Well, three out of four ain’t bad.
News writing is never simple when you don’t have someone or something to write about. I was supposed to show you a transcript of an interview with world number one tennis player, Roger Federer.
The interview is there, but it was not done by me. Long story, but worth telling.
Federer played former world number one Pete Sampras in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on November 22, 2007. Spain’s Rafael Nadal and France’s Richard Gasquet played each other on Tuesday, November 20.
I was supposed to have five minutes with each player. Reuters, one of my clients, wanted me to ask each of them about the match-fixing controversy in tennis.
On Tuesday, I interviewed Nadal and Gasquet and wrote an article about how they are confident of catching Federer. You can read the article here.
I had also asked them about match-fixing but wanted to save my quotes until after I sat with Sampras and Federer the next day.
On Wednesday, I had my five minutes with Sampras and was about to go inside the room to interview Federer only to be told by organizers that time was running short and the players were in a rush to have dinner with Malaysia’s deputy prime minister.
Naturally, as world number one, Federer’s quotes were the most important to the story. Still, I discussed it with the Reuters Asian sports editor and we agreed that something had to go out that night.
We had to somehow work Federer into the story and the result is this article, done in simple news writing style.
The next day, the Reuters reporter from the Kuala Lumpur bureau, Hsu Chuang Khoo, contacted me and told me he was going to watch the match.
I told him there was no point two of us going for one match, so I would stay at home
Couple of hours before the match started, I got a call from the organizers saying Federer had agreed to pay back his five minutes about an hour before he was due to go on court.
I contacted Chuang and informed him about the interview. We agreed that he would complete the interview, phone the quotes over to me, and I would file the article.
And that’s the story, and here’s the article.
Check out my website about news writing and learn how you can write like a journalist.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Gearing Up for Federer and Sampras
Sport is a great opportunity for journalists to test their news writing skills. Writing sport employs the same principles as news, business, entertainment or any other kind of journalism writing.
It has been a long time since I've covered any big-time tennis. However, I'll have to brush up pretty quick because some star names are coming to Kuala Lumpur.
I'm down to cover two exhibition matches: Roger Federer v Pete Sampras and Raphael Nadal v Richard Gasquet.
After both matches, the players will be required to attend post-match interviews with all the media.
I've been told that I would have five minutes one-to-one with each player. So, I'll have to prepare some good questions.
Reuters have already told me what line of questioning they want, which I can't reveal at the moment.
However, my experience of these types of interviews tells me not to expect much.
These players are there on appearance money and may not want to say anything too controversial for fear of upsetting sponsors.
But you never know. Because there are no ranking points at stake, they may be a bit more relaxed and decide to let everything out.
Also, there is the possibility that my "five minutes" may never happen, as I've experienced in the past. Injuries or flight delays can easily be drawn upon as an excuse to get out of an interview.
In any case, I'm looking forward to some good tennis and trying to use the news writing techniques that I recommend to churn out my article.
Tune in on Nov. 24 and I'll tell you what happened.
It has been a long time since I've covered any big-time tennis. However, I'll have to brush up pretty quick because some star names are coming to Kuala Lumpur.
I'm down to cover two exhibition matches: Roger Federer v Pete Sampras and Raphael Nadal v Richard Gasquet.
After both matches, the players will be required to attend post-match interviews with all the media.
I've been told that I would have five minutes one-to-one with each player. So, I'll have to prepare some good questions.
Reuters have already told me what line of questioning they want, which I can't reveal at the moment.
However, my experience of these types of interviews tells me not to expect much.
These players are there on appearance money and may not want to say anything too controversial for fear of upsetting sponsors.
But you never know. Because there are no ranking points at stake, they may be a bit more relaxed and decide to let everything out.
Also, there is the possibility that my "five minutes" may never happen, as I've experienced in the past. Injuries or flight delays can easily be drawn upon as an excuse to get out of an interview.
In any case, I'm looking forward to some good tennis and trying to use the news writing techniques that I recommend to churn out my article.
Tune in on Nov. 24 and I'll tell you what happened.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
News Writing Will Stand Strong
News writing versus writing off the top of your head. Is the Associated Press really dead?
Well, according to an article in WebProNews, that is the presumed scenario.
Rich Ord, CEO of iEntry, writes: "The old news order is dead, the AP will have to adapt or die."
He says the explosion of blogs and news aggregation sites will kill off AP, which is suing Moreover.com for linking to its stories.
To me, this highlights an ignorance of what journalism is. The lack of knowledge of the media industry is enhanced by the statement: "In the pre-Internet days the AP had little competition beyond a few other news syndicators like Reuters and UPI".
Maybe in the United States. But where is Agence France-Presse, a news agency that is equally good as Reuters? And as for UPI, well ... many news outlets gave them up long time ago.
The main point Ord has missed is that news agencies such as AP, Reuters and AFP cater to a completely different market.
Blogs and news aggregation sites are brilliant. As long as copyright laws are adhered to, you can pull together the best and latest stories in the world and stick them on to a single portal for easy consumption.
New agencies primarily cater to other outlets, such as newspapers, Internet websites, magazines, television and radio stations and others who require news written by qualified journalists employing proper journalism standards to gather, write and deliver news articles.
Of course, not all journalists are good or ethical but they work within a coded industry in which they are (often) accountable) and must stick to certain standards.
Do you get bloggers with accreditation for White House press conferences? How many bloggers would take the time to interview newsmakers? How many would verify a source?
Maybe some would, but the truth is, they can still write whatever they want, true or false, and post it on their blogs.
AP doesn't do that. Whatever they write, whoever they quote, they must ensure its veracity. The same goes for Reuters, AFP, UPI and other global and regional news agencies.
They also use the tried and tested news writing methods used by journalists all over the world.
Blogging and aggregation are great additions to the media family. However, AP do not need to feel threatened.
However, Ord is right in that, as in any industry, AP and other journalists must keep up with an evolving environment and tailor the way news is written and delivered to meet the needs of a changing market.
But until bloggers use the same principles of writing, sourcing and delivering as journalists, their genre will remain "blogging" and not "news". Both can live side by side and both can enjoy healthy growth.
Well, according to an article in WebProNews, that is the presumed scenario.
Rich Ord, CEO of iEntry, writes: "The old news order is dead, the AP will have to adapt or die."
He says the explosion of blogs and news aggregation sites will kill off AP, which is suing Moreover.com for linking to its stories.
To me, this highlights an ignorance of what journalism is. The lack of knowledge of the media industry is enhanced by the statement: "In the pre-Internet days the AP had little competition beyond a few other news syndicators like Reuters and UPI".
Maybe in the United States. But where is Agence France-Presse, a news agency that is equally good as Reuters? And as for UPI, well ... many news outlets gave them up long time ago.
The main point Ord has missed is that news agencies such as AP, Reuters and AFP cater to a completely different market.
Blogs and news aggregation sites are brilliant. As long as copyright laws are adhered to, you can pull together the best and latest stories in the world and stick them on to a single portal for easy consumption.
New agencies primarily cater to other outlets, such as newspapers, Internet websites, magazines, television and radio stations and others who require news written by qualified journalists employing proper journalism standards to gather, write and deliver news articles.
Of course, not all journalists are good or ethical but they work within a coded industry in which they are (often) accountable) and must stick to certain standards.
Do you get bloggers with accreditation for White House press conferences? How many bloggers would take the time to interview newsmakers? How many would verify a source?
Maybe some would, but the truth is, they can still write whatever they want, true or false, and post it on their blogs.
AP doesn't do that. Whatever they write, whoever they quote, they must ensure its veracity. The same goes for Reuters, AFP, UPI and other global and regional news agencies.
They also use the tried and tested news writing methods used by journalists all over the world.
Blogging and aggregation are great additions to the media family. However, AP do not need to feel threatened.
However, Ord is right in that, as in any industry, AP and other journalists must keep up with an evolving environment and tailor the way news is written and delivered to meet the needs of a changing market.
But until bloggers use the same principles of writing, sourcing and delivering as journalists, their genre will remain "blogging" and not "news". Both can live side by side and both can enjoy healthy growth.
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