Basics of reporting for The Clarion
As a Clarion reporter, you’ll do the same things and take on the same responsibilities of a reporter at any “real world” newspaper, because The Clarion is just that: A real newspaper read by thousands of people everyday. Your audience is mostly students, but it’s also MATC faculty and staff, alumni (via the World Wide Web) and Madison residents not connected with MATC.
Reporting boils down to three things:
• Accuracy
As a reporter, you have a lot of power. What you write can influence decisions, help form public opinions of people and contribute to the general attitude of your readers toward MATC and life in general.
With that power comes responsibility that can’t be taken lightly. Get the facts wrong, misspell a name or omit a vital piece of information and you can not only distort the truth and misinform the public, but you can also damage the creditability of The Clarion. Without creditability, a newspaper is finished. Guard it carefully.
• Clarity
Newspaper writing is not academic writing. We don’t use big words and long sentences to show our readers how smart we are. Newspaper readers are pressed for time. You have to give them the news quickly, concisely and without a lot of extra words or information that they don’t need. Every story competes for a reader’s attention…against other stories, against the TV in the background, against every distraction you can think of.
With every story you write, ask yourself: What is the news here? You lead, and then the rest of your story, should spring from those questions.
Then, ask yourself (and the people around you), “What questions will the reader have that I will need to answer?” Jot them down, and be sure none are left unanswered.
Write short: Short sentences, short paragraphs, short stories. Use simple language. Think hard about every word you use. Is it necessary? Is there a more clear, concise way to say this?
• Style
Good writers are artists. Good news writers are, too…they can entertain, inspire, anger and educate. News stories don’t have to follow the old, worn-out, inverted pyramid format. Sure, you’ll still use it sometimes, particularly for important, breaking news on deadline. But look for opportunities to veer from that format into something more interesting. Never forget, though, that your No. 1 objective is to tell people what they need to know…not to show them how much of a literary artist you are.
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