The News Reporting

Definition of News

News is a report of any current event, idea or problem which interest large number of people BUT it acquires different meanings and concepts in different political, economic and socio-cultural environment.

What makes news?

1. New information
2. New perspective and Role of News Media
3. How things work, How things are supposed to work; and How things normally work


Structure of a News Story

Intro
Elaboration of intro
Descriptive details
Additional information
Background information

Elements of news
A news report must answer following questions
Who
What
When
Where ----------- generally factual

Why
How ----------------- Element of interpretation is introduced


Newsworthiness

How to decide newsworthiness of an event, idea or problem
(Evaluating information or any other information package)

Audience
Impact
Consequences
Proximity
Timeliness
Prominence (Size)
Context
Policy Parameters
Specific Informational Value
Unusualness


The investigative process

 Story idea
 Formation of story idea
 Formulation of the problem
 Preliminary research feasibility study
 Plan of action-Synopsis


BASE BUILDING: THE SPIRAL OF RESEARCH
(Moving form ‘unknown’ to ‘known’)

• Written sources (sources of information)
• The sources of knowledge experts, Books, research or specialized journals
• Sources of experiences
• Reportage- Field trips- Observations
• Research interviews
• Partisan sources
• Key interviews



Two Major Streams in Journalism

Episodic Journalism: Reporting Event: What was happening

Thematic Journalism: Reporting the process that goes into happening of the event; Explain why it was happening



News Sources

Examples of sources include:

1. official records

2. publications or broadcasts

3. officials in government or business, organizations or corporations

4. witnesses of crime, accidents or other events

5 people involved with or affected by a news event or issue


Reporters are expected to develop and cultivate sources. This applies especially if they regularly cover a specific topic, known as a "beat".

However, beat reporters must be cautious of becoming too close to their sources. Reporters often, but not always, give greater leeway to sources with little experience.

As a rule of thumb, but especially when reporting on controversy, reporters are expected to use multiple sources. Outside journalism, sources are sometimes known as a "news source".


Credibility

Principles to be observed while reporting and event or editing a news report
Accuracy
Fairness
Balance
Attribution
Objectivity


Various types of journalistic writings

The elements that define the journalistic writing :
• Facts
• Analysis and interpretation
• Comments, opinion and views


News item
News report
News analysis
Interpretative reporting
Feature/featured reporting
Interview
Reportage
Reviews (of books, plays, concerts etc.)
Commentary
Article
Editorial
Profile

Interviewing

An interview is a special kind of conversation. It is a conversation between a journalist and a person who has facts or opinions which are likely to be newsworthy.

News involves people. Whatever news story you are researching, there will be a person or some people who know what you need to know, or who have relevant opinions. They will usually be happy to tell you.

Your job is to find these people, and then ask them what you want to know. That is an interview.

An interview takes place when a journalist asks another person questions with the aim of discovering facts, opinions or emotions.

In some respects it is different from an ordinary conversation, which can be haphazard and unstructured.

An interview should have both a structure and a clear purpose. But it should not be so formal that the person being interviewed feels uncomfortable. There is a distinct line between interviewing someone and interrogating them.

The art of conversation – providing moments of reflection, sympathy and humour, for instance – is an important ingredient of a successful interview.

Types of interviews

1. Informational interview
2. Opinion interview
3. Analytical interview
4. Vox Pop
5. Controversial interview
6. Confrontational interview
7. Emotional interview
8. Profile interview etc.

Interview techniques

Open question
Closed question
Loaded question
Leading question
Multiple answer questions
Link question
Devils advocacy
Question tips

Keep your questions short, simple and specific.

Short: The audience wants to hear the interviewee’s answers, not your questions. Don’t attempt to show off your own knowledge or opinions.

Simple: Complicated questions confuse the interviewee as well as the audience.

Specific: Asking a very general question invites the interviewee to ramble on about anything of his or her choosing.



Critical questions for detecting bias

The media applies a narrative structure to ambiguous events in order to create a coherent and causal sense of events

 What is the author's / speaker's socio-political position?

 Does the speaker have anything to gain personally from delivering the message?

 Who is paying for the message? What is the bias of the medium? Who stands to gain?

 What sources does the speaker use, and how credible are they? Does the speaker cite statistics? If so, how and who data gathered the data? Are the data being presented fully?

 How does the speaker present arguments? Is the message one-sided, or does it include alternative points of view?

 If the message includes alternative points of view, how are those views characterized? Does the speaker use positive words and images to describe his/her point of view and negative words and images to describe other points of view?

Kinds of Biases

Commercial bias
Visual bias
Bad news bias
Narrative bias
Status Quo bias
Fairness bias
Glory bias