Sub Editing Stages of Editing

 Sub editor gives deadlines to Reporters to hand over their story.  Reads the story,  Edits it thoroughly, and  Reads the story again  The sub editor also sees that the 'intro' or 'lead' answers the five W's and One H;  what, when, where, who, why, and how.  Tightens some loosely written paragraphs.  Combines smaller paragraphs or  Breaks longer paragraphs into smaller ones.  As the reporters are on the site of the events they are reporting so what they write may have too much of details, which are confusing and difficult to understand for the readers.  Takes out offensive statements, quotes or remarks. STAGES OF EDITING

 The lead or intro is the most important element of a news story. It is the window to a story.  The quality or readability of the lead determines whether the reader would read further or skip the story.  The lead should be short. So that it arouses and sustains interest.  News story leads not only give information, they also move us emotionally.  When hundreds of students died in an explosion in a school in Texas, one newspaper gave this lead:  "They are burying a generation today". WRITING LEADS

 Simple and short sentences are used in place of long and complex sentences to simplify long and cluttered intros.  It should inform and summarize.  It must be straightforward.  It sets the mood, the pace and the flavour of the story.  It also guides and provides direction.  The sub editor has to avoid the clichéd leads that are boring because they are used too often.  For example: Quick action by two alert policemen was credited with saving the life of a or Police and paramilitary forces staged a massive man hunt today for a man who had... The say nothing leads give no information.  A popular saying in the field of sub editing is "leads should not mislead". WRITING LEADS

 Another type of lead is the illogical lead.  Here is one example: “Three small brothers died last night in a fire that burned their house while their father was at work and their mother was visiting a neighbor".  It could be revised as follows "Left unattended, three small brothers perished in a fire last night that burned their home. Their father was at work and their mother was visiting a neighbor.”  Sub editors often have to deal with leads that contain excessive identification.  "Former Assistant Secretary, Cultural Affairs and now Secretary, External Affairs Sikandar Raza said today...." Such over identification leads to confusion and clutter. WRITING LEADS

 Another type of lead is the illogical lead.  Here is one example: “Three small brothers died last night in a fire that burned their house while their father was at work and their mother was visiting a neighbor".  It could be revised as follows "Left unattended, three small brothers perished in a fire last night that burned their home. Their father was at work and their mother was visiting a neighbor.”  Sub editors often have to deal with leads that contain excessive identification.  "Former Assistant Secretary, Cultural Affairs and now Secretary, External Affairs Sikandar Raza said today...." Such over identification leads to confusion and clutter. WRITING LEADS

 Similar problem is faced when a lead has too much statistics.  "At seven pm yesterday, 70 persons fled a three story building at 17, Oyster Court, west of Defence Society, when a carelessly discarded cigarette caused a short-circuit and resulted a huge fire accompanied with dense smoke".  This could be revised as:  "Seventy people escaped unhurt from a three story building in Oyster Court, that caught fire last evening. The fire was caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette". WRITING LEADS

 Other such misleading leads include ones with over attribution or under attribution.  "Notorious gangster Noora Gujjar, suspected to be involved in many cases of abduction, contact killing and ransom, was arrested last week after a six hour long shootout, according to Delhi Police Chief Tajjamul Hussein and Deputy Chief Malik Dilawar".  Such over-attribution is unnecessary and confusing. WRITING LEADS

 On the other hand a lead like  "All children under the age of five should be vaccinated" does not provide any attribution at all.  In fact, the attribution of health officials should have been the lead, as it would have lent credibility to the story. WRITING LEADS

 While readers read the headline first and then read the story, sub editors do just the opposite. They read the story first and then write the headline.  Writing headline involves two steps:  Selecting which details to use  Phrasing them properly within the space available.  Good headlines, like good sentences, have a subject and predicate (verb), and a direct object. For example:  "Flood hits Assam". WRITING THE HEADLINE

 A few tips on how to write Effective Headlines:  - Draw your headline from information at the top of the story.  - If the story has a punch ending do not give it away in the headline.  - Build your headline around key words.  - Build the headlines on words used in the story.  - Emphasize the positive unless the story demands the negative.  - Use active verbs. Maintain neutrality.  - Try to arouse the reader's interest.  - Make the headline easy to read.  - Abbreviate only when necessary. WRITING THE HEADLINE

 - See there is no double meaning.  - Use short and simple words and avoid overused words.  - Make the headline specific.  - Never exaggerate.  - Make the headline complete in itself.  - Never start a headline with a verb.  - Use present tense as much as possible.  - Do not use "is" and "are" in headlines.  - Do not use common names in headlines. WRITING THE HEADLINE

 - Do not use unnecessary words.  - Do not are double quotation marks in headlines  - Do not write headlines after reading the story only once.  - Do not use slang in the headline.  - Do not write question headlines for news stories.  - Do not mislead.  - Do not repeat words.  - Do not use full stops in headlines. WRITING THE HEADLINE

 - Do not use unnecessary words.  - Do not are double quotation marks in headlines  - Do not write headlines after reading the story only once.  - Do not use slang in the headline.  - Do not write question headlines for news stories.  - Do not mislead.  - Do not repeat words.  - Do not use full stops in headlines. WRITING THE HEADLINE

 Sub headline are supplementary to headlines.  Only when the headline cannot tell the required part of the news sub headlines are used.  As the name implies, sub headlines play a supporting or supplementary role to the headline.  There are some news stories that are very detailed & complicated in nature.  Also such stories have many important points or pieces of information that need to be given right at the beginning. These kinds of news stories use sub headlines in addition to headlines. NEWS STORY SUB-HEADLINES

 The technique and style of writing a news item is generally called the "inverted pyramid".  The inverted pyramid structure of news means that the news will begin with the most important information.  The other styles of news story writing are:  Chronological style  Reverse Chronological style  Suspended-Animation style BODY OF NEWS STORY

 Chronological style  Chronological style of news writing is adopted when the chronology or order of events is more important.  Reverse Chronological style  Reverse-chronological style of news writing is adopted when in the beginning we want to present what happened finally at the end and then go back to the beginning of the event.  Suspended-Animation style  The suspended-animation style of news writing is adopted when maintaining the curiosity of the readers is more important. BODY OF NEWS STORY