Chapter 4: Effective Newswriting Flashcards
After years of writing long, elaborate, and wordy essays for the English course, this needs to relearn writing with simplicity and brevity.
would-be journalist
Cater to a mass readership that comes from diverse backgrounds and levels of education. To reach everyone, these try to find the common denominator so that no one is alienated. This is usually achieved by making sure that all stories in the paper are clear, concise, correct, credible, and complete.
Newspapers
A news story’s _ depends on three basic things: the logical order of the story, the simplicity of the words used, and the corrections of the sentence structure.
Clarity
A news story’s clarity depends on three basic things:
- the logical order of the story
- the simplicity of the words used
- the corrections of the sentence structure
The logical order for a news story is achieved by maintaining an _?
inverted pyramid format
Apart from choosing simple words, a news story should be written with brevity, since newspapers often have more articles than the number of pages allow. A good news story is one that has complete information yet is written without verbosity.
Conciseness
Another cause of wordiness.
Redundancy
The _ of a news story can be understood from two perspectives: technical and conceptual.
correctness
The correctness of a news story can be understood from two perspectives:
technical and conceptual
Refers to the structure, grammar, and style of the news story.
Technical correctness
One staple among journalists’ references is this title book, which gives the basics of good writing.
Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
This in a news story is achieved by maintaining an inverted pyramid format and by making sure that the lead is supported with details in the body of the story. There should be a paragraph unity and a correct sentence structure.
Coherence
_ from sources add authenticity to a news story because they allow the source to speak directly to readers.
Quotations
Three types of quotations.
direct quote, partial quote, paraphrase
Use the quotations marks and are the verbatim words of the source, whether that source is a person or a document. The quote is attributed to the source with words such as “he said” or “it said”. This type of quote is used for succinct remarks or controversial or colorful statements.
Direct quotes
If the source is wordy, but what he/she says is controversial or colorful, then opt for this type of quote, meaning, quote only the contentious phrase. However, the danger of partial quotes is that the controversial words could be taken out of context.
partial quote
If the source is wordy, then the journalist should choose to _ the original instead.
paraphrase
_ is simply stating the source’s words in your own words without altering the original message.
Paraphrase
Refers to the accuracy of the data presented in the story. A journalist should be obsessed with making sure his/her data is factual, objective, and fair.
Conceptual correctness
For a news story to be _, it has to be complete.
credible
For a news story to be credible, it has to be _.
complete
While _ is largely established over time by a news organization, a journalist achieves this by going to the right sources. This shows readers that the story is based on facts rather than hearsay.
credibility
This is also established if the news story strives to be fair and not biased. Biased stories are usually one-sided. It examines an issue from a single point of view usually under the influence of an ideology, a prejudice, or an inflexible attitude on the part of the journalist.
Credibility
This is necessary to maintain credibility. This means getting both sides of the story—a journalist’s dedication in seeking the truth.
Fairness
This is necessary to maintain credibility. This means getting both sides of the story—a journalist’s dedication in seeking the truth.
Fairness
It means that the story has all the necessary facts. A complete story goes beyond the 5 Ws and H. It gives context and background to the event, issue, or idea being written about.
Completeness
