COMM-125 Introduction to Journalism

Section 1- Language of instruction English

Wednesdays 15:00-18:00
Venue: NEWTON Amphitheatre
Lecture no. 6

Writing and reporting are the central

tasks of the journalist.
Hence the chapter on journalistic
writing is probably the biggest one of
all.
Among other things, it consists of:
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characteristics,
the
language,
conventions
and
tools,
structures/formats and techniques,
style, editing, headline formation, the
writing for different media and the
different assignments.

Writing and reporting, however are

very different tasks, and inevitably
some journalists are better reporters that is, gatherers of information - than
writers.

While reporting requires a person to

talk with people in certain ways and to
look for information intelligently and
creatively,

writing requires the journalist to sift

through the information and mold it into
the appropriate form for the medium he
or she is using.

Having the proper information - all the

relevant facts of a story,
the proper identification for the people
involved,
the times and dates,

accurate direct quotations, and so on

is vital to the writing process,

but it is only the beginning.

There comes a time when the

information gathering must cease and
the writing must begin.

The ability to write well requires that

the writer have a thorough knowledge
and understanding of the subject.

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In addition, the writer must understand

the basic structure of the news story
and the conventions or customs of
news writing in order to complete the
process.

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Basic Writing Characteristics

All writing for the mass media shares
four characteristics:
accuracy, precision, efficiency and
clarity.

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These characteristics should be on

display in any
nonfiction writing for a large audience.

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Accuracy
Writers must learn to use the words
and phrases that will convey the
information they have, in a way so that
readers will not only understand it, but
also be able to form an appropriate
interpretation of it.

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Writers must not only present facts, but

they must also present them within a
proper context.

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Achieving accuracy is no easy task.

Factual information has to be

processed by the writer, and the result
of that processing can come out in
many different ways.

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A reader has an expectation in reading

a news story that if he or she had seen
and heard the same things that the
reporter saw and heard, the reader
would interpret them in the same way.

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Precision is one of the basic means

for achieving accuracy.
Precision in this context means that the
writer uses the language accurately
and according to commonly accepted
rules
of
grammar,
spelling,
punctuation, and diction.

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Some people argue that grammar,

spelling, and punctuation are not
important.
The
thoughts,
the
ideas,
the
information,
now
that's
what's
important they say.

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They are wrong on two levels.

First, thoughts, ideas and information

take their shape in the words used to
express them.

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If those words, phrases and sentences

are not correct, how can thoughts,
ideas, and information be correctly
expressed?

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But those who argue that grammar,

spelling, and punctuation are not
important are wrong on another, more
practical level.

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The media professions simply do not

tolerate misuse of the language.
The language is the basic tool of the
profession,

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and those who do not use the

language well cannot be taken
seriously by other professionals or by
the general public.

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To say otherwise is to be unrealistic.

Simply put, writers who would work in
journalism must know the language
and use it precisely.

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Efficiency is another highly valued

characteristic of journalistic writing.
Most of us think, talk, and write
inefficiently.

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Good journalists must learn how to

write so that they can include as much
information as possible in a small
amount of time and space.

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The practical reasons for this are that,

except for the World Wide Web,
space is limited in all media and
readers also consider their time to be
limited.

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They expect the media to give them

information quickly and efficiently.
They do not want their time wasted by
irrelevant information or unnecessary
words.

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Do not confuse efficiency with

brevity (shortness, or briefness).
Although the two characteristics of
writing have some things in common,
they are not the same.

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Achieving efficiency has to do with the

way in which information is presented
rather than the amount of information.

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A long article may be more efficiently

written than a shorter one.
The key is how much information gets
to the reader and how quickly.

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Clarity is also a prized characteristic of

journalistic writing.
It means that a reader can understand
what the writer is saying, without
having to figure out what the words
mean or what the writer has in mind.

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Clear writing does not have to be read

a second time to discover its meaning.

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As information becomes more detailed

and complex, clear writing is harder to
produce.

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Writers who work with complex

information sometimes forget to ask
themselves some basic questions
about how their audience will react to
the writing, such as:

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"Will a reader understand the words I

am using?" and
"Will the reader be able to picture the
information I have if I say in this way or
that way?"

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The first turn toward clarity is for the

writer to try to put himself or herself in
the place and shoes of the reader,
asking:

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"What does the reader know about this

information, and what can I do to add
to the reader's knowledge and
understanding?"
The writer should never take things for
granted.

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One road to clarity is through simplicity,

a basic tenet of modern writing.
Journalistic writers should try to write
as simply as possible, using the most
basic words and sentence structures
that are appropriate for the information.

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This is not to say that every sentence

should be a simple sentence or that
every word should be a one, or two
syllable word.
Variety in sentence structure makes for
interesting and readable writing.

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But using long or unfamiliar words

when short, simple words would do, is
not a sign of good writing and does not
present information efficiently or clearly
to the reader.

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Most sentences that we write are too

long, particularly those written on a first
draft.
Long sentences are often the result of
a lack of clarity in the thinking of the
writer.

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That is, a writer is trying to say too

many things or the writer has not
worked out what pieces of information
he or she needs to present.

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Simply shortening a sentence or

breaking one long sentence into two
sentences will greatly increase the
clarity of the piece of prose.

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Writing conventions
Whereas some journalistic writing is
narrative or chronological, much of it is
not.

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That is, in presenting information about

an event or a subject, journalists do not
necessarily begin at the beginning or
with the first thing that happened.

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Instead, they are likely to start with the

last thing that occurred or the most
important information.
How, then, do writers make this kind of
non narrative writing hand together?

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Journalism has developed a number of

writing conventions for presenting
information.

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Those conventions, or ways of writing,

tell us much about what journalists
believe is important, and they deserve
some attention from students who are
beginning to learn this type of writing.

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No two writers will approach any event

or issue in exactly the same way, so
there is no formula that a writer can
always use.

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The information the writer has, the

amount of time there is to write the
story,
and the amount of space available to
print the story will be major factors in
determining
how
the
story
is
developed.

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Still, writers must be aware of the tools

and conventions of writing in order to
make the story acceptable for the
publication for which they are writing.

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Following are some tools and

conventions that writers of news stories
must use and observe.

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Attribution
A major convention of news stories is
the use of attribution.
Attribution
simply
means
telling
readers where the information in a
story comes from.
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Documenting,
referencing
and
crediting are other words that can be
used.
Attribution is important because it
establishes
the
news
report's
credibility.

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Readers are more likely to believe that

the publication is trying to be accurate
in its reporting if they know clearly the
source of information.

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News reports in which the information

is properly attributed reflect the
professionalism of the publication and
its reporters.

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Another
reason
for
attributing
information in a story is to allow the
reader to assess the information by
assessing its source.

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Some sources are more credible than

others.
By telling the reader where information
comes from, the news reporter is
letting the reader make up his or her
mind

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whether the
believed.

information

can

be

(see Week 3 - Journalisms essence is

a discipline of verification).

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In most cases the attribution can be

included in a natural or unobtrusive
way.
Look at these examples:

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- The country executive said the

country is facing a budget crisis.
- According to the fire department
report, the cause of the fire was faulty
electrical wiring.
- The jury has stopped deliberating and
has retired for the evening, the judge
said.

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Most of the major facts in a news story

should be attributed to some source
(unless they come from an eyewitness
account by the reporter), BUT

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information that is common knowledge

to most readers usually does not have
to be attributed.

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For instance, in the sentence,

"A heavy cloud of smog hung over the

city today, National Weather Service
officials said,"
is unnecessary and even silly.
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The most common verb of attribution is

said.
Said is a neutral word. It simply
connotes that words have been
spoken;

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it doesn't say anything about the way in

which they were spoken.
Consequently, it is the kind of word that
journalists ought to be using.

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It is also unobtrusive in a news story.

Even if used repeatedly, it does jump

out at the reader and get in the way of
the
information
that
is
being
transmitted.

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Trying to find substitutes for the word

said is a dangerous game for the
journalist.

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Although there are many words that

might be used in its place, writers
should remember that they must use
words for their exact meaning, not
simply for variety's sake.

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Too often writers misuse these

substitutes and create erroneous
impressions about what was said.

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Another danger in the search for

substitutes for said is that most
substitutes are not neutral.
If used, they make a statement about
how the journalist feels about what was
said.

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For instance, a person accused of a

crime may "say" that he is innocent, or
he may "claim" that he is innocent.
Claim carries a negative or doubtful
connotation, one which the journalist
should not be implying.

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Other writing conventions

In addition to attribution, journalists
must observe a number of other writing
conventions, such as:

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Short sentences, short paragraphs

News stories use short sentences and
short paragraphs.
The news writer tries to get information
to the reader as quickly as possible.

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That is accomplished more easily if the

writer uses short sentences.
They are easier for the reader to
digest.

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Paragraph length usually should be

kept to three sentences or less and to
less than 100 words.

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Third person
News stories are usually written in the
third person.
A writer does not intrude into a story by
using first-person pronouns (unless
they are part of a direct quotation from
one of the story's sources).

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Except for unusual cases, when the

writer witnesses a dramatic event, or is
somehow a participant in that event,
he or she should not tell the story from
the point of view of the first person.

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By the same token, news stories rarely

directly address the reader by using
the second-person pronoun you.

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Occasionally, lead paragraphs are

questions directed at the reader, but
this device can be overused quickly,
and it is best avoided when you are
beginning to learn news writing.

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An attitude for accuracy

Accuracy forms the core of the writing
process, as already said.
Journalists expend much energy in
making certain that all the information
they have is correct.
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Achieving accuracy is not just a matter

of reporting and writing techniques but
also a state of mind that journalists
should foster.

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Journalists should never be satisfied

with information about which they have
doubts.
Journalists have to make every effort to
alleviate those doubts and to clear up
any discrepancies.

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This attitude extends not only to the

major information that a journalist has
but also to the smaller bits of a story.

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Making
sure
that
dates
and
identifications
are
correct,
that
numbers in a story add up properly,
that locations are correct, all of these
things are part of a journalist's job.

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Journalists should take special care

with the names of people to make sure
they are spelled correctly.

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Journalists should be perfectionists

and strive for accuracy because they
realize that their readers and viewers
trust them and expect their reports to
be accurate.

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If those reports are not accurate,

journalists will lose that trust and
eventually lose credibility, as well as
their audience.

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Summarizing:
All journalistic writing should share four
characteristics:
- Accuracy
- Clarity
- Efficiency and
- Precision
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Precision is the ability to use the

language
correctly,
following
commonly accepted rules of grammar,
punctuation, and spelling,
as well as using words for precisely
what they mean.

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These constitute the so called Writing

Style, to be discussed in another
lecture.

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Thus, the ability to use the language

efficiently, effectively, and confidently is
the mark of a good journalist.
Such
ability
guarantees
good
journalistic writing, i.e. the use of the
simplest words possible and a variety
of sentence structures.

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Although the journalists must learn

certain
writing
techniques
and
structures (e.g. inverted pyramid, lead
paragraphs in another meeting)
to be successful, those requirements
do not lessen the creativity of the
writing process.

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Attribution means giving credit

sources for their information.

to

This is one of the most important

journalistic writing convention, that if
you avoid using will transform you into
a Plagiarist, instead of a Journalist,

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i.e. a "stealer" of others "language,

thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and
the representation of them as your own
work
(see ethical dimensions of journalism,
to be discussed in another lecture).

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