Hanijane

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Monday, 3 December 2007 at 14:18

“Get out of the office, out of the house, out of the comfort zone and out to where real people lived real lives in the real world. Get them talking and listen to them, taking notes.” – quoted from Rehman Rashid’s Column in the NST, July 25 2007.

Being a good journalist, one should have that kind of attitude as stated above. I agreed with the columnist. Reporter should get out of the office and see things in a very different way. Everyone in the world is importance and you can create story based on anything that you saw along the way to your office or back home, in the train, or inside the mamak’s restaurant or even when cat and dog get together in the street. So much story you can create except only reporter who creative and had the ability, will deliver a magnificent story. If one can use this method, your story can be readable not only today but tomorrow and the day after. No limitation of time cause it is priceless.

Timeliness, proximity, prominence, consequence & human interest are the criteria that a reporter should have when writing a story. How to pursue reader is up to the story that you wrote.

Journalists in any part of this world could not possibly cover all the events in the world on a given day. Each reporter has different definition about what to cover and what is not. Furthermore it is also depending on what acquire by the organisation that belong to the newspaper. As a result, some events covered and others not? However as long as it will not reflect the government and readers, that news can be printed.

Example: When a dog bite a man! That is not news. But when a man bites a dog! That is news. News is something that will make readers interested to continually reading.

Usually, daily newspaper needs more news rather than weekly newspaper. However, though you had to rush there and than to grab a story, you should bare in mind what to report, who to quote and what angle to take. Especially when writing in the state newspaper? Reporters should know how to tackle and which angle is suitable to be highlighted.

The 5W 1H: who, what, where, when, why and how are the things that reporter should look into once writing the story. It will make your story more valuable because you had the exact information when it is published to the public or readers.

In a few years ahead, though all the news can be reached by clicking a button, but I still believed that readers still needs newspaper. Its feel different when one wake up in the morning without newspaper on one’s hand. A newspaper is a publication that contained news, information and advertising. Usually it is printed on a low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly.

For the young reporter who still think that you had had did your best, you should change your attitude immediately. Go out and find the news. Doesn’t just waiting the news will fly to your office? Only you can decide what you think and you have the ability to take complete control over your life. So live life for the fullest

Tags: Journalism reporter writing