Most news organizations have style and ethics handbooks. They expect reporters, editors and producers to follow the guidelines they lay out.
When it comes to writing, this means that reporters use the same abbreviations, punctuation and approach to writing.
Here’s an example from the Reuters Handbook:
adjectives
Use sparingly. Inject color into copy with strong verbs and facts first. If you have more than two adjectives before a noun, rewrite the sentence. A reader struggles with “the one-eyed poverty-stricken Greek house painter.” Avoid adjectives that imply judgment: “a hard-line speech,” “a glowing tribute,” “a staunch conservative.” Depending on where they stand, some people might consider the speech moderate, the tribute fulsome or the conservative a die-hard reactionary.
When using an adjective and a noun together as an adjective, hyphenate them if it helps to avoid a realistic ambiguity: “a sliced egg sandwich” could mean two things; “a happy birthday card” cannot; “a blue-chip share,” “high-caste Hindus.” By extension, adverbs that end in “-ly” paired with adjectives modifying nouns do not need hyphens, since adverbs cannot modify nouns: “a poorly planned operation” cannot be misconstrued to mean an operation that is poorly and that is planned.
The Reuters’ handbook is a great free resource for you to use. If you wonder about capitalizations, abbreviations, or many other writing questions, please look here:
Write in the active voice. That means the subject does the action. You can find more on this website here.
Start your paragraphs at the margin.
Write out numbers one through nine. Use numerals beyond 10.
Write out the full name of a person, organization company, country or state before you use an abbreviation or the initials.
You can use initials for well-known names like the FBI or DEA. When the name is unfamiliar write out the full name: The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, before you write ATF.
When you abbreviate the United States always put a period between the letters. U.S. to avoid confusion with us.
Because most of your work will appear on a website, write out the full name of a company or organization followed by the initials in parenthesis. For example The Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Link to the company or organization when you mention them. If you site research, link to the page where you found the research. Also mark open a new page or tab when you create the link.
Write percent rather than %
When you quote someone, punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. For example,
“Being around guns didn’t affect on me, but knowing how to use guns definitely had an impact on me,” Max said.
Use . . . three dots, at the beginning and end when you use only part of a quote.
Capitalize job titles only when they come before a name. For example: City College President Vincent Boudreau.
Use the lower case when you write, “The City College president held a town hall meeting.”
If we talk about the president of the United States, “The president told his supporters that he doesn’t care what other people think.”
“President Trump said he doesn’t care what people think.”
Some words sound alike but have different meanings. People confuse affect and effect frequently.
Use affect as an adjective, noun or verb when you want to say that something influences or when something is put on. “Nicky’s yelling affected everyone in the room.” Or, “Nicky affected an angry air.”
Use effect when you mean the result. “They felt the effects of the drug.”
Use italics for the names of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, movies, works of art, TV programs, radio shows, songs, albums.
Avoid fussy words that connect ideas:
however
furthermore
nevermore
nevertheless
You can find more examples of fussy words and phrases in the How We Write section of this website.
Our first instinct is to pull images and music from the internet. Everything is right there for the taking and many who create content think about using what’s accessible and seems available. Borrowing can quickly solve a variety of editorial problems.
But not all material on the internet is free to use and it may be illegal to just grab and go.
Copyright is a law that protects creators of works that include text, books, photos, graphics, artwork, music, and anything that has a copyright symbol next to it.
Copyright extends for the life of the author plus 70 years. There are some efforts underway in Washington to change the copyright law and reduce the number of years a creator can hold on to copyright.
But the bottom line is that the law, and basic fairness, require us to honor copyright.
That means that we can’t borrow material freely from the internet unless the creator clearly states that you can use the work.
Fee for Use
If you want to use an image or music and the creator does not indicate that you may borrow it, there’s likely a fee to use it.
Copyright and Creative Commons
On the other hand, the good news is that some content creators are eager to have their work used and distributed even if they don’t get paid.
Most, however, want credit.
The Creative Commons License was established in 2002 to make a wide variety of content available from willing content creators who want to get their work seen and heard, but may also want credit. The Creative Commons 4.0 license requires you to attribute the photo, or piece of music or artwork. You must link to the site where the image came from and you must give credit on your site to the creator.
Flikr,Unsplash, SnapFish, 500px , postimage, and other sites that will probably start up by the time you read this, offer photo sharing of one kind or another.
Many of the photos posted on these sharing sites ask for Creative Commons attribution. They make their work available under a Creative Commons License.
In most cases, even with Creative Commons, the creator wants credit. You can freely use these images, but you must credit the creator either on the image, or somewhere in the printed material or the text on the website or the brochure. There is often a request for you to link to the creators site, or Wikimedia where the image may have been posted.
You can find images with Creative Commons licenses indicate via Google and Bing search engines.
When you use images on Google there is a tab for settings.
On Bing there is a tab for License.
On Google
Click on Advanced Search and it will take you to this page:
Choose: “free to use or share, even commercially”
If you plan to modify the image or graphic make sure that you choose: “free to use, share or modify, even commercially.”
You’ll then get a range of photos that you can use for free. But you must if it is an attribution license, you must give credit to the creator.
If you use Bing once you choose the subject that you are searching, images will come up and the list of headings in the bar at the top of the images will include the word: License.
You can also find images through Wikimedia or Wikipedia
Some people will allow you to use the images without attributions. But be very careful. To find the license you may have to click through several layers to check to see the requirement.
Pixabay features a wide range of photos posted by photographers. They are free, but you can leave a donation for the artist. They ask for coffee money.
Photo by Gellinger, Courtesy Pixabay, Creative Commons License
Public Domain
On Wikipedia, and elsewhere, you may find works labeled Public Domain. The federal Office of Copyright defines public domain this way:
“The public domain is not a place. A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.”
U.S. Government agencies maintain photo and video archives and most of the work is in the public domain.
This Department of Defense photo for example is free for you to use. It’s always a good idea to give credit to the photographer and the agency.
Popular music generally requires the payment of royalties to the artists, composers, arrangers, producers and anyone else who had something to do with the production of those works.
Licensed Music and Music for a Fee
ASCAP and BMI provide licensing for music and it is possible to purchase the rights, or a license, to use something that fits the creative bill.
But in most cases, the cost is prohibitive unless you have a blanket license to use a certain amount of music.
If you use music in a video that you post on YouTube and the creator has not authorized the use, it is likely that YouTube will challenge your right to use it and it may block your video.
However, there are new sites cropping up all of the time and there is a wide range of choices for music selections.
Stock music is available for a fee and there a many sites that offer this service including:
There are many sites that also offer free music. There is generally a stipulation that requires that you honor the Creative Commons License and credit the creators.
Again, by the time you read this there may be many new sites.
Fair Use in News and Reviews
From the American Bar Association
Vol. 28No. 6
By Pierre Vudrag
Pierre Vudrag practices media and sports law in Southern California.
Fair use is a doctrine that is used to encourage criticism and commentary of copyrighted works. It is based on the concept that one should be free to use portions of copyrighted materials without asking permission from the copyright owner. It is an equitable principle that is frequently used as a defense by those sued for copyright infringement.
Determining fair use. To get a general sense of how fair use is applied, one must understand a set of fair use factors outlined in the lineage of case law dealing with copyright infringement. These factors are weighed in each case to determine whether a use qualifies as a fair use, often through varying court decisions with an expansive or restrictive meaning that could be open to interpretation. If a use is deemed not to be a fair use, then one would essentially be infringing on the rights of the copyright owner and may be liable for damages. Unfortunately, even if you strictly follow these factors and the copyright owner disagrees with your fair use interpretation, your dispute may have to be resolved through litigation or the payment of licensing fees.
Fair use in the general sense, with no hard-and-fast rules, is the use of copyrighted material without permission from the appropriate copyright owner for a limited and, as the courts deem, “transformative” purpose so as to comment on, criticize, or parody such copyrighted work. Specifically, the Supreme Court emphasized that the transformative nature of the use determines whether the material has been used to assist in the creation of something new, rather than merely copied verbatim into another work. In other words, one must ask: (1) has the material taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning? and (2) was value added to the original, thereby creating new information, or new aesthetics, or new insights and understandings?
Generally, two categories are used when making a fair use—commentary or parody. Typically, when focusing on news and editorial reviews, one would look to the first category, commentary. When commenting on or critiquing a copyrighted work, fair use principles would allow one to reproduce some of the work to accomplish one’s intent.
Courts have generally used four factors in resolving fair use disputes, which are laid out in Section 107 of the Copyright Act: (1) the purpose and character of the use; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion taken; and (4) the effect of the use on the potential market.
The purpose and character of the use. The “purpose and character” factor is the determining factor in many fair use decisions, as it allows the court to take a subjective look into the potentially infringing party’s intentions behind the use. Particularly in cases involving news reports, footage, reviews, and sports highlights, this factor typically favors the party claiming fair use for various reasons.
The first thing that we need to know is that copyright protection does not protect factual information conveyed in the copyrighted work, meaning that publicizing the scores of a sporting event or other factual information such as injuries, retirement, and so forth is considered fair use and does not constitute copyright infringement. What helps to strengthen a fair use argument in a case not involving the use of mere factual information is the use of the copyrighted material for the purpose of legitimate news commentary. For example, when using a clip or photograph to report the results of a sporting event or other factual information, courts have regarded the use of copyrighted material as fair use when the use is (1) brief quotations only; (2) presented in a news report; and (3) presented in a newsreel or broadcast of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.
Nature of the copyrighted work—published or unpublished. The scope of fair use is narrower for unpublished works because an author has the right to control the first public appearance of his or her expression. Therefore, you have a stronger argument in favor of fair use if the material copied is from a published work rather than an unpublished work.
Amount and substantiality of the portion taken. A general misunderstanding of fair use application has led to the “seven-second rule,” which many clearance representatives follow. A brief use of footage may not be deemed fair use unless all fair use factors can be applied. But the amount of footage used is a key factor in determining if a use is not fair, as highlighted in a key 1977 court case. The Second Circuit found that a CBS affiliate’s use of a one-minute-and-15-second clip of a 72-minute Charlie Chaplin film was not a fair use when used in a news report about Chaplin’s death. The court deemed that the portions taken were “substantial” and part of the “heart” of the film. The court’s analysis may have been different if CBS had used only a limited portion of the footage to simply enhance its news commentary on Chaplin’s death. The Second Circuit’s ruling is a clear indication that this type of use will never be considered fair use.
Effect of the use on the potential market. One of the most important fair use factors is whether the use deprives the copyright owner of income or undermines a new or potential market for the copyrighted work. If a copyright owner feels that he or she has been deprived of income, this is likely to trigger a lawsuit. This is true even if you are not competing directly with the original work.
Does fair use apply? Although the four-factor test of Copyright Act Section 107 provides a firm foundation for understanding which uses are fair uses, courts have infamously favored different factors in different cases, resulting in very unpredictable outcomes. There is a sizable gray area in which fair use may or may not apply.
So how does a news organization invoke fair use while falling within the permitted guidelines established by case law and without invoking potential litigation? The simplest way is to get permission from the copyright holder, but this is not always possible given the fluidity and immediacy of news reporting. To invoke fair use when using noncleared third-party clips, the news organization should follow these guidelines: (1) make sure the use is for a legitimate news report; (2) only use the clip when reporting on a fairly recent news event (usually 24 to 48 hours); (3) make sure that the use is a brief use of the clip to underscore the reporting of the news; (4) make sure there is actual commentary or criticism by a news reporter or anchor of the action appearing in the clip (there has to be a “transformative use” of the copyrighted material); (5) if reporting on a sporting event, make sure the event has been concluded, meaning it may not be fair use if the game has not been completed; and (6) make sure the materials are used in a bona fide news program.
More Information about the Entertainment and Sports Industries Forum
This article is an abridged and edited version of one that originally appeared on page 1 of Entertainment and Sports Lawyer, Fall 2010 (28:3).
For more information or to obtain a copy of the periodical in which the full article appears, please call the ABA Service Center at 800/285-2221.
Periodicals:Entertainment and Sports Lawyer, a quarterly newsletter; Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, a biannual journal.
CLE and Other Educational Programs: Forum Annual Meeting, October 13–15, 2011, New York, New York.
Follow the prompts at the top and enter your search.
You can skip down to the bottom where it says: usage rights. Click on the arrow and the following choices come up.
Choose: “free to use or share, even commercially”
If you plan to modify the image or graphic make sure that you choose: “free to use, share or modify, even commercially.”
You’ll then get a range of photos that you can use for free. But you must give credit to the creator.
If you use Bing once you choose the subject that you are searching, images will come up and the list of headings in the bar at the top of the images will include the word: License.
A drop-down menu provides the same choices that appear on Google Images.
Always choose a commercial license and if you plan to modify make sure that you choose the license that allows you to modify the image.
Music
Popular music generally requires the payment of royalties to the artists, composers, arrangers, producers and anyone else who had something to do with the production of those works.
Licensed Music and Music for a Fee
ASCAP and BMI provide licensing for music and it is possible to purchase the rights, or a license, to use something that fits the creative bill.
But in most cases, the cost is prohibitive unless you have a blanket license to use a certain amount of music.
If you use music in a video that you post on YouTube and the creator has not authorized the use, it is likely that YouTube will challenge your right to use it and it may block your video.
However, there are new sites cropping up all of the time and there is a wide range of choices for music selections.
Stock music is available for a fee and there a many sites that offer this service including:
There are many sites that also offer free music. There is generally a stipulation that requires that you honor the Creative Commons License and credit the creators.
Time:
Time: Use lowercase a.m. and p.m., with periods. Always use figures, with a space between the time and the a.m. or p.m.: “By 6:30 a.m. she was long gone.”
Dates:
Always use numerals: April 23, 2020. Do not use th, nd, rd, st.
Active writing allows you to say what you mean in a clear concise way with colorful verbs that paint a picture.
In 1946, the writer George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and 1984, complained about politicians and others who use fuzzy language to hide the truth.
“Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one’s own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase — some jackboot, Achilles’ heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump of verbal refuse — into the dustbin where it belongs,” Orwell wrote.
In his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language set out six rules for clear writing. “Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech that you are used to seeing in print; Never use a long word where a short one will do; If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out; Never use the passive where you can use the active; Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent; Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.” – George Orwell
Here’s a recent of example of what Orwell talked about.
“As a man of integrity, I will not sit idly by while outside entities attempt to destroy my character.”
“The mischaracterizations and the politicization of the actions that I took after being informed of Mr. Prude’s death is not base on facts, and is not what I stand for.
Former Rochester Police Chief La’Ron D. Singletary.
How do we write a clear, direct sentence?
We make sure the subject does the action.
What does that mean?
Put the subject before the verb and the object.
Active sentence: Subject-Verb-Object
The verb determines action
Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster defends President Trump’s discussion with Russian diplomats.
Not So Good
“At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed, and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly.”
Good
National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster defended President Trump and denied he leaked classified information to the Russians.
Not So Good
Allegations that President Trump revealed classified information to the Russians were denied by National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
Passive Verbs Drag Down A Sentence
You create a passive verb when you make the subject the object of the action.
Passive Sentence
In the first inning, the three strikeouts were thrown by Mets pitcher Rick Porcello.
Active Sentence
Mets pitcher Rick Porcello threw three strikeouts in the first inning.
Colorful verbs that tell a story and convey action create strong sentences.
Weak passive verbs make mushy sentences. You want to use action-filled verbs.
The verb to be does not convey action.
So we try avoid using: to be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been
EXAMPLES:
1.
Passive
The roads were destroyed by heavy rains.
Heavy rains were responsible for the destruction of the roads.
Active
Heavy rains destroyed the roads.
2.
Passive
The goalie crouched low, reached out his stick, and sent the rebound away from the mouth of the net.
Active
The goalie swept out his stick, and hooked the rebound away from the mouth of the net.
3.
Passive
The three-pointer was shot by the Toronto Raptor’s Fred VanVleet in the game against the Boston Celtics.
Active
The Toronto Raptor’s Fred VanVleet shot the three-pointer in the game against the Boston Celtics.
4.
Passive
The legislation was sent to Congress by the president.
Active
The president sent the legislation to Congress.
or
The president sent Congress the legislation.
5.
Passive
The earthquake in Puerto Rico caused victims to be airlifted by helicopter to the hospital.
Active
A helicopter airlifted victims of the earthquake in Puerto Rico and rushed them to the hospital.
or
A helicopter airlifted earthquake victims and rushed them to the hospital.
6.
Passive
Carolina is responsible for monitoring and balancing the budgets for the journalists.
Carolina monitors and balances the budgets
or
Carolina monitors and balances budgets.
Use the passive voice when you want to emphasize the receiver of an action, not the actor.
Example:
Many Long Beach residents were forced to leave the beautiful beach area to escape the hurricane.
Use strong, colorful verbs
Example:
Violate instead of in violation
Resisted instead of was resistant
Avoid Passive Phrases Like These:
Have been
Had been passive
GERUNDS
A gerund acts like a verb and a noun. You form a gerund by adding –ing to the end of a verb:
Examples:
run, running
play, playing
A gerund describes action or a state of being.
Grammarians consider gerunds a lovely way to write.
But in ACTIVE writing a gerund can slow down a sentence.
Examples:
1.
The Mets are feeling like losers at this point in the season.
Better
The Mets feel like losers at this point in the season.
2.
Fans are wondering if the Jets will be losing games all season.
Better
Fans wonder if the Jets will lose games all season.
3.
Nets players are surprising their new coach with their driving ambition.
Better
Nets players surprised their new coach with their drive and ambition.
4.
We sat up all night reading.
Better
We read all night.
or
We sat up and read all night.
6.
I like to go jeeping in the woods.
Better
I live to ride my jeep in the woods.
But gerunds can work when you talk about continuous action.
Example:
You might tell someone:
We jumped over puddles last night.
But if it continued to rain:
We spent the week jumping over puddles because of the constant rain.
CLUNKY WORDS AND PHRASES
Some words and phrases make sentences fuzzy.
Currently
Due to
Prior to
In an effort to
For the purpose of
In order to
Is of the opinion that
Due to the fact that
In the near future
At this point in time
During my time
Subsequent
Affinity For
Am Willing
PRESENT PERFECT, PAST PERFECT and FUTURE PERFECT
Passive form:
have/has been + past participle
had been + past participle
Active: Present Perfect
I have mailed the gift.
Jack has mailed the gifts.
Passive: Present Perfect
The gift has been mailed by me.
The gifts have been mailed by Jack.
Active: Past Perfect
Steven Spielberg had directed the movie.
Penny Marshall had directed those movies.
Passive: Past Perfect
The movie had been directed by Steven Spielberg.
The movies had been directed by Penny Marshall.
Active: Future Perfect
John will have finished the project next month.
They will have finished the projects before then.
Passive: Future Perfect
The project will have been finished by next month.
The projects will have been finished before then.
FUTURE TENSES
Passive forms: will + be + past participle
is/are going to be + past participle
Active: Future with WILL
I will mail the gift.
Jack will mail the gifts.
Passive: Future with WILL
The gift will be mailed by me.
The gifts will be mailed by Jack.
Active: Future with GOING TO
I am going to make the cake.
Sue is going to make two cakes.
Passive: Future with GOING TO
The cake is going to be made by me.
Two cakes are going to be made by Sue.
PRESENT / FUTURE MODALS
The passive form follows this pattern:
modal + be + past participle
Active: WILL / WON’T (WILL NOT)
Sharon will invite Tom to the party.
Sharon won’t invite Jeff to the party.
(Sharon will not invite Jeff to the party.)
Passive: WILL / WON’T (WILL NOT)
Tom will be invited to the party by Sharon.
Jeff won’t be invited to the party by Sharon.
(Jeff will not be invited to the party by Sharon.)
Active: CAN / CAN’T (CAN NOT)
Mai can foretell the future.
Terry can’t foretell the future.
(Terry can not foretell the future.)
Passive: CAN / CAN’T (CAN NOT)
The future can be foretold by Mai.
The future can’t be foretold by Terry.
(The future can not be foretold by Terry.)
Active: MAY / MAY NOT
Her company may give Katya a new office.
The lazy students may not do the homework. MIGHT / MIGHT NOT
Her company might give Katya a new office.
The lazy students might not do the homework.
Passive: MAY / MAY NOT
Katya may be given a new office by her company.
The homework may not be done by the lazy students. MIGHT / MIGHT NOT
Katya might be given a new office by her company.
The homework might not be done by the lazy students.
Active: SHOULD / SHOULDN’T
Students should memorize English verbs.
Children shouldn’t smoke cigarettes.
Passive: SHOULD / SHOULDN’T
English verbs should be memorized by students.
Cigarettes shouldn’t be smoked by children.
Active: OUGHT TO
Students ought to learn English verbs.
(negative ought to is rarely used)
Passive: OUGHT TO
English verbs ought to be memorized by students.
Active: HAD BETTER / HAD BETTER NOT
Students had better practice English every day.
Children had better not drink whiskey.
Passive: HAD BETTER / HAD BETTER NOT
English had better be practiced every day by students.
Whiskey had better not be drunk by children.
Active: MUST / MUST NOT
Tourists must apply for a passport to travel abroad.
Customers must not use that door.
Passive: MUST / MUST NOT
A passport to travel abroad must be applied for.
That door must not be used by customers.
Active: HAS TO / HAVE TO
She has to practice English every day.
Sara and Miho have to wash the dishes every day. DOESN’T HAVE TO/ DON’T HAVE TO
Maria doesn’t have to clean her bedroom every day.
The children don’t have to clean their bedrooms every day.
Passive: HAS TO / HAVE TO
English has to be practiced every day.
The dishes have to be washed by them every day. DOESN’T HAVE TO/ DON’T HAVE TO
Her bedroom doesn’t have to be cleaned every day.
Their bedrooms don’t have to be cleaned every day.
Active: BE SUPPOSED TO
I am supposed to type the composition.
I am not supposed to copy the stories in the book.
Janet is supposed to clean the living room.
She isn’t supposed to eat candy and gum.
They are supposed to make dinner for the family.
They aren’t supposed to make dessert.
Passive: BE SUPPOSED TO
The composition is supposed to be typed by me.
The stories in the book are not supposed to be copied.
The living room is supposed to be cleaned by Janet.
Candy and gum aren’t supposed to be eaten by her.
Dinner for the family is supposed to be made by them.
Dessert isn’t supposed to be made by them.
PAST MODALS
The past passive form follows this pattern:
modal + have been + past participle
Active: SHOULD HAVE / SHOULDN’T HAVE
The students should have learned the verbs.
The children shouldn’t have broken the window.
Passive: SHOULD HAVE / SHOULDN’T HAVE
The verbs should have been learned by the students.
The window shouldn’t have been broken by the children.
Active: OUGHT TO
Students ought to have learned the verbs.
(negative ought to is rarely used)
Passive: OUGHT TO
The verbs ought to have been learned by the students.
Active: BE SUPPOSED TO (past time)
I was supposed to type the composition.
I wasn’t supposed to copy the story in the book.
Janet was supposed to clean the living room.
She wasn’t supposed to eat candy and gum.
Frank and Jane were supposed to make dinner.
They weren’t supposed to make dessert.
Passive: BE SUPPOSED TO (past time)
The composition was supposed to be typed by me.
The story in the book wasn’t supposed to be copied.
The living room was supposed to be cleaned by Janet.
Candy and gum weren’t supposed to be eaten by her.
Dinner was supposed to be made by them.
Dessert wasn’t supposed to be made by them.
Active: MAY / MAY NOT
That firm may have offered Katya a new job.
The students may not have written the paper. MIGHT / MIGHT NOT
That firm might have offered Katya a new job.
The students might not have written the paper.
Passive: MAY / MAY NOT
Katya may have been offered a new job by that firm.
The paper may not have been written by the students. MIGHT / MIGHT NOT
Katya might have been offered a new job by that firm.
The paper might not have been written by the students.
When you sit down to write make, sure that each sentence reflects what you mean. Use active verbs and write clear concise sentences that convey your ideas.
Active Voice
The subject comes first in an active sentence.
Examples
Senate Republicans proposed a substantially scaled-back stimulus plan.
The city’s police chief and several of his department’s highest ranking officials resigned or were demoted on Tuesday in the aftermath of the death of Daniel Prude.
The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca halted large late-stage global trials of its coronavirus vaccine because of a serious suspected adverse reaction in a participant.
Murals thanking frontline workers popped up in neighborhoods all over New York during the pandemic.
Always look for an active verb to give your writing more energy.
Example:Avoid the passive “to be” verbs: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been.
Passive Voice
Murals thanking frontline workers were put up in neighborhoods all over New York during the pandemic.
You can use the passive verbs be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been when the subject of the action becomes the object.
Example:
Many Washington Heights residents are forced to move to other neighborhoods because landlords found tenants willing to pay higher rents.
We use the “to be” verbs to describe a state of being.
Example:
Dayan is a junior in college.
Have
We usevariations of the word have when we use it, like must, can or have.
Jorge has to reapply for DACA by October 5, 2017.
We might also use a passive verb when we talk about ongoing action.
Example
The student was reading a textbook when the alarm bell sounded and everyone had to leave the classroom.
Pretentious Language
Sure, you may think it sounds better to use flowery language and fussy words. But you end up sounding pretentious.
Example
When the scions of the elderly gentleman thought he had a female paramour, they pondered about their fortunes if he were to suddenly become deceased.
Use language that says what you mean.
Example
The children of the older man thought he had a girlfriend and worried about their inheritance if he died suddenly.
Catch phrases, Cliches and Euphemism
You may think you can make a sentence sound important if you use phrases or words that only suggest what you mean. But fussy sentences confuse readers, listeners and viewers.
Fussy Clear
economically deprived poor
youths teenagers, young men, young women, young people,
chemical dependency drug addiction
downsize lay off
adult entertainment pornography
inner city give the name of the neighborhood
You also want to avoid fussy words that connect ideas
however
furthermore
nevermore
nevertheless
Avoid the Negative
Write sentences that avoid the negative.
Example
President Trump not only picked a fight with NFL players who choose to protest, he ignored the hurricane victims in Puerto Rico.
Better
President Trump picked a fight with NFL players who chose to protest and ignored Puerto Rico’s hurricane victims.
Writing Numbers
Write out numbers one through nine.
Write number 10 and up as you would in math.
Writing Percentages
Write percent rather than %.
Full Names and Acronyms
When you write for print, TV or radio, you separate the full name of an organization and its acronym with the word or, or commas.
Example
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACCA.
When you write for the web you put the acronym in parentheses.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
In general, do not use courtesy titles except in direct quotations. When it is necessary to distinguish between two people who use the same last name, as in married couples or brothers and sisters, use the first and last name.
In general, avoid unnecessary capitals. Use a capital letter only if you can justify it by one of the principles listed here.
Many words and phrases, including special cases, are listed separately in this book. Entries that are capitalized without further comment should be capitalized in all uses.
If there is no relevant listing in this book for a particular word or phrase, consult Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Use lowercase if the dictionary lists it as an acceptable form for the sense in which the word is being used.
As used in this book, capitalize means to use uppercase for the first letter of a word. If additional capital letters are needed, they are called for by an example or a phrase such as use all caps.
Some basic principles:
PROPER NOUNS: Capitalize nouns that constitute the unique identification for a specific person, place, or thing: John, Mary, America, Boston, England.
Some words, such as the examples just given, are always proper nouns. Some common nouns receive proper noun status when they are used as the name of a particular entity: General Electric, Gulf Oil.
PROPER NAMES: Capitalize common nouns such as party, river, street and westwhen they are an integral part of the full name for a person, place or thing: Democratic Party, Mississippi River, Fleet Street, West Virginia.
Lowercase these common nouns when they stand alone in subsequent references: the party, the river, the street.
Lowercase the common noun elements of names in plural uses: the Democratic and Republican parties, Main and State streets, lakes Erie and Ontario. Exception: plurals of formal titles with full names are capitalized: Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford.
Among entries that provide additional guidelines are:
POPULAR NAMES: Some places and events lack officially designated proper names but have popular names that are the effective equivalent: the Combat Zone (a section of downtown Boston), the Main Line (a group of Philadelphia suburbs), the South Side (of Chicago), the Badlands (of South Dakota), the Street (the financial community in the Wall Street area of New York).
The principle applies also to shortened versions of the proper names of one-of-a-kind events: the Series (for the World Series), the Derby (for the Kentucky Derby). This practice should not, however, be interpreted as a license to ignore the general practice of lowercasing the common noun elements of a name when they stand alone.
DERIVATIVES: Capitalize words that are derived from a proper noun and still depend on it for their meaning: American, Christian, Christianity, English, French, Marxism, Shakespearean.
Lowercase words that are derived from a proper noun but no longer depend on it for their meaning: french fries, herculean, malapropism, pasteurize, quixotic, venetian blind.
SENTENCES: Capitalize the first word in a statement that stands as a sentence. See sentences and parentheses.
In poetry, capital letters are used for the first words of some phrases that would not be capitalized in prose. See poetry.
COMPOSITIONS: Capitalize the principal words in the names of books, movies, plays, poems, operas, songs, radio and television programs, works of art, etc. See composition titles, magazine names and newspaper names.
TITLES: Capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name. Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them off from a name by commas.
Use lowercase at all times for terms that are job descriptions rather than formal titles.
Whether you cover the opening of a food pantry, a fire that takes the lives of young children, a city council hearing, or a press conference in the Knicks locker room, you want to take a breath when you arrive at the scene. Stop, look around and think about what is really going on.
Ask yourself:
What’s happening here?
What’s important?
What’s interesting?
How does this affect the people there?
How does it affect people in the broader community?
Is there something that people aren’t telling me?
How can I tell this story?
The best reporters analyze a situation quickly and sum up the essence. Once you understand what’s going on, you can think about a creative and interesting way to tell the story.
Journalism means more than taking handouts or reporting what’s said in news releases. Good journalism rests on a set of principles. Solid stories require accurate information and balance in reporting it.
Think about answering a story’s basic questions:
who
what
when
where
why
HOW
Then examine how the story happened.
How do we connect the dots to tell a good story with a beginning, middle and end?
The inverted pyramid.
Traditionally journalists use the model of the inverted pyramid construct a story.
But increasingly, news organizations encourage reporters to use better storytelling techniques, using characters and interesting details to get the reader, viewer or listener interested. Television stories often start with small details, or personal stories and we see that more and more in print, digital and radio.
Accuracy
Only report what you know was said, and by whom. This means attributing statements to specific people:
The mayor says…
The district attorney says…
The neighbor says…
According to the Associated Press…
According to The New York Times…
According to the website….
Wikipedia and many other websites aren’t always reliable sources. If a site quotes another source, it’s important to go to the primary source to make sure that you have accurate information.
Just because somebody says something doesn’t mean it’s true. Even high-ranking public officials may be misinformed, or may have an agenda that obscures the truth. Even when you’re under deadline pressure, try to confirm everything that you’re told with additional sources. It’s a good idea to have at least two sources. Remember: truth is an absolute defense against libel.
Elements of a Good Story
Ancient Greek writers developed a basic storytelling formula and they understood the importance of characters:
villains
victims
heroes
You’ll find victims, villains and heroes at the center of every good drama. Audiences recognize the victim’s pain, hiss at the villain, and cheer for the hero. Most of what we cover will not be as dramatic as a classic Greek tale, and news coverage demands that we balance two sides of a story. Until the jury returns a guilty verdict, it’s unfair to characterize the accused as a villain. But if the actions of the accused are villainous, you report the facts and the audience, like the jury decides.
Highlight Characters
In daily news reporting, we don’t always have the luxury of a developing a story around a character. We do have to report the facts. But where we can, we want to highlight characters.
Often they reveal themselves in what they say, how they act, and through the expressions on their faces.
Readers, viewers and listeners want to engage with the real drama in real people’s lives. We feel their pain, their anger, their frustration and their triumph. We cheer them, get angry, or feel their pain. We’re indignant or inspired.
Characters drive stories and make them memorable.
Organization
Whether you begin with just the facts, an engaging character or an interesting detail, you need to let your reader, viewer or listener in on the point of the story pretty quickly.
Journalism uses the nut graf , or paragraph, to explain the heart of the story. The nut graf should come pretty close to the top of the report. It helps to tie everything together. It helps you keep the focus and continue to the ideas in your story.
Once you explain the point of the story, you can move on flesh it out with facts and details.
