Can You Do Well in Your News Writing?

Greetings Friends,

Hello friends,
It’s good to have you all again. So today we want to look at Some tips that can help us as a journalist in our various locations. I know most of us are not or were not journalists in real life, but by virtue of Steemit, most of us have become journalists which is a good thing. And one thing that can help us succeed is by following instructions or guidelines.

Last month, Sir @pennsif introduced a very interesting engagement activity called my Local News here on the blog and the idea behind this was that there were many interesting snippets of news in the Diary Game posts, so he was thinking of how some of those snippets could be developed into full local news stories.

But due to the fact that users were not able to write it to standard, he discontinued the contest. But the big question Now is, Was “My Local News” reports stopped?

Well, the answer is No !! and that is why I come up with this publication. I noticed that many users are no longer writing posts on My Local News. It will interest you to know that the contest was only stopped, but writing News/Reports under the heading My local News didn’t stop, it still continues.

What Can you write on?

If for any reason you are wondering what to write, there were some tips given by Sir pennsif, which are shown below:

Examples of the type of news you might write would be...

• the opening on a new school
• a local festival or cultural event
• a flood, typhoon or some extreme weather event
• a traffic accident
• a new health initiative in your area
• the expansion of a local business or factory

And many, many more.

What Should you have in Mind Before and while Writing?

Due to some lack of writing techniques Sir pennsif made provisions of some guidelines that can help all the journalists or any User who is interested and below are some of those tips:

Tips for Writing Better News Stories

There are a number of simple ways people can improve their posts. In case anyone is interested here are a few random tips based on my observations from the entries for this challenge...

• Make introductory paragraphs more concise and to the point.People commonly start their posts with too much unnecessary wording.
• For news stories use an impersonal, third person (he/she/it/they) style rather than writing in the personal, first person (I/we). Otherwise it is more like a Diary Game post than a news story.
• Be selective with your choice of photographs. Use fewer, bigger photographs each with individual captions. The photos should add to the value of the story, not distract from it. And montages of multiple, small photographs really don't help.
• Use your own photographs ideally. If not, make sure you use proper public domain or royalty free photos with the required accreditation. Citing the source of a copyrighted photo (for example from a commercial news service) does not give you permission to use it.
• Edit your posts hard and well. Make every word count. Cut out all unnecessary, superfluous words.
• Stick to the point of the story. Don't deviate. Tell the story well and concisely. Don't leave unanswered questions.
  Make sure the basics are always included - who, what, when, where and why.
• Use concise, descriptive titles - don't make them too long.
• Keep the layout simple. Don't use two columns. Use plenty of white space to make the article easy to read. Avoid long sentences and long paragraphs.
• To cater for readers from around the world use a non ambiguous date format (like 8 April 2022 - not 8/4/22), and for any money, amounts include a STEEM or USD conversion as well as the local currency figure.
• To get better at writing news stories, read news stories from professional news services**. Observe and absorb the style and structure.

And in addition to that:

• Please do not forget to use the hashtag #mylocalnews and also indicate your country with the hashtag #country.

• Make sure your posts are not compacted, try to break up your text into smaller paragraphs, and use more white space, by so doing it would be easier to read by other users.

• Do not in any way manipulate the photographs you use, if you do so, it will make your work invalid and can jeopardize your reputation as a journalist.

Please endeavor to abide by the above rules, it will go a long way in helping all of us.

Conclusion

So, haven’t said this, can we continue with the local news reports? The answer is yes, we can!!, but let’s do it better this time. A lot of things are still happening in your environment and many steemians are eager to read them, write about those News, let’s do it.

May I use this opportunity to ask sir pennsif this question because I know, it is also disturbing other Users as there is no clarity in that aspect. Can journalists here Use sensitive photos while making a report of a News, especially when there was such? or does He/She have to put up a graphic Content Warning?

Reference Link :

• My Local News Challenge - 10 Tips for Writing Better News Stories

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Cc :
@pennsif

[ images and graphics by @ubongudofot ]

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