Readers Expect a Good Intro – Find a Mentor!
By Trycja August 24, 2008The best way to learn how to write introductions is finding a mentor. A mentor is an experienced advisor, a person you can trust and rely on. You should like his/her writing and accept him/her as a teacher so he/she can teach you. This way you can improve your writing as a mentor teaches you about the “do’s and don’ts.”
It is true readers are impatient; if they want to read a story, they want to know what it is about. They want to know Kipling’s Six Strong Men – the what, when, who, where, why and how. Hence, writing the introduction is the most import summary of your report to attract the reader; it is the only chance to “seduce” him/her. Since I did an internship at a website platform for x-change programmes, I have experienced how difficult it is to write a good introduction; and I still struggle with introductions since I have not found my mentor yet.
I have difficulties in writing introductions because I think too much about what the reader wants to read. Due to the fact that there so many individual readers, I am not able to please them all. Thus, I have to focus on one readership and develop my own writing style and news voice. That means I should find another way to write introductions. If I know what I want to communicate, I should say/write it straight away; meaning that I should decide what news value is the most import in order to start my introduction. Otherwise, I spend too much time to please all the readers in the world. In other words, my job is to report facts – what has happened and not to write a novel. That means I have to choose some of Kipling’s Six Men in order to use them for the introduction. Kipling’s other Six Men appear later in the news.
If There Is no Evidence Do Not Write About It
By Trycja
August 26, 2007
No, I would not include the balancing comment. One rule of journalism is, if you are not sure do not write about it. Otherwise, you could get into trouble and you might admit that you made a mistake later on. This could be really embarrassing for you. Hence, if I do not know how to prove the comment, and I know that the comment is untrue it would be unfair to the reader to include it. The reader does not want to read on false facts he wants to know the truth.
The Hard Work of a Reporter Does Not Apply to the Reader
By Trycja
August 26, 2007
I would publish my story since I’ve worked hard for it. However, if I knew that another newspaper wanted to compete in order to reduce my news value, I would change my mind. The reason why I would not publish the story is that I do not like to lose my reputation and the same time my readership; even though I knew that my story was hard work the reader does not care; he or she wants to read a good story.
Uncontrolled Fire Threatens People’s Life in a High Rise Building!
By Trycja
August 26, 2007
It is important to look for dangers such as collapse of buildings, the danger of fire, and injured victims. Further, it is important to see whether there are enough men to help or to assist like fire workers, ambulance men, police men and psychologists; psychologists are important as many people might get injured and some might even die. Curious people mean danger, too. By watching the scene they could jeopardise the investigations like the fire works, ambulance men and police efforts who want to manage the situation. Another aspect is that aid men could be injured as well; or assistance could come too late if the assistance network does not work properly.
I would interview different experts like fire men, police officers, ambulance men, psychologists and architects. In addition, I would interview victims who experienced the danger, pedestrians who witnessed the fire and relatives and friends of the victims. Finally, I would ask everyone for copyright permission in order to publish my story.
To publish the story as soon as possible or to be the first reporter who reports on it, I would write the story write right away. Additionally, I would take some pictures.
The inverted Pyramid Remains the Most Effective Method
By TrycjaAugust 26, 2007
Yes, I do believe that the inverted pyramid is the best structure as it sums up the news. Readers need quick information and they want to know what the story is about before they continue reading. It works best for most newspapers like the Herald, for instance.
Inverted Pyramid Model
By Trycja August 26, 2007
The inverted pyramid model applies to me because I think it is import to report the most important facts, and then the less important facts. As a reader I do not want to figure out what the most important news fact is, I want to read and to absorb it. Otherwise, I would be really annoyed. It is my nature, I am impatient, and thus, I want to be informed in the easiest and quickest way.
New journalism, on the other hand, which is characterised by reporter’s subjective view and fictional dramatized features, is fine if the reader wants to know the reporter’s subjective interpretations. However, it should not apply to newspapers sections. I prefer to read the objective facts at first, and then in an extra report the statement of a journalist. News journalism is fine for magazines or digital journals which deal with this technique predominately. However, in general, subjectivity overlaps somewhat objectivity.
Balancing Comment
By Trycja August 26, 2007
A report which includes only one-sided comments is like a flat character. It is not fully developed. If you write a story you should create a “round” story which is fully developed. Otherwise, the story has too much influence from one party. The reader wants to know the positive and negative elements, in black and white. However, it is really striking to create balance in a story, it is important for criticism.
