NEWS FEATURES, NEWS ANALYSIS AND BACKGROUNDERS
Writing new stories
follows two major principles- facts and only facts can be given, and the
inverted pyramid structure of writing is often always strictly followed.
Both these principles have
helped journalism to be taken with credibility by the masses. People absorb
information and facts in order of relevance and importance and then make their
own opinions. These principles have withstood the tests of times and are still
followed quite religiously.
But it is also true that
these principles also put restrictions on the creativity of the news writers
and reporters. Moreover, there is also a felt and expressed need for variety
both in style and content in news presentation. In newspapers, these needs are
met through different types of writings.
Three kinds of writing ups
that are primarily concerned with presentation of information and facts in
different manners will be discussed in this lesson. These are: News
Features, News Analysis, and Backgrounders.
NEW
FEATURES:
News features deal with
both information and facts. Only the news features are written in a more
interesting manner. In news features, the presentation may be dramatic and
major information may be revealed after creating some suspense or after
creating a receptive environment.
STYLE IN NEWS FEATURES:
Compared to the rigid and
straightforward style of news writing, news feature writing is relaxed and
informal. The people in the story become the actors and they are made to convey
to the readers. Their words are used to recreate the scene in the minds of the
people. The story is made to move ahead with quotes and incidents. Even
dialogue can be used and actors in the news story can be presented as
interacting among themselves.
Realistic dialogue
fascinates the readers. Verbs that create pictures in the minds of readers are
useful. In many cases present tense is used to give the reader a sense of
continuing action.
In nutshell, it can be
said that, for writing news features the objective is to make it interesting
and readable as far as possible but without compromising on the basic premise
that objectivity and balance have to be maintained. The objective still remains
to inform and not to educate or persuade.
INTRO (LEAD) IN NEWS FEATURES:
In news features, the most
important information is normally not given in the beginning. Delayed leads are
recommended. An anecdote or incident can be the beginning. The lead has to
convey urgency, something so curious or provocative that the readers will have
to read the rest of the story. Possibilities for writing leads for news
features are endless and each story will also have many possible leads.
The writer has to make use
of his or her creative abilities to the maximum. It has been said that lead
should be shouting: ‘Hey, you can’t leave me! Stop and read me!’
At the same time the lead
should be in tune with the main story. If the lead promises too much and the
story does not deliver, the reader feels cheated.
BODY IN NEWS FEATURES:
News features more or less
follow the chronological order of story-telling. All important pieces of
information are covered. These can be given in an imaginative manner using quotes,
dialogue and picture making verbs.
Selection of information
is the essence of a news feature. Every piece of information that is with the
writer need not be given. News features may not need a conclusion, as there are
possibilities that while concluding the writer’s opinion may creep into it.
The Wall
Street Journal, a leading US newspaper, gives the following instructions to its
journalists to write news features.
Beginning:
Start with an anecdote or illustration of the theme.
Theme: Shortly
after the beginning, state the main point of the piece. Don’t drop the main
point much lower.
Body: Provide
details that elaborate the theme. Tell the reader what ishappening, why and
what’s being done about the situation.
GUIDELINES
FOR WRITING NEWS FEATURES:
Here are some guidelines
for writing effective news features:
o Practice
the art of writing interestingly.
o Collect
information from a wide variety of sources including official files, reports,
archives, and interviewing and observing.
o Before
beginning to work upon a news feature learn to search for the background
information. This will prepare a ground for your work and in getting relevant
information. Learning in advance about persons who are to be interviewed helps
in asking suitable questions.
o Every
news feature writer has to have very sharp and a keen ability to observe.
Clothes, language, articles, persons around, mood and many things need to be
taken note of to put the entire situation in a context.
o Take
extensive notes. Note down even those details, which may seem to be
unimportant. Journalists normally keep small notepads with them, many
journalist use tape recorders.
o While
seeking information formally or informally ask as many questions as possible.
If the reporter fails to understand a certain point, he should not hesitate to
ask for explanation.
o Write
draft news feature as soon as you get the time. Delay only adds to loss of
information and interest. Write another draft. Discuss with others and improve.
With every rewriting the feature will improve.
o Check the
facts, figures and spellings of places and persons carefully.
o Add
pictures and graphics depending upon availability and suitability.
o News
features are mostly about people and are always for people. Use quotations, and
paraphrases in the story so that it appears that sources are communicating with
the readers.
Example-1:
One of
the stories people tell about Abdul Rahim is that he handed over a terrorist to
the police. He is petty shopkeeper in the suburbs of Srinagar. The terrorist he
handed over to the police was his own son, Parvez. ‘When my own children do wrong,
I don’t protect them. The law must be respected.”
Abdul has
two sons. The younger one is visually handicapped and lives with the family,
mother and two young daughters. “I would rather see Parvez behind bars than
someone to call me to identify his body in a morgue”, told Abdul to the media persons.
Example-2:
Rani
Munda woke yesterday morning with a headache. Last night she had gone to bed
with a head full of dreams. Today, she is famous for her beauty and
intelligence.
The
19-year old tribal girl from Jharkhand was crowned Miss India at the
International Center in New Delhi.
“I felt
terrible all day,” Rani said after her victory. “But as soon as I walked into
the auditorium, something happened. Like, you know, it snapped’. The lights,
the excitement of the competition, the possibility of going all the way to the
top had its effect. “I just knew I could do it,” she said…
NEW
ANALYSIS:
As a matter of principle,
news writing deals with the presentation of facts and arguments. Interpretation
of the facts and deriving meaning out of the facts is left to the reader.
It is the practice in
newspapers that every issue contains a few items/events/issues in which
all the available facts are treated together and objective analysis is provided
to the readers. News analyses usually have no fixed place unlike editorials.
In many newspapers the
bottom of the front page carries news analyses, while in others some place in
the inside pages carry the news analyses.
The task of writing the
news analysis is given to experienced staffers or trusted outside experts.
Traditionally, senior sub-editors or the chief-sub-editor write the news
analyses. Sometimes, outside writers were also given the job.
These days the field staff
like reporters, correspondents and bureau chiefs also sometimes writes news
analyses.
There is clear difference
between news and news analysis. In news, current facts are more important and
past facts may be given only to pad the story. The news writer does not attempt
the analysis.
News analysis is also
different from writing articles and editorials. The editorial is mainly opinion
writing and provides clear-cut opinions. Articles also contain opinions and
guidelines; they may also have some component of analysis. But news analysis is
not supposed to carry any opinion or prescription. It is simply objective
analysis of the assorted facts about an event or issue.
Some newspapers and
television news, now days, include analysis, comment and opinion in the news
also. Professionally this is considered to be an aberration only. Professional
journalistic values respect the wisdom of the readers and therefore provide
analysis, comment and opinion in specified columns only.
WRITING NEWS ANALYSIS:
Writing news analysis
involves more work than writing news. Following steps make the task systematic
and the output is better and more comprehensive.
Selecting
a Subject:
As a rule, news analysis
is prepared on a topic that is current. But all topics of current value do not
qualify to be the subject matter of analysis. Normally a ‘burning event’ is
selected for the news analysis. It means that a news subject that has remained
front-page news for more than one day would be fit to be analyzed in detail.
In addition to being
current, the subject of news analysis must fascinating or interesting. It means
that the subject has to be relevant to the audiences. For example, an issue,
which is of much importance in UK, may not be very relevant in India.
Similarly, the subject
matter for news analysis must have wide impact and many ramifications. A
straight story with no angles and controversies may not render itself for
detailed analysis. Suicides by the students of class ten and twelve may not be
the main stories but many such incidents occurring during the examinations will
be a good subject for analysis.
GATHERING INFORMATION
AND FACTS:
Since the subject of news
analysis is current, much information will be easily available. But news
analysis must contain facts and arguments that the reader has so far not
received. Following are some of the sources for gathering such information:
o Previous
issues of the newspapers
o News
magazines
o Official
reports and documents
o Annual
reports
o The
Internet
o Public
personalities and specialists
ANALYZING
THE INFORMATION & FINDING TRENDS:
After collecting as much
information as possible on the subject, the writer of news analysis makes a
deep study of the collected information. Here, the information must be looked
in historical perspective, i.e., with relation to the previous months, years,
decades, etc. This generally brings out certain interesting trends, which form
the basis for writing the news analysis. News feature writers also try to bring
out startling inter-relationships.
For example, while doing
news analysis of dowry deaths a writer finds that most of the girls killed due
to demand for more dowry were professionally qualified and they had resisted
the demands for dowry. The analysis may bring out the trend that educated newlyweds
when confronted with demands for dowry passionately put up resistance and then
suffered violence. The general principle is more information and deeper
analysis provides better results.
ORGANIZING
THE STRUCTURE:
The writer has a mine of
information, but all information cannot be presented. The writer evaluates the
collected material and selects information that is both relevant and important.
The selected bits of information are then arranged in order of priority.
At this stage it is always
better to verify the selected information and facts from variety of sources.
Only the verified information and facts must be presented. Even an
insignificant error may make the entire exercise a farce in the eyes of the
readers.
WRITING THE
NEWS ANALYSIS:
The writer of the news
analysis must follow all the basic principles of clear writing and the
presentation must be precise and easily comprehensible. The writer should be
familiar with the wants and tastes of the readers of the newspaper in which the
analysis is to be published. The lowest denominator of the audience must be the
target of the writer so that every reader above that level is able to make
sense.
The news analysis must
resist temptations to allow his or her comments and opinions to creep into the
write-up.
It is always advisable to
create one or two graphics for the news analysis. The choice is between graphs,
bar diagrams, pie charts, pictures and caricatures. Depending upon the nature
of the subject, and space available; decision about the illustrations and
graphics has to be taken.
The scope of writing news
analysis is much wider in news magazines.
Many news stories in news
magazines contain an element of news analysis, but the principles remain the
same. Since deadline in a news magazine is a little bit extended and space is
also more (not unlimited) the skills of news analyst are better displayed in
news magazines. These days the supplements of daily newspapers have also
started carrying news analyses, sometimes on quite non-traditional subjects.
BACKGROUNDERS:
Backgrounders add meaning
to the events and issues in the news.
Backgrounders do this by
explaining them further through background material. These write-ups bring the
readers up to date explaining how, why, and when of the event and issue so far.
Backgrounders are more or
less an historical presentation of the information and facts. For example, if
the news of the death sentence to a killer rapist is in the news an historical
account of the persons hanged in the past will be good topic for the backgrounder.
During elections, background information about constituencies, political groups
and contestants is very important and every newspaper publishes it.
There is clear difference
between news analysis and backgrounders.
There is no or very little
element of analysis in the backgrounder. The objective is to provide as much
background information as possible. It can be said that a backgrounder is
loaded with information, whereas a news analysis would concentrate to find
causes and establish trends.
WRITING BACKGROUNDERS:
It is advisable to write
backgrounders in a systematic and planned manner.
The first two steps for
writing backgrounders are same as for the news analysis. The subject is chosen
out of the current topics and as much information as possible is collected from
various sources. Sometimes, need for the backgrounders can be anticipated and
the pieces are prepared well in advance. Elections, festivals and ceremonies
are some of the occasions when advance planning can be done.
For a backgrounder the
data is generally organized in chronological order. Care should be taken to go
into the past as much as possible. Since the writer is dealing with the past,
there are likely to be gaps. If even after reasonable efforts the gaps are not
filled it is advisable to mention this in the writing itself. Similarly, the
readers should also be informed if certain data is unconfirmed. The writer has
to select the information according to their relevance.
Since the backgrounder
contains lot of facts, it has to be written very carefully to make it
interesting and readable. This is a challenge before the writer.
Traditionally
backgrounders do not contain any pictures or graphics.
But there is no harm if
the backgrounders are also made more attractive and interesting by presenting
data in tabular formats or in the forms of bar diagrams, pie charts, graphs
etc. An odd picture may also be used here and there.
It is worth mentioning
here that in the new journalistic practices of today, distinction between
various forms of newspaper writing is getting obliterated. There are many
backgrounders that are very well illustrated.
There are news items,
which contain a few facts lot of analysis and interpretation, some historical
perspective, and it may begin or end with an editorial guideline or
prescription.
SUMMARY:
o News features deal with
both information and facts. Only the news features are written in a more
interesting manner. In news features, the presentation may be dramatic and
major information may be revealed after creating some suspense or after
creating a receptive environment.
o Compared to the rigid and
straightforward style of news writing, news feature writing is relaxed and
informal. The people in the story become the actors and they are made to convey
to the readers. Their words are used to recreate the scene in the minds of the
people. The story is made to move ahead with quotes and incidents. Realistic
dialogue fascinates the readers. Verbs that create pictures in the minds of readers
are useful. In many cases present tense is used to give the reader a sense of
continuing action.
o News features more or less
follow the chronological order of story-telling. All-important pieces of
information are covered. These can be given in an imaginative manner using quotes,
dialogue and picture making verbs.
o News analyses are
write-ups on current items/events/issues in which all the available
facts are treated together and objective analysis is provided.
o There is clear difference
between news and news analysis. In news, current facts are more important. The
news writer does not attempt the analysis. News analysis is also different from
writing articles and editorials. The editorial is mainly opinion writing and
provides clear-cut opinions. Articles also contain opinions and guidelines;
they may also have some component of analysis. But a news analysis is simply objective
analysis of the assorted facts about an event or issue.
o The scope of writing news
analysis is much wider in news magazines.
Many news stories in news
magazines contain an element of news analysis, but the principles remain the
same. Since deadline in a news magazine is a little bit extended and space is
also more (not unlimited) the skills of news analyst are better displayed in
news magazines.
o Backgrounders add meaning
to the events and issues in the news. Backgrounders do this by explaining them
further through background material. These write-ups bring the readers up to
date explaining how, why, and when of the event and issue so far.
o There is clear difference
between news analysis and backgrounders. There is no or very little element of
analysis in the backgrounder. The objective is to provide as much background
information as possible. It can be said that a backgrounder is loaded with
information, whereas a news analysis would concentrate to find causes and
establish trends.
KEY
WORDS:
News
features: These deals with both information and facts. Only the news features
are written in a more interesting manner. In news features, the presentation
may be dramatic and major information may be revealed after creating some
suspense or after creating a receptive environment.
Style in
News features: Compared to the rigid and straightforward style of news writing,
news feature writing is relaxed and informal. The people in the story become
the actors and they are made to convey to the readers. Their words are used to
recreate the scene in the minds of the people. The story is made to move ahead
with quotes and incidents. Even dialogue can be used and actors in the news
story can be presented as interacting among themselves.
News
Analyses: These are write-ups on current items/events/issues in which
all the available facts are treated together and objective analysis is
provided.
There is clear difference
between news and news analysis. In news, current facts are more important. The
news writer does not attempt the analysis.
News analysis is also
different from articles and editorials. The editorial is mainly opinion writing
and provides clear-cut opinions. Articles also contain opinions and guidelines;
they may also have some component of analysis.
But a news analysis is
simply objective analysis of the assorted facts about an event or issue.
Gathering
Information and Facts: Since the subject of news analysis is current,
much information will be easily available. But news analysis must contain facts
and arguments that the reader has so far not received.
Following are some of the
sources for gathering such information: Previous issues of the newspapers, News
magazines, Official reports and documents, Annual reports, The Internet, and
Public personalities and specialists.
Backgrounders:
Backgrounders are more or less an historical presentation of the
information and facts. For example, if the news of the death sentence to a
killer rapist is in the news an historical account of the persons hanged in the
past will be good topic for the backgrounder. During elections, background information
about constituencies, political groups and contestants is very important and
every newspaper publishes it.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
QUESTIONS (SAQs):
1. What is a news feature?
Discuss in detail.
2. What is a news
analysis? Discuss in detail.
3. Write a detailed note
on backgrounders.
4. Write a news feature on
any current event in about 300 words.
5. Write a news analysis
on any current event in about 300 words.
6. Write a backgrounder on
any current event in about 300 words.