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News Writing and Style I:WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A NEWSPAPER

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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
LECTURE 34
News Writing and Style I
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A NEWSPAPER
1. Register:
2. Lexis:
3. Grammar
4. Metaphorical language:
5. Sources:
6. Typographical features:
Newspaper Style: Practice
130
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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
131
img
Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
Still, news professionals agree on at least seven main factors that help them determine if an event is news.
These are:
a) Impact--how many people does the event affect? How seriously does it affect them?
b) Proximity--an event will be more important if is closer to the readers. An earthquake in a far-off land is not
as
interesting
as
one
that
is
close
to
home.
c) Timeliness--is the event fresh? Is it new? The news must be timely to be of use to readers.
d) Prominence--Names make news, and big names make big news. Ordinary people are intrigued by the
doings
of
the
rich
and
famous.
e) Novelty--this is the new in news, the unusual. The "firsts," "lasts" and "only" have been the staples of the
news
business
for
many
years.
f) Conflict-- Conflict has been the currency of great literature, drama and movies for all time. From the stories
of Shakespeare to those of Disney, conflict has played a crucial role. Newspapers are no different.
g) Audience--who is the audience? The answer to that question helps determine whether an event is news at
all, and if it is, where it will be played in the paper.
The ABC of news writing:
·  Accuracy
·
Brevity:
·
No wordy expressions.
·
Include only relevant statements.
·
Avoid Unnecessary Repetition
·
Clarity:
·
Choose short, familiar but standard words.
·
Construct effective sentences and paragraphs
·
Achieve appropriate readability
·
Include sources both official and unofficial to authenticate your evidence, if possible.
"I want stories to startle and engage me within the first few sentences, and in their middle to widen or deepen
or sharpen my knowledge of human activity, and to end by giving me a sensation of completed statement."
- John Updike
132
Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISTIC WRITING:Practical, THINGS TO KNOW
  2. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  3. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  4. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Achieve appropriate readability:
  5. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Be concise, Be creative, Be correct
  6. THE PROCESS OF WRITING:INVENTION, WHEN YOU START TO WRITE
  7. THE PROCESS OF WRITING II:ORGANIZING, DRAFTING, REVISING
  8. ALL ABOUT WORDS:HOW WORDS ARE FORMED?:SUFFIXES
  9. DICTIONARY-A WRITER’S LANGUAGE TOOL:KINDS OF INFORMATION
  10. PARTS OF SPEECH:Noun Gender, Noun Plurals, Countable Nouns
  11. BASIC CLAUSE PATTERNS
  12. ACTIVE AND PASSSIVE VOICE
  13. MODIFIERS AND SENTENCE TYPES:COMPOUND SENTENCES
  14. REPORTED SPEECH:Indirect Questions, Direct commands
  15. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES:SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
  16. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES II:SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
  17. EFFECTIVE SENTENCE:PARALLELISM, NEEDED WORDS, SHIFTS
  18. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS I:COLLOQUIAL VS FORMAL, CIRCUMLOCUTION
  19. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS II:AMBIGUITY, REDUNDANCY, EUPHEMISM:
  20. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:STRUCTURE
  21. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:Putting on Our Play
  22. ESSAY WRITING:VARIOUS STRATEGIES FOR ESSAYS, PROMPTS
  23. SIGNAL WORDS:Non word Emphasis Signals
  24. EXPOSITORY WRITING:LOGICAL FALLACIES, APPEAL TO EMOTION
  25. THE WRITING STYLES: REPORT and NARRATIVE WRITING, SHORT REPORTS
  26. THE WRITING STYLES: DESCRIPTIVE AND PERSUASIVE WRITINGS, Observation
  27. RESEARCH WRITING AND DOCUMNETING SOURCES:Handling Long Quotations
  28. Summary and Précis Writing:CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SUMMARY
  29. Punctuation:THE PERIOD, THE COMMA, THE SEMICOLON, THE COLON
  30. MECHANICS:ABBREVIATIONS, NUMBERS, SPELLING, THE HYPHEN
  31. READING SKILLS FOR WRITERS:EDUCATED READING, STEPS
  32. PARTS OF A NEWSPAPER:Box-out, By-line, Caption, Exclusive, Feature
  33. THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS II:BROADSHEET NEWSPAPER
  34. News Writing and Style I:WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A NEWSPAPER
  35. NEWS WRITING II:Accuracy, Clarity, Style, Qualities of Effective Leads
  36. EDITORIAL WRITING:WRITING AN EDITORIAL:STRUCTURING AN EDITORIAL
  37. WRITING FEATURES:GENERATING FEATURE STORY IDEAS
  38. WRITING COLUMNS:Column and a news report, Purpose, Audience
  39. WRITING ARTICLES FOR NEWSPAPERS:The Heading, The Lead
  40. WRITING ANALYSIS:purpose, scope, method, results, recommendations
  41. LETTERS TO EDITORS:Four important aspects about letters, Organizing letters
  42. BROADCAST AND WEB NEWS WRITING:WRITE CONCISELY, BROADCAST STYLE
  43. WRITING PRESS RELEASE, REVIEWS AND OBITUARIES:Summary of Content:
  44. THE ART OF INTERVIEWINGS
  45. FINAL THOUGHTS:Practical, Job-Related, Social, Stimulating, Therapeutic