Week 5 - WINOL: Debrief

There is no personality in news, we should be writing like robots. 

The text stories online are very poor this week, as training journalists we need to practise our news writing. We should not rely on the sub editors to completely change the story. Read the papers daily, you need to be aware of the news agenda every day, keeping ourselves briefed on breaking news. Listen to the Today Programme, or local radio stations to keep informed.

Structure:

Headlines: Subject Verb Object

Subject to verb must agree on tense, case, plurals
The subject must be capable of  producing the action in the verb e.g "The cat sat on the mat" - this is a perfect english sentence - 'sat' is the logical verb that the subject 'cat' is capable of.
Passive voice - 'The mat was sat on by the cat" - although still logically correct,  keep to the active voice.

Top line - Who What When Where Why

Mood follows - Why has it happened?

Quotes 

If you lift a quote, you need to attribute the source, e.g 'he said in a statement'

Tip- Verbs of attribution - date the statement, e.g 'said last week', 'said today'. 

Ultimate quotes - 'It's a nightmare' and 'It's a dream come true'

Partial quotes - we don't use ellipsis '...' 'quote,' he said, adding 'quote'

Punctuating your quotes:

He said: "This is a nightmare."

He said it was a "nightmare".

"This is a nightmare," he said. 

"Every time you have a fact you need to diffuse it like a bomb disposal,

if you don't check it [facts], it'll blow up." - Horrie

Comment Vs Fact

Fact - Independently verifiable statement - always in the reporters voice - cross checking, fact checking and research is so crucial, the more facts you have the more valuable your journalism is.

If your facts have not been checked, and you are unsure, either leave it out, or fudge it. You do not have to always be right but you must never be wrong.

Comment - This is everything else - always in the interviewees voice - do not try to pass off comment as fact.

After para 2/3 - people begin to zone out - pack it out with quotes and facts.

To recap:

• Write simple, declarative, active headlines
• Do not comment in your own voice
• Verify your facts, leave it out or fudge it
• Do not lift quotes without attributing the source
• Punctuate your quotes correctly
• Don't wait for editors to sub your grammar