FUNDAMENTALS OF EDITING
#Introduction to – Reporting Skills#
#dialjio#
#teaching#
#eenadu#Saakshi#tv5#
#tv9#ntv#
#cbn-abn#
#ys-jagan#
Objectives :
- To know what is Editing and fundamentals of Editing.
- To learn the techniques of proof reading and jargon of editing.
Structure of The Lesson :
7.0 Objective
7.1 Introduction
7.2 What is Editing?
7.3 Role of News Editing
7.4 Min Points to Keep in Mind While Editing The News
7.5 Jargon of Editing
7.6 Heasdlines
7.7 Summary
7.8 Self Assessment Questions
7.9 References
7.1 Introduction :
Newspapers, vastly complex juggernauts today, are the products of team-work by three mutually antagonistic species – reporters, sub-editors and assistant editors. Reporters traditionally see sub-editors as ignorant meddlers who mangle reportable prose into feeble stories. Sub-editors see reporters as ignorant, full stop. The solitary point of agreement between these groups is that assistant editors are lay box wallahs who get too much money for too little work. As for assistant editors, the accepted wisdom is that a; others are shudras.
There is no business like news business. For all the table-top wars that go on during the daily grind of bringing the news to the waiting millions, some facts are self evident. Reporters are a paper’s infancy, the front room boys, the eyes and ears, the ambassadors the world meets every day. Assistant editors are the in-house think tanks who churn out the editorials, comments and special features that are awaited each day by the concerned minority.
Sub-editors are the master chefs. They take the ingredients provided by the reporters, the agen-cies, the assistant editors, the cartoonists, the photographers and whoever else has edible items to contribute, sift and cut and mix them, add their own spices in the form of rewrites and headlines and prepare the whole paper into as delectable a repast as they can manage to be served attratively to the reader. They are the last post, the goalkeepers at their desk the buck stops. The term sub-editors is used for convenience. It represents the body of people who produce the paper, collectively called the news desk. The typical news desk is headed by the news editor and consists of the general desk manned by chief sub-editors who preside over shifts, the sports desk, the business desk and the district desk.
This lesson delves into the whys and what of editorial skills; it is useful to get two fundamentals established right away. Editing is an ell-embracing exercise of the multiple skills that go into the art of communicating. Its only aim is to make everything in the paper readily understandable for the reader; everything must be easy to find and easy to read. This is achieved by using simple and direct language, employing techniques that ensure a sense of coherence and continuity throughout the paper, and devising a presentation style that is at once attractive and highly utilitarian.
Much of editing including typography and layout is a matter of good taste and clear thinking These traits are either in born or acquired through association and personal observation; they cannot be learned from textbooks.
7.2 What is editing?
It is, in a general sense, correcting the language and making a written account readable. But in the newspaper world, it is something more.
EDITING
!
- a) Correcting
!
- b) Rewriting
!
- c) Headlining
- Correcting the copy consists of four aspects :
- Correcting the language
- Correcting facts, if the given facts and figures are wrong;
- Capitalization, punctuation etc., and
- Maintaining continuity of narration.
- Rewriting is a difficult task and one should be extremely careful in rewriting any copy. While rewriting a copy fact given in the original should not be altered or supplemented unless, of course, one is sure that the facts given in a report are wrong.
For example :
Youth’s Attempt to insult Mr.Naidu…….attempt to disturb Naidu’s meeting Mrs. Gandhi Unrepentant………. ‘Poor are still with congress’ Claims full support of poor – Mrs. Gandhi’s Claim
For the accomplishment of the above tasks, various reporters collect the news through the sources in their allotted beats and sent it to the news through the sources in their allotted beats and set it to the editorial department. Various news agencies also send news through the medium of teleprinters or by other means. The Chief Editor assisted by his assistants, makes necessary changes in the form and presentation of the news collected through various sources; language and other mistakes are corrected. The Chief Sub-Editor has the knowledge of the news left over by the composing department, new adver-tisements from the advertisement department and the dummies of these advertisements, the news collected through other assistants, photos, cartoons, maps, etc. He, thereafter sends the dummy of various pages to the make-up man.
The Editor and the News Editor also send their infromation to the Chief Sub-Editor for publication in the future edition. When the proof is received from the composing department, the proof reader makes necessary corrections. The make-up man makes the first and other important pages. Space is left to accommodate any last news. After predetermined rime. the composed matter is sent to the press for publication.
7.3 Role of News Editing :
Three things are very important for the news editing: Relevance, place and time. Brevity is the soul of wisdom; it is an important function of an editor to make the presentation of news in brief; without waiting for detailed description; if a news is kept pending for getting more details, it becomes stale by the time it goes for printing. As a general tradition, most of the important news is given in the front page of a newspa-per; the art of brevity plays the role here. Readers do not get satisfaction if they do not get answers to what, where, who, why and How. It needs more wisdom to make a news brief; lengthy news tend to bore the readers.
Before dispatching to Press :
Before dispatching the material press, the Chief Sub-Editor examines critically the copies edited by the sub-editors and the headings allotted, with a view to avoid the possibility of pen-slip. The sequence of dispatching the news material to the press should be done in the order of the priority in terms of impor-tance of the news. There are some short news which are used as ‘fillers’.
Intro :
An intro (the abbreviated form of ‘introduction’) is the lifeline or the complete news. The news agencies and reporters make intros in their own styles; there are as many intros as many there are the news. An intro must be short and according to the gist of the news. It should not consist of more than 40 words and its language should be straight and simple.
Importance of Facts :
The facts are sacred for a journalist ad not the views; therefore, the importance should be given to the facts; the views should be secondary. The views can differ, not the facts, The facts, therefore, should take priority over the views and analysis.
Editing the Lectures & Speeches :
For editing lectures & speeches, it is advisable to underline the important points; it helps in writing the intro and also makes easy the work of editing. For selection of the important points of the lecture, it is better to lay emphasis on its analysis, the principle matter, the concluding phase and any punch lines, etc. Such parts should be taken out separately during the process of editing; these can be presented as independent news also.
Date line :
The date line of any news indicates the sequence of the history of the events & activities. Many reporters avoid giving date line on the local or regional news, such news, however, include the date & place of the event in the intro. Writing misleading words like ‘today’ or ‘tommorrow’ in the news having no dateline put the readers in confusion.
Embargo/Early news :
Some of the news throw light on important functions, celebrations or conferences, or about some important guests/personalities, or on the history of some organizations. Such matter should be published on the proper day and date. For this reason, the news reports received through teleprinters carry directions on the top ‘not to publish before the indiciated date i.e, ‘EMBARGOED’.
For example :
A story on Mahatma Gandhi is slated to be published on October 2nd only. Then it is marked as embargo.
Free News :
Free news are in themselves are completed and independent; they can, of course be edited.
Development oriented news follow in sequence, one after the other, their editing be done just before the last instalment.
7.4 Main Points to Keep in Mind While Editing the News :
- A sub-editor should select the news after ascertaining the authenticity. It should always be kept in mind that any news copy, the authentically of which is doubtful, should not be selected for publication. Truthfulness of the printed news should be the ultimate aim of the sub-editor.
- Writing intro is an important duty of the sub-editor. Intro should be striking and capable to catch the attention of the readers. It should include all the important hints pertaining to the news. The heading should advertise the news.
- One paragraph should include description about one fact alone. The length of paragraph should be reasonable; long, descriptive paragraphs make a lifeless and dull reading.
- No important matter should be added at the end of a paragraph; there is possibility of its pruning at the time of the make-up of the page.
- Due care should be taken to express day and date using words like today, tomorrow etc should be avoided.
- Some of the news are sent in advance for publication on some specified day and date. It is the reasonability of the sub-editor to ensure that such news is not published before the specified time.
- There is excess flow of the news in the editorial department during functions, press meetings and elections of parliament and legislatures, etc., all the collected news cannot be published. The news related to public interest and on current issues have to be se lected. Long lectures can be broken into parts and published under separate sub- head ings.
- A sub-editor must have the knowledge of the press laws. A slight slip in this regard can result in heavy losses to the newspaper. He should also see that certain standard in the presentation and impartiality maintained.
- A sub-editor has to keep pace with the time. Time is limited and he has to accomplish various tasks apart from maintaining liaison with various other departments.
- The language should not be indecent or uncivil and long and complicated sentences should be avoided. The language should be simple.
- Every newspaper differs in its presentation and style. It melds spellings, punctuation marks; capital letters beginning a paragraph use of quotations/abbreviations etc., there is standard format for this purpose for maintaining uniformity in the style of a news paper.
7.5 Jargon of Editing :
The journalist has to read regularly as a many local and national newspapers and magazines as possible to know their style, the language of their articles, their length and types of illustrations. This knowledge will well equip him to know two things: one the exact requirement of newspapers and maga-zines. The other, how one’s articles can be tailored to meet their requirements.
Most of the articles written by correspondents, regular contributors and freelance journalists appearing in our newspapers and magazines are written in journalists style. This makes free use of journalistic word and phrases. They constitute journalistic jargon. Readers are familiar with them.
Journalistci jargon is for many reasons. It makes the articles readable. It more ‘punch’ into the sentences. Its descriptive value is great. Lastly, it leaves an indelible impact on the reader.
- Here are some examples of journalistic jargon:
- In the foreseeable future
- A bright sunny tomorrow
- A rosy future of great promises
- Snow-clad distant mountain peaks
- An emaciated fame untouched by our plans
- Towering stalwarts of the turbulent Gandhian era
- Scheming heartless captains of industry
- Ominous signs of the on-going event
- On the wind – swept bank of the Godavari
- A sad reflection of the tumult and turmoil of the age
- Quietly agree to disagree loudly
- Overflowing milk of human kindness
- The turbulent blue waters of the legendary Krishna
- An increasingly serious challenge gathering momentum
To be successful writer of articles, the journalist must have a good command of the journalistic
jargon.
This will enable him to make good use of the jargon while writing articles. He thus improves the chances of his article being accepted by the editor.
However, a note of caution for you here. Journalists must write with restraint, making minimal use of the jargon to ensure the clarity of their message. In other words, too much use of the journalistic jargon will obscure the message. This should not happen.
7.6 Headlines :
All Headline writers today aim at telling the news succinctly and correctly. Headlines are their means of grading or indexing the day’s news according to the judgement of the news desk. They are also a high-visibility tool in maintaining the familiar look and character of a newspaper. There is consensus on the central role headlines play in ‘Packaging’ news.
Headlines of any news is indicative of its gist. It plays a very important role in the news world, like the mouth of the human beings. A headline represents the essence of nay news. It makes the news attractive and introduces the subject matter of the news. It makes the news attractive and introduces the subject matter of the news. Every newspaper has its own style of giving headlines for the news. The heading should be short, lively sharp and must qualify the subject matter. News looses its value in the lack of a proper heading. A heading is often compared with the skirt of a woman, which balances the covering and uncovering. A heading should be thrilling and exciting .
Objects of Headlines :
There are three main objects of the headlines.
- Notification of the news
- Highlighting the essence of the news and
- Make the presentation of the paper more eye-catching.
Specialties of Headlines :
- Headlines should be clear and meaningful.
- Use of proper and weighty words.
- Headlines should be based on the basic facts.
- The headline should reflect the essence of the news.
The choice of headings or the headlines reflects the policy of a newspaper at one sight.
Types of Headlines :
Typecasting the headlines is not possible, but given below are few examples of the types of healines.
- Question Headline
- Quotation Headline
- Banner
- Left Indent Headline
- Right Indent Headline
- Kicker
- Boxed Headline
- Inverted Headline
- Deck
- Factual Headline
Banner Headline :
The bold type headline spread on the top of front page of a newspaper or journal is called Banner. Literia meaning of ‘Banner’ is ‘Flag’. As a flag flutters high, the banner headline also highlights the most important news in the publication. In other words the banner headline brings to the general focus the mist important news.
For Example :
Mrs.Bhutto Assassinated
Factual Headline:
The headings which are built keeping in view the facts of the news. The headings, in such cases, represent the basic facts of the news. One needs not adding anything to the heading at his own.
For ex: Happy News :
Tiger population up in MP
Increase from 145 to 277, says Government.
Question Headline: As the name itself says the headline is in the question faormat.
For example: Elections to be advanced?
Similarly the other headlines also can be found from the daily newspapers
Effective Layout :
Layout is the device with which a newspaper achieves typographical dynamism and unity of character. The secret of orderliness is layout. The sole objective is to help the reader locate and peruse the day’s news with absolute ease. In layout, as in typography some inbuilt aptitude is necessary for a sub-editor to become an expert. Where none exists, extra effort needs to be put in so that one can develop a working understanding of what is competent in desingning. Layout and make-up are often used synony-mously. For purposes of clarity we may see layout as the master plan based on which the make-up of a page is carried out.
Technological advancements have always been affecting journalism. Linotype setting made bastard measures and half-column cuts fashionable among make-up artiists at one point. Phototypesettiing has lately pushed the element of white space to the forefront of make-up considerations. Paginations on the video screen enforced its own compulsions on how to put a page together.
While some elements of make-up have undergone changes under the impact of modernity or technology, every newsmen knows that newspaper stories should be broken up into very short para-graphs. News stories should ideally have parts of varying lengths to facilitate make-up.
Cross-heads, also known as sub-head are another purely physical typographical stratagem that has survived changing perceptions of make-up though not as universally as horizontal make-up coming to the fore, they have become less necessary. But they are still preferred to devices such as bold indent whenever, a column of type is deemed to be in need of eye relief.
The basic elements that go into an effective layout are balance, weight and eye movement Therefore the layout conscious sub will be helpless without a dummy sheet which has been explained in the next lesson.
The soul of newspaper desing in news and its communication to the reader. The approach there-fore has to be communication oriented, not decoration-oriented. A designer approaching the challenge without a full understanding of news and news value cannot work out a newspaper desing compatible with the primary aim of news communication. The best dispensation of all is when journalists develop expertise in the technicalities of design and look after their paper’s layout. Design is another specialty in the cluster of specialties that add up to modern editing.
7.7 Summary :
Editing is to journalism what the soul is to the human body. Therefore, for anyone starting out to be journalist learning the art and skills of editing is mandatory. Although very few pratitioners of the profession fully realize the real significance of editing, in effect everyone practices it. Many believe that editing is nothing but to make the copy smooth and readable. But the task is not really that easy. Editing is not one job, it includes rewriting, lead writing and giving a headline. Writing is only one of the skills of editing. Editing is an all-embracing exercise of the multiple skills that go into the art of communicating. Its aim to make every thing in the paper readly understandable to the reader; Everything must be easy to find and easy to read. This is achieved by using simple and direct language, employing techniques that ensure a sense of coherence and continuity throughout the paper, and devising a presentation style that is at one attractive and highly utilitarian. This lesson dwelt on many aspects of editing including introducing jargon, defining headlines and designing effective layout etc.
7.8 Self Assessment Questions :
- Define editing and explain the techniques of editing?
- How are headlines and layout are importing in editing the newspaper?
