News writing
- New Delhi : Kanishka Publishers , 1998
- 484 p.
r. News and the News Industry The Nature of News 1 Definitions of News 2, Qualities of News 3, Orientation and Perspective 4, Special Interests 5, What Newspapers Publish 6 The Press Today 8 Newspapers 8, Special Interest Newspapers 12, The Business Press 12, The Ttade Press 13, Association Publications 13, Other Publications 13, News Magazines 14, Magazines 14, News Services 14 The Audience for News 15 What Newspaper Readers Read 16, The Changing. Reader 17, The Changing Newspaper 18, Local News 19, Good News, Bad News 21, Striking a Balance 21 News Writing 21 Suggestions for Further Reading 23 2. Gathering the News Reporting and Reporters 25 Where Reporters Work 26, The Reporter 27, Reporting for Newspapers 28, Reporting the Expected and-the Unexpected 31, Made News 31 What Reporters Do 32 Reporting Skills 32 A Nose for News 34, Observation; Listening 34, Observation: Seeing 35, Finding Things 3 S, Verifying Information 37 Interviewing 38 Asking Questions 38, Types of Interviews 39 Reporting Techniques 40 Suggestions for Further Reading 42 3. Writing the Lead The Summary Lead 48 Thinking Through the Lead 51 Finding the Appropriate Verb 54, No-News Leads 54, Organizing the Facts 55, Time Elements 56 Variations on the Summary Lead 57 The Blind Lead 57, The Delayed-Identification Lead 59 Some Other Aspects of the Lead 60 Datelines 61, Credit Lines 62, Bylines 63 Suggestions for Further Reading 63 4. Style and the Stylebook The Stylebook 65 Why Have a Stylebook? 66 A Need for Consistency 66, Preference and Tradition 67 Style and Policy 67 The Authority Behind Style 69 Mechanical Rules 70 Style and Usage 73 Other Stylebooks 75 Built-in Stylebooks 75 A Basic Guide to News Style 75 Personal Style 76 Suggestions for Further Reading 77 5. Writing the Story 79 Single-Incident Stories 79 Appropriate Order 80, Stories With Blind Leads 81 Attribution 82 How Much Is Enough? 84, Too Much Attribution 85 Identification 85 Identifying People 87, Other Identification S9, Identification and Background 90, Punctuation 90 Time and Timeliness 91 The Point in Time 91, Time and the Reader 92, Past Tense 93, Present Perfect 93, Present Tense 94, The Future 95, Day or Date? 95. Overemphasis on Timeliness 96 The Stylebook 96 Suggestions for Further Reading 97 6. Be Clear, Complete and Accurate 99 How Much Do Readers Know? 99 Define and Explain 100 Context and Backgroimd 101, Technical Words and Terms 102, Obscure Details 102, Jargon and Gobbledygook 103, Euphemism 106 Unanswered Questions 107 Stories With Holes 107, Context 108^ Con Accuracy Always 109 Verifying Facts 109, Verifying Quotations, Allusions and References 110 Credibility 112 Confessing Error 112 Suggestions for Further Reading 113 7. Writing the Stoiy II Coming Events 115 Stories With Many Names 119 Localizing 120 Tying the Story Together 125 Building on the Lead 125, Linking Lead and Development 127, Repetition 129, Attribution 129, "Dansitions 129 Unnecessary Distractions 131 Parenthetical Insertions 132, Pointless Variation 133 Suggestions for Further Reading 134 8. Editing, Revising, Rewriting Need for Revision 138 Common Weaknesses in News Copy 138 Forms of Revision 139 Improving Copy 140, Common Mistakes 140, An Ear for Language 144 Badly Written Copy 145 Revising the Lead 146 Updating a Story 148 Revising Handouts 150 Buried Angles 152 Localizing 152 Rewriting for Other Media 152 The Newsroom as Classroom 154 Suggestions for Further Reading 155 9. Quotation 157 Reproduced Speech 157 Direct Quotation 160, Indirect Quotation 162, Attribution 163, Meaningful Variations 164, Nonsense Tags 165 The Grammar of Quotations 165 Type 1 Quotes 167, Ifype 2 Quotes 167, "Ifype 3 Quotes 168, Extended Quotation 169, Fragmentary Quotes 171, ParenAetical Insertions 171, Quotation Marks With Other Punctuation 172, Quotes Within Quotes 172, Word Order in Speech Tags 173, Paragraphing Quotations 174, Redundancy 174, li-ansitions 175 Editing Quotes 177 Quotation Must Be Accurate 178 Suggestions for Further Reading 179 10. Legal and Ethical Considerations 181 The Watchdog 182 Access to the News 183 Co Access to Places 184, Open Meetings 184, Open Records 185, Freedom of Information Access to Courts Cameras in the 1 Court 187, Gag Orders 187, Prior Restraint 188, Shield Laws 188 Responsibility for Things Published 188 libel 189, Defenses Against Libel Actions 191, Mitigation 192, Privacy 192 Understanding the Law 193 Journalistic Ethics 193 The ASNE Canons of Journalism 194 Responsibility 196 Freedom of the Press 196, Ihith and Accuracy i 97, News and Opinion 198, Fair Play 198, Conflict of Interest 199 Matters of Taste 200 Sensitivity 201 Suggestions for Further Reading 202 11. Some Hard-News Stories Basic News Stories 205 Action Stories 206 Chronology 206, Holdups and Robberies 206, Feature Leads 210 Other Hard-News Stories 212 Auto Accidents 212, \^orous Verbs, 214 Fire Stories 214 Attribution 215 "Allegedly" 216 Obituanes 220 I Leads 221, Cause of Death 222, Identification 222, Services 225, Survivors 226, Biography 226, Anecdotes and IHbutes 227, Negative Information 228, Style 229, Feature Leads 230, Finally 232 Suggestions for Further Reading 232 12. Second-Day Stories and Other Organizing Devices 235 Second-Day Stories 236 The Tie-back 239, Other Second-Day Leads 239 Follow-ups 240 Round-ups 242 Other Organizing Devices 243 Sidebars 243, Shirttailing 248 Suggestions for Further Reading 249 13. Stories About Speeches: Leads 251 The Lead 252 The Summary Lead 253, No-News Leads 254 Writing the Lead 255 Attribution Plus Statement 255, Statement Plus Attribution 257, Audience Plu^Statement 257, Audience and Speaker 258, .^ Brevity in the L^ad 258, Blind Leads 259, Holding Back Attribution 259 Other Considerations 260 Names in the Lead 260, Direct-Quote Leads 261, Characterizing Leads 261, Creative Variations 262 The Lead as a Unit 264 Suggestions for Further Reading 267 14. Reporting the Spoken Word 269 Writing About Speeches 270 Structure of the Speech Story 271, Development 271, Selecting and Eliminating 276, Paraphrasing and Summarizing 276, Direct and Indirect Quotation 277 Other Stories 277 Panel Discussions 277, Itials and Hearings 2Z1, Public Hearings 2B5, Other Meetings 255, Interviews 255 BCeeping the Record Straight 288 Published Sources 288, Identifying the Platform 259 Problems With Quotation 290 Editing Quoted Matter 290, Transitions 293, Partial or Fragmentary Quotes 295, Revising for Clarify 297, Editing Prepared Texts 295, Avoid the Ellipsis 295, Further Editing 299 Reporting 300 Suggestions for Further Reading 301 15. Writkig Larger Stories 303 Strategy 304 Structure 304 The Lead 307, The Nut Graph 3ii, The Development 3i3, Condusions 314 Breaking Stories 314 The Eurfhquake 3/5, The Harding Plea 324. Investigative Reporting 325 Lighter Stories 327 Profiles 329 Writing Larger Stories 335 Suggestions for Further Reading 336 16. Features 339 Feature Angles 340 Structure and Organization 341 Suspended-Interest Stories 344 The Feature Touch 344 Recognizing Feature Angles 346 Writing Features 346 Keep It Simple 347, Involve the Reader 349, Hold Something Back 349, Playing With Words 351, Allusions 353, Creative Leads 354 Other Approaches 355 Questions 355, The Imperative 356, Direct Address 356 Craftsmanship 356 More Than One Way 358 Quotation 360 In Summary J62
Suggestions for Further Reading 362 17. Numbers in the News 365 The Routine Use of Numbers 366 Stories Based on Statistics 367, Cost-of-Living Stories 368, Employment Figures 368 Data Banks 369 Access to Public Record Data Banks 369 Stories About Taxation 370 Tax Rates 371, Percentages 372 Business News 374 Company Reports 374, Personal Finance 375 Precision Journalism 375 Reporting Survey Results 378 Misuse of Numbers 375