Informative Writing Notes PDF

Informative Writing 1. News Values The news is a social symptom, and analysing its production provides many clues about the world around us. Various authors have sought a definition that encompasses a series of characteristics:audience interest,usefulness and val...

Informative Writing 1. News Values The news is a social symptom, and analysing its production provides many clues about the world around us. Various authors have sought a definition that encompasses a series of characteristics:audience interest,usefulness and value to the public,published information,ambiguity in its definition, news and social context. A proposal to define WHAT NEWS IS:A sequence of events resulting from a journalist's contextual interpretation, applying socially variable criteria. It contains, to varying degrees, elements that make it useful to people and requires the interpretative intervention of a professional who transforms it into information accessible to a broad audience, which does not necessarily have to be massive. – Selection of stories: Journalists choose stories from numerous events and issues happening locally and globally. These stories should inform, educate, or entertain readers, viewers, or listeners. Newsworthy story characteristics (Jack Hart’s framework): ○ An interesting central character ○ Facing a challenge or conflict ○ Changes occur as the story unfolds ○ The story takes place in an engaging setting Classic news values: ○ Timeliness/Immediacy: News about recent events; with the internet, immediacy is now measured in minutes and seconds.Before internet, journalists measured immediacy in increments of days or hours.Newspapers published multiple editions each day, with the final edition bringing a close to a day of information. Television journalists used to have three nightly broadcasts. ○ Impact/Magnitude: Stories affecting large numbers of people or significant sectors of society. ○ Prominence/Fame: News involving famous or significant individuals.Fame falls into two categories: people who are famous for an extended period of time (celebrities), and people who are living their “15 minutes” of fame. ○ Proximity: Either geographic or psychological closeness to the audience. ○ Unusualness/Oddity: Bizarre, rare events or unique activities. ○ Conflict: Stories about conflicts between people, organisations, or governments.  Additional news values: ○ Human interest: Stories about personal struggles, achievements, or overcoming difficulties. ○ Helpfulness: Practical stories that offer solutions or guidance. ○ Entertainment: Light, amusing stories. ○ Trends: Patterns or shifts in social, cultural, or political life. Fairness and objectivity: Journalists are expected to report without bias, providing accurate information and representing all sides of a story.But journalists also have the duty to their audience to be as informed as possible in order to push back against sources when they present falsehoods What is not newsworthy: ○ Obvious: (ambulance carried the injured to a hospital) ○ Offensive details: (obscene, gruesome or in poor taste,grisly photographs or video of a victim) ○ Sensationalism: most news organisations avoid sensationalism but not sensational stories→ an emphasis or exaggeration of stories dealing with crime,sex and oddities.Some events (presidential assassinations, wars and disasters) are sensational and legitimate news. We need to ask ourselves if every piece of information adds to the reason for writing the story, and whether the public has a right to this information. ○ Rumours:social media gaffes have reinforced the need for professional journalists. Reporters have to investigate the veracity of rumours. If they find no evidence, they usually conclude that there is no story ○ Sexual Assault: most news organizations refuse to identify victims of sexual assault to protect them and not to discourage others fromreporting sexual assaults. ○ Names of juveniles: the media generally do not identify juveniles as accused or convicted of a crime unless they are tried/prosecuted as adults for serious offences, such as murder. ○ Trade names: media believe that mentioning trade names provides free advertising for the products. They use tissue instead of kleenex,orsoft drink instead of Dr. Pepper. But this is changing as well.  Importance of accuracy: ○ Errors harm public perception of the media: reporters must recheck their notes and consult sources to ensure accuracy.Journalists who do not understand some information should also return to their source and ask for a better explanation, or find a source who can explain it.The reporter’s job is to separate assertions from facts. ○ Accuracy in names: should always verify the spelling of names from the sources or any other people mentioned in the story with a document or the Internet. But we should also always confirm the spelling of the name and title of our sources after an interview. 2. Eliminate Unnecessary Words Why brevity matters: Journalists aim for clarity and brevity to help readers quickly grasp the main ideas without losing important details. Examples of unnecessary words: ○ Redundant phrases such as: "exactly identical" → identical "past experiences" → experiences "armed gunman" → gunman "completely demolished" → demolished Simplifying phrases: Long, verbose phrases can often be replaced by shorter alternatives: ○ "conduct an investigation into" → investigate ○ "made contact with" → met ○ "proceeded to interrogate" → interrogated 3. The Language of News​ Effectiveness of Words: journalists must choose words carefully to avoid confusion or ambiguity. Misplaced phrases or incorrect grammar can lead to misunderstanding.  Common Grammatical Errors: these include run-on sentences (contain two or more independent clauses with no punctuation), comma splices (use of a comma between two independent clauses to fix a run-on sentence), subject-verb agreement (,when prepositional phrases separate subjects and verbs, or when the subject is a collective noun),noun-pronoun agreement errors (pronouns must have the same number and gender as their antecedents),that/which confusion,who/whom confusion,precision,punctuation marks,parallelism,spelling, syntax,personification,misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers. Precision and Strong Verbs: precision in word choice is essential to avoid misleading readers. Strong verbs make writing more dynamic. Problems to Avoid: overuse of adjectives and adverbs, clichés, jargon, euphemisms, first person references, negative construction,echo,gush (exaggerated enthusiasm),vague time references,present tense and excessive punctuation. Style: Writers should avoid first-person references in news reporting, be cautious with echoing (unnecessary repetition), and ensure their writing is concise and direct. 4. The Five W's​ In the early 1900s signs were posted in the newsroom of Joseph Pulitzer's New York World that proclaimed: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How: ○ Who: Focus on who is involved in the news story. ○ What: Defines the substance of the news—events, ideas, etc. ○ When: Timeliness of the event is crucial to the story’s relevance. ○ Where: The location of events adds relevance to the audience. ○ Why: Adds meaning and context to the events. ○ How: Often explained when there’s space or when it aligns with the "why." 5. Basic News Leads​ What is a News Lead?: The lead is the first paragraph of a news story, containing the most critical information. It serves to attract the reader’s attention and summarise the story’s essence.It may have an aesthetic function: appearing in a more striking font in  some newspapers, or it may not have an aesthetic function and is not visually distinguished.It should focus on two basic questions the readers want answered: 1. What happened? 2. Why does this matter to me? How to Write an Effective Lead: ○ Collect all your facts: the more you know about a story the easier it will be to do it. ○ Sum it up, boil it down: if it helps organise your thinking, writedown the five W’s in a list. ○ Prioritise the five W’s: The lead needs to contain only the facts that are most important. Ask yourself: Which facts must be in thelead? Which facts can wait a paragraph or two? ○ Rethink, revise, rewrite: Write a first draft and then ask yourself:Is it clear? Is it active? Is it concise? Is it compelling? Sentence Structure: Most leads consist of a single sentence starting with the subject, followed by an active verb. ○ Be specific: Avoid clichés and use precise, visual details. ○ Strong active verbs: Captures action and impact. Avoid passive voice. ○ Active verbs ○ Avoid passive-voice constructions ○ Emphasise story magnitude: Highlight the impact on people. ○ Stress the unusual ○ Localise: Tailor stories to the audience by referencing local relevance. ○ Be objective (fair) and attribute opinions ○ Simplicity: Leads should be straightforward and easy to understand. Common Errors: ○ Starting with attribution. ○ Minimising important news. ○ Using agenda, label, "you", or question leads. ○ Overgeneralizing with "many people" or "nobody". ○ Listing unnecessary details. ○ Stating the obvious or focusing on negatives. ○ Exaggerating or distorting the story. ○ Forgetting your audience:The leads must be clear and interesting to attract the readers’ attention. 6. Types of News Leads Basic News Leads: ○ Summary Lead: Combines the most significant of the 5 W’s into one sentence. ○ Delayed Identification Lead: Withholds key information, such as a person’s name, for the second paragraph. ○ Name-Recognition Lead: Used for famous figures, leveraging their recognition to draw attention. ○ Interesting-Action Lead: Focuses on unusual actions or events rather than individuals. ○ Event Lead: Highlights the outcome or key result of a meeting or speech.To capture the theme of a speech, the key outcome of a meeting, or the big news that emerges from a news conference. ○ Second-Day Lead: Provides fresh information in ongoing coverage (e.g., court trials). ○ Anecdotal Lead: Uses a brief story to draw readers into the topic. ○ Scene-Setter Lead:leads lack the urgency of hard news leads, and they are usually reserved for long stories with more description. ○ Blind Lead: deliberately tease readers by withholding a key piece of information and including it in a subsequent paragraph. ○ Roundup Lead: Sometimes instead of focusing on just one person, place or thing in the lead, you want to impress the reader with a longer list. ○ Direct Address Lead: Virtually all news stories are written in the third-person voice. But stories sometimes use the second-person voice to speak directly to you, the reader.The “You” leads can be a problem unless they are used in very specific types of stories, such as the consumer-oriented ones.