Blog Posts
The right temperament is the real answer to the professional success of a reporter
“The fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw of character” - Lyndon Baines Johnson.
The success of a reporter depends not only on skills and experiences acquired over time. To find more information on a case or find out facts, you need to have certain traits of character. First, let's talk about such quality as perseverance. It is through perseverance that the reporter will continue battering at the closed door. This quality can sometimes give the reporter more than decades of experience. Because you not only have to know HOW you can reach the target but also be able to fulfill it no matter what. The next quality that is important when searching for information is courage. The courage pushes you for paving your way to any person and any place when it’s the last chance to reveal the truth, even if everyone else has already given up. Last but not the least flaw of character is humanity. The devastating truth is that if you want sources to help you, then being friendly, honest, and ensuring it works better than trickery or intimidation. After all, when people feel goodwill on your part, they are more inclined to talk and to transmit important information. Well, I guess that traits which were mentioned above are vital for successful research for a reporter. A professional is always conspicuous for not only wide experience, but also the special flaw of character.
# journalists-professionals #vitalforreporters #greatreporterstraits
“The fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw of character” - Lyndon Baines Johnson.
The success of a reporter depends not only on skills and experiences acquired over time. To find more information on a case or find out facts, you need to have certain traits of character. First, let's talk about such quality as perseverance. It is through perseverance that the reporter will continue battering at the closed door. This quality can sometimes give the reporter more than decades of experience. Because you not only have to know HOW you can reach the target but also be able to fulfill it no matter what. The next quality that is important when searching for information is courage. The courage pushes you for paving your way to any person and any place when it’s the last chance to reveal the truth, even if everyone else has already given up. Last but not the least flaw of character is humanity. The devastating truth is that if you want sources to help you, then being friendly, honest, and ensuring it works better than trickery or intimidation. After all, when people feel goodwill on your part, they are more inclined to talk and to transmit important information. Well, I guess that traits which were mentioned above are vital for successful research for a reporter. A professional is always conspicuous for not only wide experience, but also the special flaw of character.
# journalists-professionals #vitalforreporters #greatreporterstraits
Loanwords
Due to globalization, the rate of foreign words began to increase in all languages. This process is still going on and it is accelerating. There are different perspectives on this phenomenon. Some people advocate the integration of foreign words because they believe that it contributes to the enrichment of the language. And there are also supporters of “linguistic purity”. For those who see it this way, the introduction of a foreign word is a contamination of the national language.
Thus, the question is: do borrowings, dialects, and slang contribute to enriching the language or, on the contrary, to impoverishing it?
So, to underline this subject, one must understand the advantages and disadvantages of the appearance of loanwords in the language. By way of example, I will be citing some words from French, the French people are extremely proud of their language, so it is going to be a vivid example.
So what are the downsides?
The loss of words. Native words can disappear absolutely. Borrowings supplant words that already exist in the language. Instead of saying "les espèces" we say cash; "l'homme d'affaires" has been replaced by businessman; "la date limite, la date butoir" have become the deadline.
Another disadvantage: if we involve borrowing for no reason, it is a kind of ignorance. In my opinion, the desire to show off owing to foreign words is not a sufficient justification to replace French words. People who do like that look ridiculous. In addition, borrowed words can simply become filler words. For example, the word "cool", which was widely abused by teenagers.
We do not always know the meaning of such words. Also among the minuses is the incorrect use of words, as we do not fully understand their meaning. It is not the mix of foreign words that is to be feared: rather it is the scientific terms that are misused.
As for the benefits of using borrowed words, I also see several.
First, it is the ease of use of the languages. The appearance in the language of new words from other languages, describing more precisely terms which had no equivalent in French. Without the word bestseller, one would have to say: "a most popular book, a well-sold book" (un livre le plus populaire, bien vendu). It is much longer.
On the other hand, loanwords reflect history. This type of words gives us a possibility to trace the origin of a word, the history of a term or a phenomenon. For example, the word coffee goes back to the Arabic qahwa, so we know who invented this drink.
Borrowings help to understand other languages. With globalization, words known to everyone have appeared. Not only because they describe something important, but also because these words sound the same in all languages. The first thing that comes to mind: Internet and the telephone.
Hence, those are the disadvantages and advantages that I wanted to highlight. I am for the loanwords, in my opinion, they enrich the language. Television, the Internet, and modern literature encourage the mixing of languages. But everyone should be careful with their speech. We must not forget an important part of our language: grammar. We are the only ones who have to take care of the grammar and vocabulary that we use.
In the era of limitless information on every topic, it's crucial to do your best to draw in a reader. To achieve this objective a newspaper journalist should create the most readable articles. Here are some rules to write a good article.
First, remember, that nowadays the majority of people don't have much time to read, so cut your text. You can do it by avoiding massive constructions and repetitions. Do not delve too much into unnecessary nuanced information. Of course, you should state important figures and clarification, but only if it gives sense to your readers. Avoid writing over-saturated texts because readers usually stop reading an article when they see too many details, which have no meaning for them. The second rule is to engage with the reader. Write a punchy heading, use graphics to attract attention, and convey a clear meaning. You can also highlight several thoughts in bold and use lists to summarize the main points for those who only have time to skim articles. The next rule is not that simple to imply owing to the diversity of the public: watch out for words and phrases you use. There are several reasons for it. We observe a tendency to take even neutral comments as insults, so write in neutral language and avoid your evaluation: you never know what can offend someone. Stave of purple prose, because such phrase might be incomprehensible for a part of your readers. The last but not the least rule is to double-check everything you write. Try to do this by imagining being one of your readers. This life hack can help you to understand whether you need to rewrite some sentences or replace paragraphs. A nice tip for the double-check stage is to ask someone to read your text and ask him questions. If the person understands correctly the main points of the article, it means that you've done a good job.
I can conclude, that even a journalist beginner, using provided hints and tips, can write an article which will be interesting for almost every reader.
