A few tips in acquiring basic journalistic skills. Six general attributes of a good journalist: A talent for communicating Integrity A drive for excellence A quizzical mind A passion for accuracy The ability to work well under pressure Journalists who do not recognise this write for themselves and in so doing, fail to communicate. It is quite possible to write an entire story or colum or broadcast without communicating to your audience, even though the report may be grammatical, accurate and factual. The first rule in communicating is therefore to recognise your audience. If, as journalists, you write for your audience, you tend to express yourselves clearly and succinctly. Once you know and recognise your readers, listeners or viewers, it is easy as communicators to deal with questions of good and bad taste,ethics and sensitivities. Further, writing for the reader, listener, or viewer saves us from being overcome by our own self-importance and therefore saves us from being ponderous and pompous. Excerpt from -HANDBOOK FOR CARIBBEAN JOURNALISTS (see below) Of all the legal problems which impinge upon the journalists task of bringing news and information to the public, and there are many, libel is the commonest, and overall the most expensive. The same applies to commentators and makers of television documentaries. It follows that any journalist starting out on his career, in whatever medium, it is well advised to learn at an early stage how to recognise stories which are potentially libellous. In fact, it does not require any amount of special knowledge or skill to identify defamatory statements. Most people know when a statement exposes someone to hatred, ridicule, or contempt or lowers him in the estimation of right-thinking members of the society generally. The real skill for editors, sub-editors and reporters in relation to libel is in knowing when statements that can be construed in this way may be published with a reasonable degree of safety. Where an article has been recognised as being defamatory and therefore potentially libellous it normally falls upon one person, usually the editor, to decide whether it should be published. Before reaching that decision, he or she is likely to practice to give detailed thought to the following three questions: Is the story true? Can it be proven to be true(Or is it covered by one of the other defences to libel?) Is the subject of the story likely to sue? Excerpt from-LAW AND THE MEDIA(TOM G. CRONE) see below
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 15:46:14 +0000