From my 'digital' baul: Notes on news writing

I was rummaging through my backup CDs -- yes, I keep those, despite the fact that there's always FTP. (Torvalds)

A bit of a backgrounder: I used to be an editor for the school publication back in college. In fact, I was with the national secretariat of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines from 1996 to 1998. During my stint with the CEGP, we give journalism training to other student writers. This was a part of my notes on editorial writing. I've had notes on other topics: editorial analysis, publication design and features writing. Only, those aren't in my known backups. But they're in there somewhere.

I borrowed copiously from Vergel Santos, my dad's former editor in the now-defunct Today, who gave a particularly refreshing and unconventional talk on writing way back in 1997.

Some notes on news writing

Definition.

• "History in a hurry." (Nick Joaquin)


• Derived, presumably, from the cardinal directions, hence, coming from all sides, everywhere.


• "Fresh info of something recent; new or strange." (Webster)

Types.

• Verbal. Grows out of speeches, interviews, press releases, documents. "Stories you listen to."


• Visual. Elements that are concrete, explicit. Involves human struggle, action. Typically sports and police stories. "Stories you can see."

Structure.

• Conventional. Inverted pyramid.
  
  
  
  Most of the time, this still works but is considered passe. It came from when reporters used to call in their stories. (Aside: my dad spent some of his time filing his stories this way.) Sometimes, the transmission gets cut off so it was necessary to put everything important in the first few paragraphs. (Another aside: also, back in the days of literal cut-and-paste, it's often okay to just cut off the end parts of the columns to fit the copy in the page, hence the publication term, "copyfitting".) With the advent of fax machines and emails, complete stories can reach the desk on the fly and intact. Another reason why this is considered almost obsolete is that it is too mechanical to order the importance of paragraphs in a story -- it goes against the natural flow of thought.


• New. "Hour glass" configuration.
  
  
  
  This is more flexible and solves the problem of natural flow. As always, the lead is at the core of every news story. A reporter cannot cram all the salient facts in the lead to drive the point in, so a lead support is used to back it up. The lead support can consist of as many as two to three paragraphs. Details can then follow, going through the natural motion of the story. Background material can be inserted to prop everything up and add spice to the rest of the article.
  
  The point is to take care of the important points first: what happened? (lead); why? how? (lead support); what does it mean? what makes it unique? (detail). Write a story as if you're telling it to a friend, a neighbor or a colleague.

Elements. What makes news news?

• Immediacy. Something that just happened, is happening, or is about to happen.


• Proximity. Anything that directly or indirectly affects the audience, their families and friends, neighborhood or community. Not just physical but psychological. Mental as well as linear. How close is it?


• Consequence. Significance of the story for the readers. What will this bring about? What's it to me? Closely related to immediacy and proximity.


• Prominence. Well-known people, events, places (remember Loren Legarda's PEP Talk?) by virtue of achievements or notoriety.


• Conflict. The struggle between good and evil is always a central element in every human conflict: the criminal versus the victim; the landlord versus peasants; Lucio Tan and the Estrada regime versus striking PAL workers [NB: The age of this article shows.]; repressive school administration policies versus students.


• Suspense. Piling up of action to an unpredictable climax.


• Oddity. Anything strange, rare, unfamiliar, novel.

Lead. The "core" of a news story.

In a lead, facts must be at the maximum, words kept at a minimum. (Fifteen to 20 words standard; one sentence, one paragraph.) More sentences mean more words; more words, more relationships; more relationships, more effort to the reader; a greater chance of misunderstanding by the reader; the sooner he will just quit reading. KISS: keep it short and sweet.

• Conventional. Summary or capsule lead (5Ws, 1H).


• Grammatical.
  
  • Subject - emphasis on individuals, events, places, objects.
  
  
  • Phrase - prepositional (to).
  
  
  • Clause - conditional (if), causal (because), substantive (what), concessive (although), temporal (after, before).


• Teasers.
  
  • Quotation - direct or indirect, often forceful.
  
  
  • Allusion - coining a literary phrase, for example.
  
  
  • Staccato - build-up of action.
  
  
  • Question - posing something to be answered in the succeeding paragraphs, or not at all.

Tips.

• Use natural language. Be comfortable with the reader: try to establish rapport, but don't get too chummy -- be reserved, not aloof. Use simple words: avoid heavy phraseology -- you are writing for the reader, not for your editor nor yourself. Take pains in explaining terms, if jargon is unavoidable. Know the nuances of the language -- remember, words are weapons. Mind your grammar, use appropriate tensing.


• Edit your own work. Cut ruthlessly. Read your story. Then cut some more. (Aside: In the editorial office of the Assumption College's publication, I read this sign: "Macro-edit, then micro-edit.") Less verbal fat, more contextual muscle.


• Establish meaning, context and perspective in your story. These can be inferred from the detail and background aspects. But don't keep your readers guessing. Get to the point, and quickly.


• Remember your ABCs: accuracy, brevity and coherence.


• Attribute. If possible, reveal your source at the onset of the story to establish credibility and authority. Or, for effect, delay the introduction of the source until the later paragraphs. Protects against libel, too.


• Assume your reader knows nothing of the story. Convince him that it will affect him and everyone around him. Make your story significant. Make it interesting, but don't dumb it down. Do not put on a condescending tone, "preach to the choir", nor proselytize.


• Cover everything. Gather facts conscientiously and present them clearly. Avoid generalizations and speculations -- reserve that for opinion writers, pundits and your readers.


• Take sides. Objectivity comes from the careful presentation of facts -- nothing more. Take all sides of the story, but always emphatize with the aggrieved party.