Unit 2: General Assignment Reporting; Beat Reporting; Types of Beat Reporting – News Writing And Reporting Analysis Class Notes
Political Reporting
- Politicians
- Political parties
- Governance
- Policies
- Sources are important
- Good rapport with politicians
- Media Cell
- General Elections – Campaigning
- Alliances & Withdrawal of support
- Political rallies
- Gov. actions and inactions
- The general structure of the gov.
BBC Political reporter Adam Fleming shares his journalistic advice on reporting politics. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/20938414
- Be a good listener
- Have a good memory
- Learn the lingo
- Be wary of numbers
- Don’t be worried if you don’t feel like an expert
- Try to get a straight answer
- Be polite
- Spot a change
- Watch lots of news
- Keep your political opinions to yourself
Education Reporting
Environment Reporting
Religious Reporting
- Communalism, immigration
- Positive: festivals, scriptures
- Be fair and impartial – strike a balance
- Should not be preachy – have passion, respect and curiosity of all religions
Speech Reporting
Cultural Reporting
- Different aspects of culture
- Popular culture – tv programs, cinema
- Religion-based traditions
- Art forms – literature, music, painting, theatre/plays/drama, dance
- Food, Dressing/Clothing
- The decoration of the living room
- Develop sources
- Breezy, Creative, informal, feature type of articles
Sports Reporting
Parliament Reporting
- Parliamentary procedures
- Laws
- Privileges
- Politicians, Political parties
- History
- Contempt of parliament
- What Bills are tabled on – stalling the bill – reasons for the debate – context
Court/Crime Reporting
- Types of crime: murder, assault, rape, robbery, burglary, cheating
- Checklist for reporting on a Homicide
- Victim identification
- Time, date and place of death
- how it happened
- types of weapon
- the official cause of death (post-mortem report)
- clues to identify the killer
- who discovered the body
- police comment
- motive – why
- Comments from neighbours and friends
- Consequences of the victim’s family (effect on the family)
- Checklist if there’s an Arrest
- name & identification of the person arrested
- victims names
- time, place & date of death
- exact charge – sections as per the law
- circumstances of arrest
- offices involved in the investigation
- bail
- Checklist for burglary reporting
- goods stolen – money, jewellery
- time, place
- entrance
- any unusual circumstances
- arrest made
