NEWSPAPER ORGANISATION

Organizational structure of a newspaper

Journalism is not concerned only with writing and editing of newspaper and periodicals.
The gathering and transmission of news, business management, advertising and other
processes connected with the production of a newspaper also come under the purview of
journalism.

The organizational set-up varies from newspaper to newspaper depending upon the size
of the newspaper and the different services catered for the readers. Generally speaking,
most of the newspapers have three main departments- editorial, business and mechanical.
Editorial wing
The editorial/news department is the heart of a newspaper. It deals with news, features,
comments, columns and editorials. At the head of the department is the editor or editor-
in-chief. The editor is assisted by the city editor, or chief reporter who has a team of
reporters to cover the local events. In some newspapers, there are separate desks for
national and foreign news, which are fed by new agencies and also by papers own
correspondents. The editor is also assisted by critics in special fields such as theatre,
music, films, etc. One important desk and its functionary head, i.e., the copy editor edits
the copy and writes headlines.
The editor of a small newspaper combines in himself almost all the functions, i.e.,
gathering, editing and printing of news. He also solicits advertisements and look after the
business side of the paper.
Business department
The second important department in a newspaper is the business department, which earns
revenue for the newspaper. It is divided into two main division- advertising and
circulation.
The advertisement department may have further sub-divisions such as advertisements for
local display, classified advertisements etc. It may also have a research bureau and an art
section to help in the preparation of advertisements.
The circulation department deals with the dispatch of copies to the city and beyond the
city through road, rail and air. It may also have a promotional wing to boost up the
circulation of the paper.
Mechanical department
The mechanical department generally is divided into four parts-composing, engraving,
stereotyping and press. In the first, the copy is set into type. The engraving wing is
concerned with photos and drawings and makes cuts for printing. In the stereotyping
room, the plates for the press are cast in the molten metal from the page form. The papers
are printed, folded, trimmed, counted and delivered to the mailing section by the press
room.
The bigger newspapers have also separated administrative or coordinating as well as
promotional departments. The administrative department looks after administration of
different departments while the promotional department deals with all the promotional
work in respect of advertisements and circulation. Also, it helps to build up the image of
the newspaper and endeavors to earn goodwill and understanding of the clientele.

STRUCTURE OF THE EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT OR NEWS ROOM

Atop the editorial hierarchy ranks the editor or an editor- in- chief who plans and directs
the day to day operations, supported by a team of news editors, chief sub editors, senior
sub editors and sub editors. The news desk usually operates in shift and each shift is
headed by a chief sub, also called as ‘slot man’. Ideally in a newspaper, it is the news
editor who plans and directs page making while the chief sub helps implement his
decisions. Reporters and sub editors are the pillars of organizational hierarchy. The chief
reporter supervises the bureau while the chief sub editor supervises the desk. The
hierarchy of authority in the reporting and editing section is given below.
Editor/Editor-in-Chief

The editor holds the key position in the newspaper organization. He is responsible
for the editorial content of the newspaper including everything from comics to
news stories to editorials. It is the editor who can be sued for libel, who can be
hauled up before Court, Parliament and legislatures for contempt.

A good editor of a newspaper is aware of the scope and interpretation of news.

He takes all important decisions connected with the publication of news and
expression of opinion on vital national and international issues and events.

News editor
The actual news production process is handled by the news editor in a
newspaper. All major decisions regarding coverage of news stories are taken by
the news editor in consultations with the bureau chief. The news editor
coordinates the news collection process, the editing and the final presentation of
news.

Chief sub editor

Chief sub editor ensures that copies are judiciously distributed among the sub
editors and also ascertains that the copies are edited properly and that they
conform to publication style and editorial policy. He may initiate or reply to
correspondence regarding material published or being considered for
publication.

Sub editors
The sub editor or copy editor is described as “the mid wife to the story” and “an
unsung hero of a newspaper”. Sub editors work on the copy prepared by
reporters. They have no direct involvement in news events. Still they make the
copy attractive. He/she select news events, remove unnecessary parts and
arranges available information in order. He/she has to check and recheck facts,
style, grammar, etc. while editing a story in newspaper. They are also required
to put suitable headlines for each story. A good copy editor is an intelligent
reader, a tactful and sensitive critic. As the saying goes "any fool can write, it
needs a heaven born genius to edit”.

Reporters and freelancers

Reporters are people who know how to dig out information whatever the source
and no matter how hidden or obscure it is. A reporter gathers news and writes
for his/her organization. A newspapers reputation and credibility depend on the
reporters. A reporter should have a nose for news, i.e., an understanding of news
and news values and the ability to recognize a story when it comes along.

Reporters should be skilled at:

1. Seeing and hearing.

2. Taking notes.

3. Finding information.

4. Asking questions.

5. Checking and verifying information.

6. Analyzing and interpreting information.

Besides these skills reporters should also possess such qualities as alertness,
curiosity, speed, punctuality, integrity, tactfulness, fearlessness and clarity of
mind.
Freelancers
Freelance journalists are not attached to any newspapers or magazines. One who
writes on all kinds of topics in several newspapers and periodicals without having
a regular payroll is known as freelance writers.
Freelancers quite frequently keep in touch with media organizations and do
assignments as per their needs. With a view to meeting their needs, freelancers
have to complete these assignments as per the schedule of the publications.
Virtually, anybody can be a freelance writer. You must have the grit,
determination and willingness to work hard besides possessing a good language.

Roles and responsibilities of a Journalist/Reporter (in-detail)

The main duty of a journalist is to act as an interpreter of the world around. The
journalist observes the events, transmits facts about the event and act as an
interpreter of these events and happenings.
A journalist performs the following roles:
1. Make people aware of the contemporary world.
2. Inform and educate the audience.
3. Promote art and culture.
4. Entertain the mass.
5. Help people in decision making.
6. Make people sensitive to burning issues.
7. Instill good moral values.
8. Make people aware of their rights.
9. Help people in comparative study of past and present and in predicting future.
The MacBride report spells out journalistic responsibilities as:
1. Contractual responsibility in relation to their media and their internal
organization.
2. A social responsibility entailing obligations towards public opinion and society
as a whole
3. Responsibility or liability deriving from the obligation to comply with the law.
4. Responsibility towards the international community relating to respect for
human values.
Ethics of journalism
It includes principles of ethics and of good practice to address the specific
challenges faced by professional journalists. The basic codes and canons
commonly appear in statements drafted by professional journalism association
and individual print, broadcast and online news organizations.
While various existing codes have some differences, most share common
elements including the principles of- truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity,
impartiality, fairness and public accountability- as these apply to the acquisition
of newsworthy information and its subsequent reportage to the public.
Professional and ethical standards for journalists
1. As the press is a primary instrument in the creation of public opinion, journalist
should regard their calling as a trust and be eager to serve and guard their public
interest.
2. In discharge of their duties, journalists should attach due value to fundamental
human and social rights and shall hold good faith and fair play in news reports
and comments as essential professional obligations.
3. Journalists should observe special restraint in reports and comments dealing
with tensions, likely to lead, or leading to civil disorder.
4. Journalists should endeavor to ensure that information dissemination is
factually accurate
5. Responsibility shall be assumed for all information and comments published.
If responsibility is disclaimed, this will be explicitly stated.
6. Confidences shall always be respected. Professional secrecy must be preserved.
7. Any report found to be inaccurate and any comment on inaccurate reports shall
be voluntarily rectified
8. Journalists shall not exploit their status for non-journalistic purposes.
9. Journalists shall not allow personal interest to influence professional conduct.
10. Journalists shall not accept or demand bribe to give or delay publicity to news
or comments.
11. Freedom in the honest collection and publication of news and facts and the
rights of their comments and criticism and principles which every journalist
should always defend
12. Journalists shall be conscious of their obligation to their fellows in the
profession and shall not seek to deprive fellow journalists of their livelihood by
unfair means.
13. The carrying on of personal controversies in the press in which no public
interest is involved shall be regarded as derogatory to the dignity of the profession
14. It is unprofessional to give currency to rumors or loose talk affecting the
private life of individuals.
15. The press shall refrain from publishing matters likely to encourage vice and
crime.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF NEWSPAPER’S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

• Analyze and capitalize various attributes and requirements of print and

digital media to strengthen editor’s position.
• Manage and produce news to present information with accuracy, flow, and
within time frame.
• Design innovative and unique solutions to optimize routine news coverage.
• Monitor and use multimedia, nonlinear and alternative storytelling
strategies to widen readership base.
• Manage and edit contents to cater to readers’ requirement and provide
detailed information for same.
• Work within creative environment to respond to various competing
priorities.
• Prepare work schedule and deadlines and encourage team members to meet
targets to facilitate timely publication.
• Design and implement coverage strategies to facilitate wide coverage of all
 sorts of issues and news.
• Provide training to news reporters on how to select news for existing
readership and gain new readers.
• Coordinate with colleagues in he newsroom and other departments to
define priorities for same.
• Coordinate with internal and external customer service to obtain optimum
workflow.
• Evaluate all new for authenticity and check with sources to ensure
correctness of published article to avoid conflicts.
• Collaborate with reporters, editors and photojournalists and anchors to
facilitate efficient news coverage to strengthen company’s position in
media market.
• Administer technology backup such as computer graphics, stingers, maps,
editor’s software to make news presentation attractive for readers.
• Manage and edit daily news, special news stories and periodical items with
help of video editing tools to facilitate video telecast.
• Monitor all feeds from news bureaus and other agencies for editing and
further publication.
• Provide assignments to freelance photographers and prepare reports for
current news trends new readers and sustain existing readers.
• Mainly he is responsible for the selection of news stories.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF SUB-EDITOR

Editing is the process of preparing language, images or sound for presentation
through correction, condensation, organization and other modification (usually
done by the sub-editor).
Copy editing is the process by which an editor makes formatting changes and
other improvements to the text. A person who performs the task of copy editing
is called a copy editor. A copy editor mostly reviews and edits reporters copy for
accuracy, content, grammar and style. They also provide catchy headlines for the
story. The following tasks are their responsibilities
1. Ensuring accuracy
2. Trimming unnecessary words
3. Polishing the language
4. Correcting inconsistencies
5. Making the story conform to style and editorial policy
6. Eliminating passages in poor taste
7. Eliminating libelous statements
8. Making certain the story is readable and complete.
Editing process
The main consideration in editing is to tell the story in fewest words possible.
Basic principles of editing lies in its process. The process of editing consists three
phases namely, selection, correction and rewriting.
Selection
The selection of news to be covered is based on the editor’s personal and
professional judgment. The main factor in that judgment can be summed up in a
single word: Newsworthiness. Newsworthy stories are generally those that offer
the most information with the most urgency to the most people.
Correction
Another consideration is respect for accuracy. It means looking out for small
factual errors, which disfigure an otherwise good story. Editing involves making
sure words are spelled correctly, language is used properly, punctuation is in the
right places and spelling is accurate.
Rewriting
Don’t be afraid to ask for a re-write. Try not to rewrite the entire article. Only the
presentation style, language and structure of the story is rewritten.
 NEWSPAPER CONTENT

The contents of a newspaper can be broadly divided into four parts-news, articles,
and features, opinion pieces such as editorials, comments, letters to the editor,
reviews, columns and advertisements. News constitutes about 60% of the space
in a newspaper.
NEWS
Journalists have tried to define news but no single definition has won wide spread
acceptance.
Typical definitions include:
1. News is anything printable.
2. News is an account of an event or a fact or an opinion that interests people.
3. News is a presentation of a report on a current event in a newspaper or
other periodical or on radio and TV.
4. Anything that enough people wants to read is news provided it does not
violate the canons of good taste and the laws of libel.
5. News is a timely, concise, accurate report of an event; it is not the event
itself.
6. News is an account of a current idea, event, or problem that interest
people.
News has also been defined as “anything you didn’t know yesterday” , “what
people talk about”, “what readers want to know”, “what a well trained editor
decides to put in his or her paper”, “anything timely”, “the report of an event”
and “tomorrows history”.
Types of news
There are two major types of news-“hard” and “soft”. The term “hard news”
usually refers to serious factual and timely stories about important topics. The
stories may describe a major crime, fire, accident, speech, labour dispute or
political campaign. Hard news may also be called spot news or straight news. A
similar label, “breaking news” refers to events occurring or breaking at the
present moment.
The term “soft news” usually refers to features or human interest stories. Their
topics may be old and unimportant but never dull. Soft news entertains rather than
informs and appeals to the reader’s emotions rather than to their intellect. Such
stories may make readers laugh or cry, love or hate, envy or pity. Such stories
may also use a more colourful style of writing with more anecdotes, quotations
and descriptions.
Scholars have divided news stories into two related categories: those that offer
readers immediate and delayed rewards. Human interest stories evoke an
immediate emotional response, entertaining or stimulating readers. In contrast,
hard news stories about more serious topics offer delayed rewards, since readers
may not use the information they contain until weeks or months later. For
example, influencing a voter’s decision in a distant election.
FEATURES
A feature can be defined as a story that stresses the human-interest angle. A good
feature is about the people in your community and their struggles, victories and
defeats. A feature takes a certain angle and explores it by interviewing the people
involved and drawing conclusion from that information. The writer takes an
important issue of the day and explains it to the reader through comments from
people involved in the story.
A feature takes an in-depth look at what’s going on behind the news
• Its gets into the lives of people.
• It tries to explain why and how a trend developed.
• Unlike news, a feature does not have to be tied to a current event or a
breaking story.
But it can grow out of something that’s reported in the news.
The feature is the journalistic equivalent of an essay and follows these guidelines:
• Starts with an idea or theme.
• Present information and opinions that back your point.
• Bring the reader to a conclusion.
Features can be classified according to purpose-expository, explaining things or
timely topics; descriptive, giving verbal picture of persons, things and places of
interest; and narratives which narrates events with plots, settings and characters.
EDITORIAL
Editorial is the mirror of the newspaper’s opinion. It is the conscience of the
paper. It projects the viewpoint of the paper on a particular policy, programme or
event. It can inspire, motivate, excite, appeal, criticise or reject certain idea or
policy. The expression of opinion is intended to lead the public opinion, and
convert the readers to its point of view.
Editorials are written with reason and conviction. The writer should have his heart
in the subject on which he is writing. The editorial should not be repetitive of
facts stated in the news story. It should give a digest of facts, evaluate them, and
arrive at logical conclusion step by step. The structure of editorial should be
simple, so that the readers can easily follow it.
INTERVIEWS (Already explained in-detail previous study material)
Reporters interview other people to learn their opinions and to obtain factual
information about events in the news. Reporters like interviews because they
provide a fast, easy way to obtain news. Often there is no alternative to an
interview.
REVIEWS
The critics write reviews on a variety of subjects such as books, plays, films,
television, and radio plays, etc. While writing reviews, the critics should keep in
mind that they are not writing for themselves, but are addressing the readers. Any
attempt, therefore, to project too much of critics own viewpoint, or to criticize the
work for the sake of controversy would not enhance the value of the writing. The
effort should be to find out something good in everything.
The critic need not be a practicing expert in a particular field, but he should have
sufficient background knowledge of the subject. The reviewer is free to give his
own assessment, opinion and judgment about the work, provided it is not based
on untruth or malice.
CARTOONS
Comic strips and cartoons are an essential part of mass media today. Almost all
newspapers and television channels use them. Social, political and cultural issues
are coined as subjects for cartoons. Humorous and simple approach is adopted. It
appeals to people in all walks of life. Cartoons or caricatures are not weapons for
socio-political criticisms. It is a form of self-expression as paintings and can be
considered as a visual art form.
COLUMNS
The personal opinion of a column writer is expressed on a subject in a column.
The writer has a fixed style of writing, and he generally writes on fixed subjects
and has fixed point of view. However, there are columns in a newspaper where
other persons also contribute. There are also columns where the columnist writes
on a variety of subjects. Columns are on political, economics, or cultural subjects
or on sports, radio, films, books, humor etc. Generally, columnists write once a
week though there is no fixed rule about its frequency.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The letter to the editor is a sort of feedback for the paper. In a letter to the editor,
the individual expresses his personal opinion or grievance on a specific subject
of his interest or offers a suggestion to over come the difficulty. Letters to the
editor may also pertain to petty complaints. In some cases, the letters are written
in a very forceful style and make great impact on the readers.
PHOTOJOURNALISM
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing and
presentation of news materials for publication or broadcast) that creates images
in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still
images, and in some cases to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism
can fall under all subjects of photography but the image needs to be news worthy
to end up being published.
The job of a photojournalist involves immense responsibility. The
photojournalists face great difficulties when reporting news. He should have a lot
of commonsense, a desire to work hard and an eye for a good picture story. Speed,
accuracy and imaginative powers are necessary.
No other medium can bring life and reality as close as photography and it is in
the field of reportage and documentation that photography’s most important
contribution lies in modern times. Not the least of its achievements, photography
and photojournalism has proved powerful agents in the awakening of social
conscience.

NEWS REPORTING
Reporting Practices: News Story Structure
The news items that appear in newspapers are also called news stories. A news
story is always based on facts. Further, a news story is normally written in
inverted pyramid style, that is, the most important facts come first followed by
other facts in order of significance. The inverted pyramid style has developed in
journalism over the years.
INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE
Examples of the inverted pyramid form can be found in writing before the mid
19th century, but most journalism historians say that the concept was developed
during the American Civil War. Newspaper correspondents in the field sent their
dispatches by telegraph. As they were afraid that the system would malfunction
or the enemy would cut the wires, the correspondents squeezed the most
important information into the first few sentences.
Reporters using the inverted pyramid style of writing normally summarize a story
in the lead and present the facts in descending order of importance. Consequently
they place the story’s most important details in the second paragraph. They
continue to add details in decreasing order of importance. Each paragraph
presents additional information: names, descriptions, quotations, conflicting
viewpoints, explanations and background data.
The primary advantage of the inverted pyramid style is that if someone stops
reading a story after only one or two paragraphs, that person will learn the story’s
most important details. Moreover if a story is long editors can easily shorten it by
deleting one or more paragraphs from the bottom. However, this style also has
several disadvantages. Just because the lead summarizes facts that later
paragraphs discuss in greater detail some of those facts may be repeated. Second
a story that follows the inverted pyramid style rarely contains any surprises; the
lead immediately reveals every major details. Third, the style makes some stories
more complex and more difficult to write. Despite these problems, reporters use
the inverted pyramid style for most news stories.

INVERTED PYRAMID STRUCTURE

LEAD

BODY

CONCLUSION
LEAD or INTRO (Usually the first paragraph of every news story including Headline)
Types of Intros or Leads
Basic elements of a news story can be found by asking and trying to find answers
to six basic questions popularly known as the five Ws and one H. The five Ws
are- What? When? Where? Who? and Why?. And the H is how?
There was a time when journalists were supposed to answer all the questions in
the intro/Lead. But slowly it was discovered that it resulted in over-crowding of
the opening Para, loss of clarity which at times confused and irritated the reader.
There are innumerable ways of writing intro or lead. The first paragraph of the
story is called the intro or lead. There are various ways to classify the intro or
lead depending on different criteria. Based on the number of incidents involved,
the intro could be simple or complex.
1) Simple lead involves a single incident. Even if the event may have several
different incidents, the intro takes account of a single incident. Simple lead is very
common in newspapers and should normally be favoured as it is easy to write it
clearly.
2) Complex lead involves more than one incident in the intro. It is normally
used when similar or related incidents are clubbed together in one story. One has
to be careful with this kind of intro as it is normally long and at times confusing.
Another classification is possible on the basis of variety of presentation in the
intro.
3) Astonisher: This intro is of moderate length from twenty five to thirty five
words and tries to arrest the reader’s attention by presenting the unexpected but
not of world rocking importance.
4) Cartridge or Capsule: This lead is brief and goes right to the point and
present news with high concentration of news values.
5) Descriptive lead: Also known as situation or picture lead, it tries to paint a
word picture of an interesting person, place or thing to help create mood for the
story.
6) Staccato intro: It consists of short clipped words, phrases, sentences,
sometimes separated by dots or dashes. It is casually disruptive and should not be
used if the facts of the story do not justify it.
7) Miscellaneous freak lead: This type of intro has a novel approach in sentence
structure and presentation, in order to catch the reader’s attention.
Many of the above leads actually summarise the story and therefore they can be
described as summary leads.
With interpretative news stories becoming more and more prominent in
journalism interpretative leads are also becoming common in newspapers.
Interpretative leads normally do not quote anybody and begin with a statement
from the writer of the story. The interpretative lead gives the assessment of the
reporter or special correspondents based on facts of the situation.
Thus we see that all sorts of composition can be used in an intro. Its contents must
have the highest news value in the story. It must be easy to read and understand.
THE BODY
After the intro is written the body of the story will follow in the logical order of
the inverted pyramid style.
The second paragraph can go straight to the next important point of the story,
bringing in the source in an easy manner, so that the story is kept moving
smoothly.
In the body of the story choice of apt words is essential to ensure precision and
better readability. The body should be concise and shorn of all verbiage. It should
take notice of all material points concerning the news event, elaborate or
background them where necessary, but should not be burdened with dispensable
details.
CONCLUSION/TAIL
The conclusion, or in news terms "tail", is a brief addendum at the end of a news
article that will sum up the article. It might include a final quote, a descriptive
scene, a play on the title or lead, a summary statement, or the writer's opinion.
The goal of the conclusion is to be attention-grabbing and readdress the important
content within the article.

EXAMPLE FOR INVERTED PYRAMID STRUCTURE

Sathgamaya 2020 at Amrita sets new outlook

Mysuru: Over 800 students from different colleges of Karnataka
participated in Sathgamaya 2020, A state level multi-fest, organised by
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham on 3rd and 4th March, 2020. Renowned
Actor and Founder of Natana School of Theatre Arts, Shri. Mandya Ramesh
distributed the prizes for winners at Open Air Theatre, Manasagangothri.
Mysore Institute of Commerce and Arts (MICA) won the overall
championship. The fest saw the presence of over 3000 footfalls.
In his valedictory address Shri. Mandya Ramesh mentioned that academics
need to be supported with co-curricular activities. Participation in such
events helps to inculcate moral values and ideals required for balancing their
emotional quotient sidelong with the intelligence quotient. He urged the
participants to follow their passion and pursue it seriously.
Earlier on 3rd March, event was inaugurated by Dr.Balakrishnan Shankar,
Dean Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham. By quoting Steve Jobs in his inaugural address Dr. Shankar
said “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them
looking backwards. By dots I mean— your gut, destiny, life, karma, etc and
you have to trust these dots as they connect somewhere, in some-way, in your
future. Honestly, this approach has never let me down, and has brought big
differences in my life”. Everyone has dreams and everyone tries to make
them come true. In the process of pursuing a dream, one may have to face
many difficulties, but one should never give up, he added.
Voice to the Youth, a special lecture was arranged on the occasion on
“Channelizing Youth for Nation Building” which was delivered by Dr. M R
Seetharam, President, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM)
Mysuru. He said channelizing the youth energy to constructive nation
building is the need of the time or else it will become a destructive force as
we can see in the present. He advised the youth who are mostly engaged with
their cell phones “Don’t be stuck to your mobile instead you be mobile
physically and intellectually”. Redefining 4G in his own way, he observed
that youth should be - Goal oriented, seek appropriate Guidance, Grind
themselves and stay Grounded throughout.
Workshops ranging from Robotics, Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship,
UI/UX to Pottery, Makeup & Nail Art attracted over 350 participants from
all over Karnataka. Students won attractive cash prizes in gaming and other
competitions such as Hackathon, Roadeez, Web Development, Digital
Treasure Hunt, Revengers(LAN gaming) Marvel Trivia Quiz, Best
Entrepreneur, Business Quiz, Pinch of Punishment, Science Treasure Hunt,
Science Model and Collage making, Bollywood Quiz, TikTok, Photography,
Theatre, Story Telling, Poetry, Literary quiz, Bhagavad Gita Recitation,
Solo Singing, Solo Instrumental and Cricket competitions.
The Science Park with several working models, quizzes, games and other
experiments allowed the visitors to explore the wondrous world of Science.
Carnival with its food stalls, fun-filled games and Paint Ball were the major
highlights of the fest. Evenings were made colourful and joyful with fashion
show, dance and mesmerising performance by the Naik and the Jois Project
music band.
‘Sathgamaya Fest at Amrita has been a true never before experience. Lazer
Maze, Astro-physics, Rubik’s cubes chromatic games, magic squares
coupled with mouth-watering Faloodas, Kulki Sharbath, Churmuri &
Chats, South Indian special etc was both food for thought and tummy’,
expressed one of the participants.
Br. Sunil Dharmapal, Director, Amrita Mysuru; Br. Venugopal,
Correspondent, Amrita Mysuru; Dr. Rekha Bhat, Principal and others
graced the occasion.

RED: Lead/Intro
BLUE: Body
YELLOW: Conclusion

NEWS DESK
General News Desk
A general news desk handles the assigning of tasks to journalists and staff,
controlling the coordination of stories and operations at publications (usually for
urban reporting). The news desk department directly influences the collection and
reporting of the news as well, ensuring journalists receive assignments on a timely
matter. They prepare the news reports and can regulate what is or is not released
to the public. A foreign news desk, or foreign desk, is where the functions or
organizational information regarding foreign countries or research is handled.
Muffosil/Mofussil/ Mofassil News Desk
The term came from English during colonial rule. The urdu word “Muffosil” or
“Mofassil” refers a region lying outside an urban area. The British used the term
to indicate outside regions of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras - three major centres
of East India Company. However, reporting from the districts, small towns and
semi-urban localities is referred as Muffosil Reporting. These stringers are paid
on the story basis and not regular correspondent of a particular house.
 NEWS BEAT
There is division of labour in the reporting staff. The units allotted to reporters
and special correspondents are called beats. A reporter may be in charge of police,
crime news or hospital news so the police, crime, or hospitals will be his beats.
Reporters can have more than one beat. In fact all the government departments,
political parties and institutions where news is expected are listed and distributed
as beats among the reporting staff. The allotted beat is the responsibility of the
concerned reporter and he should make arrangements to get all the news from his
beat.
Big news which is broken by a reporter is called a scoop. A reporter cannot have
scoops every day but if he is regular at his beat he will not miss a scoop when it
is possible to get.

NEWS BUREAU
A news bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are
used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate geographic location or scope of
coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo;
'foreign bureau' is a generic term for a news office set up in a country other than
the primary operations center; a ‘Washington bureau’ is an office, typically
located in, that covers news related to national politics in the United States. The
person in charge of a news bureau is often called the bureau chief.
The term is distinct from a news desk, which refers to the editorial function of
assigning reporters and other staff, and otherwise coordinating, news stories, and
sometimes the physical desk where that occurs, but without regard to the
geographic location or overall operation of the news organization. For example,
a foreign bureau is located in a foreign country and refers to all creative and
administrative operations that take place there, whereas a foreign desk describes
only editorial functions and may be located anywhere, possibly as an
organizational unit within the news organization's home office.

NEWS EDITING
Editing (Also duties and responsibilities of a sub-editor)
Editing is the process of preparing language, images or sound for presentation
through correction, condensation, organization and other modification (usually
done by the sub-editor).
Copy editing is the process by which an editor makes formatting changes and
other improvements to the text. A person who performs the task of copy editing
is called a copy editor. A copy editor mostly reviews and edits reporters copy for
accuracy, content, grammar and style. They also provide catchy headlines for the
story. The following tasks are their responsibilities
1. Ensuring accuracy
2. Trimming unnecessary words
3. Polishing the language
4. Correcting inconsistencies
5. Making the story conform to style and editorial policy
6. Eliminating passages in poor taste
7. Eliminating libelous statements
8. Making certain the story is readable and complete.
Editing process
The main consideration in editing is to tell the story in fewest words possible.
Basic principles of editing lies in its process. The process of editing consists three
phases namely, selection, correction and rewriting.
Selection
The selection of news to be covered is based on the editor’s personal and
professional judgment. The main factor in that judgment can be summed up in a
single word: Newsworthiness. Newsworthy stories are generally those that offer
the most information with the most urgency to the most people.
Correction
Another consideration is respect for accuracy. It means looking out for small
factual errors, which disfigure an otherwise good story. Editing involves making
sure words are spelled correctly, language is used properly, punctuation is in the
right places and spelling is accurate.
Rewriting
Don’t be afraid to ask for a re-write. Try not to rewrite the entire article. Only the
presentation style, language and structure of the story is rewritten.

NEWS HEADLINE
Simplicity, informality and impact are the essential characteristics of a modern
headline. It should give clear signal about the content of the story and should be
economical in editorial production and reading time and in news space. It should
be read quickly. It should be proportionate to the news and flexible.
Headline pattern
Headlines can be multi deck or multiline in a single deck. A deck is a distinct
headline on its own and as such it may consist of one or more lines. If there are
two such units, say of two lines each, the headline will be double deck.
Modern school of thought is against the multi deck. The argument is that multi
deck headlines consume more editorial time in writing, production time in setting
and the newsprint space. People normally don’t bother to read beyond the main
heading. In most newspapers one to two top stories on a page are multi deck. One
should not go beyond three decks even in such stories.
There is a wide range of possibilities regarding arrangement of headlines. The
basic typographic arrangements are flush left, centered, stepped, flush right and
hanging indention.
Flush left: Many newspapers have switched to this style. The flush left heading
has one or more lines which are set flush to the left.
Centered: In this type of arrangement each line of headline type is centered on
the white of the column.
Stepped: In this arrangement the first line is set flush left and the last flush right
and the middle lines centered.
Flush right: Each line is pushed against the right-hand margin to create a stepped
effect on the left.
Hanging indention: The first line is set full out and the others indented usually
to the left. It cannot be a regular style but can be used as an occasional variant.
WRITING HEADLINES
Writing headlines involves half the skill of a good deskman. The difficulty in
writing headlines is in conveying in a few attractive words the essence of a
complicated set of facts. In half a dozen words the headline has to inform the
reader what the story contains. The headline gives emphasis to a few words in
bold types. Hence every word should be weighed.
Headline writing is art and craft at the same time. The art is in imagination and
vocabulary and the craft lies in accuracy of content, attractiveness of appearance
and practicality.

NEWSPAPER DESIGN AND LAYOUT

It is essential to realize that newspaper design is part of journalism. It is not
decoration but communication. Newspaper communicates news and ideas and
design is an integral part of the process.
A sub editor begins with a blank sheet of newspaper and wants to communicate
several ideas and the day’s news. It is the function of newspaper design to present
that mosaic in an organized and comprehensive way by using text type, display
type, photography, line work, white space and a sequence of pages in the most
fitting combination.
Layout means arrangement of headlines, text, artwork and white space on a page
or pages.
Layout could be static or dynamic, vertical or horizontal or even a circus layout
is possible.
If one can predict the layout of tomorrow’s page today because it has been similar
with minor variations day after day the layout is called static. But layout is
dynamic when nobody can predict what it will be- the lead may be on left or right
and if there is a striking picture, headlines will be submerged to make room for
it.
Vertical layout gives the simplest page organization. This oldest layout style has
limited range of news value expression. Though it is visually depressing
maximum number of stories can be given above the fold. Headlines are set in the
width of basic single column grid and the text runs single column.
Horizontal layout is another simple layout but with more capacity for emphasis.
It is modular text squared up under multi-columns heads to create a horizontal
unit. Page is then made up of a series of these units lying flat on each other. In
horizontal layout full use of the width of the page is possible for display.
However, there are only a few stories above the mid fold which can be seen at
retail outlets.
In circus layout emphasis is on variety, contrast and movement but not on order
or news value. There are many points of attraction, not necessarily related to news
values. The reader is to be distracted and entertained. The masthead of the paper
may appear in any position above the fold.
The newspaper design and layout must be functional. There should be
organization and rational co-ordination of heterogeneous material but the news
values should get priority in deciding the display. There should be order but prime
importance should be given to news values.
Style book or Style sheet
Style of newspaper expresses its individuality. Personality of news media and its
policy decisions are reflected in style. Stylebook establishes rules of uniformity
in matters of punctuation, form of the abbreviations, capitalization, word division,
spellings, numerals and other details of expression. House style is the set of rules
adopted by a particular publishing house or a newspaper establishment.
Difference in format, narration and presentation of items are based upon a
document which is called stylebook. The stylebook contributes to the uniformity
in the style and thus convenience of the readers. Stylebooks are available in print,
electronic and World Wide Web based versions now a days.

PRINTING
Printing is a process for production of texts and images, typically with ink on
paper using a printing press. The art and science of making a large number of
duplicate reproductions of an original copy is termed as printing. It may be
defined as the art of preserving all other art.
Johann Gutenberg of the German city of Mainz developed European printing
technology in 1440, with which the classical age of printing began. Gutenberg is
also credited with the introduction of an oil based ink which was more durable
than previously used water based inks. Printing soon became the first means of
mass communication.
Four major printing processes
The printing processes are mainly of four types-letter press, lithography, gravure
and offset.
Letter press: It is the oldest printing process and came into being with the
invention of movable types in the fifteenth century by Johann Gutenberg. Printing
is done through the relief method, where the raised printing surface of type or
block is inked with rollers. The impression is then obtained on printable surface
(paper, board, plastic sheet etc.) by contact. Printing in a letter press is a time
consuming and laborious process.
Lithography: In lithography and offset lithography or photographic printing, the
text or the image is transferred to a flat slab of stone or metal plate with greasy
crayons or ink. The surface is then damped. Because of the mutual repulsion of
water and oil, the greasy parts repel moisture but catch the ink when rolled on.
The image is then transferred to paper. Gradually, the metal plate is replacing the
stone slab and the printing matter is generally transferred to it photographically.
Offset lithography is a further improvement on this process. This process is
generally used for posters, calendars and long-run colour jobs.
Gravure: In gravure or intaglio printing or photogravure, the impression is made
from ink deposited in engraved areas or depressions in a plate. The matter or the
image is transferred to a copper sheet or roller by photography and etched with
acid, the desired depth of colour being determined by the depth of etching. The
surface is covered with ink and the surplus ink is wiped off leaving it in the
depressions which are impressed on paper. This process is increasingly used for
illustrated magazines in many colours, requiring large runs.
Offset technology: This is an indirect method of printing as the ink from a
printing plate is transferred to the rubber surface and then to the paper or
impression cylinder. All ordinary offset printing is done from the metal surface
of plates. The material to be printed is transferred to the plated through a special
photographic process. The plates are chemically treated so that only the traced
design of the print will take up ink.
Offset printing is very cheap for colour productions. Anything that can be
photographed can be used as composed type. It can print on different surface. It
can also turn out several thousands of impressions in an hour.
Though it has many advantages it has some disadvantages also as it is impossible
to remove the effect of water in this process. The colour appears slightly washed
out on account of the effect of water. Printing is expensive for small runs.
Anyhow the increased use of offset in publishing newspapers and magazines has
greatly increased the use of these presses.