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Want to be a News Writer? Here are Some Tips for You
The Reporter and The Editor What is it about writing that always begs comparison? You absorb the written rendition of a human interest news item and then turn the pages of a Naipaul novel to compare: maybe it could have been written in another way? True, it could have been; it can always be. But in the basic tenets of news writing, certain rules have been laid out that make for crisp reading, yet reaching out with minimum wordage and maximum impact. News reportage has changed over the years in the print media, but the role of a reporter has remained pretty much the same. A reporter is exactly what his designation suggests - he goes out to the scene of action or inaction, and is then required to tell the readers what happened, not what he thinks happened. It is almost like a pre-set objective-type question paper, where you merely fill in the blanks. A reporter has very little elbow space while keying in his story, as far as language goes. He has to be brief and accurate and yet has to bring out the human angle of the story. Not an easy task by any standards. Which is why newspapers have editors. The reporter-editor battle is a running one, and should remain so. The logic is very simple. When the reporter arrives at the scene, experiences first-hand the incidents and its aftereffects, he is expected to get swayed by it. Sometimes he gets a little too involved; a little too influenced. He talks about the incident as if it was the biggest news story of the day. The editor, sitting at his desk, has access to all other stories 'breaking' on that particular day. He sees the bigger picture. He knows where to pare. Hence the battles. Good news writing or plain good writing? Classic news writing should be straightforward presentation of facts. The language should be sterile, providing the reader some basic and essential facts. The reporter should talk about the what, when, where and not really worry about the how. He should present opinions of those who matter (the police, in a murder case, for example), in quotes. There were two assumptions leading to this. First, the Press was presumed to be the moral guardian of society in general – hence the need for internal checks and balances. Second, the printed word came at a pretty high price per column-centimeter and, therefore, had to be rationed. There are only that many column centimeters available in a day that can be assigned to a story, unless reporters are covering 9/11 or the Afghan War, or maybe the Queen's cat's marriage. Plus you have to engage in the luxury of pictures -1,000 words in a neat, beautiful package, as they say. News stories are required to be written in the 'inverted pyramid' format. It means all the facts of the story must be jammed into the first three-four paragraphs, maybe six paragraphs. The rest of the story would deal with the background, the atmosphere, etc. Why so? Because when the story is 'pasted' on the page the heading would expectedly come from the first few paragraphs. The rest is okay, if it fits in the assigned slot. If not, they just get chopped off, and to hell with the screaming reporter. Of course, there were balances and leeway, or how would one describe a catastrophe, or write a human interest story? The extremes of sterility Taking the sterile effect to its illogical extreme, a joke did the journo rounds in the late 50s and 60s. A cub reporter in the US was sent to cover a death in a road accident. It was a rather gruesome affair, with a burn death. On his return, the visibly shaken reporter was curtly instructed by his editor to be "short and snappy and not mess around with sentimental fluff" about the incident; there wasn't much space, he was told. The greenhorn's report went thus: "Mr Smith lit a match and bent down to see if there was any gas in his car tank. There was. Bachelor. Age 45." One only needs to surf the many television channels today to catch (the rather noxious) snatches of the other end of the spectrum. There was this rather heart-rending story of a little child who fell down a well and live television covered how Indian Army personnel rescued him after long hours of toil. It was a rare human interest story, as good as it gets, and deserved the blanket coverage that it got. However, once the rescue was over, there was suddenly a great shortage of what they call 'software'. What to talk about now? Ok, said the boss, follow the child's recovery from the trauma. Good enough, so we had hourly information updates on how he was doing. Then came the 'BREAKING NEWS' – the child had a fever. Excuse me? Fever? Never mind, it was assumed to be 'news'. Well, frankly, it barely was. Whither creativity? There is a pretty erudite school of thought that says ‘when you run out of facts, run your readers through the language.' Sniff creativity there? Well, almost, when a political death sees a '…pall of gloom descend on the country'; never mind if the 'gloomy' citizens were indulging in a biriyani-and-movie fest. Creativity lurks underneath the journalistic burkha, you just need to scratch a bit. There is humor, mostly understated, and the words used are somewhat different. But you still start by calling a spade a spade -- well, a spoon, at least. Let me present an incident first through a writer's eyes and then a veteran journo's. Imagine an earthquake, a landslide, a hill torn down, fifty-five deaths, many orphaned, sorrow, government apathy and so on. Writer Ajitabh Ghosh shakes his hoary mane, and notes: "I saw the innards of the earth spill out, saw fifty-five unfortunate ones taste her ire, saw trees bow and surrender to the sweeping changes from above. The rain gods were hand-in-glove, the government sat on its political palms, and the cries of help merely reverberated around bare hillocks." It says some, it describes some, it is beautiful, and it is reasonably short. So what's wrong? It's too personal, that's what's wrong. Media codes (the real ones) dictate that you present the facts and let the reader do the posturing. How would veteran journo and editor Ananda K Mitra Ray prefer to report the incident? 'An earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, tore apart a range of hills in the Garhwal Himalayas last evening, killing fifty-five leaving 301 wounded, homeless. In the absence of timely Government intervention, scraggy rescue efforts and shortage of medicines, one awaits further disaster, as rains continue and the fear of epidemics grow.' This report provides more information, is pithy, reasonably desensitized, but not quite sounding so. You can imagine that when you read the next two paragraphs you would have grabbed the overall picture without having to go through the rest of the story. Again, a good news report merely tells you what happened, when it happened, where it happened, and possibly how. It says, turn to page x for a special report. The 'writer' takes over there. Research has shown that a reasonably busy, educated person can spend no more than 20 minutes browsing through the news pages as he gets ready in the morning. You have just that much time to grab his eyeballs, his interest and his conscience. By the evening, news becomes another yesterday. News writing - what to do: > Do your homework on the topic you will cover, if you know what it is beforehand. If interviewing a renowned person research his/her background and try to get a feel of the character you are about to meet. > Absorb what you see, and think what it would need a common man to understand what you see. > Think in simple terms. Use simple sentences. > When the incident is complex, such as the fall of a government, look into the intricacies of party politics, ask questions, be clear on the subject before sitting down to write. > Get to the point straightaway. > Remember, the reader possibly has other important things on his/her mind, and is short on time. He/she just wants to know the basic facts. > Whenever you write an introductory paragraph, imagine a possible heading for your story. That will make it simpler for you to frame the story and string the sentences. > Never be afraid to ask questions, however stupid you feel they are. If you don't understand the subject yourself, you cannot expect to make anybody else understand it through your words. > For the editor the only suggestive phrase is 'be judicious'. Yes, there are other important things happening around the world, but a reporter on the spot is to the newspaper's advantage. Use him/her to gain the edge; don't cut him/her down. > Never impose you personal opinion on the reader. > Do not use long-winded, complex sentences. > When in doubt, leave out – do not assume or infer. Report what actually happened and not what you feel will. All that can come in opinion articles or the edit pages. Remember, no reportage is better than wrong reportage. > Remember the 'inverted pyramid'. You will be required to put in all information in the first two-three or four reasonably sized paragraphs. > Keep the sentences and the thought simple, but do not miss details – the type of saree Sonia Gandhi wore to the rally, for example. > The reader of a news item isn't interested in your extraordinary language skills. He is interested in the news. Do not beat about the bush. > Do not assume you are the only one reporting on the subject. If you fail to probe and prod, and you might end up missing the wood for the trees.
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