Basics

A good vocabulary is essential for the journalist, because words are the raw materials of communication. But word power alone is not enough; we also need to master syntax, the craft of construction, before we can be effective writers.

Another training module based on material from The News Manual, used with permission. Here we will discuss: who journalists are and what they do; why people become journalists; and what qualities you need to be a good journalist.

A journalist has no right to intrude on the personal lives of others except in cases where doing so will serve the public interest. We need to be crystal clear on what we mean by public interest.

A sub-editor is happiest when given copy that reads well and needs little rewriting. A writer or reporter is happiest when their copy is printed with the fewest changes to their original.

Punctuation is designed to make reading easy. It is the written counterpart of those pauses and verbal inflections which make speech understandable.

Reporting about conflict and working in a conflict zone is complex. The journalist needs to be sensitive, have an understanding of history, be aware of cultural issues, and put people before the story. 

These are a few thoughts (some of them adapted from The Economist’s style guide and those of other respected newspapers) for journalists writing and editing copy in English.

Style differs from sentence construction (syntax) in that it cannot be quantified; it has no precise rules. This is inevitable because style is concerned not so much with the mechanics of English as with the manner in which the writer uses language to play on the sensations of the reader.