Paper: Reporting & Editing for Print
Unit 1
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responsible in any manner whatsoever regarding the authenticity of the
information provided in the note/s.
These notes are
being compiled to help the students for educational purposes during Covid-19
pandemic.
ROLES OF A REPORTER
“If you’re a
reporter, the easiest thing in the world is to get a story. The hardest thing
is to verify. The old sins were about getting something wrong, that was a
cardinal sin. The new sin is to be boring,” quotes David Halberstam,
an American journalist, writer and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam
War, politics, history and many more.
DEFINITIONS:
v “Being
a reporter seems a ticket out to the world”
- Jackie Kennedy (American socialite, writer and
photographer)
· A person who reports, especially one employed to
report news or conduct interviews for the press or broadcasting media.
· A reporter is a journalist who goes out and gets
the scoop on the news and informs the masses. If there’s a news conference or a
train crash, a reporter is probably there getting the lowdown.
· As Michael Connelly, an American author quotes, “As
a reporter, you develop an ear for dialogue because it’s your job to capture it
accurately.”
· A person whose job is to discover information about
news events and describe them for a newspaper or magazine or for radio or
television.
· A person who makes authorized statements of law
decisions or legislative proceedings.
· A person who makes a shorthand record of a speech
or proceeding.
· A person employed by a newspaper, magazine, or
television company to gather and report news.
· A person who broadcasts news.
· The definition of a reporter is a person who
gathers information and writes about it.
· He is a journalist who investigates, edits and
reports news stories for newspapers, radio and television.
“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the
press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
-Thomas Jefferson (Third US President)
What Is the Difference Between a Journalist & a
Reporter?
· The difference between a journalist and a reporter
is a little like the difference between a police officer and a homicide
detective; the second is just a specific instance of the first.
· While there are many different kinds of careers in
journalism, a reporter's job covers a narrower scope and requires a specific
skill set.
· The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics defines a
reporter as an individual who informs the public about regional and
international events.
· Reporters are a subset of journalists. Many
journalists work as reporters, but not all reporters are journalists. In some
forms of media, such as radio or TV, producers or research teams, rather than
reporters, are responsible for fact-checking.
· Reporters play a specific role in the news
industry. They are usually tasked with delivering a story through a medium but
may not be the person who conducted the research.
“‘If there’s anything that’s important to a
reporter, it is integrity. It is credibility.”
-Mike Wallace
(American Journalist)
FUNCTIONS OF A REPORTER
● Analyze and collect information through various
modes such as personal interviews and news briefings to prepare news reports.
● Monitor daily events locally, nationally and
internationally and assist others to gather current events.
● Prepare reports to keep the public informed about
daily happenings.
● Coordinate with news editors and fellow reporters
to develop story ideas for report writing.
● Maintain relations with all news sources on a daily
basis to develop story ideas and compile appropriate reports.
● Perform research and write international, local and
national news.
● Analyze and ensure accurate and crisp news
reporting to avoid ambiguity and redundancy.
● Collaborate with news editors to improve story
presentation.
● Work in assigned beat areas once every week to
gather all local news.
● Coordinate with the graphics department to obtain
visual elements for each story with appropriate photos or graphics.
● Manage staff photographers for all reports of local
events.
● Develop breakout boxes for each story to emphasize
lead points.
● Administer all news writing to meet deadlines.
● Attend weekly desk meetings and staff meetings to
keep abreast of company policies and requirements.
● Maintain knowledge on latest events and news to
obtain news coverage of important and pertinent issues.
“My goal, as
always, is simply to inform the public about an issue that is nearly impossible
for them to learn about on their own. That is my only goal as a reporter.”
-Dana
Priest (American Journalist, writer & teacher)
QUALITIES OF A REPORTER
“Am I perfect? No.
Do I want to be perfect? No, because if I were perfect, I would be a reporter.”
- Paul LePage(American businessman and politician)
1. COURAGEOUS AND CONFIDENT - A good reporter should
be courageous and confident. Timidity on the part of any reporter will get them
nowhere.
2. TRUSTWORTHINESS/CREDIBILITY – A reporter must
exhibit characters and behaviors that make him or her to be believed and
trusted by people. When people trust him enough to give him confidential or
private information, it is his duty as a journalist to not make that
information publicly available.
3. DEVELOP GOOD WRITING SKILLS – A good journalist is
one who writes articulately, succinctly and quickly in an interesting and
relevant way that appeals to readers.
4. PERSISTENCE - It is very important for reporters to
be persistent and stick to what they are working for. This quality is very much
important for gathering information and presenting the accurate facts.
5. GOOD AT COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS - The reporter has to
be able to communicate with people, interpret what information they give you,
and present it to others.
6. INQUISITIVE - A good journalist is one who is nosy.
Where did the money for the project come from? Why is this politician
supporting this policy? Why are these construction workers not wearing their
head gear? A good journalist is one who is curious and burns with the desire to
know what is going on in the world.
7. NEWS SENSE/ NOSE FOR NEWS - News sense is the basic
quality of newsmen. News sense is essential for a reporter. He has to have news
sense or nose for news to distinguish news from non-news.
8. INTEGRITY - A journalist must not publish images
and photos of people involved in daily episodes which are particularly
terrifying or prejudicial to people’s dignity, nor may he dwell upon details of
violence or brutality unless for a prominent reason of social interest. He may
not intervene in reality to create artificial images.
9. CLARITY - A reporter should have clarity of mind
and expression. A person who is confused himself cannot tell a story to others.
Only clarity of mind is not enough unless it is accompanied by clarity of
expression.
10. ALERTNESS - A reporter should always be alert while
dealing with his subjects. Many major news breaks in the past were possible
because of alertness of sources. A reporter has to be alert while working on
news-beat.
11. DISCIPLINE & PUNCTUALITY – A reporter needs to
be disciplined understand the amount of seriousness associated with his work
and duties as a reporter. If a reporter is punctual, he will be treated with
respect by his co-workers. If he is late, he will irritate them and spoil the
working atmosphere. Besides he may have to face the problem of backlog of copy
which he will have to clear under the pressure of deadline.
12. DETERMINED - a reporter should be determined
towards his work, keeping in mind all the troubles that are faced while
gathering the information. Even though it may be a struggle at times, he should
be focused on his goals.
13. GOOD
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE - A good journalist is one who knows something about
everything. They are well-informed especially in the area of politics, current
affairs and law.
14. RESPONSIBILITY
AND FAIRNESS - A good journalist is one who is able to take personal
responsibility for what they write. They must keep in mind that there will be people
who will be upset because they disagree with the angle of the story or because
they wanted their story to be given more importance.
15. ENTHUSIASTIC AND CURIOUS - Curiosity is another
very important quality of any good reporter. There is the need to be curious
all the time. The spirit of curiosity helps the reporter get good stories.
16. HIGHLY COMPETITIVE - There are many other
opportunities for journalists as long as they are determined and competitive.
17. HARDWORKING - A reporter should be able to work
fast and enthusiastically on any given story. News writing especially has a lot
to do with deadlines. This therefore means that a good reporter should be able
to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
18. POWER TO MAKE THE RIGHT QUESTION - Must be good at
ask the right questions at the right time. A good reporter must be able to
analyze and interpret information. He should have an ability to ask critical
questions to the source.
19. ACTIVE
LISTENER - A reporter can get good stories by listening to others. He has to
have good listening and observing skills so as to have the nose for new news
stories and events which are worthy of being recorded.
“Journalism
is the first rough draft of history”.
-Phillip L. Graham
(American publisher and owner of The Washington Post)
DUTIES OF A REPORTER
Ø Reporting Duties
Before journalists
can write about a subject, they must first gather information. They usually
conduct several interviews with people involved in or having knowledge of the
subject. They may also go to the scene of an event, such as a crime or an
accident, to interview witnesses or law enforcement officers and to document
what they see. In addition, they often search public records or other databases
to find information and statistics to back up their stories. Researching a
story is often similar to conducting an investigation, and journalists must
sometimes ask difficult
questions. They
may have to invest a lot of time tracking down information and people relevant
to the story.
Ø Working with People
Even though a news
article bears a single journalist's byline, the process requires significant
collaboration. How good a journalist's story is often depends on how adept he
is at communicating and working with others. For example, journalists take
instruction from their editors regarding what angle to approach when writing a
story, how long the story should be and whom to interview. They also need
strong people and communication skills so they can persuade sources to talk to
them. Journalists frequently approach people they don't know, whether when
reporting from the scene or calling to request an interview. If they're
uncomfortable around
strangers, they'll
make others uncomfortable as well, making it less likely that people will want
to be interviewed.
Ø Legal Responsibilities
In addition to
serving the public interest, journalists must also follow the law, especially
regarding the confidentiality and privacy of the people they interview or write
about. For example, while journalists often tape record their interviews to
ensure accuracy, federal and state laws generally make it illegal to record a
conversation without the permission of the other party. In this case,
journalists must tell their sources they're recording the interview before it
begins. Journalists must also understand the laws regarding libel and invasion
of privacy. If a journalist is careless when reporting criminal allegations
against a person, for example, he could face a defamation lawsuit if the
accusations are proved untrue.
Ø Ethical Responsibilities
Some aspects of a
journalist's job are not subject to any kind of law but are just as important.
Journalists must strive to present an accurate, well-balanced explanation of
the stories they cover. For example, they have an obligation to present all
sides of an issue, and to conduct extensive research and talk to several
sources knowledgeable about the subject. If they present only popular opinion,
or if they conduct minimal research without fully exploring the subject, they
don't give readers and viewers the information they need to understand the
implications of the event or issue. Journalists must also be honest with the
people they interview, telling them before talking to them what the article is
about and that they plan to quote them in the piece.
“Everything is being
compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news everyday -23
minutes- and that’s supposed to be enough.”
-Walter Cronkite
(American broadcast journalist)
Compiled
& Submitted by:
Sakshi Suman and Tanya Pratap
Class Representative – B.A. (Hons.) Journalism Batch ‘23
Lady Shri Ram College for Women
Group
members:
1. Jaisila Bajaj
2. Anjita Sharma
3. Puja Bhuyan
4. Kriti Kumar
5. Satakshi Darmwal
6. Vidhi Gupta
7. Tenzin Woeden
8. Priyanshi Bharadwaj
