Winner
of PANPA Award for Excellence
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Monday, July 5, 1999 |
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INTRODUCTIONGet on with it!
Last week ISB student Dana Brown described his week with the Bangkok news assignment editors. He explained how news stories are selected and how the information is gathered. He also told us a little about how stories are written at the Bangkok Post. This week, with John’s help, we’ll take a close look at the final stage of the writing process – the stage where stories are made ready for publication. You will learn why news stories are usually much easier to read and than other types of stories. The job of the subs is to give a story the display it deserves and to ensure it is correct factually and grammatically. Many stories need minor trim while others need treatment that can be brutal. Our space is limited. "We may feel bad about doing this," says John, "and we know we often upset our hardworking reporters, but we have no choice."
The front-page is the biggest challenge, says John, because the Bangkok Post has a "no-spill" policy – the stories must start and end on the same page. Since the front-page stories are also the day’s most important stories, it is often difficult to decide what can be cut. Sub-editors try to save as much content as possible by cutting unnecessary words and repetition. Often cutting a single word, saves one whole line of print. Actually, sub-editing involves much more than simply cutting stories down to size. "Most of our writers are Thai," John explains, "and they are not always used to using the structure and language required for news stories. For example, unlike many local language newspapers, stories in the Bangkok Post, must quickly get to the point. We also tend to show less deference to people in high positions than has been customary in Thai journalism." Consequently, sub-editors often rewrite sections of news stories. Explains John, "Sub-editors focus on the language of the story and they have to be very good at the kind of artificial language – journalese – used in news stories." However, John says he first checks with the appropriate news editor before any major changes are made. As chief sub-editor, John also attends the nightly 6:00 p.m. meeting to decide where the day’s stories will appear in the newspaper – particularly which stories will appear on the front page. This page, he says, generally emphasises major local news items (60 - 70% of Bangkok Post readers are Thai) plus one big international story. Over all, says John, the news we receive each day at the Bangkok Post is like a "box of assorted chocolates" and the editors and sub-editors try to select items which suit our readers’ tastes. He says that they try to look for a good "spread" – some politics, even some humour – if it is in good taste. "No marmalade droppers", however, i.e., horror stories that cause people to drop their morning toast and marmalade on the paper.
Focus on the top
One of the most important jobs of the sub-editor is writing the introductions to news stories – the headlines and leads (first paragraphs). The raw stories come to them without headlines and although they have leads, these are almost always rewritten. One reason the stories come without headlines is that the original writers don’t know how much space will be available. Headlines have to be written to fit a certain amount of space and doing so is a speciality of the sub-editor. They must also be able to condense the story’s main points into five or six words, perhaps less. Also, subs like short words. Leads in the Bangkok Post are usually a single sentence of no more than 25-30 words, 35 at an absolute maximum. While they contain many facts, they must be "digestible". Incidentally, the headline is usually based on the lead and I’ll show you how to take advantage of this fact in one of the exercises below. "Discovery" exercises
Both headlines and leads in the Bangkok Post’s news section have very clear patterns. Instead of simply telling you what they are, I have designed some exercises to help you discover them by yourself. I think you’ll find that you can understand them better that way and you will also remember them better. The exercises are below. Each has instructions which tell you what to do. The last exercise ("the full introduction") is especially useful. Here is a trick you can use to understand newspaper introductions even if they contain words you don’t know: The lead almost always repeats information contained in the headline(s). To avoid sounding boring or repetitious, the sub-editors who write them often use synonyms (words with the same or nearly the same meanings). If you know one of the two synonyms, you can guess the meaning of the other. Try this technique with the exercise and then use the technique regularly when you read the Bangkok Post. Note: The answers to the exercises will appear on Thursday in my "What’s news" column of the classifieds. | ||||||||
OUR EXERCISES FROM THE BANGKOK POST
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Headlines Here are 15 actual headlines from recent stories in the Bangkok Post. First read them carefully and then try to see if you can find any patterns in the way they are written. To help you, here are some questions to consider.
Here are eight lead sentences from the Bangkok Post. To understand them, you must find and understand their subjects and main verbs. This is usually easy, but it is not always so. Fortunately, there are some clear patterns to where the subjects and main verbs are placed. Read the sentences and try to find these patterns. Circle the subject(s) in each sentence and underline the main verb(s). Here are some questions for you to consider as you read.
In the first section, I gave you examples that did not contain a very common element in lead sentences – the source. The source is the person who gave the information. Look at the example sentences in this section and determine where the source is usually placed.
News story introductions have two or three parts. They all have headlines and leads and many also have a second headline, known as the sub-headline. First read the introductions and try to understand them. Then try to guess the meanings of the words listed below. Military urged to be wary of second-hand hardware The armed forces should be careful in trying to offset budget constraints by buying used weapons of dubious quality, the deputy defence minister said yesterday.
Coma boy succumbs after nearly a month in hospital
Killer strikes as jam traps victim A businessman was shot dead in a car after a desperate attempt to escape a hired gunman on the back of a motorcycle late on Thursday night.
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FOLLOW-UP
Look at the news section of an issue of the Bangkok Post and try to find examples of the patterns illustrated in this lesson. Look at headlines, leads, and also see if you can guess the meanings of any unfamiliar words. Then look through the news section for any of the humourous stories John Hayes talked about.
TEACHERS' NOTE
From this lesson your students should learn that news stories come right to the point. They are carefully edited to help readers understand the main facts of a story quickly and easily. In fact, this is usually possible just by reading the introduction – the headline(s) and lead.
As usual, we have a guide from the Bangkok Post to help us. This week it is John Hayes, our chief sub-editor – a very important person at the Bangkok Post. I suggest that you start by having your students read about what he does at our newspaper and how he does it. Then briefly discuss this with your class.
The main part of the lesson deals with news story introductions. I have designed several exercises that will help your students see that both headlines and leads have clear patterns. Becoming familiar with these patterns will help your students understand them more easily. And since the headline contains the story’s most important points, your students will have a big headstart in understanding the whole story.
One thing I didn’t mention in the lesson, was the fact that most readers use the headline – and sometimes the lead – to decide whether or not they want to read the story. I made this point in the first lesson of the series and you should make it again this week. Your students have a free choice in what they want to read and they shouldn’t feel guilty about skipping over stories that don’t interest them.
 Subs and reporters have enjoyed a "cat and dog" relationship for centuries; it is the nature of the trade. |
The answers to today’s exercises will appear on Thursday in my "What’s news" column in the classifieds. Next week: Reading news about the environment. Our guide will be Wasant Techawongtham, Deputy News Editor for Environment and Urban Affairs |