When I think of real reporting, traditional images of
hard-hitting journalists spin through my mind: mad men with a sharp mind and a
keen eye for a story, chasing leads like a shark hones in on the scent of blood
in the ocean.
But after these imaginings fade away, the reality of the
modern journalist sinks in. The modern journalist is more difficult to define –
one must be a savvy jack-of-all-trades, writing convergent stories over a variety
of different platforms.
The conclusion I have come to is that; today, a journalist
is one who must use all types of multimedia to their advantage. A journalist is
someone who markets the world to everybody else – it is the journalist’s job to
select, package and present what are believed to be the important details to
the rest of the world.
Again, this analogy is vague. How do they actually do it?
How does one differentiate between what is news and what isn’t?
But how do we use these to our advantage and package
information to our audience? So far, we have looked at agenda, convergence,
newsworthiness, and the motivations of public and commercial media firms. We
have learnt about these practices in class, but how do we use them ourselves?
And how do we use them effectively?
Well it all starts with reporting basics, and that is what
this weeks lecture was a looked at – the fundamental dos and don’ts of
reporting and writing.
SOURCES: Always
try and get to the root of your source (unless the fact is common knowledge).
Don’t do a quick online search and consider it ‘researched’. To maintain
accuracy and credibility, one must be concrete in their own facts – so speak to
the sources directly – do not just use press releases for information. Do as
much research as possible; otherwise you may end up looking like a fool.
ON THE RECORD:
Make it clear that any interviews you may take with your sources are ‘on the
record’ before you start. That way, you can set clear boundaries to avoid
problems when the story is published.
Make sure you and your interviewee understand the
differences between on the record (something you can attach your sources name
to) off the record (information you cannot attach your sources name to) and
background information (for your understanding/may not be published Confirm
that with your source though… you may get lucky).
Information that sources have provided can sometimes be
valuable and important information – and that is why your source isn’t comfortable
with being quoted on that. In these instances you can use that information to
perhaps uncover other sources who are willing to talk or your source could be
an
ANONYMOUS SOURCE: Unless
the public interest on a topic is incredibly high, try not to use anonymous
sources. They can be misleading, as being an anonymous source means there is no
risk to them directly. Remember, your credibility always comes down to the
credibility of sources. There have been many famous
stories that have suffered
due to misinformation from anonymous sources. Tread carefully here.
QUOTING: Be aware of your use of quotation marks. When
you quote a full sentence, the
quotation marks always come after the
punctuation. ‘Like this.’
When you are quoting someone partially (only
quoting a few words), the quotation marks are put around ‘those words’ only.
Or if you were quoting somebody retelling something someone
had said, like a quote within a quote,
the quote is opened/closed with singular quote marks and the quote inside that
quote is opened/closed with double quote marks, like as follows: ‘She told me a
quote within a quote “looks like this”. You use double quote marks instead of
singular ones.’
TERMS:
Said: don’t be afraid to use this. Some writers
become concerned that they overuse this word – you should abuse the hell out of
it. It is concise and there is no room for misinterpretation.
According to: Sometimes
these two little words can make your source seem unreliable in their facts,
even if you do just mean that is what your source said. Be careful of wording in general; make sure
that your words come across as you mean them.
Adverbs in general
– they communicate judgement into your writing, which is something unwanted in
a news article. Remember: It is a journalist’s role to present the facts of a
story – not to spin it according to your views.
TENSES: depending
subject matter of your article, be aware of your use of present, past and
future tenses. Make sure the tense you use matches up with the facts and events
occurring. Depending on what platform your article will be published will help
you differentiate what is appropriate.
For example, online news in constantly being updated and is
ever changing, so that would need to be present tense. News reported on the television is reporting
on something that has already occurred, hence the correct tense in this case
would be past tense.
INVERTED PYRAMID: Todays’
newsreaders are a fickle lot. Using the inverted pyramid will increase hope
that your story will snag the attention of your audience. The inverted pyramid
style of writing basically means that unlike a story of fiction – which has a
beginning middle and an end – you start from the end and work your way forward.
This means your reader’s attention is grabbed by whatever big event or hot
topic you are reporting on. Newsreaders don’t want to have to sift through 200
words of lead up before they get to the crux of what they wish to read – if you
write like this, especially in an online news publication, your readership is
likely to be minor.
These basic writing techniques are compulsory if you wish to
be taken seriously – they are the basis required to start effectively producing
pieces that will really be of interest to an audience. Without these basics,
you risk anything you write to look like ‘amateur-hour’. Remember to build on
these basics and a savvy, hard-hitting, shark journalist may very well be the
person you will someday be.
