लोकतन्त्र की नई परिभाषा

BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIAN MEDIA

BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIAN MEDIA
Indian Media consist of several different types of communications: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites/portals. Indian media was active since the late 18th century with print media started in 1780, radio broadcasting initiated in 1927, and the screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures in Bombay initiated during the July of 1895. It is among the oldest and largest media of the world. Media in India has been free and independent throughout most of its history, even before establishment of Indian empire by Ashoka the Great on the foundation of righteousness, openness, morality and spirituality. The period of emergency (1975–1977), declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was the brief period when India's media was faced with potential government retribution.
The country consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007 - making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers. By 2009, India had a total of 81,000,000 Internet users - comprising 7.0% of the country's population, and 7,570,000 people in India also had access to broadband Internet as of 2010 - making it the 11th largest country in the world in terms of broadband Internet users. As of 2009, India is among the 4th largest television broadcast stations in the world with nearly 1,400 stations. Snapshot of evolution of media in India is as below:
Mass media in India - Bengal:
The Bengal Gazette was started by James Augustus Hickey in 1780. The Gazette, a two-sheet newspaper, specialized in writing on the private lives of the Sahibs of the Company. He dared even to mount scurrilous attacks on the Governor-General, Warren Hastings', wife, which soon landed "the late printer to the Honorable Company" in trouble.
Hickey was sentenced to a 4 months jail term and Rs.500 fine, which did not deter him. After a bitter attack on the Governor-General and the Chief Justice, Hickey was sentenced to one year in prison and fined Rs.5, 000, which finally drove him to penury. These were the first tentative steps of journalism in India.
Mass media in India - Calcutta:
B. Messink and Peter Reed were pliant publishers of the India Gazette, unlike their infamous predecessor. The colonial establishment started the Calcutta Gazette. It was followed by another private initiative the Bengal Journal. The Oriental Magazine of Calcutta Amusement, a monthly magazine made it four weekly newspapers and one monthly magazine published from Calcutta, now Kolkata.

Mass media in India - Madras Chennai:
The Madras Courier was started in 1785 in the southern stronghold of Madras, which is now called Chennai. Richard Johnson, its founder, was a government printer. Madras got its second newspaper when, in 1791, Hugh Boyd, who was the editor of the Courier quit and founded the Hurkaru. Tragically for the paper, it ceased publication when Boyd passed away within a year of its founding.
It was only in 1795 that competitors to the Courier emerged with the founding of the Madras Gazette followed by the India Herald. The latter was an "unauthorised" publication, which led to the deportation of its founder Humphreys. The Madras Courier was designated the purveyor of official information in the Presidency.
In 1878, The Hindu was founded, and played a vital role in promoting the cause of Indian independence from the colonial yoke. It's founder, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, was a lawyer, and his son, K Srinivasan assumed editorship of this pioneering newspaper during for the first half of the 20th century. Today this paper enjoys the highest circulation in South India, and is among the top five nationally.

Mass media in India - Bombay:
Bombay, now Mumbai, surprisingly was a late starter - The Bombay Herald came into existence in 1789. Significantly, a year later a paper called the Courier started carrying advertisements in Gujarati.
The first media merger of sorts: The Bombay Gazette, which was started in 1791, merged with the Bombay Herald the following year. Like the Madras Courier, this new entity was recognised as the publication to carry "official notifications and advertisements".
'A Chronicle of Media and the State', by Jeebesh Bagchi in the Sarai Reader 2001 is a handy timeline on the role of the state in the development of media in India for more than a century.
Bagchi divides the timeline into three 'ages'. The Age of Formulation, which starts with the Indian Telegraph Act in 1885 and ends with the Report of the Sub-Committee on Communication, National Planning Committee in 1948.
State of Modern Mass Media
After Independence, the Indian media had evolved, realigned and reinvented itself to a large extent, and now-a-days you can see a clear division between commercial and aesthetic expressions of our Media Giants, sometimes arbitrary. Modern mass communication media is poles apart relative to any aesthetic feeling: vulgarity and arrogance nullify any hypothesis of meaning. Aesthetics is the more powerful answer to violence of modern mass communication. Today’s mass communication media seems to elude every determination, exposing its message to all possible variants, it finishes to abolish it. Goal of mass communication is always the unbiased dissipation of any content, and the world wide web is no exception, and surely is the most efficient media tool.
It’s also very interesting to observe how the old media are becoming more and more permeable to blogs and D.I.Y. information. This phenomenon is not due to a fascination in more democratic information sources. On the contrary - the pressure is rising due to the growth of the eyes’ (cameras and new digital devices) that are watching the same events that mainstream media are reporting to us: the possibility of being uncovered are too many and broadcast journalists are forced to tell the truth (or at least a plausible version of it). As a consequence, blogs have become the major source of news and information about many global affairs. We also have to consider that bloggers are often the only real journalists, as they (at their own risk) provide independent news in countries where the mainstream media is censored, biased or under control.
Indian Press Under British Rule
 Bengal Gazette (English weekly) published by James Augustus Hickey in 1780 Jan 29th from Calcutta. It was the first newspaper in South Asian sub- continent
- Bengal Gazette alias ‘Hicky Gazette’, ‘Calcutta General Advertiser’
- Declaration ‘a weekly political and commercial paper open to all but, influenced by none’
- Hickey had his own column, many persons wrote by pen names.
- Bengal Gazette could not survive more than two years due to sharp confrontation with Governor General Warren Hastings and Chief Justice Elijah Impey.
 Indian Gazette as a rival to Bengal Gazette, published in the same year (1780) by Peter Read, a salt agent (backing by Hastings).

 After Bengal Gazette, other publications from India were-
 Madras Courier weekly (1785),
Bombay Herald weekly (1789) merged into Bombay Gazette in 1791,
Hurukaru weekly (1793),
Calcutta Chronicle (1818),
Bengal Journal,
Indian world,
Bengal Harkarer etc.

In the early period newspapers in India were run by Britishers.


RUDYARD KIPLING
A renowned man of the pen – born in Bombay – his father, a British citizen was a government officer in India – Rudyard joined Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore) in 1872 at the age of 17- worked for five years in Gazette- then moved to the Pioneer- his writings specially monologue and fictions were very impressive- ‘writing and everything associated with, is a glorious fun’, ‘I love both the fun and riot of writing’- after suffering from malaria he was compelled to left India and went to England in1890- he served about 7 years in India as a journalist- he is still remembered as a creative journalist in the history of Indian journalism- reflections of his Indian experience can be seen in his several writings.

Indian’s involvement in publication
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the pioneer Indian journalist and social reformer
- By his inspiration Gangadhar Bhattacharjee published Bengal Gazette (1816), the first Indian owned English daily newspaper, but could not survive long
- Raja’s own publications- Sambad Kaumudi (Bengali 1821), Mirat ul Akhbar (Persian 1822) and Brahminical Magazine (English 1822)
- Press Regulation –1823 imposed by British govt. in India to control newspapers.
- The regulation was used as a tool to deport James Silk Buckingham, Editor of Calcutta Chronicle.
- Raja presented a petition to Supreme Court to protest the regulation in favour of J.S. Buckingham.
- It was his bold step for the preservation of press freedom, however he defeated the case.
- Anti reformists Hindu fundamentalists published Samachar Chandrika weekly to challenge Raja’s social reforms.
- Raja passed away in 1833

1857 Mutiny (the first war of Indian independence) was a turning point to Indian journalism.
- In the issue of mutiny, British owned press and Indian owned press blamed each other in the lowest level.
- British owned press acted like blood mongers of Indians.
- This event worked as a fuel to Indian owned press against the British rule in India.
- Pioneers Indian journalists on those days- Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Gangadhar Bhattacharjee, Bhawani Charan Bannerjee, Dwarkanath Tagore, Girish Chandra Ghose, Harischandra Mukharjee, Ishworchandra Vidyasagar, Kristo Pal, Manmohan Ghose, Keshub Chander Sen etc.
- Other major publications by Indians- The Reformer, Enquirer, Gyan Auneshun, Bengal Herald, Bang Doot, Hindu Patriot, Indian Mirror, Sulab Samachar, etc.

After Mutiny
Standard, The Bombay Times and Telegraph merged into Times of India in 1861, Robert Knight was the owner , he was also owner of Statesman daily (1875) from Calcutta, Indian Economist monthly and Agriculture Gazette of India, his editorials and writings were balanced and impressive.

Other major publications-
Indu Prakash weekly, Gyan Prakash, Lokhitavadi (all 1861),
Amrit Bazar Patrika (1868 Cacutta),
Pioneer (1872 Allahbad),
The Hindu (1878 Chennai) ,
Kesari (marathi) and The Maratha (English) (both in1878 from Pune by veteran freedom fighter Balgangadhar Tilak)

Pioneer Indian Journalists-
Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
Mahadev Govinda Ranade,
Dadabhoi Naoroji,
Gopal Rao Hari Deshmukh,
Vishu Shastri Pandit,
Karsondas Mulji,
Bal Sashtri Jambhekar etc.

British govt. enacted Vernacular Press Act-1878 to suppress Indian language newspapers

Indian National Congress (INC) founded in 1885.
It was led by many nationalists like
Surendranath Banerjee,
Balgangadhar Tilak,
Dadabhoi Naoroji,
Motilal Gosh,
Bipin Chandra Pal,
G. Subramania Aiyer, etc., who were active journalists too.

After establishment of INC, Indian press became an important part of struggle for independence.
Leading Newspapers After Establishment of INC
-1900- Bangalee English Daily (ed)- Surendranath Banarjee
-1901- New India English Weekly (ew)- Bipinchandra Pal
- 1901- Bande Mataram – Bengalee weekly- Bipinchandra Pal
- 1906- Yugantar – Bengali daily- Barendra kumar Ghose
- 1909- Leader- ed- Madan Mohan Malviya
- 1913- New India –ed- Annie Besant
- 1913- Bombay Chronicle –ed- Phiroj Shah Mehata
- 1918 –Justice- ed- Dr.T.M.Nair (published by non- Brahmin movement in Madras)
- 1918 – Searchlight- English biweekly- Shachindranath Sinha
-1919- The Independent -ed– Pandit Motilal Neharu
- 1919- Young India – ed- Mahatma Gandhi
- 1920 – Nav Jeevan – Gujarati weeky- Mahatma Gandhi
- 1922- Swarajya- ed- T.Prakasham
- 1923- Forward- ed- Chittaranjan Das
- 1923- The Hindustan Times –ed- K.M. Panikar (first daily in Delhi)
- 1929- Liberty-ed- Subhas Chandra Bose
-1932- Harijan- Gujarati weekly- Mahatma Gandhi
- 1938- National Herald- Jawaharlal Nehru

- Viceroy Lord Curzon Vs. Indian press
- In 1907 series of arrests and prosecutions against the journalists and press
- India Press Act –1910 asked for heavy security deposits
- 963 publications and press were prosecuted under the act
- 173 new printing press and 129 newspapers were killed at their birth by the weapon of security deposits
- British govt. collected about 5 lakhs Indian Rs. in the first year of the act enforcement
- During the First world war (1914-1918) Indian press were divided.
- The act was forcely executed against the press who were not in support of British side in the world war.
- In 1919 Jaliawala Bagh massacre was a big disaster to the Indian press.
- Even the Anglo- Indian press was not escaped.

The Golden Era of Indian Mission Journalism (1920 – 1947)
- Declaration of non-cooperation movement against British rule in India.
- Press marched shoulder to shoulder with Satyagrahis.
- Mahatma Gandhi lauded for freedom of expression, ideas and people’s sentiments
- Gandhi would not accept adv., he believed newspapers should survive on the revenue from subscribers
- He would not accept any restrictions on the paper, he rather close it down
- His writings were widely circulated and reproduced in the newspapers all over the country
- A big challenge to non-Gandhian newspapers.
- Gandhi declared ‘Salt Satyagraha’ in 1930
- The nationalist press played a memorable role, which perhaps is unique in the history of any freedom movement.
- Press ordinance issued in 1930 to suppress Indian press through heavy security deposits.
- When second world war broke out , British rulers became more suppressive to the Indian press
- In 1940 UP government directed the press to submit the headlines of the news to the secretary of the information department for his pre- approval
- In response to this, National Herald (newspaper run by Jawaharlal Neharu) published the news without headlines
- Second world war and freedom fight gave more fuel to Indian press
- Britishers charged them as ‘ pro-Hitler’
- All India Newspaper Editors Conference held in 1940 at Delhi voiced against the suppressive attitude of the British govt.
- Fresh suppression and struggle started from 1942 when Quit India Movement initiated
- Many press, publications and journalists including Neharu suspended and arrested in1942
- It continued until the declaration of independence in1947 August
- K. Rama Rao, Editor, Swarajya “ It was more than a vocation, it was a mission and the newspaper was a noble enterprise working for patriotic purpose”.

Indian Press: 1947 Onwards
- India received independence from British rule on 1947 August 15th
- The press celebrated the independence, because it was their victory too.
- At the beginning of independence the relation between the national govt. and press was good, but a year after situation was changed
- P M Nehru, Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel, etc. were not happy with the press.

- Press Commission- 1952, report- 1954
- Recommendations – Press Council, press registrar, minimum basic salary for working journalists, strengthen the role of the editors
- The working journalist act-1955
- The newspaper (price and page) act- 1956
- Press Council established – 1965

 P.M. Mrs. Indira Gandhi declared state of emergency on 1975 June
- It was a shocking blow to the freedom of press
- Ignored the press freedom guaranteed by article 19 (1) in the constitution
- Heavy censorship during the emergency period under Defence Rule “ in order to maintain public order…”
- 1975 Dec 8th ordinance banned the publication of all ‘ objectionable matter’, no permission to report parliament, close down Press Council , blaming it was failed to curb provocative writings
- During 19 months of emergency 253 journalists detained and 7 foreign correspondence expelled
 When Janata Dal came into power, all the restrictions over press were removed

- After emergency Indian press became more professional along with high tech., simultaneous publications increased, tremendous change in the contents, more supplements, booming of specialized magazines
- Press Council re- established under new act- 28 member, chaired by retired judge of high court

Top circulation:
The Times of India – approx. 18 lakh copies / day
The Indian Express – approx. 15 lakh copies / day
Total no. of all publications – approx. 40 thousand
Out of them dailies- 4,453 (including 320 English dailies)
NOTE : Circulation information may differ in changing situation.

CENTENARIAN NEWSPAPERS OF INDIA
The Times of India – 1861
Amrit Bazar Patrika – 1868
Pioneer - 1872
The Statesman - 1875
The Hindu - 1878

RADIO
- Amateur Radio Club started local broadcasting in 1924 at Madras
- Indian Broadcasting co.(private) 1927- Bombay and Calcutta
- Indian State Broadcasting Service – 1930
- Name changed as All India Radio (AIR) / Aakashbani
- Before independence AIR stations in Hyderabad, Baroda, Mysore, Trivandrum, Aurangabad, Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lukhnow, Pesawar and Dhaka
- During second World War radio became more popular in India
- After independence AIR was a major tool to dissiminate govt. information
- AIR as an ‘ electronic ambassador’ in abroad
- Now AIR have more than 200 stations covering 90% of the land and 97% of the population
- News in 24 languages including Hindi, English and many other languages of India
- From 1997 broadcasting is beeing regulated by an autonomous corporation under Prasar Bharati Act
- 12 radio sets / 100 people

TELEVISION
- Door Darshan (DD) started as an experiment in 1959 from New Delhi, for educational purpose
- Regular broadcasting started from 1965 from New Delhi
- Indian Space Research Organization borrowed a satellite from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1975
- Community TV sets in 2,400 villages
- Colour broadcasting from 1982 on the eve of Asian Games held in New Delhi
- 40 different broadcasting centers
- covers 70% of land and 87% 0f population
- programs in about a dozen languages
- 6.5 tv sets / 100 people
- after 1995 many private channels
- all TV broadcasting regulated by Prasar Bharati Act

NEWS AGENCIES
- Press Trust of India (PTI) 1947
- Hindustan Samachar 1948
- United News of India (UNI)- 1961
- Samachar Bharati –1965
Hindustan Samachar and Samachar Bharati produce news in various Indian languages while PTI and UNI in English

- Press Information Bureau (PIB), under Ministry of Information, provides government news and information in English, Hindi, Urdu and 13 regional languages.

Tips For Effective Email Communication

A recent article by Cyberatlas included some very interesting and pertinent data about email, including:

1. Email is the most popular Internet application.
2. Over 263 million emailboxes exist worldwide.
3. Over 3.4 trillion email messages were delivered in 1998, over 9.4 billion messages daily in the U.S. alone.
4. 81 million Americans use email at least occasionally.
5. 84 per cent of Internet users use email.

So, with that background (and understand the numbers are grow- ing) it makes sense that you need to use email effectively, not only to save you time but to ensure that your messages get read by your audience.

Here are 15 Top Tips for you to incorporate (if you're not al- ready doing them) into your personal and corporate email practice.

1. Make your subject line catch the eye of the reader. If you don't have a strong or catchy subject line that causes the reader to open your message (and studies have shown that with the volume of email your customers and clients are receiving, they have to decide in a matter of seconds if they want to open your email), what you say in your message doesn't make any difference.

2. Keep your messages short. People online are busy; don't waste their time. You can always follow up with those that need more information.

3. Watch your spelling. It's easy to let it go, but your sending out messages with misspelled words is a bad sign to the recipient.

4. Use both upper and lower case letters. It is considered rude to write in all caps.

5. If you're responding to a message (that is, you've used the REPLY function), either delete the sender's complete message or the parts that don't matter. Not to do so indicates to the recipient (the original sender) that you're a real newbie. Don't do anything to raise doubt in his or her mind about your business capability.

6. Minimize your use of HTML email. Most people today still don't or can't use it. Give someone the option of receiving your message in HTML (if you have to do it). If you need to use HTML, consider providing direct links within the body of your email to the webpages to which you're refering (See below for some examples).

7. If you're sending an important message, test it by sen- ding it to yourself first. This will give you a chance to see how it looks before you send it for real. With email, once you hit the SEND key, you can't go to the mailbox to retrieve it.

8. If you send a message to multiple recipients and you don't want the recipients to know who else received the message, use the bcc (blind carbon copy) function in your email program. This will mean you send the original to yourself, but that's okay.

9. Use a good signature file. This is probably one of the most underutilized features with email. In addition to your key information (e.g., company name, phone, fax, email, and website information), you can include short, pertinent adver- tising info. Click on this link for a good article on the how's and what's of signature files: http://www.improved-results.com/holmes1.htm

10. Answer your email quickly. Recent surveys have shown that a large percentage of email messages either go unanswered or are not responded to timely. Take advantage of this inherent competi- tive edge you can get. What do you think when someone doesn't respond to your phone messages? It's no different with email.

11. Can your recipients download your attachments. AOL, among others, sets a size limit on the attachments you can send with email. One way around this limitation is to use a link directly to an HTML file loaded on your website (See #6 above).

12. Are you using Autoresponders to handle the most frequently requested information people ask from you? This is a great way to more fully automate your online efforts. Here are several good articles on autoresponders: http://www.improved-results.com/autoresp.htm

13. You probably heard all of this you wanted in high school English, but are your messages clear, complete, and concise? Is your style easy to read? Remember, people are busy and don't have the time to try to figure out what you're trying to say. Just say it!

14. If you're sending out information to a mailing list, use personalization to build the relationship with your readers. As an example, this ezine is addressed to you personally and starts off with "Dear (your first name)..". People respond better when you use their name. A number of software programs are available to make this possible.

15. Limit your line length to 65 to 70 characters and use hard returns. Remember that a large number of people still use 14 or 15-inch monitors. If someone has to scroll right to read your message, chances are they'll hit the delete key. An easy way to do this is to type "0123456789" and the top of your screen and copy it to the right 6 to 7 times.

Tips For News Writing - 2

1.    Use the 3rd person point of view
Unlike in feature writing where one can use the 1st person, 2nd, and 3rd approach, news stories should be in the 3rd person only because news are events that are reported to the people basically for information.

Example:
“Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino was laid to rest, Aug. 5, which was made as national holiday to give chance to all Filipinos to sympathize with the bereaved family and to ponder on the legacy of faith and freedom left by Cory to the nation.”

NOT this: (2nd person)
“You must have attended President Cory’s funeral, one significant event in Philippine history. (except when the story is a news feature.)

NOT this: (1st person)
“I tied a yellow ribbon to each post in my house as my unique way of expressing my sentiments and appreciation for what Cory has done for the country.”

This could be a part of a diary or if it were a quoted remark, source should be cited and be made a part of a news feature.

2.    Use adjectives sparingly.
You can use all the adjectives that you want in feature writing but NOT in the News. Adjectives and other descriptive words connote opinion and subjectivity which is contrary to, of course, objectivity, which is a quality needed in news, particularly in straight news reporting.
Though, it is alright to say “…the big tremor of 1990…” since it was really a strong or big (intensity 7) earthquake which was experienced in 1990.

But NOT in this case: “The beautiful principal explained the meaning of BESRA, which is Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda.”
The use of the adjective “beautiful” is NOT proper if this statement were to be a part of the news report, unless it is a quoted statement.

3.    The straight news story follows the inverted pyramid structure – that is – facts are arranged according to diminishing importance – from the top or beginning (most important data) to the concluding part (least important details).

4.    The news story may also start with feature leads, such as the following:
a.   Quotation Lead: “The Filipinos are worth it.” – Kris Aquino. (referring to the love (0f country)/ sacrifices made by her parents, Ninoy and Cory Aquino)

b.   Question Lead: “Will Kris enter politics, too?”

c.    Staccato Lead: “Yellow roses. Yellow ribbons. Yellow balloons. Yellow T-shirts. Yellow confetti. All these dominated Cory’s last day on earth; and all these signify love for Cory from the Filipino nation and even the world.”

d.   Descriptive Lead: “Yellow ribbons hug every post. Patriotic songs linger the air waves. Even Dawn’s ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon” comes alive. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) offers a volley of fire. Eight canon balls continuously blasting, one every thirty minutes until sunset. Philippine flags, half-mast. Tears flooded the nation. The worldwide icon of democracy just passed away. “  (CHIT-chats)

e.    Punch Lead: “Beware of young terrorists!” (students who are vindictive over failing grades)

f.   Parody Lead: “Tying a yellow ribbon under the ole oak tree…as a message of love to Cory was one of the commonplace sights during the bloodless EDSA revolution and Cory’s passing away recently.”

Tips For News Writing

LEAD
1. Keep leads short. Those with 35 words or less are preferred.
2. Leads limited to one or two sentences are preferred.
3. Avoid starting leads with "when" or "where" unless the time or place is unusual. Most leads start with "who" or "what."
4. Avoid beginning leads with "there" or "this."
5. In leads about future events, the time, day (date) and place usually go at the end of the paragraph.
6. In leads about past events, the day (date) of the event usually appears before or after the verb. Sometimes the day (date) comes at the end of the first sentence or the paragraph if it is a one-sentence lead.
7. Use quote and question leads sparingly.
8. The first five to "what happened" makes a better story than the fact it did.




BODY
9. Keep paragraphs short. Those limited to 60 words or less or no longer than 10 typeset lines are preferred.
10. Paragraphs limited to one to three sentences are preferred.
11. Each paragraph should contain only one idea.
12. Remember short paragraphs encourage readers to continue reading.




EDITING
13. Eliminate the word "that" whenever possible.
14. For past events, report it happened "Friday," NOT "last Friday." Eliminate the word "last." For future events, report it will happen "Monday," NOT "next Monday." Eliminate the word "next."
15. Eliminate the "be" verb. Write "she will resign" instead of "she will be resigning. "Write in future tense (will) instead of future progressive tense (will be "ing").
16. Eliminate words such as "when asked" and "concluded." These are weak transitions. Just report what was said.
17. A long title should follow the name. A title that follows the name should be lowercased and set off in commas. Shorter titles that precede names should be capitalized.
18. Avoid the contractions of he'd and they'd. "He'd" can mean both "he had" and "he would," and "they'd" can mean both "they had" and "they would."
19. Always double-check the spelling of names.
20. Make sure numbers match the items listed.
21. Make sure "only" is placed properly in a sentence. The location of "only" can change the meaning of a sentence.
22. Write. Rewrite. Revise. Rewrite. Revise. Edit. Revise. Edit. Edit. The first version of a story is NOT good enough to go into print. Someone once said THERE IS NO GREAT WRITING, ONLY GREAT REWRITING.
23. Read the story out loud to catch awkward sentence constructions.




GRAMMAR
24. If "none" means "no one" or "not one," use a singular verb. Consult the AP Stylebook or Grammar for Journalists for more information. Example: None was found guilty.
25. When you use a pronoun to refer to a team or a group, the proper pronoun to use is "its," NOT they. Example: The team wants to improve its record.
26. Make sure verbs or other phrases are "parallel" or the same in structure when they appear in stories or list. Examples: He likes gardening, fishing and hunting. The fire killed at least 12 persons, injured 60 more and forced scores of residents to leap from windows.
27. Use THIRD PERSON (she, he, it, its, her, hers, him, his, they, them, their, theirs) in news stories. Only on rare occasions do you use first person (I, mine, we, our, ours) or second person (you, your, yours) in news stories.
28. When "either ... or" and "neither ... nor" are used, the verb agrees in person with the nearer subject. Examples: Neither the coach nor the players are to blame. Neither the players nor the coach is to blame.
29. Use active voice vs. passive voice. The passive voice is formed by using some form of the verb "be" with the past participle of an action verb: is shot, was shot, has been shot, had been shot, may be shot, will be shot. The word "by" may also signal the sentence is written in passive voice. Rewrite sentences to eliminate the word "by." Example: Passive voice ; The city was ordered by the judge to make the payment. Active voice ; The judge ordered the city to make the payment.




MISCELLANEOUS
30. When something isn't clear, make a drawing of it. Putting it on paper can clarify the situation.
31. WHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUT. This has to do with questionable information that may be libelous, incomplete information and information the writer does not have a clear understanding of.




NONSEXIST, NONAGEIST, NONDISCRIMINATORY COMMUNICATION
32. Avoid words that reinforce ageist, racial and ethnic stereotypes.
33. Avoid racial identification except when it's essential to communication.
34. Substitute asexual words for "man" words or sexist words.

NO	YES
mankind .......................................................	people, humanity, human beings,
	human race
man-made ....................................................	synthetic, artificial, manufactured,
	of human origin
manpower ....................................................	workers, work force, staff, personnel
man-hours ....................................................	work hours
man-sized .....................................................	husky, sizable, large, requiring
	exceptional ability
founding fathers ...........................................	pioneers, colonists, patriots, forebears
gentleman's agreement .................................	informational agreement or contract
for the man on the way up ............................	for the person or executive on
	his or her way up
for the lady of the house ................................	for the homemaker or consumer or head
	of the household
anchorman ....................................................	anchor
advertising man ............................................	advertising professional or practitioner
chairman .......................................................	chairperson
cleaning woman ............................................	housekeeper, custodian
Englishmen ...................................................	the English
fireman ...........................................................	firefighter
foreman ........................................................	supervisor
a man who ....................................................	someone who
man the exhibit ..............................................	run the exhibit, staff the exhibit
man of letters ................................................	writer
newsman ......................................................	reporter
postman ........................................................	letter carrier
policeman ....................................................	police officer
salesman .......................................................	salesperson
stewardess ....................................................	flight attendant
self-made man ..............................................	self-made person
weatherman ..................................................	meteorologist
workman ......................................................	worker
the girls (for women over 18) ......................	the women
the little lady, the better half ..........................	wife
girl Friday .....................................................	secretary, assistant, right hand
libber or women's lib ....................................	feminist, liberationist, women's movement
the ladies and the men ...................................	the women and the men, the ladies and
	the gentlemen, the girls and the boys
	(Note the parallelism in structures.)
man and wife ................................................	husband and wife
you and your wife .........................................	you and your spouse
coed (for female students at a
coeducational school) ...................................	student
ladylike .........................................................	well-mannered
housewife .....................................................	homemaker (for a person who manages a
	home); in an economic sense, consumer,
	customer or shopper
career girl or career woman .........................	refer to the woman's profession or

	vocation ; Professor Jane Jones;
	Kathy Smith, welder

35. Separate the person from the handicap. For more information, go to www.easter.seals.org/resources/press/tips.asp.

NO	YES
Mary, an epileptic, had no trouble	Mary, who had epilepsy, had no trouble
doing her job.	doing her job.
The handicapped parents met to	The parents, each with some handicap,
exchange ideas.	met to exchange ideas.

The deaf accountant spotted the error.

The accountant spotted the error.

36. Be respectful of persons with handicaps. For more information, go to www.easter.seals.org/resources/press/tips.asp

NO	YES
crippled .........................................................	impaired, limited, disabled or be specific -
	paraplegic
deaf and dumb, deaf mute .............................	deaf, hearing and/or speech impaired
crazy, insane, dull, half-witted, retarded ........	mentally ill, developmentally
	disadvantaged, disabled or limited, or
	be specific - emotionally disturbed,
	slow learner
fits, spells ......................................................	seizures, epilepsy

37. Use "he or she" or "she or he" for "he." If using "he or she" or "him or her" becomes cumbersome, consider using a plural pronoun ; "they," "them," "their" or "theirs." Plural pronouns, however, are weaker than singular ones.




ORGANIZATION
38. Make sure information introduced or outlined in the lead is covered in the same order in the body of the story.
39. Avoid introducing new information at the end of a story. All aspects of a story should usually be introduced or outlined in the first few paragraphs.
40. Transitions are necessary to show the reader that the writer has a sense of direction. A word, phrase, sentence or paragraph can move the reader from one thought to another.




PARTS OF SPEECH
41. Avoid using "like" for "as." "Like" is a preposition and takes a noun or pronoun object. "As" is a subordinate conjunction that introduces dependent clauses. Examples: It tastes like a peach. The one-time millionaire now works from dawn to dusk, as he did in his youth.
42. Most adverbs are unnecessary. Redundant adverbs weaken strong verbs. Instead of "tightly clenched teeth," write "clinched teeth." Instead of "the radio blared loudly," write "the radio blared."
43. Most adjectives are unnecessary. The concept is oftentimes already in the noun. Use adjectives sparingly.
44. Choose verbs that suggest what they mean. "Active" verbs add pace, clarity and vigor to writing. Verbs are a writer's most important tools. Avoid "be" verbs.




PUNCTUATION
45. Use a comma with "according to." Example: ... , according to the news release. According to John Jones, ... .
46. There is no comma between time, date and place. Example: The accident occurred at 4:32 a.m. Monday one-half block north of Central Dairy on Third Street South.
47. When in doubt about the use of a comma, leave it out.
48. Avoid comma splices and comma blunders. If a comma is placed between the subject (noun) and predicate (verb), it's called a "comma splice." Example: The Fountain of Youth, is not in Florida. (The comma is NOT needed.) If two independent clauses are joined by a comma, this is a "comma blunder" or "comma fault." Example: The Fountain of Youth is not in Florida, it's in Russia. (This is known as a run-on sentence. A period or a semicolon should replace the comma. If a period is used, the "i" on "it's" also needs to be capitalized.)
49. A comma should precede "such as," "especially" and "including" when these words introduce examples. Examples: The advertised price of the tour does not cover some personal expenses, such as laundry, entertainment and tips. He likes fruit, especially oranges. In newswriting, students study various approaches to writing, including the inverted pyramid, chronological, narrative, personalized and first-person. When "such as" is used with a restrictive application, the comma is omitted. Example: Magazines such as these should be thrown in the trash.
50. Quotation marks go outside commas (,") and periods (."). They go inside semicolons (";) and colons (":).
51. In a series, a comma is NOT needed before the "and." Example: red, white and blue.
52. The dash is a long mark (-- or ; ). There should be a space before and after the dash. The dash should be used before words and sentences run as lists.
53. The hyphen is a short mark ( - ) and is used to divide words or to link hyphenated adjectives. Don't hyphenate adverbs ending in "ly" with adjectives. Write "frequently misused words," NOT "frequently-misused words."
54. Use an exclamation point in only the rarest of situations and only after brief interjections. Exclamation points are "graphic tantrums" and sometimes demonstrate a lack of control on the writer's part. The order of the words in a sentence should be arranged in such a way that they make the desired impression. Let the reader decide if the content is humorous or exciting on his or her own.




QUOTES AND ATTRIBUTION
55. Use attribution only once per paragraph.
56. Attribution is needed when policy change statements are made, when opinions are expressed or when "professional" opinions from physicians, scientists, engineers and others are used. Attribution is also needed with direct quotations and indirect quotations (paraphrased information).
57. Attribution is NOT needed when facts are commonplace and not subject to dispute or when they are accepted and historically true.
58. Attribution is usually noun + verb. Example: Jones said. It may be verb + noun when the source's title follows his or her name. Example: ... ," said John Jones, chairman of the department of English.
59. Attribution should be placed at the end of the first sentence when the quote is made up of two or more sentences.
60. When one quote follows another but the second one is from a different source, attribution for the second quote should be placed at the beginning of it. This helps the reader know immediately that a different person is speaking.
61. "Said" is the best word for attribution. Other words can be used, but they should accurately represent how something is said.
62. Use past tense verbs (said vs. says) for attribution in news stories.
63. Let quotes begin the paragraph. Show them off. Quote marks attract the reader's eye. Use them to encourage the reader to continue reading.
64. Avoid the use of partial quotes. Quote or paraphrase material. Don't mix the two.
65. Each time a different source is cited, start a new paragraph.




SENTENCE STRUCTURE
66. Avoid using the same word twice in a sentence.
67. The optimum number of words to use in a sentence is 14 to 16. The average reader cannot comprehend a sentence with more than 40 words.
68. When writing becomes cumbersome, turn one long sentence into two or three shorter ones.
69. If a long sentence must be used, place a short sentence before and after it.
70. Don't have more than three consecutive prepositional phrases in a sentence. Prepositional phrases start with about, above, against, at, between, by, down, during, for, from, in, like, on, over, through, to, toward, under, up, until, upon, with ...
71. Count the words in a story's sentences. Sentence length should vary. Stories become dull when sentences are all the same length.
72. Don't start or end a sentence with "however." Start the sentence and then work "however" into it as soon as possible. This word is intended to cause an interruption in thought.
SPELLING
73. Use "Spell Check" on the computer.
74. Consult a dictionary. (Webster New World Dictionary is the preferred reference.)
75. Ask for help. Public library information desk personnel can be resourceful and helpful. Don't call university libraries for assistance.




STYLE
76. Consult the AP Stylebook and Libel Manual.
77. If the answer cannot be found in the AP Stylebook, consult a dictionary or a grammar book.
78. The order for writing when and where is time, day (date) and place.
79. Use the day of the week for six days before or after a specific day.
80. Use the date when it is seven or more days before or after a specific day.
81. On first reference, identify a person by his or her first and last names. On second reference, refer to the person by his or her last name only. On second and all other references, you don't need Miss, Mrs., Ms. or Mr. unless it's an obituary.




VOCABULARY
82. Use simple words. Never send the reader to the dictionary. Odds are the reader won't bother looking up the definition.
83. Words such as "thing" and "a lot" annoy some readers, bosses and executives. Avoid using them. (Note the correct spelling of "a lot.")
84. Be careful how the word "held" is used. Make sure the object can be "held" physically. Example: Weak ; The meeting will be held at noon Monday in Anthony Administration Building, Room 125. Better ; The meeting will be at noon Monday in ...
85. Avoid using words that qualify how someone feels, thinks or sees. "Little qualifiers" include the following: a bit, a little, sort of, kind of, rather, around, quite, very, pretty, much, in a very real sense, somewhat.
86. Avoid technical jargon unless 95 percent or more of the readers will understand it. If technical jargon is used and it won't be understood by the majority of readers, be sure to explain each term used.
87. Learn the difference between "affect" (usually a verb) and "effect" (usually a noun). Consult the AP Stylebook or a dictionary for more information.
88. Never say "yesterday" or "tomorrow." These words are confusing to readers. Use the day of the week. "Today" may be used.
89. Know the difference between its (no apostrophe for possessive pronoun) and it's (the contraction for it is). Examples: The dog has a thorn in its (possessive pronoun) paw. It's (contraction) time to go.
90. Know when to use "their" (possessive pronoun), "there" (adverb) and "they're" (the contraction for they are). Examples: It is their (possessive pronoun) project. The project is over there (adverb). They're (contraction) working together on the project.
91. Know the difference between whose (possessive pronoun) and who's (the contraction for who is). Examples: Whose (possessive pronoun) coat is this? Who's (contraction) going on the trip?
92. Know when to use "to" (preposition), "too" (adverb) and "two" (adjective). Examples: The advertising group is going to (preposition) Indianapolis. The public relations group wants to go, too (adverb). Some members are not going on the trip because it will take too (adverb) much time from their schedules. The two (adjective) groups will go to Indianapolis.
93. A person dies "unexpectedly," "apparently of a heart attack," "after a brief illness," "after a long illness," "of injuries suffered or sustained," "following or after an operation" or "of a disease."
94. In connection with suicides, it is best to say the person was "found dead" or "fell or plunged to his or her death" until the coroner completes his or her investigation. When suicide is reported, used died by suicide vs. committed suicide. For more guidelines on reporting and writing about suicide, go to www.suicidology.org/media/7.html.
95. In connection with arrests, write "arrested in connection with," "sought in connection with," "charged with" or "arrested on charges of." If a confession is involved but the confession has not been admitted as evidence in court, report only that the prisoner "has made a statement."
96. Injuries are "suffered or sustained," NOT received.
97. With murder, arrests are made "in connection with the death of." It should not be reported that a victim was murdered until someone is convicted of the crime. In obituaries, it may be said the victim was "killed" or "slain."
98. Remember two objects must be moving to "collide." If a vehicle runs into a parked one or an object, say the vehicle "struck" the stationary one.
99. Sometimes information cannot be verified. If doubt exists regarding a person's name, report the person "was listed by police as John Smith" or he "gave his name as John Smith." If a person is dead or unconscious and there is no identification, he or she is "unidentified," NOT unnamed. If there are questions about where a person lives, report "address not given" or "address unknown."
100. With fires, a building is "destroyed," NOT completely destroyed. Buildings also are damaged "lightly," "moderately" or "heavily." A fire may "gut" or "destroy" the interior of a building. To raze a building is to level it to the ground.

Tips For Feature Writing

1. Avoid Wordiness.

If you can express your thoughts in one or a few words or phrases the better. This would make your feature story more profound and would avoid the “elementary” and running-round-the-bush effect. Prefer words or phrases that are featurized and concise. The most effective way to avoid wordiness is to have a wide vocabulary.

Example: “She was not given her rights to be educated,” is good, but “She was deprived of her rights to be educated” is better. Even though the two sentences have the same number of words, the vocabulary word “deprived” makes the difference.

“He did not know what to do” could be elevated to “He was confused.”

“Was not given” and “did not do know what to do” were replaced by more exact phrases and word “deprived of,” and “confused,” respectively.

However, you can be intentionally wordy with a purpose, especially when writing a descriptive feature story.

2. Make sure your feature story triggers your readers’ emotions.

Unlike straight news, where it plainly states facts, a feature story initially appeals to the emotions of the readers. The kind of emotion the feature writer wants or aims to draw from his or her readers varies. It could bring out happiness, inspiration, motivation, loneliness, pity, sense of importance or belonging; it could also squeeze out anger, realization, or spiritual uplifting. The feature story may possess one or more of these emotions at a time depending on the writer’s will.

3. Avoid a plain informative feature story, or a plain narrative feature story.

If your feature story simply throws out information, or is merely relating a story, it would probably lead to boredom or monotony. It is highly suggested that an informative or a narrative feature story be coupled with one or more types of features, or one or a variety of emotions, as aforementioned (tip #2).

Example, an informative and inspiring feature story, or a narrative/descriptive feature story are better than a plain informative or narrative.

There is one exception though, a pure narrative or informative feature story could stand reader-friendly by its own if the information or the events in the story itself, by nature, is undisputedly interesting, which could easily draw a certain emotion, except boredom.

But, still, you should be careful in taking this risk because the delivery of information or how the events of a story are related through pen is still very vital.

4. Use words and phrases that are excitingly appropriate and related to your feature story’s focus or topic.

One of my favourite entrepreneurial books is the Gonegosyo’s celebrity edition.

Example, on page 142, Lucky Ann Llanes’ feature story on artist Dominic Ochoa’s ice cream business (Thumbs Up!) stated: “…it seemed like everything that they had planned was about to happen – scoop by scoop.” Another line expressed: “The strategy of making him the face behind the business worked so well that soon enough, Thumbs Up! Managed to have a freezing breakthroughin the industry.”

Notice how the phrases “scoop by scoop” and “freezing breakthrough” were creatively composed and uniquely used by the writer as they fit perfectly with the feature story’s topic – an ice cream business!

Karlo Jose R. Pineda, on page 26, featured Marvin Agustin’s restaurant business and penned: “More breaks came, which he deliciously accommodated.” “And so Albert [Martinez] continues, much like a well-oiled machine that just keeps on going, fuelled by passion and determination,” concluded Michelle Elaine Valete on her feature story (page 74)  about Martinez’s gasoline station business.

5. Revive or renovate old idioms.

Idioms undoubtedly enhance one’s speaking and writing; but using a worn-out idiom defiles the purpose and does nothing but the opposite. Just like how termite-infested houses need renovation, and time-stricken songs need revival, old idioms as well need a nose-lift.

Saying “She is looking for a needle in a haystack” sounds century-old. We could revive the idiom and create a newer version which doesn’t compromise the meaning, only improving your feature story. You could rewrite it in a different format keeping its essence in tacked. You may say, “The needle enshrouded in a haystack could not be found.” Rearranging the words from the idiom and injecting a vocabulary word make the sentence more interesting and thoughtful, straying away from the old idiom’s close-to-boredom effect.

Another, instead of saying “She is not used to poverty because she is born with a silver spoon in her mouth,” revive the idiom and say “The silver spoon in her mouth makes her unacquainted with poverty.”

The meaning of the sentence stays the same, but the composition and delivery of thoughts with idiom revival make the dainty difference. You also did not use the aged idiom verbatim but played with it (even omitted “born with”) giving your readers a unique and a fresher one. Also, notice the change of a phrase with a more profound, featurized, and concise phrase: “is not used to” is substituted by “unacquainted with.”