JOURNALISM CHAPTER II REVIEWER

CHAPTER II NEWS WRITING DEFINITION OF NEWS News is the spinal cord of journalism. The basic assumption of journalism is the collection, presentation, and interpretation of news which is meant to inform the people about new and novel.  News is anything out of ordinary.  News is the unusual picture of life.  News is anything that people talk about; the more it excites, the greater its value.  News comprises all current activities which are of general human interest and the best news is that which interests most of the reader.  Anything that enough people want to read is news provided it does not violate the canons of god taste and the law of libel.  News is like a hot cake coming straight from the oven.  News is the report of event that is fresh, unusual, and which is interesting to a greater number of people. ELEMENTS OF NEWS 1. OBJECTIVITY  News is the factual report of an event. What reporter sees is supposed to be reported. Objectivity means to report the facts exactly the same way as they occurred. It goes against objectivity if the reporter adds something from his own imagination. Comment or suggestion or proposal is not the task of a news reporter. These are considered right in a column, editorial, etc. In these formats of journalistic writings, the writer can provide in-depth and background information.  In simplest words, objectivity means just to report the tip of the iceberg and leave the rest to analytical and in-depth reporting. It will be an objective reporting if the reporter wants to angle, slant, or shade the news. 2. CONCISE AND CLEAR “Brevity and simplicity are the soul of journalism”. Journalism has got a special language- journalistic language- which is quite different from all other languages and particularly from literature. It is simple, easy, concise, and clear. Its basic aim is to convey the message in the simplest way to the masses because not every person in the masses is highly educated. NEWS VALUES IN JOURNALISM News values are the elements of story that journalists have used for decades to quickly assess and determine whether an idea or event is worth sharing — and if so, how prominently. 1. Proximity News Value Proximity refers to the area of the event where the incident takes place. It also indicates the location of the news event. Proximity is one of the significant news values in journalism. The proximity or location of the news event affects the value of news. The more closure of the place, the more interested in

reading the information. The readers feel more excited to read the news story if it occurred near them. So, proximity affects newsworthiness positively; hence, it is a significant element of newsworthiness. 2. Controversy News Value Controversy means a conflict news story that adds newsworthiness. It is also known as disagreement of the news event: the more controversial the news, the more critical the report to the readers. Controversy attracts the audiences to read the information, which adds sensation to the news story. People are always eager to identify the truth behind the conflict. So, controversy is another crucial news value in journalism or element of newsworthiness. 3. Personal Influence News Value Personal influence refers to the prominence of the person to the newsworthiness. A famous person always plays a significant role in increasing the news value. Therefore, media cover well-known person’s news, including politicians, sportsperson, and celebrities. The audiences feel a close connection with their idol people. For example, the followers of Lionel Messi, also a famous football player, will read any news related to Messi. The widest of the personal prominence, the most value the news. 4. Suitability News Value Suitability denotes the involvement of the public in the topics. The news story is more newsworthy if more people are involved with the issue. It is also known as the much-talked issue in the country. The more people involved, the more value the news in journalism. For example, around 30,000 students at University Putra Malaysia have registered for vaccines. 5. Impact News Value Impact refers to the physical influence of news writing on a large audience. The impact affects the value of news significantly to attract audiences. The more people engaged in the news, add more importance of the topic. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the most relevant issue to attract people to read any updated news related to the topic. Therefore, News media feel interested in covering any news related to the coronavirus. It has a significant impact on audiences. 6. Bizarre News Value Bizarre is a significant element to increase the value of the news. Bizarre means strange, and naturally, people like to read, watch and talk about weird issues. Therefore, journalists publish strange events to attract audiences. It added value to the news and boosted circulation. 7. Human-Interest News Value Human-interest news stories get attention from a massive number of people automatically. It includes the much-talked event and issues of the country. International topics have also become human-interest stories due to globalization. For example, during the FIFA world cup, people from around the world talk about Football everywhere. So, journalists think carefully about picking a news topic to get more viewers. 8. Timeliness (Fast News) News Value Timeliness in journalism means providing information to the audience quickly. The quicker the news broadcasted, the more important getting to the audiences. Journalists want to publish news as soon as possible to increase the corporate reputation of the media outlet. The audience gives more value to the mass media outlet that disseminates the news first. 9. Progress News Value The progress news in journalism refers to the sensational update of the current news or events that journalist focuses on to attract more audiences. It adds massive value to the news story to attract the

audience. Progress news is always attractive to the audience for its advancement. The progress news is delivered through press conferences and seminars.

10 Genuineness News Value Genuine news means an authentic story collected from a trustable source. People always want to know the fact of the news. The audience determines the authenticity of the news through the genuine witness and trustworthy source of the news. 11. Completeness News Value Complete news includes 5Ws and 1 H news writing methods. The five Ws and one H rules of report writing denote the who, what, when, where, why, and how. A journalist should find all these questions’ answers to make the report comprehensive to the audience. People do not like incomplete news and ambiguous information. Therefore, every reporter must focus on the 5W and 1 H reporting strategies to make the report more attractive and accepted by the readers. 12. Negativeness News Value Negative news spreads faster than positive. People discuss and share negative events more than ordinary news. Negative news occurs for a short-term period than positive news. Netizens share this type of news on social media excessively. Therefore, negative news goes viral quickly. TYPES OF NEWS STORIES "If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed,” wrote author Mark Twain. The word "newspaper" means exactly what it says -- news or information printed on paper and made widely available and accessible. Digital technology and corporate consolidation have turned the traditional newspaper into an endangered species. But the varied types of articles printed in newspapers manage to convey a wealth of information, so even when translated to digital form, they are still worth knowing. News may be broadly divided into hard news and soft news. News that has great importance and impact on the life of a nation or people or news that has great significance or affects life of many people is termed hard news. 1. Hard News Stories The events of the day are still the heart of the newspaper. Local, national and international news begins with a brief lead paragraph, followed by an inverted pyramid of information. The most important facts come first because readers may only have time to scan the headlines and read the first few paragraphs of articles. Articles must fit in the column inches available and editors cut from the bottom on deadline to squeeze them in. A news story should be factual, objective and impartial -- it should not contain personal opinion, incomplete information or errors. And news should meet a predetermined standard for what information is important enough to convey. 2. SOFT NEWS News that interests people but has no great significance is called soft news. There are many news stories that contain any information that needs to be disseminated urgently. They have the news values, which will not be reduced with the passage of time. Such news stories are called soft news. Soft news stories can wait for publication or broadcast. Soft news is sometimes sensational in nature. Soft news is

on the priority list of the news desk. Soft news is also generally first to be ‘killed’ (rejected) when due to the shortage of space or time only some stories have to be included. Newspapers are meant for hard news. But every newspaper carries a mix of hard news.  The wedding of a film actor, the birthday party of a celebrity, a rock show, a beauty contest, or a campus festival are examples of soft news. 3. BREAKING NEWS Events have the habit of happening unexpectedly without any prior intimation. Not only nature behaves without any warning, human behavior is also quite unpredictable. When hard news is flashed immediately on the radio and television it is called breaking news. Breaking news means releasing news stories while the event is still taking place or it has just happened. Such news stories are of immense consequence and are flashed on television and radio even when other scheduled programmes are being broadcast.  There is an intense competition amongst different news channels and broadcasting media to be the first to break news stories. In-fact, breaking news is the measure of efficiency of the news gathering network of a news system. Channels take great pride in breaking news and use such achievements as selling points. In some cases, news channels have been found bragging about breaking a particular story for months. Sometimes it so happens that a major story breaks when the newspaper is about to be sent for printing or is being printed. Under such situations the printing job is stopped for a short while and a brief news item is inserted 4. FOLLOW-UP NEWS  Only a few stories are one-time happenings. In most cases new events unfold and need to be reported over and over again. The news that relates to the stories filed on earlier days is called follow-un news and is a very important component of news media. Journalists need to be vigilant to follow events for further developments. This task needs the skills to anticipate new developments and a lot of hard work including legwork. 5. SINGLE-ELEMENT & TWO-ELEMENT NEWS STORIES Many news stories have only one major aspect, angle, or dimension around which rest of the information Examples: o Three persons killed and eight injured in a bus accident, o President suffers from eye-flu. revolves. Such stories are found in plenty and are called Single-element news stories. The story begins with the lead in the first paragraph. The second and third paragraphs elaborate the lead and provide the necessary background. It depends upon the importance of the necessity of the background, whether it would come in the second or the third paragraph. The story continues with the supporting and buttressing information about the lead. Once all the information about the lead is given secondary information, if available and/or required, is given. Examples:

Lead: Fire broke out in a timber godown in Mayapuri area of capital New Delhi late last night causing heavy losses. Explanation: The Fire Officer of South Delhi spread of fire informed that there was danger of fire spreading to the neighborhood due to unauthorized constructions and storage of large quantities of timber in them. Elaboration: He also informed that prima facie it appeared that short circuit in the electric wires may have been the cause of the fire. Seven firefighting engines and more than forty firemen were engaged in controlling the fire. Eyewitnesses said that the firefighters reached the place of fire within ten minutes of the noticing of the fire. Additional information: No loss of life has been reported so far. Many civilians were seen helping the firemen in extinguishing the fire. The owner of the godown could not be contacted. •

Many news events contain two very important aspects, angles, or dimensions; and relevant pieces of information are available. It is the job of the reporter that both the elements get adequately projected in the news.

There are two ways of writing the two-element news story:  If both the elements can fit easily into one or two sentences each, both can be put in the first paragraph. Care has to be taken that the paragraph does not extend beyond approximately 4050 words.  In many cases the two elements of the story are so diverse and almost equally important that both cannot be stated in one sentence or one paragraph. In such cases the recommended style is to write a Summary Lead. In-fact summary lead consists of two short and crisp leads. Decision about which one of the leads will be given priority and first position has to be taken by the reporter based upon his assessment, wisdom and experience. Examples: o Single sentence: Passengers furious at seven-hour delay of the Mumbai flight forced three Air-India officials to sit on floor for three hours. o Two sentences: Air-India flight from Delhi to Mumbai was delayed for more than seven hours. The agitating passengers forced three airline officials to sit on the floor for more than three hours till the flight left for Mumbai. o Summary lead: Air-India flight from Delhi to Mumbai was delayed for more than seven hours due to a technical snag, last night. The flight scheduled to leave at four in the evening left a few minutes before eleven at night. The harassed passengers shouted slogans and forced three senior officials of the airline to squat on the floor of the waiting lounge allegedly for misbehaving with a female passenger. 

For organizing the rest of the story of two-element news, the background information and explanation of the lead has to be given in the same manner as for single element story with one main difference. While writing the story one element may be dealt with completely and only then the second element be taken. Repeated jumping from one element to another creates confusion and makes the story difficult to read. Words like while, but, in addition, next are used to move from one element to another.

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS OF NEWS Based on the subject and manner of collecting information, news stories can also be classifies as follows: 1. Economic Reports 2. Development reports 3. Political reports 4. Crime Report 5. Lifestyle Reports 6. Sports Reports 7. Film News 8. Legislative and Parliament News 9. Rural News 10. Legal-Court News 11. Local body News 12. Commerce News 13. Health News 14. Environmental News 15. Educational News 16. Religious/spiritual News 17. Commercial News 18. Science News Based on the area of the origin of reports they can be divided into following categories: o International News / Foreign News o National News o Inter-state/ Regional News o News Local News Based on the importance news can be divided into following categories: o Special News: Events of great relevance to all. o Contextual News: News relevant to only a limited area or population o Spot News: News of value and relevance only for the time being. With the passage of time such news becomes stale and irrelevant. Examples: Special News: India wins cricket match against Pakistan Contextual News: Prime Minister to Visit Chandigarh (relevant for the people of region but may not be news for people of Kerala) Spot News: Monday declared holiday for public servants, President leaves for goodwill visit to US.