SPJ Reviewer - Journalist Writing Guide PDF

SPJ REVIEWER ============ "REDISCOVERING TYPES OF JOURNALISCTIC WRITING" - ESSENTIAL COMPOMENTS OF JOURNALISM = WRITING - BASIC MEDUIM IN TRANSPORTING COMMUNICATION FROM A PERSON TO COMMUNITY - GENERAL CONTEXT OF JOURNALISM, ONE MUST MASTER THE FUNDAMENTALS OF JOURNALISTIC WRITING...

SPJ REVIEWER ============ "REDISCOVERING TYPES OF JOURNALISCTIC WRITING" - ESSENTIAL COMPOMENTS OF JOURNALISM = WRITING - BASIC MEDUIM IN TRANSPORTING COMMUNICATION FROM A PERSON TO COMMUNITY - GENERAL CONTEXT OF JOURNALISM, ONE MUST MASTER THE FUNDAMENTALS OF JOURNALISTIC WRITING - JOURNALISTIC WRITING STYLE IS USED IN NEWS STORIES IN NEWSPAPER, TELEVISION, BROADCAST, ON RADIO AND ON THE INTERNET. - A STRONG NEWS ARTICLE WILL SOMETIMES INCLUDE CHARTS OR GRAPHS. at the opening of the article. This form of structure is sometimes called the "inverted pyramid", which refers to decreasing importance of information in the following paragraphs. Contains at least one of the important characteristics : proximity, prominence, timeliness, human, interest, oddity, or consequence. EDITORIAL WRITING -- Great way to share your perspective or advocate for a cause. Editorial articles can raise awareness of an issue while sharing other people's opinions on the topic. COLUMN WRITING -- A column is written by a columnist, editor or other selected individual on a topic. Expression of one person's opinion or viewpoint and is generally written in first person singular or third person singular. Columns are signed by the author, recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication, where a writer expresses their own opinion. What differentiates a column from other types of journalism is that it's a regular feature in publication written by the same writer that contains their own opinion. FEATURE WRITING - A longer piece of writing a news story. Has many types and widely used in magazines, newspapers and online. Covers an issue in greater depth than news stories; or look at an ongoing story but diff angle. The purpose is to provide a detailed description of a place, person, idea, or organization. One of the examples of feature is personality or profile features which looks into a person's role, experience, or background. The common subjects of profiles are celebrities, athletes, individuals who overcome challenges, and high-profile executives, Reporters and editors are not necessarily structured using inverted pyramid style, instead use storytelling devices to help connect the narrative and central characters. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WRITING -- The language of Sci-Tech is one of the reasons why some journalist are afraid of reporting in this area, in many cases, its like listening to a foreign language which u cannot speak, science journalism is largely about translation, connecting scientist to the public is one of the important parts of a science journalist job. They fill a wide variety of roles, some works for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, websites, or blogs some work as editors. SPORTS WRITING -- A form of journalism or creative non-fiction in sporting events, athletes, or sports related issues as the dominant object. Sports writing plays a huge role in stirring up expectations and giving info to the fans. \-\-\-\-\-- A GUIDE TO COMPOSITE NEWS REPORT Composite news report/ several-feature/ multiple-angle news report : expressions of two or more different aspects of a news report drawn together for space and coherence. Composite news report may resemble that of a follow-up story that both aim to combine component parts, they differ in the sense that the follow-up story ends in a tie -- in with a past story, whereas, the composite story is composed of units made up of fresh spot news with reference to the future. In writing the composite news story, include all the features in comprehensive lead in order of importance, next step is to explain in the body each of the features in the order which they are in the lead. Disregard less important details of each feature to less important positions, but remember each chain of facts although covered separately should be handled as one unified story. \-\-\-\--GUIDES IN WRITING A COMPOSITE NEWS REPORT - DECIDE WHAT THE NEWS IS : Focus on what is likely to be the most interesting part of the story to your readers, stories become news because of their importance, emotion, impact, timeliness and interest to the reader. The more people involved the more newsworthy the story. - WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY AND HOW : include the info that answers these question within the headline and the first two paragraphs, try to get as many of the W's in the first paragraph \[lead\] as possible. - NEWS FIRST, BACKGROUND LATER : Tell the best, new bits first, the background can come later - BE OBJECTIVE AND STICK TO FACTS : The reporting voice should only contain facts. Any opinion or subjective descriptions should be attributed. - KEEP IT SIMPLEE AND SHORT \[KISS\] : New stories should be no more than 400 words long, and preferably 250-300 words long. You need to write a short/brief engaging way but still include facts, no need for flowery words, be punchy. \[nanumbag\* ay joke} - WRITE A GREAT HEADLINE : Research shows that, on average, 80% of people read the headline and skip the rest of the story, so, you need to make sure your headline is clear and coherent and tells the story with just a few words \[4-8 words\] Cut out unnecessary words and shorten phrases. - PROVIDE SUBTITLES : Use subtitles to elaborate the flow and connection of the story ,Short and catchy subtitles are highly required to attract the readers attention. - THINK PICTURES : A good photo or other image to accompany you story is a great way to reinforce ideas and complement your news. - CHECK YOU WORK : Take time to check your work. IN-DEPTH NEWS REPORT INVESTIGATIVE NEWS News writes must dwell on revealing the deeper side of the report not by reducing the info. If the news is described as opposite of ordinary news stories and the reporters go deep of the story then this type of news is called **IN-DEPTH**. Nwe stories are written to stage **not only the resul**t but also **to reveal the cause of the situation.** **National issues from education down to economy** are the main focus of an in-depth news, the writer did not only expose the scenario of the problem but dig up the root source of the problem. **IN-DEPTH background, interpretation and analysis.** This expounds the events from simple interview to complex statistics, figures and other valuable data. He/she must tell the story behind the story to make people understand the origin of the issue, the exposition of facts must be treated objectively. \-\-\--CHARACTERISTICS OF AN IN-DEPTH NEWS WRITER - CURIOUS, INQUISITIVE, INVESTIGATIVE, AND ANALYTICAL IN THE SERVICE OF THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. - PATIENT, PERSISTENT IN READING UP ON HIS SUBJECT AND IN INTERVIEWING PRIMARY SOURCES. - IMPARTIAL, BROADMINDED, OBJECTIVE \-\-\--SOME HINTS FOR AN IN-DEPTH NEWS WRITER - EMPHASIZE - TRANSLATE FIGURES INTO WORDS OR PROPORTIONS (55 million = fifty-five million) - REPORT DISCERNIBLE (recognizable) TRENDS - EMPHASIS THE UNUSUAL - LOOK FOR SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FROM ONE PERIOD TO ANOTHER - REPORT INFERENCES (conclusion) ACCURATELY AND OBJECTIVELY - REPORT NUMBERS AS SIMPLY AS POSSIBLE - AVOID A LONG SERIES OF PARAGRAPHS - USE TRANSITIONS, EXPLANATIONS AND COMMENTARIES TO BREAK UP STRINGS OF NUMBERS IN ORDER TO RETAIN THE INTEREST OF THE READERS. - AVOID PREVIOUSLY FORMULATED CONCLUSIONS WITH SLANTED DATA TO SUPPORT THEM. \-\-\-- INVESTIGATIVE NEWS PROBING NEWS STORIES : UNDERSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE NEWS - **Crime, government corruption, social issue, corporate wrongdoing, environment problem, economic crisis etc.** - These are examples of interest that involves a considerable amount of time (months or years) for research (first-hand interviews, document analysis, consultation with experts etc.) and writing process. \-\-- MAIN FEATURES OF INVESTIGATIVE NEWS - Contains major amount of info that sometimes require a series of news stories or a one lengthy news story with one subject matter. - Also, investigative news writing is finding, reporting and presenting news which other people try to hide. - The job of journalist is to let the people know about what's going on in the community. \-\--REASONS WHY SOCIETY NEEDS INVESTIGATIVE WRITING - PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SOCIETY THEY LIVE IN. - PEOPLE IN POWER CAN ABUSE THAT POWER, THEY CAN BE CORRUPT AND STEAL MONEY AND BREAK LAWS AND HARM PEOPLE. - JOURNALIST ALSI HAVE A DUTY TO WATCH PEOPLE PERFORM THEIR JOB. \-\-- THE HURDLES OF A FREE PRESS - The Philippine press is regarded as the freest in SOUTHEAST ASIA, armed with a constitutional provision on press freedom, its able to perform its role in democratic society. - However, this freedom is not necessarily translated to excellent press system at all times, Philippines news media suffers from credibility problems. - HIGHLIGHTING THE NEGATIVE : Sometimes, even when legitimate story deserves a positive angle, the negative side is given usually that which is controversial or which went wrong in policy or program. - SENSATIONALISM : Sensational stories such as crime and violence serves as the selling feature of news programs. The insignificant details are usually louden in order to appeal to human emotion, this is a sure-fire formula in attracting readership and viewership. - CORRUPTION : The term "envelopment journalism" has been described as corruption in the media industry, for a certain fee, stories and opinions that favor institutions and personalities are written or aired, worse, this is done to discredit the opposing parties or personalities, corruption in media has seemingly become an "industry" itself, as proven by Chay Hofilena's (*News for Sale, 2004*) probe on journalist. - COMMERCIALISM : In order to survive, media organizations need to sell, in the process, journalistic ideals and principles are sacrificed, News programs have thus become entertainment-oriented. - The country's free law on media ownership has made another problem, the biggest media organization are owned by those who own other business interest to protect and political affiliation to defend, in the end, vital info that can harm then can be withheld by the press itself. \-\--THE VALUE OF NEWS : WHAT DOES THE EDITOR CONSIDER - READERS AND THEIR INTEREST : Before writing, ask yourself 'does it interest my target audience?" of course, don't limit your audience onto to your schoolmates, consider the other members of the academic institution. - EDITORIAL POLICY : All school paper adhere to certain rules relating to choice of material for publication, these are stated in its editorial policy (*Campus Journalism Act of 1991*) there are instances when news stories that may put the school's name in bad light are not published. Because of the paper's policy which is usually anchored on the schools thrust as well. To campus journalist, this is **censorship** as an act to reduce the writer's freedom to express. - FOLLOW-UP : A follow-up is a form of development, similarly a follow-up story may be about a significant project. - THE PAPER'S LOOK : A number of school publications follow a certain layout style that determines the position of the stories in the paper. - SPACE : The required number of paged or space availability is a significant consideration.