Functions of journalism:

• Inform
• Interpret
• Mold opinion
• Enable decision making
• Agent of change
• Entertain

Writing:

• Reader Interest
• Accuracy
• Objectivity
• Credibility
• Readability
• Significance
• Clarity
• Personality

Cause the reader to:

• Stop
• Be interested
• Think
• Learn
• Understand
• Enjoy
• Remember
• Discuss
• Change

Points:

• Know your reader. Agenda must be only based on reader interest.
• What makes you stop? The Headline.
• Immersion, Structure, Tone, Voice/Opinion, Character/Personality, Balance
• Be unafraid of outrageous statements, but back them up with facts.
• A magazine is a group of people interested in and knowledgeable about a subject, talking to a larger group of interested people.
• The best magazines in the world: readers feel that they are written for only one person — themselves.
• Make the reader think.
• Preferably use real examples.
• Use timelines where applicable. Content should be designed for browsers rather than readers.

Writing:

• Think a lot for the lead.
• Conclusion should be a tie-back, it should link back to the focus, giving a feeling of completion.
• Stages: Information gathering, planning, writing, checking.
• Objectives are determined by the limitations of space, the section/sub-section, and the reader profile. What is your objective?
• Focus.
• First thought on basic design elements.
• Begin research. Discard research material when short of space.
• Organise the text material and make a structure.
• Identify the unusual, informative and entertaining in the text and put it into the appropriate form (boxes, main text, intro/close etc.
• Finalise the elements.
• Writing: Attribution (source, preferably creditable), identification, background.
  • Identification: elements, scenes, facts. Identify and bring out importance.
  • Background: a fact should be obvious to all, it should have meaning and importance for the generic reader.
  • Selecting and eliminating facts.
  • The lead.

Types of leads:

• The 5W&H lead (what, who, where, when, why and how).
• Blind lead. Partial info in the first sentence. Partial info in the second. The first is the attention grabber. The second is the less relevant.
• Delayed identification lead (where facts are identified late).
• Questioning lead. Maybe even rhetorical.
• Quotation lead.
• Emperative lead (ordering lead).
• Direct address (combination of above two types).
• Word play (play around with words).
• Reference and allusion.
• Simple provocative statement.
• Stage directions (ex: 9:30 AM on a cold morning…, 9:45 AM…, describe scenario, not always related to time).
• Narrative (plain, simple lead).
• Anecdote (little interesting factual story).
• Flashback.
• Contrast lead (compare two).
• Descriptive (close to narrative).
• Chronology (very close to narrative but strongly based on time).
• Ecletic (another way to say miscellaneous).

Creative writing:

• Illustration: Verbal illustration of event.
• Detail: More detail in less words. Detail should be consistent too.
• Description: Describe things, short, tense, terse. Construction of sentences makes the difference.
• Example: Real ones.
• Anecdotes: Small little things, peppered around the article.
• Quotes: Get (exclusive) quotes and dialogs into the article.
• Literary Devices: Metaphors and similies.
• Creative Closing: Similar to lead.

Numbers and figures:

• Do not abuse these qualifiers.
• Do not use incomprehensible numbes.
• Do not make meaningless comparisons.
• Do not extrapolate.
• Explain the significance of those numbers.
• Give meaningful analogies (important).

Sentences:

• Each sentence should be very clear, such that it should cast a shadow.

Paragraphs:

• One fact to a sentence, one idea to a paragraph. Change paragraph after every idea. Ideal length: 4-5 sentences.
• Paragraphs are meant for writing rhythm. But the rhythm should be consistent.

Checking:

• Watch out for:
  • Attitude (over enthusiastic)
  • Attribution.
  • Recheck names and figures.
  • Readability (sentence length should be usually maximum 30 words).
  • Complexity of facts in a sentence (if complex, break up).
  • Distortion (judgement should come with justification).
  • Editorializing (have balance and justification).
  • Elegant variation (frilly sentences for simple sentences ⇒ avoid this).
  • Definite words.
  • Check for: one fact to a sentence, one point to a paragraph.
  • Over-simplification and over-qualification.
  • Over philosophising.
  • Redundancy of sentences, repetition of ideas.
• Read your own writing as a reader.
• Look out for lead, structure and content.
• Check for:
  • Spelling.
  • Bad language.
  • Americanisms.
  • Loose and colloquial language.
  • Inconsistency in structure and missing elements.
  • Hanging facts.
  • No explanation for new technical terms introduced for the first time.
  • Unsupported use of jargon and technical terms.
  • Unanswered questions.
  • Bad logic and obvious mistakes in explanation.
  • Word order in sentences.
  • Active voice as far as possible.
  • Appropriate use of adjectives.

Cutline (caption) should:

• Explain what is portrayed.
• Identify the elements in the accompanying picture.
• Indicate implicitly or explicitly why the picture is being used.
• Point out a detail that the reader may have overlooked.
• Add information to the reader's knowledge.
• Make the photo or screenshot clearer by explanation.

Headline should:

• Primarily attract the reader.
• Probably give some information.
• Be bright and interesting: headline is best written when it makes the story focus well understood.