Journalism Writing

Journalism Writing

Writing features, essays, and reviews

What is Journalism?

• Journalism involves the accumulation of news in order to bring it to the attention of citizens. 

• We expect journalists to be free of bias irrespective of their own opinions.

• The purpose of journalism is to inform the public about problems and events happening in their community and to help people (readers) see the truth about their elected leaders, upcoming elections, and other important topics.

• In fact, keeping people informed is the societal (civic) duty of reporters.

Multiple Choice

How does journalism safeguard democracy?

• works to promote law and order in society

• provides secret information about politicians

• promotes transparency and keeps people informed

• supports social causes and helps the oppressed

What is good journalism?

• Journalists must be honest and accurate at all times. 

• Journalists have a duty to remain loyal to the citizens first. It goes against journalistic ethics to conceal or disseminate information that caters to an agenda.

• Journalists must maintain strict discipline when verifying the information they intend to give out. 

• A journalist’s view should be unbiased and unprejudiced and ensure representation of all sections of society.

Multiple Choice

Which important precaution should a journalist practice before publishing a news article?

• Find an interesting story.

• Write entertaining articles.

• Provide evidence of the information.

• Verify information.

Hard-News Story

• Hard news covers topics beyond the routine features and human-interest stories.

• This type of story takes a serious view of news concerning politics, foreign affairs, economic policy, and so on.

• Writing a news story requires meticulous research and accuracy.

• The writer must keep a few points in mind before deeming a story acceptable for the public eye.

Features

• Feature stories explore human-interest angles of an individual, an idea, a profession, a festival, and so on.

• Whereas a hard-news story deals with what happened, feature stories are well-researched, in-depth studies that explore different opinions or profile interesting people and events.

• With feature stories, there is room for experimentation with tone and style.

• Journalists do not write feature stories in the inverted pyramid format of the hard-news story, where the first few lines provide all the important information.

Reviews

• A review is a piece that evaluates an artistic endeavor (film, book, painting), company, or place.

• A review is more often than not the final word a consumer may turn to before purchasing a product or service.

• A review can make or break a product.

• From movies and books to products and restaurants, all artistic or business ventures depend on a good review.

Opinion Essays

• Although journalists must not reveal their opinions, Op-Ed writers (people who write opinion essays that appear on and opposite the Editorial pages of newspapers) can and do.

• The most important requirement for writing an opinion essay is to have a strong point of view about an issue.

• Another requirement for opinion-based writing is thorough knowledge of the topic so that the opinion writer can write a compelling and convincing essay.

• Such essays strive to convince people about the writer’s beliefs and convictions.

Multiple Choice

How does a hard-news story differ from the opinion essay?

• The hard-news story is unbiased and provides only facts.

• The hard-news story gives detailed information about the issue.

• The hard-news story provides a one-sided view of an issue.

• The hard-news story is brief and about recent matters.

Multiple Choice

Which requirement is important when writing an opinion essay?

• to be able to write in a biased and unjust manner

• to be able to contradict others successfully

• to have strong feelings for or against a particular issue

• to have complete information about the issue

Multiple Choice

How does a reviewer write a review that is believable and trustworthy?

• by writing a review that promotes the product

• by writing an engaging and entertaining review

• by writing to hide the flaws of the product

• by writing a just and balanced review

Multiple Choice

Which explanation differentiates a feature from a hard-news story?

• A feature is about unimportant issues.

• A feature is detailed and explores human interest.

• A feature is a sensationalized account of a serious issue.

• A feature is about events in the distant past.