“What makes a good news story?” is a question in young minds of aspiring journalist. In today’s world, writing and reporting news story is a challenging task as reporting/writing news with accuracy, clarity and creativity requires great skills in the present digital era.
Strong reporting skills requires talent of storytelling, which can inspire, inform and guide viewers on right path. Such skills are essential for aspiring reporters.
In this blog we will learn about How to be a good journalist writer/reporter, know about 4 types of journalistic writing and tips for becoming a good journalist to help them hone their craft.
How to be a good journalist writer/reporter
A good journalist writer/reporter requires skill of researching, interviewing, observation and accuracy checking. Aspiring journalist need to learn all these skills to be a good writer and reporter. Mentioned below are skills set and knowledge required to be a good journalist:
1) Curiosity building: An aspiring journalist needs to create curiosity among readers/viewers. Aspirants can use simple questioning strategies to start a news story writing/reporting, such as why did this happen? Or who is responsible for this? These questions create curiosity among the viewers.
2) Master the 5Ws and 1H: The backbone of journalism is the 5Ws and 1H. Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How are the essential aspects of creating strong news story. The principle of inverted pyramid includes these in the first section of story building.
The pyramid is divided into three parts: the lead, the body and the tail.
The lead section is considered most challenging part of news writing/reporting. In this part aspirants need to explain the main part in short paragraph using 5W’s and 1H: who was involved in the story, what was the story, where did it happen, when did it happen, why of the story and how did it take place.
The body section includes more supporting information of the story through graphics, videos or photos related to the news. Finally the tail section is the concluding paragraph of the story. Here is the inverted pyramid that will enable learners to organize and structure their content:
3) Gather valid information: A good news story reporter should gather information form reliable and credible sources. They can collect information through official documents or by interviewing primary eyewitness of the event.
4) Keep the information clear: Reporting of a story need to be clear and concise. Learners should avoid overly complex language. The readability of the text need to be friendly for the target audience. The goal is to inform, not to impress with complicated vocabulary.
5) Verify each fact: It is essential to crosscheck each facts of the news story. This reduces the chances of error and increases the creditability of the news. Maintaing accuracy in news is non-negotiable task. One mistake can undermine the entire credibility as a journalist.
6) Practice ethics: Journalism is about honesty, fairness and responsibility of providing audience with correct news. It is essential to never manipulate facts, plagiarize, or misrepresent information. Upholding ethics will develop tryst and integrity among budding journalist.
4 Types of Journalistic Writing
Aspiring journalists should understand about the 4 types of journalistic writing to be a excellent journalist. These four journalistic writing style forms the basis of traditional and digital media. Following are the each style demands, skill sets and approaches:
1. News Writing: It focuses on factual presentation of relevant information. It requires objective writing skills with neutral tone. This style of writing works on inverted pyramid principle.
Example: Reporting on new government policy or election result news.
2. Feature Writing: It focuses on depth of the news, people, event or any theme. This kind of writing goes beyond surface level reporting, as it aims on creating engaging content for the audience.
Example: A profile of an inspiring excelling social worker or about a event or celebration.
3. Opinion (Editorial) Writing: This style gives the freedom of expressing writer’s viewpoint on current issues. It requires subjective writing skills but based on evidence and logic.
Example: An editorial on whether social media benefits or harms student productivity.
4. Investigative Writing: It focuses on reporting hidden facts and exposing system’s wrong doing. This requires time, patience and cross verification of information from various angles.
Example: An in-depth story revealing misuse of student funds at a college.
Understanding these types helps students adapt and choose their writing style which aligns with the assignment’s topic and purpose.
Additional Journalism tips for students
Beyond writing on the basis of different styles and approaches, aspiring journalists benefit from building professional habits that seasoned reporters rely on:
1) Practice consistently: Creating news story requires practice and consistency. It is essential for aspirants to regularly read quality newspapers and reports, study different writing techniques and principles of journalism to hone their skills.
2) Develop networking: Developing network is essential, for gathering accurate information. Learners can connect or create network with experienced journalist, faculty, educators, community leaders and members to create a promising network.
3) Observation: Journalism is not just about presentation of information creatively, it also requires keen observation skills. During interviews, or while gathering information these observation skills enables to reveal unsaid and hidden information.
4) Multimedia skills: Learners need to understand the utilization of multimedia rich reporting, which involves including photographs, videos, podcast, and graphics in the news.
Aspirants need to have basic photography, video recording and editing skills for equipping themselves for digital reporting.
5) Balancing objectivity and storytelling: Learners need to learn balancing the facts form the core of reporting, and weaving them into storytelling narratives to keeps readers engaged.
6) Staying updated: Learners should regularly read professional publications like The Hindu, The Indian Express, The New York Times, or BBC News to understand tone, style, and standards of journalism.
Final Takeaway:
In conclusion, creating a good news story requires various skills like gathering information, interviewing, researching, cross checking accurately and many more. As aspiring journalist practice these skills consistently, the bridge between classroom theory and real reporting becomes clear.
For learner’s aspiring to become a journalist they can start small by reporting on campus issues, interviewing peers, covering campus events, or writing for the college magazine will help in inculcating early journalism skills. It is a process of continuous learning as the digital ecosystem evolves.
In this blog we learned about 4 types of journalistic writing and discussed about wide array of skills need to be practiced to become an outstanding journalist.
FAQs
Q1: What are the key elements that make a news story good?
Ans1: A good news story contains all the 5W’s and 1H. This includes essential 5W’s and 1H questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how, in a clear and concise way.
Q2: What are the 4 main types of journalistic writing?
Ans2: The four types are News Writing, Feature Writing, Opinion (Editorial) Writing, and Investigative Writing.
Q3: How should student journalists structure their news stories?
Ans3: Learners should utilize the principles of inverted pyramid format. It is most commonly used structure, where the most important information is at the top (headline and lead), followed by supporting information (the body), and background information (tail) at the end.
Q4: Can student journalists include opinions in their news stories?
Ans4: student journalist can include their opinions in editorial style of writing. Factual news need to be objective and fact-based.
Q5: What are some practical journalism tips for students starting out?
Ans5: Following are the practical journalism tips for students that enhances journalistic versatility:
• Start with curiosity,
• Verify every fact,
• Practice clear writing,
• Use credible sources,
• Observe ethics, and
• Practice consistently.
• Networking and
• Learning multimedia skills.