This afternoon, there was a workshop in my working place on how to be smart in writing news in just 30 minutes. The topic which was presented by none other than Head of Communication Department, Mr. Karyanto, for one hour was drawn attention of around 30 workers in the site. We really are captivated by the useful tips and trick from the trainer, who has past career as a journalist from Kedaulatan Rakyat, a famous newspaper in Indonesia.
Though, it is our first time in writing news, the trainer said that we don’t have to be scared or worry, because a simple know how could transform anyone into an instant journalist. He explained the basic element and structure of writing news. Basic element of writing news is the 5W1H formula plus 2 additional elements. It means that on your news, it should have the answer for each of the question mark who what when where why and how regarding the fact which you will report on your news. The formula is not complete without these two additional seasoning of story which are journalistic photograph and quote from the speaker or the actual sources of the news. The picture of the news should not just a simple snapshot, it should also has a meaning in it related to the message of the news.
Moreover, he also taught us the important thing to know about news passage structure. News usually writes in reverse pyramid with the top part of it is the title. Title is very important because sometimes people are just too busy in reading all the information from daily news. An interesting yet captivating title is the one that will draw readers to read our news. The middle part of the pyramid is the essence of the news. This is an interesting part about writing news, the intelligence of the writer is judge by how clever they choose an important, meaningful essence of the news to be presented in their news, since there can be so many information they will get from an event, Mr. Karyanto said. The last part of news structure is the news content. It is in between informative yet an additional information to be included in your news, so somehow it makes editor’s job a lot easier when they have to cut or shorten the length of the news, just look straight into its content. ;) Last but not least, Mr. Karyanto also spilled his three strategic ways in writing interesting news. They are niteni, nerokke, and nambahi (all of them are from Javanese language which have meaning to identify, to copy, and to add up). Identify the target of who the reader is, understand the structure and component of common news which draw many attentions, and stir up with some of your style. Then, voila you are a journalist in no time. Happy writing fellas! ^^
