracy. A reporter who covers a particular area or subject specialises in that.

Editing:

A person who edits is called an editor. Editing is a process by which a report is read, corrected, modified, value-added, polished, improved and made better for publication. Condensation is also part of editing.

The copy of the report has been improved by the editor and is therefore easier to read and understand. The editor also decides whether photographs or other images or graphs should be used along with the report. A good editor needs creative skills, command over the language, ideas to improve the copy and correct judgement about how much importance should be given to a particular news item.

We call a news report a news story. These are factual stories - events that have happened or things that are going to happen. Like a good story teller, the reporter has to narrate the story before the reader or listener or viewer. reporters get news stories from various sources.

The following are the main sources:

a)      Listening: A reporter can get good stories by listening to others. The reporter goes to the accident site to collect all this information. The reporter's job does not end there. He has to inform the photographer about the accident. The next day's newspaper should also carry some good photographs about the accident.

b)      Covering events : "India-Pakistan cricket Test in Mumbai", Kumbhmela in Haridwar", "International Film Festival in Goa ", these are all events. Reporters cover these events for their publications, channels or new bulletins. The coverage depends upon the importance and magnitude of the event. A small panchayat level meeting will be covered locally, whereas a state level function will get wider coverage. If it is a national event, it will receive nationwide attention.

c)      Press conferences: Another major source of news is the press conference. Leaders of political parties hold press conferences regularly. Ministers also hold press conferences to announce various programmes and policies of the government. Business houses arrange press conferences to launch their new products. Organisations and Associations also held press briefings.

d)      Reports and statements:. These are another major sources of news items. Various commissions and committees submit their reports to the Government which are a goldmine as far as news reporters are concerned.

e)      Parliament and Assemblies:- Parliament and state assemblies when in session generate lot of news. Questions in both the houses of parliament, proceedings, calling attentions, zero-hour mentions, debates and various acts passed by the parliament also make news. The general budget and railway budget are presented in parliament. State budgets are presented in state assemblies.

lice sources: The police are in charge of law and order. So the police always maintain a close vigil about various activities of citizens. Reporters get details about crime, accidents etc. from police sources.

g) Interviews: Interviewing people connected with an event or incident is a very common practice used by reporters to get details. Television reporters take the opinion of people which are called reactions. Occasionally, reporters of newspapers and channels conduct long interviews with important people.

News can also originate from government and non-government sources, courts, airports, railway stations, educational institutions, hospitals etc.

source:http://download.nos.org/srsec335new/ch7.pdf

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STRUCTURE OF NEWS DEPARTMENT: Quality of reporter

One of the traditional mass communications is the presence of a large number of gatekeepers. This fact   is seen in gathering and reporting of news for conventional print and broadcast media.

Reporting is a team effort and quite a few members of the team serve as gatekeepers. Online reporting

in contrast may have only one or a few gatekeepers.

There are two main sources of news; staff reports and the wire services. Other less important sources

include feature syndicates as well as handouts and releases from various public and private sources.

The City Editor is the captain of the news reporting team. He or she assigns stories to the reporters and

supervises their work.

There are two types of reporters:

Beat Reporters:  Cover some topics on regular basis, such as crime beat or health beat.

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General assignment reporters: Cover what ever assignment is given to them or come up.

A typical day for the general assignment reporter might consist of covering an auto accident, a speech,

by a visiting politician and a rock concert. Stories from the reporters are passed along to the city editor,

1)Curiosity-
A reporter MUST absolutely be a very curious person.  A good reporter should be well educated, and have interest in history, geography, politics, sports, and other human activities.
2) Communication Skills
You have to be able to communicate with people, interpret what information they give you, and present it to others. He should have an ability to write in a style which is easy to understand. Good spellings, grammar, and punctuation are also required. 

3) Competitive Spirit
Journalism is a competitive business. Jobs are few and far between. Also, once you get a job, you have to be competitive to beat your opponents (other stations, papers) to the story. • He should have an ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines.The news business is highly unpredictable, and the person who refuses to work nights, weekends, or holidays usually won't get far. That is why reporter should accept to work irregular hours.
  
  4) Ability to be neutral and unbiased .
Reporters have to have an eye for what is newsworthy, what the hook is in a story. Editors are there to help reporters develop good news judgment, but there are times when reporter will have to make snap decisions on their own and find the proper focus for a story.
 
5)People Skills
A lot of hard news/beat reporters don’t have great people skills, but the best reporters do.He should have an ability to ask critical questions to the source.
6)Writing Skills
  Journalists need to be able to write clearly and using few words.

7)Persistence
We  have to be able to call them over and over and over and follow them around like a stalker sometimes to get the information you need. A good reporter should know and make good relations with all the famous personalities of his or her defined area.
8)Guts
We  need to be brave enough to write the truth, no matter what the consequences.

 9)A skill or interest in something else It helps a lot if you have a skill or interest in something else. For instance journalists that know a lot and have a lot of interest in a certain subject are usually valuable. 

Become a TV Reporter

1. Be a reporter. Observe, ask questions and tell a story  any platform, in any field  respect for facts, truth and speed.
2. Use your journalistic skills to their fullest.Television and TV news is  a complicated process.
Do some research. There is never an excuse for researching on air or on tape. Plan our interviews and pieces as much as possible - but change that plan if the story does not fit your template.
- 3. Make sure we  are in the right place at the right time And with the right people. Much TV journalism involves 'fixing' - making sure the people are there and the story is too when we turn up. Beg, cajole or bribeour way to pole position, but avoid the herd instinct.
The great reporters are often mavericks who will plough a lonely furrow away from the pack. It often pays dividends. Look beyond the bar of the hacks' hotel and the bleeding obvious.
But also remember that good journalism is not just about fixing.
- 4. Remember that if our u work in television the operative word is vision. Every picture is worth a thousand words, but some are worth ten thousand.we usually have two minutes tops to get the story across, mainly in sequences and sync. Stunning shots do so much of the heavy lifting for you. Your words are there to enhance the pictures, not to fight them or turn the piece into an illustrated essay. The great reporters use just the right phrase to lift the pictures
- 5. Know when to talk and when to shut up. Economy of words is all. The great reporters allow the silences or the natural sync - real people talking - or, better, the pictures to do the talking/story-telling for them. Write a script but then see how you can cut it down. Wall-to-wall commentary ruins too many pieces.
- 6. Put the package together for maximum impact. . If we  have time before transmission, we can throw it all in the air and into a different order (thanks to non-linear editing).
- 7. The piece-to-camera shows you were there and have the cred to tell the story. Think carefully about where it goes in the piece, and what it will say to the viewer. Make it stand out as well as stand up.
I
- 8. Sell it within the news organisation 
Otherwise all your thousands of miles in that uncomfortable military cargo plane, time on patrol dodging bullets, fixing, cajoling, shooting, writing and packaging will have come to nought. Your piece will drift past the audience ... and past award judges like me.Greatness needs both hard work and hype - but you know it when you see it.
source: 8http://www.zeepedia.com/read.php?structure_of_news_department_beat_reporters_online_media_tv_news_reporting_and_production&b=82&c=28

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Writing News Releases

A news release is a short article, usually written in the style of a standard hard-news story,  that is sent to media with the aim of encouraging favourable coverage of the people, company or organization that issued the statement.

News releases are also commonly referred to as press releases and media releases.The common news release is the foundation of the public relations business. After all, public relations people and the folks who pay good money to employ them by the thousands recognize that when it comes to selling a product, or a point of view, no publicity is worth more than legitimate news coverage.

News releases are often valued more than full-page ads, billboards or paid TV spots. In this regard, all news releases are an effort to influence the media to see a story a particular way. Literally thousands of news releases are sent to media organizations every day, 365 days a year. They come from corporations, governments, sports teams, churches, political parties, musical groups, clubs, societies and a host of other groups. Nevertheless, news releases are a major source of news for media.

This is partly because news organizations are used to receiving story ideas this way. They expect to get information in the form of news releases from governments and corporations, and they're set up to deal with them. If you fax or email a news release to a major newspaper or broadcast station, you can be reasonably certain that someone will look at it, even if they don't decide to use it in the end.

The writers of news releases sometimes also play on the well-known herd instinct of the media .

The purpose of a news release is different from that of a news story, the same writing principles apply. So you need to write something that sounds like a standard inverted-pyramid news story, with a strong summary lead that sums up the main point of the story.

So write in plain English.

Keep it short.

Answer all the questions a reader would ask - and those, of course, include: Who? What? When? Where? Why? And How?

Explain all technical terms you must use - and avoid them if possible.

When you write a news release, be conscious of the relevant time elements.

Always put a date at the top of the release.

- Always write a one-line headline. A simple summary is best, and specific information is preferable to more general statements.

Always give contact names or numbers somewhere on the release.

Always include the address of the company or organization issuing the news release.

Always indicate the end of the release. Traditional ways to indicate the end of a news story include the numeral 30 . You may give some thought to including extras with your news release. Some, such as photos, are worth considering.

Photos are usually welcomed by editors. But anticipate the needs of the publications that will use the pictures. Don't provide busy pictures, artsy photos or overly dark shots. If you provide a photo, always include a caption, also known in the business as cutlines.

However, you should resist the urge to distribute free samples and other materials. This is generally frowned upon as slightly distasteful, bordering on bribery. A rare exception might be when a sample of the product was required to write the story. As a general rule, though, substitute solid information for freebies.

Send your release to assignment editors, city editors, and appropriate beat reporters.

.Summary

- A news release is a short article written in the style of a standard hard-news story that is sent to media.

- The aim of a news release is to encourage favourable coverage of the people, company or organization that issued the statement.

- News releases are an effective way to influence media perception of an event or organization, and to encourage coverage.

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