CO 208 NEWS WRITTING AND REPORTING

Print Media Company

Ø  Editorial Department

Ø  Administration, Planning & Finance

Ø  Advertisement

Ø  Production and circulation (sales)

Editors

                    I.            Senior editors

                  II.            Section/ desks/ assignment editors

                III.            Sub editors

Reporters

Working under different desks/ section

NB: Reporters work under section officers/editors

Editorial Department

i)                    Senior editors

(Company) Managing editor, deputy

§  Hires and fires, deal with budgetary issues

§  Supervise the whole process of production, has the final say over editorial decisions

§  Oversee advertisement and sells

§  They hardly edit, instead focus on the macro-picture

§  The deputy is normally responsible for editorial and newsroom=m side of the organization

§  Overall in-charge of the editorial operation

Section Editor

News editor, feature editor, Business editor, Sport editor, Photo editor

Preside over news gathering in their respective desks: Responsible for:

§  General story ideas

§  Compiling the diary of jobs

§  Assign reporters

§  Brief reporters

§  Monitors day’s (or week’s) coverage

§  Create stories on a quiet news day

§  Check finish stories

§  Liaise with subeditors, photographers, and other department in the organization

§  Report to senior editor

§  Pass stories to sub editors for thorough editing

§  Commission freelancers

Sub editors/ copy editor

§  Work under Chief sib editor, check reporters copy, check accuracy and correct spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, potential libel and contempt

§  Responsible for specific pages but also deal with design pages and layout stories

Proofreaders

Page designers

Reporters

·         General assignment Reporter

·         Beat- Specialty reporting. Specific geographic and subject area- police, court, etc

Reporter’s ranks

·         Staff reporter- employed reporters and assigned to work for the be

·         Correspondent – not employed but is a retained. He is abide with

·         Freelance – paid per job/ day sells their work exclusively to highest bidder

News Production process

Journalism Process

Postmortem-proof reading-designers

Tools guiding newspaper journalists

Media Law

Professional ethics

Editorial Policy

House style (the way content is presented) and Significance of the three in print media operations.

How applicable are they in Tanzania

Editorial Policy

Standards guiding a particular mass media on what to write, how to present news, political and social orientation of the publication and many other related aspects

It is like a map or direction compass to a traveler. Without it, the outlet

Three methods of making an editorial policy:

Proprietor directives

Company/ Associations vision

Basics duties of a reporter

·         Search for news (idea)

·         To research until you have enough material

·         To present a story in a state in a way that is presentable to the public.

A reporter has to have nose for news. The four elements of having the ability of nose for news

·         Ability to recognize stories/ information that can be made of interest to readers

·         Ability to recognize a clues that may be very crucial but may lead to the discovery of important news

·         Ability to recognize important of number of facts concerning the same general subject

·         Ability to recognize possibility of other news related to the particular information at hand

News assignments

·         Diaries - editors assign reporter – entered in advance in newsroom – council, courts, etc.

·         Unexpected event

·         Reporters own enterprise

How to generate your own ideas (techniques)

Ø  Curious – keen and observant

Ø  Talk to people (socialization) – some might give you tip offs that would lead to a spectacular and exclusive stories.

Ø  Develop contacts – Routine calls

Ø  Reading newspaper / radio/ internet sites – press agencies

Ø  Possible follow ups stories

Ø  Localize international stories: look for a local connection  

Ø  Look for fresh anger

Ø  Listen for a different perspective: look at the opposite direction

Ø  Start with your own experience

Ø  Comparison

Ø  Don’t just cover an event: look at the issue that is behind that event

News Value

·         Impact

·         Prominence

·         Timeless

·         Proximity

·         Result

·         Conflict

·         Human interest/Emotion

·         Drama –  more dramatic story, suspense, mysterious

Factors affecting news treatment

      Instinct of editors – every editor has his or her own perception

      Flow of news Vs Available news space – sometimes there are less news information in the community

      Philosophy of the media outlet

      The news mix and balance

      Advertisers’ influence

      The audience – class of readers (target audience)

      Brown envelop – bribes

      Publishers

      Legal and ethical implication

HOURGLASS

Three Basic Parts to this form

      The top

      The turn – single sentence (connective paragraph between the intro and the main body)

      The narrative

Multiple element story

 

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