Writing skills of press releases
Many people are engaged in or interested in journalism, including various media reporters, social media correspondents, special correspondents, journalism majors and so on. As the saying goes, "Everything is difficult at the beginning". As a person who is interested in journalism, it is very important to write a good first news article. Combined with specific practical experience, this paper will make the following comments:
1. Cultivate news tentacles and news sensitivity
What is news sensitivity or news tentacles? In short, it is the keen ability of journalists to identify news. A newsworthy thing, others can't see that it is news, but you can recognize it at once, which is news sensitivity. It is difficult to write a decent press release without certain news tentacles and news sensitivity. A passage by Casper yost, an American journalist, in the book Principles of Journalism vividly expounds the importance of news sensitivity to journalists. He said: "a person who is not good at distinguishing colors cannot become a painter;" A person who doesn't know harmony can't be a musician; A person who is not' news-sensitive' cannot become a journalist. " (1) Cultivate news tentacles and news sensitivity, and be good at finding news clues, so that when things are still "at the end of qingping", they can sensitively detect it and foresee its whereabouts, thus writing a press release more easily.
With certain news tentacles and news sensitivity, you won't feel that "a clever woman can't cook without rice", but you will be excited to find that "life is full of news". News clues can be found in places where there seems to be no news, such as going to work, eating, traveling on business, staying and riding. Published in the People's Daily newsletter "Xinfeng Restaurant has a new style" (2), which is the news that the reporter found when eating. The reporter who wrote this fraudulent communication went out for an interview one day and couldn't get back to the newspaper office for dinner at noon, so he dropped in at Beijing Xidan Xinfeng Restaurant. The restaurant is already crowded with people. The reporter was standing at the dinner table and hesitated. An enthusiastic old waiter greeted him with a smile and quickly helped the reporter find a seat. Compared with the bad service attitude of other restaurants, the reporter immediately felt that there was news here. After some interviews, the reporter wrote this newsletter, which set a good example for restaurants.
Of course, news sensitivity is not innate, but is acquired by journalists' continuous training in their interview practice. Journalists who are new to the news, needless to say, lack news tentacles and news sensitivity, and even do not have basic news knowledge. However, after a period of journalism practice, they studied hard and worked hard, and finally they became journalists with certain news sensitivity and writing ability.
second, accumulating news materials, choosing good news topics and finding the right news angle are the prerequisites for writing the first press release.
Lao She, a people's artist, once said to young people who are just learning to write: "Collect materials first, the more the better." Zhou Libo also believes that "it is not easy to do without materials." A foreign reporter said, "Do you want to do something? * I can't write for 8 hours, I have to be a reporter for 24 hours. " All these indicate the importance of accumulating materials for writing. As a reporter who is a beginner in writing, he should pay more attention to accumulating news materials. News material is a life phenomenon that enters the reporter's field of vision and is picked by the reporter, that is, the original material that has been absorbed from social life and has not been refined and processed. Without the accumulation process of news materials, there is no question of news writing. As a reporter, to accumulate news materials, we must attach importance to our "notebook". Gogol, a French writer, has a notebook with nearly 511 pages. He always likes to write down anecdotes, aphorisms and proverbs he sees and hears all the time in this notebook. He said, "A writer. You should always carry a pencil and paper with you like a painter. It is not good for a painter to waste a day without drawing a picture. If a writer wastes a day. It is also very bad not to write down an idea, a feature. " Every journalist, if he wants to write a good press release, must form the habit of taking notes on the spot and accumulate all the relevant materials he sees that may produce news. A reporter's "notebook" accumulated during several years of interview will become his "wanbao bag" for news writing and research.
News materials are selected, concentrated and refined, and some of them are written into news works by journalists. We often say: "Collect materials with one as ten, and use materials with ten as one". It is a normal phenomenon that there are many materials interviewed and few materials used in the manuscript. However, if we don't try to improve the utilization rate of news materials and let a large number of materials with life breath "rot" in our notebooks, it is a great waste. One of the most common mistakes made by journalists who are beginners in news reporting is that they don't pay attention to the use and selection of news materials. They wish they could not pile all their interviews into press releases, or they don't know how to write when faced with a lot of news materials. So how can we improve the utilization rate of news materials? An important way is to turn wonderful news materials into news subjects as much as possible. We should choose those materials that are true, have great news value and conform to the news policy as the news theme, and make the selected materials novel, vivid and distinctive, which can help to explain, contrast and highlight the news theme. It is not completely useless without being selected as the material of news theme. It can also be used as a news background to strengthen the depth of news reports; Or as a journalist's life accumulation, help reporters capture and deepen the theme; Or apply it to other news genres to make comprehensive use of news materials.
Angle is a concept borrowed from natural science in news writing. The angle of reporting is the result of the reporter's thinking method of understanding the reported object and his comprehensive reflection of the level of grasping the "side" of the reported object. To a certain extent, it can explain the process of journalists processing the interview materials and mining the news value of the materials. How do a lot of materials scattered in notebooks and memories get into the established track of news? Finding out the special reason why it constitutes news opens a breakthrough and a door for journalists to enter the world of materials; At the same time, finding the most acceptable angle for readers is essentially a summary and sorting of materials, and plays a "guiding role" for readers to understand and accept facts.
Life is colorful, and there is a lot of information for us to capture and choose. The same news fact, choosing different angles to report it will have different effects. Especially in school, it takes the school year as the unit, and many educational and teaching activities, cultural activities and life learning methods are characterized by periodic cycles in time. For example, the first half of each year is the period of graduates' employment, the autumn is the time for schools to recruit new students, there is Teacher's Day every year, and students go to factories, schools, institutions and rural areas for internships every year. If every year's news report only reports the activity itself, instead of choosing a new angle and starting point, finding a new angle to observe people, things and problems, and starting from a certain side of people, things and problems, giving readers new information, it is bound to make the written news lose its mind and deja vu, and readers will lose their interest in reading, even if they read it, it will only be dull and like chewing wax, thus making time lose coverage. The angle is whether the choice is appropriate or not, which determines the success of news to a certain extent. The choice of the best angle can turn mediocrity into freshness, boredom into vividness, superficiality into profundity, and even news into old news.
To write a good press release, we can pay attention to the following angles:
First, the ideological angle. Inspiring thoughts can often attract many people's attention, and strengthening ideological strength is the most important new angle. For example, the activities carried out by party constitution Group in a class are not big news in terms of scope alone, but they are worth reporting from the perspective of strengthening ideological and political study.
second, from the perspective of characteristics, some festivals are celebrated in the same way every year, but if we find the characteristic content of the activities in that year to report, we can write valuable news.
Third, from the reader's point of view, we should pay attention to the issues that are closely related to the material life and spiritual life of teachers and students in the whole school, and choose the "small things" that happen in the study and life of teachers and students, so as to enhance the appeal of news. As a college reporter, as long as you often go deep into the classrooms, dormitories, libraries and sports fields of your classmates, pay attention to their study and living conditions, understand their opinions and demands, and start with their opinions and demands, and what they care about and want to know most, you can write meaningful news.
fourth, time and space angle. The importance of some news facts will change in different periods and different spaces. Some facts that happened last year are not news, but what happened this year is news; Some facts that happened in college A were not news, but happened in college B were news. Some events and topics need to be solved urgently in a certain period of time, which can promote the actual work; Some problems have become the focus of teachers and students in a certain period of time.
Third, mastering the general skills of news writing and refining the news theme is the key to writing a good first press release
To write a good news manuscript, journalists must master the general skills of writing in various news genres. If you are learning to write the first press release, you should at least do the following:
First, basically master the skills of making headlines. The title is the eye of the article. If a news release has a novel and unique title, it can attract the attention of editors and readers as firmly as a magnet.
second, learn to write a lead. The lead is the beginning of the message and the most valuable part of the message. Some people in the foreign press call the lead a "grasping hand", which is the attraction of the lead. Without a good lead, it is not a successful press release.
Third, I am basically familiar with the writing and structure of various news genres. If you are not familiar with the basic writing methods of various news genres, you can't write news with ease. The layout of news articles determines the "value" of news articles in the eyes of the audience and editors to a certain extent < P > Fourth, understand and master the basic method of news writing-speaking with facts. Placing facts and speaking with facts are the unique charm of news and the irreplaceable value of journalism. Novice journalists often use their own subjective evaluations and assumptions to replace a large number of important news facts, making the news they write empty or meaningless.
It is the proper meaning to improve the value of press releases to nurture news themes. The news theme is the main theme of a report. When we write anything, we must have a clear purpose, what to show and what to reflect. If there are countless things in our hearts, we will be scribbling and not knowing what to say. If we want to reflect journalists' basic attitudes and views on life phenomena and social problems, and make the news reports written attractive, inspiring and guiding, we must pay attention to refining news themes. Yuan Mei in Qing Dynasty spoke brilliantly about the issue of "theme thought". He compared beautiful sentences to a lot of copper coins. In ancient times, the outer circle of copper coins was inside, which could be worn with a rope. A string of copper coins was called "consistent". Yuan Mei thought that the theme of the article was like a rope for wearing money. If you don't have a clear theme to command your words, what you wrote is like copper coins scattered all over the floor, which can't be used. For example, Xiao Lang and a Japanese girl got married (3), which won the first prize of the good news of the national college newspaper in 1986, if the author only described the marriage itself lightly, instead of standing at the height of "writing a new chapter for Sino-Japanese friendship" and Japanese girls yearning for China and pursuing self-existence, it would not make this news enlightening and educational, and it would not be a good news.
The news theme is the soul of the whole report, which is hidden in the news material. Once we dig it out, it will dominate the whole report and become the central content of the whole report. We should stand at the height of the times and society, adhere to the principles of seeking truth from facts, being unconventional, being close to life, and putting readers first, and refine and deepen the news theme by using the methods of tracing to the bottom, comparing and contacting, and reading from a small perspective.
4. Ask humbly and contribute boldly is the necessary process to write the first press release
As a reporter, due to the lack of systematic study of news knowledge, his experience in news writing is minimal, so it is inevitable that writing the first press release is not satisfactory. The most convenient way to make a press release basically reach the level of publication is to ask questions with an open mind and not be ashamed to ask questions. First, consult a reporter with certain experience. Journalists who have engaged in certain news interview writing practice have certain news practice experience, and can solve some specific problems in campus news interview in a targeted manner, so that beginners can make fewer detours and master the basic skills of news writing as soon as possible. And reporters get along with each other day and night, which is easy to approach and communicate, and can greatly shorten the revision time of press releases; First, consult editors, journalism teachers and social media teachers. Editorial teachers can correct and know journalists' news interview and writing according to the reporting ideas and basic requirements of newspapers and their own experience of readers' psychology and news writing. Journalism teachers can give guidance mainly from the general rules and skills of news writing, so that the written press releases can meet the requirements of news theory. Social media teachers can guide writing from the perspective of social time practice in an all-round way, which will lay a good foundation for future journalism.
the time for consultation can run through the whole process of news interview writing. How to cultivate news sensitivity and find news clues can be consulted; How to draw up an interview outline, choose a good news theme, refine and express the news theme can be consulted; How to make the news written more in line with the requirements of news writing, more exciting, but also should humbly ask seniors and teachers for advice.
after a news summary is written, you have to contribute boldly. Some journalists who are new to journalism either think that their works are too shy to be published, and even if they are written, they are afraid or unwilling to send them, or they always demand the quality of their manuscripts too much, so they miss the opportunity to report. If you don't take the time to contribute actively, you will let others take the lead. Even if you write well, it can only be counted as another practice.
of course, bold submission is not blind submission. If there is no purpose, it is an unprepared battle, and even the best manuscript may sink into the sea. Therefore, as a reporter, we must seriously study the media, including its layout structure, column setting, reporting style, publishing (or broadcasting) cycle and even the composition of the editorial department, editor's name and contact number. It's mailed, and we need to find out the mailing address to ensure that the submitted articles are sent to the editorial department without fail. In this way, before writing, we can guide our own creative ideas and methods according to the characteristics of the media and make necessary restrictions on the content and form of writing; After the press release is written, it can also be delivered to the corresponding pages, columns and editors of newspapers and other media in a targeted manner, thus greatly enhancing the probability of news release appearing in newspapers (or broadcasting).
In short, as a beginner journalist, only by being brave in practice, making bold attempts, conducting in-depth interviews, diligently writing, and constantly improving the skills of news interview writing can he write more and better news works
Personal experience: writing good news, mainly writing good news. Because news is the main body of news.