ASSIGNMENT
DRIVE SPRING 2014
PROGRAM MAJM (REVISED)
SEMESTER 2
SUBJECT CODE & NAME - MAJ201 – REPORTING AND JOURNALISTIC WRITING
BK ID B1860 CREDIT 4 MARKS 60
Q.No 1 Write a long note on the classification of news sources. 10 marks
Answer: The news sources have been classified as:
1. Primary sources
2. Secondary sources
3. Tertiary sources
1. Primary Sources: Include such sources, which a reporter himself obtains while working on a regular
beat. Primary sources provide first-hand information, which the reporter puts in a report that is published
in the newspaper. A crime reporter develops sources in police as well as in underworld if he spends a
considerable time on that particular beat. In case of spot coverage, he has to gather most of the
information on the spot. All these sources are primary sources of information.
2. Secondary Sources: National and international news agencies are the most important secondary
sources in a newspaper. At this juncture, you may ask what a news agency is. According to United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO, ‘an undertaking whose principal objective,
whatever its legal form, to gather news and news material of which the sole purpose is to express or
present facts, and to distribute this to, a group of news enterprises, and in exceptional circumstances to
private individuals with a view to providing them with as complete and impartial a news service as
possible against payment, and under condition compatible with business laws and uses.’
In simpler terms, a news agency can be defined as a professional organisation that collects the content
from various parts of the country or world, as the case may be, on various beats and then transmits the
raw content in the form of a news story to its subscriber newspaper organizations on regular payment
basis. In India, Press Trust of India (PTI) and United News of India (UNI) are the most prominent news
agencies. They also cater to news in Hindi. UNI’s Hindi service is called Univarta and PTI has Bhasha.
Internationally, the news agencies of importance are Reuters of Britain, Associated Press (AP) and United
Press International (UPI) of USA, then Agence France-Presse (AFP) of France.
3. Tertiary Sources: Press releases, statements and press notes are the classic examples of tertiary
sources. Every day in a newspaper office, a stream of such material keeps pouring in. It can be press
releases by local leaders of civic problems, statements of leaders on any particular issue, or they can be
petitions by general public on lack of civic amenities in an area.
2 What are the factors that determine affect and influence the news value of any story?
Discuss. 10 marks
Answer: Following are the factors that determine, affect and influence the news value of any news story:
1. Timeliness: This is an important factor that decides the news value. If the news is not timely, it has
little or no value. There is a fierce competition among newspapers to publish any event as quickly as
possible. Strict watch is kept on news events till the eleventh hour, meaning the deadline when the final
pages go to print. In case something really important happens, other stories are pushed to back pages of
the newspaper or dropped and the important story is flashed on the front page. This is done keeping in
view the reader’s hunger for information on latest happenings. If there is any delay in coverage of the
news, the reader might lose interest in the news. Or the news element itself might diminish.
2. Proximity: It is natural for human beings to be interested in news events, which happen in close
proximity. Something happening in the locality draws more interest than something that occurs in other
town or for that matter, in other country.
3. Eminence: If the creator of the news is somebody of prominence or a prominent person like the
President or the Prime Minister, the interest of eminence at all. The quotes of eminent people also make
news; their speeches decide the leads of the newspapers.
4. Sizes: Different angles to a story decide its size. This happens particularly in crime-oriented stories.
More are the angles to a story; more will be the interest of the readers in it. So at times, sizes determine
the news values of the stories.
5. News policy of the news organization: The spectrum of coverage that a news organization decides
in accordance with the readership it wants to cater news to, is also an important determinant of the news
value.
6. Human Interest: People are always interested in other peoples’ lives. Something that deviates from
ordinary course of life is always interesting. The oddity of human nature normally contributes to such
stories. A young Haryana Prince fell into a deep bore well pit and this prompted the media of the entire
country to go after the story. Therefore, human interest plays an important role.
7. Novelty or Oddity: Anything that is new or odd in a way adds to the value of the news.
8. Conflict: Like creative stories, conflict plays an important role in determining news value. Conflict of
any kind is news, whether it is the family squabble of Ambani brothers, agitation of Gujjars in Rajasthan
to be included in the list of scheduled castes, Telangana movement in Andhra Pradesh or the scourge of
naxalites in five major states of India.
9. Weather and Sports: Both the weather and sports carry considerable news value. The arrival of
monsoon, cyclones, soaring (or plummeting) of mercury, icy chilly winds or dust storms make front-page
news material. Many newspapers dedicate entire page or a couple of pages to sports.
10. Follow-up: The news item attracts a lot of interest for the general public when the issues are
followed up and updated. Follow-up of news events will keep the interest of the readers alive. Every good
news story keeps following up as it does not end at the first reference.
11. Development: Development is also a determining factor in news value. In a developing country like
India, development should be a major issue.
3 Write a long note on accuracy and attribution. 10 marks
Answer: Accuracy refers to the exact account of the events and happenings. Besides, accuracy in
language, format, style and usage in writing is also equally important. Therefore, you can say that
accuracy plays an important role in the writing of a news story. Accuracy is sacred too. By and large,
accuracy is just not a technique of writing; it is a state of mind, which you should adopt as a reporter. You
should double-check your facts and information before you submit them to the desk in the form of a news
report. The experts suggest that it is not a simple double check but a thorough combination of checking,
re-checking, double-checking and cross-checking.
For the sake of accuracy, you should revise your copy again and again and evaluate it as a detached reader.
You should, for the time being, forget that you ,are the writer of the copy. Read it like an average reader, a
layman and satisfy yourself that all the queries have been answered in it. Then you re-read your copy like
a sub-editor and look for snags and loopholes in it. Eliminate them one by one and submit your copy only
after you are satisfied with your own work.
Pay special attention to dates and identifications. If there are figures in the story, they should add up
properly and places that have been specified are correct. Don’t try to befool the reader. If the reader writes
a single letter to your editor highlighting the holes in your story, your credibility as a reporter will be in
danger. The readers these days are much aware and they write lengthy letters to point out silliest of
mistakes. Once you lose your credibility, you may lose your job.
Attribution
Attribution is, to a story, as vital as accuracy. By describing the source of your information, you convey the
reliability of your story to the reader. But after a stage, it is up to the reader to decide the reliability of the
news piece. It is the reader who decides whether your story is reliable or not. The final evaluation is left to
him/her. In the end, you are spared the discomfiture of being blamed with misleading information. The
reader will charge the source for handing out wrong information, and not you.
An attribution bolsters trustworthiness. But as the saying goes that too many cooks spoil the broth,
similarly too much of attribution hampers the flow of the story. You should also keep in the mind that as a
reporter you have to maintain the balance between too much and too little of attribution as too little of
it can confuse the reader. Do not get fed up with using the word ‘said’ as it works wonders in a story and
that too in a natural way.
Categorical assertion, exclaim, relate, disclose, reveal, add, point out and explain, etc., are the verbs that
can be used interchangeably. However, you need to be cautious as each one of these verbs has a different
meaning. Do not substitute them just for the sake of bringing a false variation in your copy. It can have a
reverse effect instead. In case of any doubts about the meaning of any of these words, it is better to use
‘said’ which has a direct meaning.
4 Discuss investigative reporting. 10 marks
Answer: The work of a newspaper reporter always involves certain amount of investigation, enquiry or
examination of facts and details. Reporters have to explore and get into the various aspects of an incident
or occurrence. More often than not, reporting and researching become synonymous.
William Randolph Hearst, an American newspaper publisher, has defined investigative journalism as ‘a
news is what somebody, somewhere is trying to suppress. Everything else is advertising’. However, the job
of an investigative reporter is to dig deeply beyond the facts stated in the hard news. Many journalism
students like you have an ambition to become investigative reporters. Investigative journalists see
themselves as the conscience of the society, pursuing corruption in high places without fear or favour. In
his book, Press and Law, Justice A.N. Grover has quoted from the forward of Investigative Reporting by
Clark R. Mollevhogg. According to the forward, investigative reporting has the following three elements:
(i) It has to be the original work of reporter. Under no circumstances should it be of others.
(ii) The subject of the reporting should be such that it is of importance for the readers to know or affects
all of them in some way or other.
(iii) There must not be any attempt made to hide the truth from people. Investigative reporting has grown
by leaps and bounds in western countries. In India, it is still in the nascent stages. Most Indian
newspapers despite having all the resources at their disposal do not spare the manpower and avoid
spending money for a first rate investigative job. Attempts at investigative reporting, to quote an eminent
Indian editor, are like ‘drilling for oil’. A fair amount of efforts get wasted, and this has to be taken into
one’s stride. But when finally the oil is extracted and made marketable, the sense of achievement is
usually more than any other sector of journalistic enterprise.
The best example of investigative reporting is the Watergate scandal of the seventies that took place in the
USA. In India, investigative reporting started making a mark after the end of the internal emergency in
1977, particularly through the reports published in The Indian Express.
In India, investigative reporters have brought to light a number of scandals such as the Bhagalpur
blinding incident by the police, Kamala case, A.R. Antulay’s private trusts, Kuo Oil deal, the securities
scam involving Indian and foreign banks and stock brokers, etc. The best kind of investigative reporting is
that which keeps the public interest in mind. It may highlight an injustice, expose corrupt practices, or
unmask dishonest politicians and bureaucrats.
5 Write a long note on the ‘lead’ of a story. 10 marks
Answer: As the name suggests a ‘lead’ leads the reader into the story. It tries to set the mood and tempo
by tickling the reader’s curiosity and interest. Rather than coming straight to the point, a good feature
writer uses the lead as a tool to set the right tone, and tries to use the first two three paragraphs in the
feature to build this very character. In short, a good lead tries to create an image, send a message and
capture the reader’s imagination.
Feature writers have ample ways and options by which they try to set the ball of the story rolling; in fact
they have a variety of lead styles to choose from in making their selection. The lead may be any one of the
following types, or a combination of any two or more of them.
(a) Summary lead
As it is obvious, this lead gives the gist of the story in the opening paragraphs. It is best suited when the
feature is on a news breaking story.
(b) Narrative lead
This type of lead draws the reader into middle of an action where he finds the feature inescapable. It is
normally written in two or three paragraphs. These paragraphs are collectively called lead block and they
narrate the major points of the story. In this type of lead, selected verbs are used that create a word
picture and arouse the curiosity of the reader.
(c) Contrast lead
As the name suggests, the feature builds its lead by making two contrasting references with regards to the
subject. For instance, this lead may begin by contrasting the lifestyles of a rich man with that of a poor
man with humble Pakistan with India, Apple with Samsung, etc. These leads are usually written in two
paragraph blocks. The first one sets the stage, creates a perception and second one updates the reader.
The second paragraph is usually strewn with turn words like but, now, today, and yesterday to introduce
the second half of the contrast.
(d) Direct Address lead
Appropriate to its name, a direct address lead attempts to speak and associate directly with its readers. It
tries to directly engage them in conversation and catch their attention and interest, specifically on a
subject that has mass appeal, curiosity and interest.
(e) Descriptive lead
A picture tells a hundred stories. Well, in feature writing done using the descriptive lead, it’s the words
painting a thousand pictures; they read so real and enthralling that the reader is instantly mesmerized
and drawn to the subject. Such leads are used to create a mood or environment for the story and have very
vivid and descriptive narrative. Used judiciously in travelogues and drama-generating situations,
descriptive leads, if written well, have a super impact. They are also known as situation or picture leads.
(f) Parody lead
‘Add some spice to my life and make it worth living…’ goes a song. This is what the feature writers aim to
do when they decide to pick parody lead for their style of writing. Parody lead attempts to play on words,
generously mixing anecdotes and quotations, widely known proverbs and to help establish an immediate
connection with the reader. Sayings, song titles, colloquial and other recognizable expressions are liberally
used. In a nut shell, parody lead is usually used to sparkle and shake, the otherwise dull subject story in a
jiffy, bringing loads of attention from the reader on the subject.
(g) Staccato lead
It consists of short words trimmed to perfection, sometimes separated by dots and dashes. Staccato lead
uses a lot of phrases, and short sentences in its narration as well. Sometimes the use of the dots or dashes
can appear to be casually disruptive to the reader and hence, should be used only if the facts of the story
justify it. The feature writer using this lead to perfection, without doubt, has to be a skilled feature writer.
(h) Interpretative lead
This type of lead normally does not quote anybody. The feature begins with the writer’s opening statement
where the subject of the story is introduced. The interpretative lead is generally used when a feature writer
decides to base the feature around the assessment of facts of the situation.
6 Discuss the preparation for an interview. 10 marks
Answer: Once the location and the time of appointment have been decided, it is would be beneficial if
the interviewer reached the location of the interview early, this would give him or her the time to settle
and prepare themselves mentally. Whether a journalist comes early or not, it is absolutely imperative he
or she sticks to the appointment time and not be late. Making excuses about traffic or some personal
emergency is not acceptable. This proves to be bad for a journalist’s reputation and reflects their lack of
professionalism and respect for other’s time. Certain things that need to be checked prior to the interview
are as follows:
(i) Assemble notepad, tape or digital recorders, camera and pens
(ii) Test tape recorder and check camera and other equipment to see if they are functioning properly
(iii) Prepare questions in advance and group questions in categories for convenience
(iv) Keep bonus questions which may be asked if time permits
(v) Confirm sources and research for interview questions
(vi) Reconfirm appointment a day prior to the interview with details of location, time, etc.
(vii) Study any other possible outcomes that the interview might stir towards so that you do not fumble
with details
Researching as much as you can before the interview is quite helpful. It is very conducive for a journalist
to have in-depth knowledge about the subject and the interviewee as it gives him or her upper hand. Thus,
it is important for a journalist to do their homework so they are well-versed with facts before the interview
rather than checking their notes during the interview. Preparing questions before hand keeping the basic
outline of the subject helps the interview to go smoothly. Try to jot down as many questions which you
think can be asked or counter questioned. Make sure to prioritize the questions so that the most relevant
ones get answered and are not missed due to time constraints. If time permits then ask the peripheral
questions or bonus questions which have been prepared beforehand.
Check list to prepare for a successful interview are as follows:
(i) Clarify with the interviewee the following details of the interview:
(a) Where will it be held?
(b) Tentative time as to how long it will last.
(c) Format of the interview as to how it will be conducted
(d) Whether any pictures of the interviewee will be required
(e) Any documentation would be required to confirm facts
(ii) Reconfirm interview a day before the decided appointment.
(iii) Dress appropriately as your appearance influences the way an interviewee responds.
(iv) You need not tell the interviewee what questions you will be asking him or her. However, a brief on
what they can expect will put the interviewee at ease.
(v) Verify all sources prior to the interview as you do not want to be called dishonest or a liar.
(vi) Cross check all possible outcomes that the interview might lead to.
Once the preparation step of the interview is completed, the next step will be your conduct during the
interview. This is the most important and crucial step in the process of interviewing.