Mass Communication Talk

Reporting: Reporting is just a genre of writing, alongside essays and stories, and bloggers most certainly fall into that genre.”  When they talk about reporting on a show like Frontline, they mean the process a reporter goes through.  1. Interviews, research.  2. Assemble a story.  3. Fact-checking and editing.  4. Publishing.  Most bloggers aren’t doing this whole thing. Our process is different, and I’d argue no less rigorous, just more distributed, and step 2 is something everyone does for themselves.  Key point in last night’s piece — sources are part of the reporting process, and more and more, the sources are becoming bloggers.  Types of Reporting:  GENERAL REPORTING Reporting means gathering facts and presenting them objectively with ail news writing skills. It is an active, creative, long and tough process of news, gathering, ideas and opinion collection, fact finding in order to serve the general public by informing them and […]

A Successful Press Conference Press conferences take a lot of preparation and staff work. That time is well spent, because a great press conference can mean blanket coverage in newspapers, radio, TV and blogs — but a horrible press conference can haunt you. Here is a good checklist for a good press conference: 1) Timing You’ve got to pick a time that works for TV, newspapers and radio. If it’s too early in the day, reporters will have a hard time getting there. Too late in the day and you’ll be pushing up against deadlines. Mid-morning to noon is good. It’s early enough to give people time to file their stories, but not so early that they’ve got to hop onto the highway and fight traffic the second they get to work. Advanced notice is critical. You’d want to give people a day’s warning about a press conference, if you can. […]

STRUCTURE OF NEWS STORY Information about an event must be put skillfully together is a single package in order to attract the attention of a reader and to facilitate hit. /her in reading the news item more easily besides urging the reader to read the whole news story. Think of the raw material for title story you have to pass on. First of all arrange the different facts/ingredients in your mind and then give them a precise shape. When we refer to the structure of a news story, we simply mean the method or the techniques of presenting and arranging different facts of an event in the news story. It is also known as the presentation techniques, which should be attractive, informative and understandable, so that the reader car. Easily receive maximum information within minimum possible words and time. There are many structures of a news story, in which facts […]

PRESS CONFERENCES/MEETINGS The press conference or news conference and meetings are the means of obtaining information, opinions and ideas besides the clarification of running events and stories. In a press conference a news source or personality calls together a group of reporters, after briefing the reporters the source/personality answers their questions. When it works well, it is one of the most effective and efficient method or source of information collection, and when it works poorly, it is one of the worst. The meetings 011 some specific matters can provide a bulk of information which is required by the reporter within the shortest possible time. Press conference and meeting have certain advantages and also some disadvantages. The reporting of both requires the news probing skills and all other techniques of interviewing. Necessary preparation for convening a press/news conference and meetings is necessary without which a reporter cannot obtain some exclusive information. […]

News stories are basically divided into two types: hard news and soft news. Hard new generally refers to up-to-the-minute news and events that are reported immediately, while soft news is background information or human-interest stories. Politics, war, economics and crime used to be considered hard news, while arts, entertainment and lifestyles were considered soft news. But increasingly, the lines are beginning to blur. Is a story about the private life of a politician “politics” or “entertainment”? Is an article about the importance of investing early for retirement a “business” story or a “lifestyle” story? Judging solely on subject matter, it can be difficult to tell. One difference between hard and soft news is the tone of presentation. A hard news story takes a factual approach: What happened? Who was involved? Where and when did it happen? Why? A soft news story tries instead to entertain or advise the reader. You […]

So far this model has looked at sourcing stories in the new media age, and reporting a news story in the new media age. In this third part I look at what should happen after a news story has been reported, using a familiar framework: the 5 Ws and a H – who, what, where, why, when and how. A web page – unlike a newspaper, magazine or broadcast – is never finished – or at least, can always be updated. Its permanence is central to its power, and relates directly to its connectivity (and therefore visibility). Once out there it can be linked to, commented on, discussed, dissected, tagged, bookmarked and sent to a friend. That can take place on the original news site, but it probably doesn’t. The story is no longer yours. So once the news site has added comments, a message board, ‘email to a friend’ […]