Unit 1: Understanding writing

What is writing?

Writing is a form of communication that allows one to put their thoughts and ideas on paper.

Good writing skills allow you to communicate your message with clarity and ease.

Types of Writing:

1. Descriptive writing: Descriptive writing is a type of writing that gives clear and concise
description of a place, people, object or an event.  The primary objective of descriptive writing is
to frame an image of the place, people or thing in the minds of readers through sufficient details.

Example:

Statement: Kohli hits a boundary.

Descriptive: Kohli opened the face of the bat at the last moment to send it between the keeper
and the short third man for a boundary.

2. Narrative writing: Narrative writing is a type of writing that tells a story. Here, a writer
narrates a story or shares an experience with others.

Example:

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent
occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug
and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before.

3. Objective writing: Objective writing is a type of writing in which the writer is concerned
about facts and not influenced by personal feelings or biases. News writing is objective.

Example:

A journalist and his brother were allegedly shot dead during a fight between two families in
Madhonagar area of UP's Saharanpur district on Sunday, police said.

4. Reflective writing: Reflective writing describes an event or experience, then analyze the
meaning of that experience and what can be learned from it.

Example:

Injustice system (Indian Express editorial – August 16, 2019)

The acquittal of all six persons accused of lynching Pehlu Khan, a cattle trader, near Alwar, is an
indictment of the Rajasthan government and its law enforcement agencies.
ABCD of Media Writing:

Good writing follows the ABCD principle:

A - Accuracy

B - Brevity

C- Conciseness and Clarity

D – Directness

What is NEWS?

News may be defined as an accurate, unbiased account of significant facts of a timely happening
that is of interest to people.

Inverted pyramid style

Newspapers also adopted the inverted-pyramid form because it summarises the news quickly. It
gives readers the convenience of grasping the news of the day by simply skimming lead
paragraphs. The form allows readers to decide whether they want to continue reading a story or
leave it after any one of its paragraphs. An inverted pyramid can also be trimmed from the
bottom, which makes it easier to fit it into the tight news holes of a newspaper.

The primary advantage of the inverted pyramid style is that it allows someone to stop reading a
story after only one or two paragraph. Doing so still allows that person to learn the story’s most
important details. The inverted pyramid style also ensures that all the facts are immediately
understandable. It also helps the headline writer to grasp the essentials of the story more quickly.
Moreover, if a story is too long, editors can easily delete one or more paragraphs from the end.

The inverted pyramid style has several disadvantages. First, because the lead summarises facts
that later paragraphs discuss in greater detail, some of those facts may be repeated in the body.
Second, a story that follows the inverted pyramid-style rarely contains any surprises; the lead
immediately reveals every major details.

LEAD/INTRO

The first paragraph or two in a news story is called the lead. The lead is the most important part
of a story and the most difficult part to write. It is the part of the story that attracts the reader and,
if it is well-written can arouse readers’ interest.

Summary Lead: 5W 1H

A summary lead, generally in no more than 35 words, tells an audience the most important of the
six primary elements of an event, the five W’s and H. Reporters look for these six elements
whenever they cover a news event. The most important of the six elements go into a summary
lead.

What are the Five Ws and One H? They are Who, What, Why, When, Where and How.
Journalism purists will argue your story isn’t complete until you answer all six questions.

Who was involved?

What happened?

Where did it take place?

When did it take place?

Why did it happen?

How did it happen?

Example:

In an apparent gangwar, a 45-year-old man involved in more than 13 cases of murder, robbery,
extortion, assault, as well as under the Arms Act, was gunned down by a group of armed
assailants in his car in outer Delhi’s Narela Industrial Area on Sunday morning.

Writing non-news story:

Steps involved:

 Get Started: Select topic, theme, genre.

 Choose a Point of View:

 First Person. “Unites narrator and reader through a series of secrets” when they enter
one character’s perceptions. However, it can “lead to telling” and limits readers
connections to other characters in the short story.
 Second Person. “Puts readers within the actual scene so that readers confront
possibilities directly.” However, it is important to place your characters “in a tangible
environment” so you don’t “omit the details readers need for clarity.”
 Third Person Omniscient. Allows you to explore all of the characters’ thoughts and
motivations. Transitions are extremely important as you move from character to
character.
 Third Person Limited. “Offers the intimacy of one character’s perceptions.” However,
the writer must “deal with character absence from particular scenes.”

 Develop Your Characters:

 Appearance. Gives your reader a visual understanding of the character.

  Action. Show the reader what kind of person your character is, by describing actions
rather than simply listing adjectives.
 Speech. Develop the character as a person — don’t merely have your character
announce important plot details.
 Thought. Bring the reader into your character’s mind, to show them your character’s
unexpressed memories, fears, and hopes.

 Write Meaningful Dialogue

 Use Setting and Context
 Set up the Plot
 Create Conflict and Tension
 Build to a Crisis or a Climax
 Deliver a Resolution

A plot is a series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and
emotional significance. –Janet Burroway

 Explosion or “Hook”: A thrilling, gripping, stirring event or problem that grabs the
reader’s attention right away.
 Conflict: A character versus the internal self or an external something or someone.
 Exposition: Background information required for seeing the characters in context.
 Complication: One or more problems that keep a character from their intended goal.
 Transition: Image, symbol, dialogue, that joins paragraphs and scenes together.
 Flashback: Remembering something that happened before the short story takes place.
 Climax: When the rising action of the story reaches the peak.
 Falling Action: Releasing the action of the story after the climax.
 Resolution: When the internal or external conflict is resolved.

Ethics in Media Writing

Topics discussed in class: Yellow journalism, Checkbook journalism, Sensationalism, Media

trial, Plagiarism, Speed Vs Accuracy, Public interest, Rectifying mistakes by issuing corrections
etc.

CODE OF ETHICS

• Definition: Moral principles which govern or influence the conduct of a journalist are called
code of ethics.

• Code of ethics provide a framework for self monitoring and self correction in pursuing
professional assignments.
WHILE REPORTING ONE SHOULD TAKE CARE OF:

• Truthfulness

• Impartiality

• Fairness

• Public Interest

• Integrity

• Objectivity

These Principles are also called the canons of journalism.

Media ethics deals with specific ethical principles and standards of media. Media ethics are also
the subdivision of applied ethics.

• Reporter should report facts, News and opinion should be separated.

• Competing points of view must be balanced and fairly characterized.

• Persons who are the subject of adverse news stories are allowed a reasonable opportunity to
respond to the adverse information before the story is published or broadcast.

• Confidentiality of anonymous sources must be taken care of.

• Pictures, sounds, and quotations should not be presented in a misleading context.

• Reporters are expected to be as accurate as possible.

• Events with a single eyewitness are reported with attribution. Events with two or more
independent eyewitnesses may be reported as fact.

• Controversial facts are reported with attribution.

• Today’s world is a cocktail of religious ideologies and philosophies. Every society has ethics
such as Islamic, Jews, Christian, Budha, Secular. While reporting the sentiments of all religious
sects should be respected.

• Reporter should avoid the expression of comment and conjecture or an opinion or conclusion
based on guess work.

• Journalistic ethics demands that one has to rectify promptly any harmful inaccuracies, ensure
that correction and apologies receive due prominence.
• Journalistic ethics require that the information, photographs and illustrations only be obtained
by straight-forward means.

• A journalist shall protect confidential sources of information.

• A journalist shall not accept bribes nor allow others to influence the performance of
professional duties.

• One has to take care of the privacy of important persons. Avoid to report salacious detail of a
public figures if it may be true.

• Ethics demand that depiction of violence and sex should not be reported to project yellow
journalism.

• Sometimes on the name of development of art and culture, people erode ethics.

• National interest and ethics demand, that the truth about military secrets or sensitive
information should not be revealed if even it is true.

• Fact of the matter is ethics in journalism or in media is an utopia, it is difficult to implement in

true sense. But a professional reporter has to maintain the highest professional and ethical
standards.

• A journalist shall not lend himself/herself to the distortion or suppression of the truth because
of advertising or other considerations.

• No project material which encourages discrimination, ridicule, prejudice or hatred in any form.

• Libel: Any written or printed statement or any sign, picture, not made in public interest.

• Reporting the truth is never libel, which makes accuracy and attribution very important.

• Private person has privacy rights that must be respected.

• Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.