UNIT 2 TYPES OF NEWS REPORTING:

OBJECTIVE, INTERPRETATIVE,
INVESTIGATIVE AND CRIME
Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Lead
2.2.1 The Who Lead
2.2.2 The What Lead
2.2.3 The Where Lead
2.2.4 The When Lead
2.2.5 The Why Lead
2.2.6 The How Lead

2.3 The Body

2.4 Different Types of Reporting
2.4.1 Objective Reporting
2.4.2 Interpretative Reporting
2.4.3 Investigative Reporting
2.5 Crime Reporting
2.5.1 Crime As News
2.5.2 Fires
2.5.3 Homicides
2.5.4 Accidents
2.6 Let Us Sum Up
2.7 Glossary
2.8 Further Reading'
2.9 Check Your Progress: Model Answers

2.0 OBJECTIVES
I

The unit is designed to help you to understand whw newspaper reporting is. At the
end of the unit you will be able to:
@ describe the importance of reporting in a newspaper;
@ enumerate various types of reporting: objective, interpretative, investigative and
crime;
@ explain the procedure of reporting; and
@ describe the qualities of reporters and their reports.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In Unit-1 we dealt with the definition of the news, news values and sources u:' 11c.h;
This unit is on newspaper reporting and the main components of a news rvpcrr bhr
body and the lead. We shall acquaint you with different types of reptwting.

The next unit, i.e. Unit-3, will be on the qualities and the resprsnsib~:iticxoi' ,t rcpsrter.
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Activity 1 7!
ou must have seen a road accident. You must have reaa ahi~uib ~ i ! s BLCGL i t..
newspapers several times. Therefore, it can be presumcil :ha: yc:: artx .#,.,:,. I

with the way it is reported/ written. I

I
1
'Now engage yourself in an activity.
Recollect a road accident that you have witnessed last.
Visualise the event again.
In the space provided below, write an introductory sentence in a manner as if
you are writing for a newspaper. The sentence must be between 20 to 25
words.

2.2 THE LEAD

The lead should contain the essence of the story. It should give the reader an idea of
what the story is about and help the copy desk or the sub-editor to pick a suitable
headline for the story.
Needless to say, a good lead should arouse the reader's curiousity and egg him on to
read the rest of the story. It should be precise and crisp and made u p of short, simple
sentences.
Rudyard Kipling, who worked as a journalist with the then British-owned "Pioneer"
during the Raj days, wrote:
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew),
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
1send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me
I give them all a rest.
The lead should answer the five W's- Who, What, Where, When and Why -and
How. A few examples are given below:
2.2.1 The Who Lead
Mr. Suraj Bandookwala, 65, an industrialist and formet President of the Indian
Gunmakers' Association, died in the J.J. Hospita! in Bombay on Monday morning
after a prolonged illness. He suffered from lung cancer and had undergone surgery
'both in India and the USA.,
2.2.2 The What Lead
The collision between two buses of the Delhi Transport Undertaking on the Ridge on
Friday, killing five passehgers and injuring 14 others, was attributed by an official
spokesman to poor visibility due to heavy rains.
2.2.3 The Where Lead
The hill town of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh lay under a blanket of snow on Tuesday
morning after heavy snowfall over-night.
2.2.4 The When Lead.
Almost at the same moment that the Prime Minister was aksuring agitated members
of the Lok Sabha about a definite improvement in the situation in terrorist-hit
Kashmir, the Home Minister at a press conference was expressing grave concern
about the escalation in violence.
2.2.5 The Why Lead
A boy and a girl, both in their teens, committed suicide by consuming poison in a
 Delhi hotel on Sunday because their parents objected to their plan to marry.

2.2.6 The How Lead

A Japanese mcuntaineer was trapped in a blizzard 150 kilometres from Kathmandu
and died on Thursday before rescue teams could reach the spot.

Activity 2
In the precedi,ng! paragraphs, you have been acquainted with various types of
leads one may come across while reading a newspaper. Now, get hold of a
newspaper that you subscribe to at home:
spread out the front page.
list all the headlines in the columns provided below in the format.
analyse each and state what kind of a lead it is in the column.
give reason(s) for your decision in the column provided in the format.

I Sl. No. News Headlines .Leads Reasons I

2.3 THE BODY-

While the lead should arouse the reader's interest, the body should sustain it. The
body should flow smoothly and logically from the lead. It should expand each of the
r points mentioned in the lead and, as far as possible, in the same order. The body
should be as complete and as tight as possible. It should provide all the relevant
information within the shortest space possible.

The essence of good journalistic whting is brevity and simplicity. Do not use two
words where one word would do. And do not use a complex or long word where a
short word would do.
Eventually, you should reach the point at which, choosingJhe story structure becomes
second nature to you. This will, of course, come with experience and practice. You
will then begin concentrating on the more creative and experimental aspects of
writing.
A good reporter will spenU
-me not sifiig in the office but visiting
places and meeting people who are potential sources of news. He should always keep
his ears and eyes open. He should know where to go for the facts he needs for the
story, recognise news when he encounters it, select the vital points for inclusioo in his
story and discard the inconsequential details.
' Check Your Progress 1
I
I
Note: i) Give your answers in the space provided below.
ii) Compare your answers with the ones given at the end of this unit.
1) What is the relation between the lead and the body?

2) What are the two main points of a good piece of journalistic writing?

3 ) What are the five W's of a lead?

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2.4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF REPORTING

Let us now turn to different types of reporting such asobjective, interpretative

investigative and crime reporting.

2.4.1 Objective Reporting

Reporting o'f news, unlike editorial writing, is often described as a coldly impersonal
job. A reporter is essentially a story teller and he should tell the story in an objective
and tpthful manner, without lacing it with personal opinions or subjective comments.
He should be fair and impartial and present both sides of the story.

Complete objectivity is a mere concept. The reporter is a human being, not a robot,
and he has certain ideas, feelings, attitudes, opinions and prejudices. However, a good
reporter should try to rise above them and tell the facts as he has collected them in his
search for truth.

No responsible reporter would behave like the notorious American jounalist, Janet
Cooke, who won the prestigious Pulitzer prize in 1980 for a story about drugs which
was later proved to be fictional and fictitious. The journalist committed a deliberate
fraud by dramatising a fake scene in which an eight year-old boy is injected with
heroin supplied by the lwer of the boy's mother.

Nearer home, the story of "mass rape" at a students function in a Madhya Pradesh
town, published in a national newspaper was found to be baseless. When the report
appeared on the front page of the newspaper it caused a sensation. The Editor asked a
reporter to investigate. On arriving in the town the reporter first questioned the
reporter of the news item, who insisted that the mass rape did take place. By way of
corroboration he produced a number of eye-witnesses. However, when they were
crossexamined and asked specifically to reveal only what they had seen, and not what
 tney naa heard, the investigator soon realised that the reporter had written the story d N- ncpa(~ag:
on the basis of a bazar gossip and filed it without verifying the facts. All that had -c-,4
hvdigdimulche
happened was that during a function t%celebrate the annual day of a local college, a
'portion of the shamiana came down, the electricity got cut off and a few students
entered the women's enclosure and molested some of the girls.

There is this apocryphal story of a cub reporter, who, on his first day at work wrote a
piece with a cocksureness which was misplaced. On reading the piece, the editor
advised him to be cautious and a little circumspect when writing about sensitive
issues. The press, the editor reminded him, must not ordinarily violate the various
laws on the statute book concerning libel, national security and parliamentary
privileges.

m e next day the cub reporter submitted a s t o q which ran as follows:

"Mrs. Gulab Paniwala, alleged wife of Mr. Rakesh Paniwala, who claims to be
the mayor of Shangrila, gave a cocktail party at her house in Model Town on
Monday to bid farewell to Mrs. Jyoti Jariwala, reported to be the wife of the
well-khown industrialist, Samar Jariwala. A-mongthose present at the party
were Mrs. Romi Puriwala, said to be the widow of the late Hansraj Puriwala,
former cabinet minister, along with her alleged offspring, Jani Puhala...* and
so it went on.

he reporter had quite clearly gone to the other extreme in writing this report which
was quickly consigned to the waste paper basket.

In reporting news, you must remember that facts are sacred. You must check and
cross-check the fdcts froni different sources until you are absolutely sure of them.
Only then should you write your story. The golden rule is: tell the truth.

Objective reporting is, of course, not synonymous with dullness. It means fair and
impartial reporting that is free from personal bias or prejudice.

Activity 3
The following news item is taken from the front page of Tbc Hindustan T W ,
New Delhi, Saturday January 22, 1994.
Read the item carefully:

BJP SC wing C8Stigatrs sbiv Scm

New Delhi, Jan. 21 (HTC) In a sisnif~cantdevelopment, tht BJP's Scheduled
Castes wing today came down heavily on the Shiv Sena, for spearheading a
violent agitation against the renaming of the Marathwada University after
Dr. B.R. Ambtdkar. The significancelies in the fact that the BJP and the Shiv
Sena are alliance partners in the State.
While the BJP itself has been fighting shy of launching a frontal attack on the
Sena since no finaldecision has been taken on snappingelectoralties with it, the
BJP leadership has apparently given due autonomy to the party's Scheduled
Castes Morcha, to lambast the Sena for its attach on the Mts.
Ncrr E m 1 The dilemma, which the BJP faces in deciding on its stance, vis-a-vis the Sh~v
Sena, was palpable at the party's Press briefing today. While Mr. Bangaru
Laxman, pmident of the Scheduled Castes Morcha, was forthright in hi attack
on the Sena agitators, party spokesman Krishanlal Sharma was guarded in his
comments.
When Mr. Laxman stated that his party had only entered into a seat adjustment
with the Shiv Sena, and that there was no alliance as such, Mr. Sharma gently
intervened to say that there was an alliance between the two parties at the
State-level. This, however, did not mean that the two had to agree on all
matters.
"It is not that our electoral alliance has come to an end. As for the future, we
have not taken any decision." Mr. Sharma said, "On certain issues we agree to
disagree", he said adding that this should not be taken to mean the end of the
alliance as such.
In contrast to Mr. Sharma's measured sentences, Mr. Laxman in a statement on
the Marathwada incidents observed: "The misguided agitators, led by Shiv
Sainiks, are indulging in acts like torching school buildings, libraries and
defiling Dr. Ambedkar's statues, apart from burning Dalit colonies and their
petty shops."
Mr. Laxman, responding to queries, said the BJP's SC Morcha had "honest
differences" with the Shiv Sena. "We have expressed our differences", he added.
Mr. Laxman said the incidents of burning, looting, stabbing and destruction
that had been let loose in Marathwada "make every Indian hang his head in
shame". He $aid it was a long-cherished dream of the Dalits to rename the
Marathwada University after Dr. Ambedkar as a tribute to the father of the
Indian Constitution and social revolutionary.

Would you consider it as an 'objective report? i

r 1 Yes [ IN0
Give reasons for your answer in the space provided below: !

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2.4.2 Interpretative Reporting
Interpretative reporting, as the phrase suggests, combines facts with interpretation. It
delves into reasons and meanings of a development. It is the interpretative reporter's
task to give the information alongwith an interpretation of its significance. In doing
so he uses his knowledge and experience to give the read:r an idea of the background
of an event and explain the consequences it could Idd to. Besides his own knowledge
and research in the subject, he often has to rely on the opinions of specialists to-do a
good job.

In the USA, the first important inputs t o interpretative reporting was provided by
World War-I. Curtis D. MacDongall writes in his book Interpretation Reporting that
when the First World War broke out, most Americans were taken by surprise. They
were utterly unable to explain its causes. This led to changes in the style of reporting.
The result was that when in 1939 the Second World War began, an overwhelming
majority of the Americans expected it o r at least knew it was possible.

MacDongall says that a successful journalist should be more than a thoroughly

trained journeyman. With his reading of history, economics, sociology, political
science and other academic subjects, an interpretative reporter is aware of the fact
that a news item is not an isolated incident, but an inevitable link to a chain of
important events. An interpretative reporter cannot succeed if he is hampered by
prejudices and stereotyped attitudes, which would bias his preception of human
affairs.

Interpretative repqrting thus goes behind the news, brings out the hidden significance
df an event and separates truthfrom falsehood. Trpa of N e m Rqwrthg:
ObJcctlve, kntapretrtlve.
hTeYtiptlre lad Clime
Example-1 : The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha took place in July. The
interpretative reporter would give the reader the breakup of the results and acquaint
him with the impact they would have on the various political parties and on the
composition of the Upper House. He would, for instance, inform the reader that the
Congress Party lost its majority in the Rajya Sabha, following the elections and that
the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged asthe main opposition, pushing the Janata Dal
to third place. He will then explain the effect it would have on the working of the
Rajya Sabha and on political party affairs ge6erally.

Example-2: The election of the new President of India took place in July. The
interpretative reporter would not only convey the bare news of the victory of
Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma but, analyse the reasons behind it and reflect on the
consequences of his victory for the future of the Congress and opposition parties.

Check Your Progress 2 I

Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.
ii) Tick the right answer,'wherever necessary.
iii) Compare your answers with the ones given at the end of this unit.
I) How will you define objective reporting?

2) Complete objectivity is a mere concept.

[ ] True [ ] False

I 3) Can an objective reporting be interpretative?

[ ] Y e s [ IN0
4) Can an interpretative reporting be objective?
[ ] Yes [ I No
5) Name the event which gave impetus to interpretative reporting in the USA.

6) Janet Cooke was awarded the

i
[ 1 Noble Prize [ ] Pulitzer Priice
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1 Activity 4 ,I
The following article has been taken from the "Mainstream" Saturday,
September 18, 1993. Vol. XXXI No. 45.

Read the article and point out the elemen~tswhich made this report an
interpretative one.

I An Eye Opener
/ I
I Nilofar Rizvi
A few signatures on the dotted line at t h e Geneva "peace" talks-is this really
I
what the conflict in Balkans needs to be ,resolved by? A splash of ink on paper
symbolising a new turn of politicking ,in old Yugoslavia. To this end, the
participants in well-ironed suits, each on lthe slightly plump side of health, have
traversed fruitlessly, perhaps, luxuriou:sly, to and fro from Geneva while
thousands continue languishing in the warr-torn Bosnia.
The Bosnian crisis hhs certainly served as an eye-opener on several fronts. The
glory of being the only superpowerdoes not sit easily on the United States'head.
Rather, as President Clinton stepped into office, 'without any clear foreign
,
policy agenda, and still is, any such claim would be equivalent to praising the
, -
 nonexistent dress of the king. With Soviet Union no more an arch contender
for global prowess, the United States apparently is not pressurised to step into
every actual or potential trouble spot of the world.
Inaction on the Bosnian front in comparison to the Gulf war against Iraq will,
probably, be a classic illustration of this for times to come. The US approach
has even prompted the resignation of four American government officials.
Missile attacks have been carried against Iraq, merely to preempt a reported
plan to assassinate one man-the former US President, George Bush-while
genocide has been allowed to continue in Bosnia. E,ven the considera.tion to air
strikes has been given in the wake of Serbians triumphing on their territorial
gains.
Is this not in itself a fragile cover on the potentidy brewing more dangerous
designs of the Serbs? For the present, they may accept the so called "peacen
plan, taking it in their hearts, as only the end of a riuccessful phase against the
Bosnian Muslims. After a lapse of time, the Serbr, may very well get down to
"ethic cleansing" again:to extract more territorial g~ainsfrom the Croats and the
Muslims. It is stranger than fiction, that thouglh the Serb leaders, as war
criminals, were not allowed to move out of Washington, peace is being held with
them, with the future of thousands at stake..Paradoxically, the UN forces are in
hot pursuit of the warlord, Aideed, in Somalia to apparently punish him for his
actions. Is action against warlords and/ or war crirminals being decided by some
code, perhaps, colour, region -East and West, or who knows-religion, or is it
simply a dress code?
Today, when the communicakion network is devei oping and spreading the world
over at an unprecedented ipeed, rhetorical diplomacy and action, cannot
deceive the world audience for too long, o r perhaps not at all. Clinton's
campaign promise on the Bosnian front lnas been one such issue. The
consideration of American air strikes and the ciming is yet another example. So
far, the talks have not led to any constructfire approach to the cessation of
conflict, or )he normalisation of arduous strains the society is suffering form.
While the conflict continues, the survivors arrt only sinking deeper in what seems
to be a long-lasting quagmire. War or "pr:aceW, the trophies of the ongoing
conflict are not limited to the survivors' sovereigns-their disfigured bodies,
lost family members, the symbols of whose memories have also been lost in the
destroyed houses.
At the global level this marks a lesser expectation of the US playing any effective
role in other potential hot spots, particularly those without oil. Irrespective of
whether the US has adopted this approac.11on the Bosnian front out of its own
choice, or under the influence of regional politics, it marks, perhaps, the
beginning of another phase in global politics, the decline in the remaining
superpower's importance.
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2.4.3 Investigative Reporting

It is difficult t o define the term "investigative" journalism. Some newspapers scoff at
the very idea of a n investigative jourilali st. In one way, of course, "investigative"
journalism is a redundant concept, since all stories require some kind of investigation
I

f on the part of the reporter. However, the investigative reporter is expected to dig
I deeply beyond the facts stated in the hard news. Though we may face difficulty in
i
I
defining the term, we cannot ignore the concept of investigative journalism. Many
i journalism students have an ambition to become "investigative" reporters. An
"investigative" journalist sees himself as the conscience of society, pursuing corruption
'in high places without fear or favour. In his book Press m d Law (Vikas, New Delhi
1990), Justice A.N. Grover has quoted from the foreward of Investigative reporting by
Clark R. Mollevhogg. According to the Foreword, investigative reporting has three
elements:
It has to be the own work of the reporter. Under no circumstance should it be of
others;
The subject of the reporting should be such-that it is of importance for the readers
to know; and
There must not be any attempt made to hide the truth from the people.

Investigative reporting has made great leaps in western countries. In India, it is still in
its infancy. Most Indian newspapers do not have, or do not allocate, the manpower
and funds necessary for a first-rate Envestigative job.

Attempts at investigative reporting, to quote one eminent Indian editor, are like
drilling for oil. A fair amount of wastage of effort has to be taken for granted. But
when the oil is discovered and becomes marketable, the sense of achievement is
usually more than in any o t k r sector of journalistic enterpihe.

The best example of investigative reporting in our times, was the Watergate story
which led to the disgracc and downfall of U.S. President Richard Nixon. When the
two young reporters of The Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
started investigating the arrest of four men for a burglary at Watergate, the
Democratic Party's national headquarters on June 17,1972, they had no idea that
their inquiry would culminate in the resignation of the President. The remarkable
thing about their investigation was that it kept to the highest standards of professional
journalism. The reporters did not start gunning for Nixon from the beginning. They
merely pursued the burglary attempt and only later came up with startling facts
linking the White House with it. "We did not go after the President, we went after the
story", they explained.

Though the Washington Post stories led to the downfall of President Nixon, the same
paper, later in 1980, got involved in the most celebrated case of journalistic fraud in
modem times-the case of Janet Cooke, already described in this unit. Janet Cooke's
case gives a clear wrning that every story whether "investigative" or not, should be
handled by editors with great care and caution, otherwise, it will bring the newspaper
to disrepute. Z.J.Herbert Altsehull in his book from Milton to McLuhan (Longman,
New York, 1990) states how thie Janet Cooke story got into the Washington Post. An
internal investigation by the newspaper's Ombudsman, Bill Green, blamed "failure of
a system" for not checking up thoroughly on Cook's story. The failure to check was in
part, Green said, the result of the fact that Cooke was black and that white editors did
not want to be seen as racist. The Cooke's story appeared in the Post on 28 September
1980 and the edition featuring 8 Green's report appeared on 19 April 1981. Cooke was
fired from the Post and was forced to return the Pulitzer Prize.

Let us return to Indian situations. In India, investigative reporting started making a

mark after the end of the internal emergency in 1977, particularly through the reports
published in The Indian Express.

In our country, investigative reporters have brought to light a number of scandals-

the Bhagalpur blindings incidents by the police, Kuo oil deal, A.R. Antulay's private
trusts, the securities scam involving Indian and foreign banks and stock brokers, etc.
An enterprising reporter once got himself arrested so that he could give a first-hand
account of life in Delhi's Tihar Jail.
 With governments becoming increasingly secretive and corruption spreading its
tentacles far and wide, the need for investigative reporting cannot be over emphasized.
Yet we must remember that investigative reporting is not everybody's cup of tea. It
requires hard and sustained work. The investigative reporter should be a combination
of a crusader, super detective and blood hound and he should have the necessary time
' and finance t o carry out his work.

In the pursuit of hi quarry, the investigative reporter must draw a line between
candid reporting and muck-raking, mud-slinging, character assassination or
blackmail. He should base his report on incontrovertible facts, not on half-truths and
lies. He should be wary of lobbies and lobbyists-political or commercial-trying to
misguide him. And he should not behave like a peeping Tom or a prosecutor.

The best kind of investigative reporting is that which keeps the public interest in
mind. It may highlight an injustice, expose corrupt practices or unmask dishonest
politicians and bureaucrats.

Experience has been that unless an investigative reporter or a crusading reporter gets
?he support of the judiciary, the executive or the legislative, cannot bring his reports
to logical ends. The Bhagalpur blinding report would have ended like any other report
if a public interest litigation would not have been filed against the police. In the
USA the Watergate stories would not have produced any result if they did not get
the support of the legislative which threatened the impeachment of President Richard
Nixon.

Check Your Progress 3

Note: i) Use the space provided for your answers.
ii) Tick the correct answer wherever necessary.
iii) Compare your answers with the ones given at the end of this unit.

1) Why are some people opposed to the concept of investigative reporting?

2) Name the US 2nd Indian newspaper which gave a big thrust to

investigative reporting in their respective countries.

3) Can an investigative report be ~bjective?

[ ]Yes [ IN0
4) Can an investigative report be interpretative?
I ]Yes I I N 0
5) Should a journalist be
[ ] a journeyman
[ ] a scholar
[ ] full of enthusiasm and do something for the cause of the public.
 2.5 CRIME REPORTING
- Crime reporting is not separate from the objective, intetpretative and investigative
form of reporting. Here it is separately dealt with because it is a separate and
important beat in all big and medium level daily newspapers.

There is a tremendous public interest in crime stories and no newspaper can afford to
ignore them without damage to its circulation and credibility. Attempts made by some
newspapers to keep crime out of their columns, proved to be counterproductive and
were soon abandoned.

Crime is a part of life and it is a newspaper's duty to inform the readers of what
crimes are going on in their city, state or country. However, crime reporting should
not aim at satisfying mopbid curiousity or sensation mongering.

Although crime reporting is usually assigned to one of the junior reporters in a

newspaper, it is a highly responsible and specialised job. The reporter should not only
have the ability to shift the grain from the chaff, and the truth from lies, he should
also have good contacts in the police and other departments of the administration as
well as a working knowledge of the penal codes and law on libel and other relevant
matters.

Besides, he must observe a code of honour. He should be as objective as is humanly

possible and avoid resorting to sensationalism or cheap gimmicks to catch'the
attention of the readers. He should not suppress news of public interest. Nor should
he seek to settle personal scores with police officers or lawyers or judges. And he must
be careful that in the. course of this work, he does not unnecessarily invade a citizen's
privacy.

There has been much criticism of press reporting of crime and not all of it is baseless.
Some reporters have been found quality of unethical standards, thus causing much
pain and sorrow to their victims or their families and friends.

In the case of the brutal murder of two Bombay nuns, some newspapers published
totally baseless allegations conveyed to them by irresponsible police officials that the
nuns were in the habit of r&ceivingmale visitors. The reports offended all decent
citizens, particularly the members of the Christian Community.

A leading newspaper once published a fictitious report about a couple having been
waylaid by a gang on the national highway. The report said that the husband was
beaten up and the women was molested. The story was subsequently-found to be
incorrect, the p;$Guct of the imagination of a reporter anxious to get his by-line in-the
paper.
I
Reports glorifying the activities of criminals or making heroes of them should be
discouraged as much as a resort to sensationalism. The crime reporter must never
violate standards of decency and good taste.

2.5.1 Crime as News

There are several types of crime news-murders, fires, accidents, robberies,
burglaries, fraud, blackmail, kidnaping, rape, etc.

2.5.2 Fires
The reporter must get his facts correct about the essential elements of a fire story-
the number of persons killed or injured, the extent of damage to property, the loss of
vsuuables, etc. He must also find out if the fire brigade responded in time or was
guilty of delaying the fire-fighting operations through sheer lethargy or incompetence
or a lack of water supply. He should question eye-witnesses about any acts of bravery
or cowardice. All these are essential ingredients of a fire story.

The lead in a fire story would normally suggest itself. If, for instance, lives have been
lost, it needs highlighting in the lead. Where possible, list the names of the dead and
the injured.

Example: A major fire caused extensive damage to New Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan,
the premier venue of international and national conferences, on Monday night.
A chowkidar on duty received minor burns.

According to preliminary investigations, the fire broke out in 'the kitchen and
soon spread to other rooms on the ground floor. The chowkidar raised an alarm
which alerted the head clerk on duty who informed the fire brigade and the
police. Ten fire tenders soon arrived on the scene. However, their fire-fighting
operations were hampered by lack of water in the hydrants. By the time water
tankers rushed t o the site, the fite had engulfed a large area and damaged files,
furniture, curtiiins and ceilings.

The police suspect electric short-circuit as the cause ofthe fire.

2.5.3 Homicides
In cases of a major murder, the reporter should rush to the scene as soon as possible
after receiving a tip and gather all the relevant facts. In nine cases out of ten, crime
reporters in, say,.Delhi, depend on police information about murders and there is a
'time lapse before they can begin their investigations.

This often hampers their search for the truth. The reporter must, in any case, exercise
great care in how he handles the story. Otherwise he runs the risk of causing offense.

In reporting dowry deaths or alleged dowry deaths, for instance, the reporter should
refrain from levelling uncorroborated statements by one party or the other. He must
therefore get his facts correct -by talkiyg to the investigating police officer, the girl's
in-laws and her parents, and, if possible, the neighbours.

Example: A 25 year old housewife, Sushmita Malik, died in Pant Hospital on

Monday morning from burns received in a kitchen fire. The housewife's parents
allege that she was murdered by her in-laws who had been dissatisfied with the
dowry she brought at the time of her wedding a year ago.

Howevei, the husband, Keshav Malik, a garme,lt merchant in Chandni Chowk,

and his father who were in the house at the time of the accident maintain, that
Sushmita's sari caught fire when she was lighting a stove in the kitchen. Since
the kitchen door was closed, they did not hear her cries for help.

The police are questioning the women's relatives as well as neighbours and are
reluctant to offer an opinion until the investigations are complete. At the
insistence of Sushmita's parents, however, they have registered a case against her
in-laws.

2.5.4 Accidents
Most accidents are reported on the basis of police bulletins or information supplied
'by police spokesmen. However, wherever possible the crime reporter must rush to the
scene of a major acGdent to give authenticity to his story.

Example: Three rpembers of a family -husband, wife and daughter -were

killed on the spot when a speeding truck remmed into their car on the road to
 Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday morning. A fourth member of
the family had a providential escape. According to the police, the truck driver
lost control of the vehicle and swerved sharply to the right and hit the car
coming from the opposite direction.

Those killed are Ramkishore Singh, a businessman of Agra, his wife, Sumitra
Devi, zind their daughter, Sapna. The second daughter, Tanuja, had a
miraculous escape and suffered only minor bruises on her arms and legs. She
was treated at the Safdadung Hospital and allowed to go home.

The truck has been seized by the police but the truck driver, Milkha Singh is
absconding.

Check Your Progress 4

, Note: i) Write your answers in the space provided below.

ii) Tick the correct answer wherever necessary.
I iii) Check your answers with the ones given at the end of this unit.
1) a) Do you think the names of rape victims should be avoided in stones?
I
[ 1 Yes [ I No
b) Sensationalism should be a necessary part of every story.
[ ] True [ ] False
c) I~vasionof one's privacy for just to satisfy morbid curiosity of readers
isn't ethical in journalism.
[ ] True [ ] False
d) during any communal riots, should a newspaper observe restrain in
reporting facts?
[ ]Yes[ I N 0
2) What can be the difference between Interpretative reporting and
Investigative repnrting?

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Activity 5
We have come almost to the end of the unit. We have had discussions on
various types of reporting. You have engaged yourself in some activities which
helped you to get first hand experiences on different aspects of reporting. Now,
in this activity, analyse a local newspaper and determine the areas of focus of the
news3aper.

First write down in a note book all the headings of the newspaper chosen.

Classifying them as per the following:

- Objective Report
- ~nterdretativeReport
- Investigative Report
- Crime Report

You may come across some news items which could be considered both as
Investigative and Interpretative reports, or investigative and objective etc.
Consider them as such anyway, because a news item may be a combination of

I two or three types.

 r

Once you complete categorising all the news items, calculate the percentage of
each (total news item of a category divided by the total number of news items of
the newspaper multiplied by 100) category of news items and determine the
thrust.

I The following proforma may be of help to you to complete the activity: I

Name of the newspaper:
Date of the issue:
Total No. of news item:

Objective
Reports
Interpretative
Reports
Investigative
Reports
Crime
Reports I
2.6 LET US SUM UP
'
Newspapers are essentially news organs. A reporter is to a newspaper what a brick is
to a mansion. A good reporter should have a "nose for news", the ability to ferret out
' information, and the felicity to write it in simple words keeping accuracy and
conciseness in mind. Objectivity is an essential quality required of a reporter.

An interpretative reporter must, in addition, have adequate background of the events

he is writing about and a capability to bring out their real relevance and significance.

An investigative reporter should have courage, industry, enterprise, patience and

stamina to follow the story methodically and logically and put it together in the
proper sequence and in the clearest terms possible. He should be guided solelyaby
public interest, not by private profit or personal glory.

2.7 GLOSSARY

Assignment: a reporter's designated task

Beat: a reporter's regular territory for news coverage
Box story: a story enclosed in a box to give it prominence
By line story :a signed story
Caption: explanation of a photograph or illustration
Copy : manuscript
Copy desk: desk where copy is edited and headlined
Crusade: a newspaper campaign for reform or improvement
Cub :an unseasoned reporter
Dateline: place of origin and date
Deadline: the time when a story must be completed
h k e :fraudulent story
Flash: a message giving the first brief news of an event
Lead (pronounced lead): introduction of a news story
Libel: a flase or defamatory story
Newshawk :a reporter '

Nose for news: aptness for sensing news

Running story: a story that continues over a period of time
Scoop :an exclusive story
Sleuth: reporter specialising in stories involving exclusive investigations
Slug: notation placed on copy to identify the story
Story :an article written by a reporter
Yellow Journalism: sensational, irresponsible journalism

2.8 FURTHER READING

Roland E. Wolseley (Eklitor): Journalism in Modern India. Asia Publishing House,

New Delhi.
M.V. Kamath: Professional Journalisfn, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi.
S.K. Aggarwal; Investigative Journalism in India, Mittal Publications, New Delhi.
Curtis D. MacDougall(1966,4th Ed.): Interpretative reporting, Macmillan Co. New

2.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: MODEL ANSWERS

Check Your Progress I

I) The lead should arouse the reader's interest in the story. The body should
sustain that interest.
2) i) Brevity
ii) Simplicity
3) i) Who
ii) What
iii) Where
iv) When
v) Why

Check Your Progress 2

1) Objective reporting means fair and impartial reporting free from the
reporter's personal bias or prejudice.
2) No
3) Yes
4) Yes
5) First World War
6) Pulitzer Prize

Check Your Progress 3

1) The opposition to the concept of investigative reporting is due to the fact
that most reporting involves some sort of investigation.
2) Washington Post
Indian Express
3) Yes
4) Yes
5) A Journeyman
A Scholar
 FuH of enthusiasm to do something for the .=use of the public.

, Cbeck Your Progress 4

1) a) No
b) False
c) 'True
d) Yes

2) Investigative reporting deds with the subject matter where an attempt is

being made to hide the truth from the people. On the other hand,
interpretative reporting does not always deal with facts deliberately kept
'hidden from public view.
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J