Obituaries

 An obituary (the root of the word is obit, Latin for “death”) is a news report of someone's death, often with a biographical sketch of the deceased.  Obituaries typically appear within days or a week after the subject has died  Usually appearing in a newspaper, an obituary not only announces the fact of the individual's passing but also offers an account of the texture and significance of his or her life. 2Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 An obituary differs from a death (or funeral) notice, which is a paid announcement of the death and funeral details written by family members and placed in a newspaper  Writing an obituary is the art of capturing a person’s personality 3Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Most nineteenth-century obituaries focused on a person's character. By the twentieth century, writers focused more on describing the accomplishments and associations of the deceased and dwelled less on their character. According to historian Nigel Starck (2005),  The obituary art in its first incarnation was practiced by the newsbook compilers of 17th century England…. It flowered in the 18th century … it grew luxuriant, and sometimes ornate, in the 19th century; it became unfashionable and fell into widespread neglect in the 20th. Then, with the appointment of reformist editors, the obituary experienced its own restoration. Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College4

 Obituaries convey the feeling the people they describe possessed unique personalities and sets of experience  Well written obituaries make the person who died seem warm or lively  In some respects an obituary resembles a personality profile.  It describes a persons life and work 5Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Journalists report and write obituaries as they would news stories about living people  Though it involves talking to grieving kith and kin, family members are willing to talk about the deceased.  Some critics contend that obituary writing requires a exceptionally skilled writer and also the one with the most life experiences and who understands what a death means to a family and a community. 6Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Unfortunately with some newspapers obits tend to follow a standard formula, with little regard to the deceased’s character and no quotes from family and friends.  Because inadequate resources are devoted to them, many a time obituaries seem detached or unfeeling  With one reporter in-charge of writing many obits, extensive research on the deceased often is not possible 7Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Newspaper obituaries can be divided into two categories: news and feature.  The news approach is a traditional news story that includes full name of the deceased, age or birth date, address or hometown, occupation, affiliations, significant accomplishments, survivors, and details of the memorial service. Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College8

 It may also note cause of death, education, military service, honors, and awards. Put another way, the news obituary sums up the life, usually centering on a person's most noteworthy accomplishments or activities. Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College9

 The famous and infamous usually rate a “feature” obituary; the basic information is fleshed out with personal insights, including anecdotes, descriptions, quotes, and reminiscences.  A feature obituary attempts to provide a fuller account of the texture as well as significance of the life of someone who has died. Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College10

 New Yorker writer Mark Singer offered this elegant definition of the feature obituary: a “completed cycle of accomplishment or notoriety, concisely wrought” (2002, 28). Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College11

 Feature obituaries include more quotations (from both the subject and others) and more extensive biographies than news obituaries.  Interviews with survivors and friends often turn up interesting material. Incidents in the person's life that are well-known to the public are included in the obituary, but it is the lesser-known events that raise the feature obituary to an art form Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College12

 Although feature obituaries are usually limited to prominent people, a new form—dubbed the “common man” (and woman) feature obit— emerged in the 1980s.  At the Philadelphia Daily News, former investigative reporter Jim Nicholson won numerous awards for his feature obituaries, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors' first obituary writing award in 1987, for his sensitive portrayals of the lives and deaths of ordinary men and women, in the process earning the nickname “Dr. Death.” Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College13

 In his work, we find out that Marie Byrne smacked her kids for “making the nuns upset” and that she had a “private prayer list with countless people on it.” We learned that John Ciavardone, “skinny as a lead pencil,” cried only once over his terrible war injuries and referred to his buddy, Mickey DiSanto, as his see-ing-eye dog, his “canine.” Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College14

 The Associated Press keeps 1,000 “biographical sketches” of prominent people on hand, frequently updated.  The New York Times has 1,200 on file. A newspaper, depending on its size, may have a similar file about prominent people in town. When a well-known person dies, the background, or “B-Matter,” is ready so that all the reporter need write is an obit lead and the funeral arrangements.  At many newspapers, obit files are compiled on the most prominent people while still alive, which allows the newspaper to run an obituary promptly and with considerable detail. The practice has lead, on rare occasion, to premature obituaries being published mistakenly. Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College15

 Unsubstantiated reports of the death of a prominent person induces a harried editor, facing tight deadlines or seeking to scoop the competition, to print one of these ready-to- run obituaries. One famous instance of this was for Mark Twain, published in the New York Journal in 1897, to which he commented, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” (He died in 1910.) Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College16

 The amount of space devoted to obituaries varies with the size of the newspaper.  In large cities, not many people people may know the people described in the obituary, so the space devoted is small  The exceptions are when a renowned or well known figure passes away  Obituaries in the way that the Western world knows is few in Indian print media 17Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 The exceptions are in case of a political figure, well known artistes etc  In print media in western countries obituaries were free at one time  But with family members wanting much longer obituaries, the trend has discontinued 18Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Charging for obits gives everyone who can afford them the opportunity to have a obit in the papers  In addition when family members write the obits the printed record is precisely as they want  A criticism of paid obits, however is that newspapers lose their ability to check the obit for accuracy and completeness. 19Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Alfred Noble, born in 1833 was the inventor of dynamite became an armament manufacturer and accumulated immense fortune  In 1888 when Nobel’s brother died, a newspaper published an obituary for Alfred by mistake 20Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 The obituary called Alfred “ a merchant of death”  Nobel was so shocked by the obituary's description of him that, when he died in 1896, he left the bulk of his estate in trust to establish the Nobel Prize for peace, literature, physics medicine 21Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Information commonly presented and its approximate order, in an obituary include  Identification (full name, age, etc)  Unique outstanding or major attributes  Time and place of death  Cause or circumstance of death  Major accomplishments  Chronology of early life (names of parents, place and date of birth, education etc) 22Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Place and date of marriage  Occupation and employment history  Honours, awards and offices held  Additional interests and accomplishments  Memberships in churches, clubs and other civic groups  Surviving relatives  Religious services 23Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Obits become more interesting when reporters go beyond the routine and do more than list the events in a persons life – that is when they take the time to explain their significance. For e.g. instead of just saying a woman owned a flower shop, the obit might include what inspired her to buy or open the shop and how her shop differed from others 24Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 The addition of anecdotes and quotes from family and friends gives a personality to the person in the obituary  Resist the temptation to write eulogies – speeches praising the dead  The obituary should not make the person seem like God, but a human being with warts and all 25Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Some common mistakes to avoid – a woman is survived by her husband, not her widower. A man is survived by his wife, not by his widow  Many editors object to reporting that a death was “sudden,” explaining that most deaths are sudden. “Died unexpectedly” is probably what you want. Also, you don’t die of “an apparent heart attack,” rather “you apparently died of a heart attack.”  Don’t state the obvious, that an autopsy will be conducted to ascertain the cause of death. Autopsy's are conducted for the same 26Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Avoid suggesting one relationship is inferior to other, for e.g. natural children and adopted children  On giving places of birth, avoid the use of the phrase “a former native.”  Check AP for religious references and titles of clergy 27Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

Writing advance obituaries of the great and the famous is a time-honored tradition in the news business. One of the better-known practitioners of this art, Alden Whitman of the New York Times, was the subject of a celebrated profile by Gay Talese that appeared in Esquire in The title of the article was: "Mr. Bad News," a reference to Whitman’s practice of interviewing his subjects while they were still among the living.

Perhaps the ultimate in macabre obituaries appeared in the New York Times in July The obit, of comedian Bob Hope, had been written in advance by the paper’s chief film critic, Vincent Canby, who himself had died in The Hope obit, updated by other Times staffers, ran under Canby’s byline. "Dead men tell no tales — except at the New York Times," wrote Keith Kelly in the New York Post.

 Gather basic information about the individual’s life: name, age, occupation, area of residence,activities of interest, honours, awards, survivors, funeral arrangements  Find the unique trait or ability of this individual that makes this person stand out from all other individuals and that can be extended into a paragraph or two. 30Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

Watch out for gossip and potentially libelous phrases: “He was the black sheep of the family” or “She had been living in sin with …” Reporting or not reporting the cause of death can be controversial, especially if the death has been due to AIDS Stories about suicides need t o be treated sensitively. Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College31

 Paint a picture of this person using character traits and personality and perhaps physical characteristics  Gather quotes from family and friends. Maybe repeat something the deceased had said, if it reflects the persons personality  Consider the good and not so good. People have flaws and it is often their quirks that make them human or give them character 32Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College

 Add some historical context to give readers a better feel for what it was to live as this person did  Reading an obituary should make the reader feel, “I wish I knew this man”  The obituary is about a life, not a death 33Seema Narendran, Ramnarain Ruia College