So far, I used to publish my own diaries but it seems the time to change. However, it's hard to break the ice and start a new series of writings on the net; but as I love journalism thanks to its revealing the truth behind the mask of terms and tactics crafted by the politicians and businessmen, I would try to share with you what I understand in this regard. My posts might be every week or every other week. Therefore I apologize before I ever fail to keep the uploading pace going.
For the time being, seems good if we become acquainted with some essential terms used in daily outputs of the newspapers, websites, blogs and other forms of journalism, and then we go to other approaches and theories applied in this field.
Here we start with 10 essential terms Every Journalist Should Know:
1. Lead:
The first sentence of a hard-news story; a brief summary of the story’s main point
2. Inverted Pyramid:
The model used to describe how a news story is structured. It means the heaviest or most important news goes at the top of the story, and the lightest, or least important, goes at the bottom.
3. Copy:
The content of a news article
4. Beat:
Area assigned to a reporter for regular coverage, such as politicians, courts or banks, etc
5. Byline:
The name of a news story's author usually put at the start of the article.
The byline on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name, and often the position, of the writer of the article. Bylines are traditionally placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably Reader's Digest) place bylines at the bottom of the page, to leave more room for graphical elements around the headline.
A typical newspaper byline might read:
John Smith
Staff writer
A byline can also include a brief article summary, introducing the writer by name.
Penning a concise description of a long piece has never been as easy as often appears, as Staffwriter John Smith, now explains:
Magazine bylines, and bylines on opinion pieces, often include biographical information on their subjects. A typical biographical byline on a piece of creative nonfiction might read
John Smith is working on a book, My Time in Ibiza, based on this article. He is returning to the region this summer to gather material for a follow-up essay.
Most modern newspapers and magazines attribute their articles to individual editors, or to wire services. An exception is the British weekly The Economist, which publishes nearly all material anonymously.
6. Dateline:
The city or town, from which a news story originates, or the date of the news usually placed at the start of the story. A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story occurred, or was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization is also included (though the originating one is not). Datelines are traditionally placed on the first line of the text of the article, before the first sentence. Datelines are not an extremely important component of any paper, but they are usually used if the news isn't local.
The location appears first, usually starting with the city in which the reporter has written or dispatched the report. City names are usually printed in uppercase, though this can vary from one publication to another. The political division and/or nation the city is in may follow, but they may be dropped if the city name is widely recognizable due to its size or political importance (a national capital, for instance). The date of the report comes after, followed by an em dash surrounded by spaces, and then the article.
A typical newspaper dateline might read
BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 2 — the outlook was uncertain today as...
The same story if pulled from the Associated Press (AP) wire might appear as
BEIRUT (AP) — the outlook was uncertain today as...
Datelines can take on some unusual forms. When reporters collaborate on a story, two different locations might be listed. In other cases, the exact location may be unknown or intentionally imprecise, such as when covering military operations while on a ship at sea or following an invasion force.
Other media
The concept of a dateline has been adapted to television. Reporters on news programs might have their location mentioned in an introduction from the news anchor ("Here now from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, is reporter Nigel Obediah Culpepper"). A field reporter might also end their stories by combining the location from where they filed their report with a "lockout" (the last thing a reporter says in their report, includes their name and station ID) especially if the segment is recorded and not live. (For example, the last bit of a report could sound like "... prompting an investigation into the matter. Richard Hansen, NBC News, London.")
7. Source:
Anyone you interview for a news story
8. Anonymous Source:
A source who does not want to be identified in a news story
9. Attribute:
To tell readers where the information in a news story comes from
10. Morgue:
A newspaper’s library of clippings of old articles
If you read the above, you would find the text both amazing and confusing, because, we never used to look at the news taken apart. Sure, it needs tactics to write professionally, so that the readers get the main point of the news.
