Warm-up – answer the following question: What should a journalist keep in mind when writing an article?

The journalist must write in an accessible and easy to understand way. A journalist must always have something
to say and it has to be truth and objective when writing an article.

Principles of good writing for news

When I was a student here in Edinburgh, I once submitted what I'd written in a hurry, without having done any
of the background reading. My tutor saw through this and sent it back with a single sentence that has stayed
with me all my life: "You write pleasantly'', he wrote, " but have nothing much to say". This, for me, has
become the first golden rule of good effective writing: Have something to say!

There's a second golden rule. One of my former bosses once told me that he noticed something about the
correspondence and reporters who worked for him. Those he thought of as good writers always had a book
under their arm when they came to see him. It sounds obvious, but if you want to be a good writer, you have to
read books and not just newspapers. To use this language well, you have to love it. So, build some time into
your daily life for reading, and read poetry, read it slowly and think about the way the writer bends the language
to his needs.

The third golden rule is to understand the medium. Writing for radio is not the same as writing for television
and different again to writing for print. In television, the script must never do in words what the picture is
already doing in images. In radio, the words and sound effects must combine to carry the burden of narrative
and paint a picture. If you want to write for radio, this is a question you should ask yourself: what is the burden
I want my script to carry? For example, do I want to tell a straight forward story, a simple narrative with events
in chronological order? Or, perhaps, I want to create an atmosphere, a feeling, a sense of anticipation. Or maybe
I want to provide context, to explain not only what has happened, but why it matters and what it means. If
you're clear about the burden each sentence must carry, it’ll help you write a clear script.

Two more golden rules, each related to the other: clarity and precision. Be clear and precise about what you are
trying to say. If the cost of something is high, then say it's high. Don't say it's considerable or significant. Be
direct, write short sentences. Count the number of words in each one. If your average is more than sixteen, your
sentences are too long. And be suspicious of adjectives, use them carefully. You must filter your scripts for tired
or overused word pairings. They're nearly always clichés and they've lost any power to convey effective
meaning.

Lastly, you must write for the listener. You might be broadcasting for millions of people, but try to imagine that
you are talking to just one person who might be sitting beside you. And remember that your listeners only have
one chance to understand what you are telling them. So write and rewrite, and each time you rewrite, simplify.
Don't simplify the thought you’re trying to express, simplify the language in which you're trying to express it.

Now answer the following additional questions:

1. How many golden rules are there?

There are six golden rules.

 2. Which are the golden rules?
a. You must have something to say
b. Know your language well, read more!
c. Know the difference between writing for radio and writing for paper.
d. You must be clear in writing.
e. Yiu must be precise.
f. You must write for the listener.
3. Which rule do you think is the most important?

I think that the last one is the most important because if you don’t write for the listener or the reader then
you are not a true journalist. All that a journalist does is to work for the people.

4. If the text finally focuses on writing for the radio, what are some of the features that are different when
writing for TV?

You have to describe the atmosphere and create an image only with your words. Your writing must have a
meaning that paints an image, among other things like inform or entertain.

Look at the following short pieces of text. For each text, identify the problems AND rewrite them in a
correct (or at least better) way. Trust your instincts!

"Parents find solace in child's death"

(solace: comfort)

Grieving parents find solace in the death of their child after long years of suffering.

"Businesses planning sales strategy perceive buying power as a gauge of the general ability of potential
customers to buy their products"

(gauge: a means of establishing something)

Buying power is used when planning strategies.

"The elderly, who now get a double personal exemption (an elderly couple gets four exemptions worth $1,080
per exemption, instead of only two), would be abolished."

(exemption: state of being free of an obligation)

An elderly person gets two exemptions, each worth $1,080. This double exemption would be abolished.

From the Street by Stanley J. Rollerson: Audacious life-view of a hoodlum's rise to gentleman hustler.
Absorbing realism, it illuminates the dark corners of New York's sleazy street life, exposing the underbelly of
the beast that stalks the corridors of men's minds. A scathing perspective of the sordid soul of a shameless city
that tells a stinging truth.
(audacious: showing a willingness to take dangerous risks ; hoodlum: crook, gangster ; to illuminate: to bring
into view, to clarify ; to stalk: to pursue pray, to hunt silently ; scathing: extremely severe, bitter; sordid: dirty,
selfish)

Stanley J. Rollerson, speaks about the rise of a gangster into a gentleman hustler in New York, in his book,
called From the Street.

Finally, for the headline below, write two short texts – one fit for radio, the other for TV – based on the
five golden rules mentioned in the text.