SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

UNIT CODE: DJL1209

UNIT TITLE: EDITING, LAYOUT AND DESIGN

Module: Editing, Layout and Design Page 1

Table of Contents
COURSE OUTLINE .................................................................................................................................... 6
1.0 INTRODUCTION: USE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY IN EDITING; ........................................... 8
1.1THE QUARK REVOLUTION ............................................................................................................ 8
1.2 THE ARRIVAL OF QUARK ............................................................................................................. 8
1.3 'SUBS WITH QUARK EXPERIENCE' ............................................................................................. 9
2.0 EDITORIAL PRODUCTION TEAM..................................................................................................... 10
2.1 Editorial production,......................................................................................................................... 10
2.3 Sub or Page editor? ........................................................................................................................... 11
2.4 Technology and the sub .................................................................................................................... 11
2.4.1 Chief Sub-Editor......................................................................................................................... 12
2.4.2 The Makeup Sub-Editor: ........................................................................................................... 12
2.4.3 The Sub-Editor: .......................................................................................................................... 13
2.5 WHAT IS EDITORIAL PRODUCTION? ....................................................................................... 13
2.5.1.Creating the news....................................................................................................................... 14
2.5.2 Staff reporters............................................................................................................................. 14
2.5.3 Freelances .................................................................................................................................. 14
2.5.4 Local correspondents ................................................................................................................. 15
2.6 NEWSPAPER DESIGN: NEWSPAPER FORMATS...................................................................... 15
2.6.1 NEWSPAPER DESIGN ........................................................................................................... 15
2.6.2 THE DUMMY .......................................................................................................................... 16
2.7 DESIGN AND TYPOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 17
2.7.1 NEWSPAPER MAKEUP .............................................................................................................. 17
2.7.2 FRONT-PAGE FOCAL POINT .................................................................................................... 17
2.7.3 INSIDE PAGE FOCAL POINT .................................................................................................... 17
2.7.4 MAKEUP LINES .......................................................................................................................... 17
2.8 NEWSPAPER DESIGN CONCEPTS .............................................................................................. 18
2.8.1 MASTHEAD ............................................................................................................................. 20
2.8.2 HEADLINES ............................................................................................................................. 21
2.9 NESPAPER TYPOGRAPHY........................................................................................................... 21
3.0 LAYOUT &TECHNIQUES ................................................................................................................. 24
How to deal with white space: ............................................................................................................ 25

Module: Editing, Layout and Design Page 2

 Tips: .................................................................................................................................................... 25
Creative Duties of Sub Editor of a Newspaper....................................................................................... 39
6.0 WRITING HEADLINES ........................................................................................................................ 44
WRITING HEADLINES ....................................................................................................................... 44
HEADLINE FUNCTIONS: ................................................................................................................... 44
HEADS: .............................................................................................................................................. 44
HEADLINE STYLES:........................................................................................................................... 45
HEADLINE FORMS ............................................................................................................................. 46
BANNER HEAD ................................................................................................................................... 46
CROSSLINE HEAD.............................................................................................................................. 46
FLUSH LEFT HEAD ............................................................................................................................. 46
SIDE HEAD............................................................................................................................................ 47
KICKER.................................................................................................................................................. 47
HEADLINE WRITING SKILLS.......................................................................................................... 48
USE OF VERBS ..................................................................................................................................... 48
ARTICLES ......................................................................................................................................... 49
VOICE ................................................................................................................................................ 49
DECKS ............................................................................................................................................... 49
BE SPECIFIC .................................................................................................................................... 49
BE POSITIVE..................................................................................................................................... 50
OPINIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 50
REPEATS ........................................................................................................................................... 50
THE FIVE Ws ; .............................................................................................................................. 50
SHORT SYNONYMS ........................................................................................................................ 50
SPLITS:............................................................................................................................................... 51
LINE BALANCE: .............................................................................................................................. 51
ABBREVIATIONS: ........................................................................................................................... 51
PUNCTUATION: ................................................................................................................................... 51
HEADLINE FITTING METHOD –Character Count........................................................................... 52
HEADLINE SCHEDULES ................................................................................................................... 53
7.0 REWRITING STORIES ......................................................................................................................... 53
Re-writing stories.................................................................................................................................... 53
 Factors That Lead To Rewriting a Story................................................................................................. 53
PRINCIPLES OF REWRITING............................................................................................................. 54
IMPROVING COPY ............................................................................................................................. 54
UPDATING THE STORY ..................................................................................................................... 55
8.0 CHAPTER NINE-THE RUNNING STORY ........................................................................................... 55
Definition ................................................................................................................................................ 55
Basic guidelines for editing feature articles ........................................................................................ 56
SKILLS FOR WRITING HEADLINES: ............................................................................................... 58
10.0 :EDITING AND THE LAW ................................................................................................................. 58
10.1 LIBEL, RIGHT OF PRIVACY, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND COPYRIGHT ...... 59
LIBEL AND SLANDER: ....................................................................................................................... 59
HOW LIBEL IS COMMITTED ............................................................................................................. 60
RESPONSIBILITY FOR LIBEL.......................................................................................................... 61
TYPES OF LIBEL .................................................................................................................................. 61
LIBEL PER QUOD ............................................................................................................................ 62
LIBEL LAWS ......................................................................................................................................... 63
CIVIL LIBEL ACTION ....................................................................................................................... 63
CRIMINAL LIBEL ACTION ............................................................................................................ 64
DEFENSES AGAINST LIBEL ACTION .............................................................................................. 64
B) Complete Defenses ............................................................................................................................ 65
10.2 THE PRIVACY ACT ........................................................................................................................ 67
THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT............................................................................................. 68
10.3 COPYRIGHT..................................................................................................................................... 69
INFRINGEMENT................................................................................................................................... 71
COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP ............................................................................................................... 72
COPYRIGHT AVAILABILITY .......................................................................................................... 72
SECURING A COPYRIGHT – .............................................................................................................. 73
10.4 LEGAL TRAPS & PRIVILEGES......................................................................................................... 73
A) Defamation............................................................................................................................. 73
What is defamation? ............................................................................................................................... 74
What is a defamatory statement? ............................................................................................................ 75
Defamation and images........................................................................................................................... 76
 Who may sue?......................................................................................................................................... 76
Elements of action................................................................................................................................... 76
Common defences to a defamation action .............................................................................................. 78
B) CONTEMPT
................................................................................................................................. 80 a) Contempt
and court reporting restrictions................................................................................. 81 b) Contempt and
protecting your sources ............................................................................................... 82
C) COPYRIGHT ................................................................................................................................ 82
Copyright infringement........................................................................................................................... 83
D) PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION .................................................................................... 83
Right to privacy and publication of images ............................................................................................ 84
Data protection........................................................................................................................................ 85
PENALTIES ........................................................................................................................................... 85
SAMPLE EXAM PAPER........................................................................................................................... 86
1.0 INTRODUCTION: USE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY IN EDITING;

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the evolution of Quark technology
Discuss the impact of Quark revolution on production of
Newspapers

1.1THE QUARK REVOLUTION

The newspaper staffs into gatherers and processors. The gatherers: reporters of all types
photographers, feature writers, news and picture agencies. The processors: Editors of all types
including departmental heads, layout artists, subeditors and the office lawyer .
The processors marginally exceeded the gatherers in numbers. It requires a good deal of
planning, decision taking , sorting and choosing of material and targeting on particular
readerships. Whence stem techniques in lexical editing, headline writing, illustrating
Newspapers require editing at its most varied and complex.
At the heart of the process are the subeditors. The editor o f a newspaper - that is the editor
remains responsible, legally and practically, torn hat appears when the paper is printed. It is the
subeditors, varying in number depending on the size of the paper, and multi-skilled to a greater
degree since the premise of old printing, who produce the paper to the editor's broad policy .

1.2 THE ARRIVAL OF QUARK

The use of computer in newspaper production which started in America in the early 1960 and
spread across Europe and by 1980s ha reached Britain but with the dominance of hot-metal
printing. For the first time, journalists could generate their own type effortlessly as they used
their keyboards writing and editing the text that went into the newspaper, the writers keyboarded
their stories into the office computer l or edited, and effectively set the newspaper in type.
The computer in this new production mode, allowed pages to be made up Photographically
hence the term photoset type. Text and headlines were typeset and output on bromides: these
were cut up .
Pictures were laser-printed on to bromides and likewise put into the page and trimmed by scalpel
as required. The adverts arrived in the composing room as page-ready bromides and were pasted
into position. When complete, and after being copied for inspection by the editor and advertising
manager, each page was photographed and the negative sent to the plate-makers to be made into
a printing plate. It should be said that this system of page production is still in use in some
newspaper offices.
Since type could be set and corrected hundreds of times faster than on hot-metal Linotype
machines, and the pages put together much quicker than by the old method with its heavy metal
type, the new photoset type and cut-and-paste makeup gave newspapers instant benefits in speed,
safety and cost saving. Moreover through interlacing easily with web-offset presses through the
use of transfer image polymer plates instead of direct-impression metal ones, the photo-produced
pages enabled colour to be used for the first time in run of press.

Module: Editing, Layout and Design Page 8

The change, through the loss of traditional printing jobs, also brought to an end the years of
confrontation and bad labour relations that had existed between managements and the old prime
unions, and resulted in the move of long established newspapers from city centres to purpose-
built premises in suburban locations with rooms full of keyboards and monitor and a press Hall
with honks of new web-offset presses.

However a revolution in newspaper production as big or bigger, was round the comer. Hot metal
and traditional typesetting had gone: the old rotary presses, with their heavy direct-impression
metal plates had come: the computer reigned supreme - but there was still a composing room,
still camera operators build a dark room used in page production.
In the early 1990s a number of national papers, both daily and Sunday began experimenting with
page composition on screen. They used Apple-Macintosh desktop computers via a page make-up
program called QuarkXPress which could be linked with the office mainframe computer, in
which text was stored, by means of an interlace. It was not trouble-tree but it did enable pages to
be put together on special make-up screens. Subs were selected to take charge of this new
function, while text editing continued as before on the older editing screens.
The new method accepted text and graphics inputs on page more easily and allowed the
subeditor in charge of making up the page, using the Quark program and mouse controls, the
flexibility needed to built to any nominated style hence full electronic pagination had arrived to
national papers. There was a continuing problem with graphics generation in the computer. The
harnessing of QuarkXpress and Apple-Mac desktop computers, plus developments in servers,
picture scanning and imaging, especially in colour, solved these problems.

By 1995 all the national dailies and Sundays had adopted the Apple Mac- QuarkXpress, solution
through a variety of configurations, and had moved into full screen composition. The composing
room was no more. The dark room still played a role in the creating of high resolution page
negatives required as an interface between screen and plate, but the arrival of direct-to-plate
programs began to phase out even this.
By 1998 a number of national newspapers made up on screen were delivering pages straight to
the platemaker at the stroke of a key. The incentive towards page-to-plate production in the
nationals stemmed from the move, for distribution purposes, into decentralized printing at
provincial sites since it simplified and speeded up the transmission of pages straight to the press.

1.3 'SUBS WITH QUARK EXPERIENCE'

Screen page make-up is still new and novel enough for its effect on editorial production to be
over-stated by those in awe of it. Advertisements for subs request "experience of using
QuarkXpress." In fact, senior subs, wearing their production hats, have always been responsible
for page make-up. whether the work entailed guiding the inky hand of an old-time stone hand or
the scalpel of some newly trained paste-up compositor. The advantage of screen make-up is
. that the subeditor - and not an intermediary - now does the moving about of ingredients and the
polishing of space. The journalist is in charge of the product.
It is not an arduous job. The page plan, originating as ever as a rough" drawn on-a sheet of paper
by the executive concerned, is blocked out on the screen in the type style of the paper, with the
contents indicated. Stories are called up ready subbed io fit their space. Pictures and graphics are
imaged into their boxes from the scanners and adjusted on screen for a fine fit. Adverts are
 likewise called, into their boxes and given a tweak. Mouse and key controls are instantaneous.
The work of putting the page together is easy compared to what it used to be.

Review Questions
a) What is the meaning of ―Quark Revolution?‖
b) Discuss the impact of Quark revolution on newspaper
production
c) How has the advanced technology assisted the editors in
their work?
d) What‘s the impact of technology on sub-editors?

2.0 EDITORIAL PRODUCTION TEAM

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the Editorial production in a newspaper.
Describe the roles of a copy-taster, news-editor, subeditor
Discuss the structure of the command desk system
Explain the Design and Typography of a newspaper

2.1 Editorial production,

This process calls for a great variety of skills from subeditors. Knowledge of type and design
and the use of pictures are needed to produce balanced and eye-caching layouts in the style of
the paper. Knowledge of page make-up is needed to see that everything is correctly without clash
and problems and that the page is finely honed - these days on screen - ready for the plate-maker
There is no old-fashioned print overseer to see to this aspect.

Editing the text is a fundamental skill in all newspapers, It requires a sound knowledge of
language so as to spot faults. It is the art of undeserving dedication to accuracy, taste and legal
fitness, also checking various sources of a story ,the required length and style, to rewriting to fit
the page or length required, to provide a readable and meaningful headline that and to do all
these things coolly in the late of deadlines and pressure require a sound mind.

It also means making up pages on screen and ever, designing them, in relation to technological
change that has come over the editorial production.
2.2 Newsroom
A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, along
with other staffers—work to gather news to be published in a newspaper and/or an online
newspaper or magazine, or broadcast on radio, television, or cable. Some journalism
organizations refer to the newsroom as the city room.

2.3 Sub or Page editor?

What is the effect of this new situation? The speed of technological change has produced some
weird ideas. Should subs be left to design their own pages (as they have aims done on many
weekly papers in as well as edit and typeset the material? Have subs, as a result of technological
change, mysteriously less subbing to do than they used to have? Should the subs' table be
redesigned as what someone has called the 'command system', with the editor in the middle and
executives, page builders and the rest of the subs in declining order of importance ranged around
in concentric cycles , with a "rolling conference' going on all the time - a daunting intrusion into
the peace needed for editing'!'
Should this page editors' who each take a page on to their screen and sub a feature or a news
item, be it political or be it some sexy scandal, be it acrusty columnist or a clutch of readers'
letters'? Alternatively, should newspaper editors - as The Independent tried briefly to do in 1987
– let writers edit appropriate their own material.

Rewrite subeditor

Specialist Subs Legal and Revise editor

Page editors
Night Editor Chief Sub-editor

Art Desk
Back bench
Pi Picture desk

Features desk
News Desk

Command desk system

2.4 Technology and the sub

Development in technology is pointing the way to the future. The early Apple Mac-Quark-
EXpress brought solutions which can still widely be found - were hybrids in which problems
interfacing with ageing editing systems and databases meant that text editing had to be done on
different screens.
Improved applications which emailed the use of clusters of Apple-Macs driven by power servers,
which did not have to rely on the mainframe, speeded up both editing and make-up and allowed
subs to edit on-page. Later, integrated apple-Mac-Quark EXpress systems, such as QPS and
more recently, the "Microsoft MS-windows-based Unisys Hermes system, brought with them
improved on-screen as graphics handling and vastly upgraded and faster database management.
The systems integrated make-up and text editing on every workstation in the editorial department
if it were so requited.

While facilities in the new systems introduced might make subbing on a "whole page' basis
through page editors seem logical, the reasons for doing this were less so. Specialists for many
papers, especially those selling strongly on text relied on special skills and experience, on subs
who were good at such things as captions or rewrites. With the new systems, multi-access, many
number of subs would work on the same page – which they could all have on-screen at the same
time - so there was no problem.
Specialist subs could fit in the bridge column or a technology report. Chunks of artwork such as
blurbs could be taken out of the frame to be worked on by an artist and returned as page-ready.
While simultaneously a sub might be grappling with a long-running story as the lead.
The page lead, however, required that one sub - or a production editor would be deciding when it
was ready.
Other chances blurred the boundaries in editorial production. Some newspapers, despite their
early modular make-up systems, had begun up pace 'module'-' that could be called up and
adapted on screen for last routine pages, thus reducing the work of layout artists. Graphics role
had already been reduced by computer graphics. More imaginative designs and -spreads still
required an art desk, especially on the big national papers. In another development some national
and provincial papers announced contracts for agreed picture-read paces of news from the page
production team to supplement their copy input.

2.4.1 Chief Sub-Editor

Chief Sub-editor assigns and allocates works to various subeditors working under him and also
coordinates and supervises their work.

2.4.2 The Makeup Sub-Editor:

The makeup sub-editor has to possess the vision of an artist, as he has to adjust different types of
printing and spacing in such a way that it gives an attractive appearance to the printed matter.
The traits of an artist, a technician and a craftsman have to be combined in him.

While planning the lay-out he has to give due consideration to the importance of the news. For
example, important news items have to be printed on the front page and also adjusted at a
prominent place in it. He has to decide the size of photographs and illustrated matter and allots
them space at an appropriate place, taking into consideration the get-up of the newspaper as a
whole
2.4.3 The Sub-Editor:

A Sub-Editor is a presenter of news and reports. He has a lawyer's analytical approach and
quick-mindedness which enable him to understand a story quickly and come to the core of the
matter.

He has to glean important points from the mass of material sent by the news reporters and
condense them, giving a shape in a logical and interesting way.

He has to give suitable head-lines and where necessary, revise and condense the material to suit
the available space. This is rather a difficult task which requires skill, flair for writing and
mastery over the language. More often than not, a sub-editor has to deal with the reports of
different reporters.

In such cases, he has to get the main points from all the reports and then present them in a logical
and interesting narrative. All these things have got to be done in time in order to reach the press
before it is too late. Sub-editors often specialize in a particular field, such as foreign news, sports,
films, commerce, etc.

His working hours are more regular than those of a reporter. He knows beforehand when he has
to report for duty and when he is going to have free time. His working hours are more or less like
those of any other office worker with the only difference that he has to work in different shifts,
starting roughly from 10 A.M. and ending up to 2-3 in the small hours of the morning ; if he is
working for an evening edition, his work my start at 7 A.M.

2.5 WHAT IS EDITORIAL PRODUCTION?

Editorial production on a daily paper, morning or evening, begins with the selection of the
contents for the day's issue. This does not mean that the writing part is finished. News will
continue to be gathered and written up to the last minute. The last editorial features will be
prepared and photographs shot, but once decisions began to be taken about placing the stories in
the pages that is editorial production. Central to this process is the paper's team of subeditors, by
whom the various stages of editing are carried out. A prime miner in this early stage of
producing the paper is the senior subeditor who selects and shortlists from the mass incoming
mass material the stones most likely to be used. Since copy is the name for all the material used
in by the writers. Copy-tasting is the word used for the setting g of this material, and the person
who initiates the process is the copy taster.
News creation is a round-the-clock operation into which a newspaper tunes to its hours of
production. On an evening paper, where work begins about 8am the newsroom deals first with
overnight stories and follow-ups from the previous day's news. Because of the time difference,
foreign copy will be at first predominant.
As edition succeeds edition, from about midday there is a strengthening of the prime news-of-
the-day content with running stories being updated between editions into the late afternoon,
peak time when the in flow of stories being around 2- 3 p.m. Afternoon cricket scores replace
morning and overnight ones." The morning paper cycle begins at about I I a.m. or midday, with
edition press times from about "1 p.m. depending on distribution areas.

Morning paper newsrooms first of all map up the news of the day looking for follow-ups where
stones have had a good run in the evenings and on television and living more detailed versions of
stories the evening.
They have the benefit of evening events, speeches, meetings, 'functions and theaters and have
more tune tor set-piece interviews. Because of the time difference morning papers are stronger
on news and are first with the day events, they have time for polished detailed background
features and situationers which give depth and perspective to their coverage.
By the nine the last bit of updating has been done and the' last edition not later than 2 pm have
gone to press. The news cycle is ready once more for an 8 a.m. startup by the evenings.

2.5.1.Creating the news

News - features arrives in the newspaper office from a variety of sources. Common now to all
reporters, feature writers and agencies is the practice of key boarding copy straight into the
office computer, from which stories are recalled on for screens for editing into then page slots.
Agency copy is entered likewise and is automatically routed to the desk whose job is to read and
deal with desk. Local references are type-coded to help local paper subscribers and draw the
news editor's attention. There are not many jobs these days being carried out by village
correspondents where ballpen, typewriter and telephone are the means of origination.

2.5.2 Staff reporters

Stall reporters are the most useful and controllable source of news and the likeliest source of all
papers like to have something their rivals haven't got. Numbers vary from about two to twenty on
a small evening paper to flirty or more on a national daily. They work from the newsroom or
from branch offices and sometimes independently in districts, and they are controlled and briefed
by the news editor or the chief reporter on smaller papers .Jobs can vary from a simple
telephone inquiry, or personal call resulting from a letter or information received, to complicated
jobs involving a team of reporters.

If there is no time to get to the office to Keyboard copy into the computer reporters, using
portable workstations, file direct into the system by telephone modems: otherwise their copy is
taken over the telephone by copytakers who keyboard it in for them. Where there are bigger
stalls a newspaper might use a number of reporters as an investigative team on long-term news
projects under a leader or project editor. This is usually planned into the r w e r in advance as a
special news feature.

2.5.3 Freelances
Freelance reporters are used mainly on specialist assignments or for holiday relief work and are
paid for the job or days or-weeks covered. They are not tied to a paper except where they have a
specific contract covering a job or sequence of shifts. Some specialize in investigative writing" -
which they sell to the higher bidder.
2.5.4 Local correspondents
These are Journalists working for a local paper, or as local freelances who are accredited by
retainer fee or some special arrangement to a paper e cover stories in the area. They get
lineage fee per line for story used or ordered. The arrangement usually precludes them working
for a rival paper. They cover wanted stories where a staff reporter is not available. National and
international news agencies work round the clock to provide a variety of services for newspapers
all over the world, collecting material from bureaux and correspondents in cities aid countries.
checking and editing it and distributing it to subscribers.

Most countries have their own national agencies whose stories are used by small and medium-
sized papers to fill gaps in coverage, or to provide all bin local coverage. Agency stories can be
used as check source: and main agencies provide news pictures. The international ones such as
Reuters ,Associate Press, United Press International and Agence France Press are some source-
of foreign news for papers who have few or no foreign correspondents of newsfilm and sound
reporting for Television and radio. They cover national news networks stories affecting a
contries own interests and their nationals abroad, .News agency correspondents are often the first
to break important foreign stories.
Agencies operate in a similar way newspapers through their reporter in main centres with local
correspondents or stringers, filing the districts. The subediting, which includes headlining,
checking and edition is done at the main office.

2.6 NEWSPAPER DESIGN: NEWSPAPER FORMATS

The three formats used in newspapers are full format, tabloid and magazine.
a) Full Format Or Broadsheet
A full-format (also known as broadsheet) newspaper is one that measures 16 or 17 inches
wide and 21 to 22 inches deep. A full-format newspaper can be made to have five columns, six
columns, seven and one-half columns, eight columns or nine columns.

b) Tabloid
A tabloid newspaper is about half the size of a full-format newspaper. It measures 10 to 12
inches wide and 14 to 18 inches deep. A tabloid format newspaper can have two, three, four,
five, five and one-half and six columns.

c) Magazine
A magazine-format (also known as compact) newspaper is about half the size of a tabloid
newspaper. It measures 7 to 8 inches wide and 10 to 11 inches deep. It can be made to have one
column, two columns and three columns.

2.6.1 NEWSPAPER DESIGN

This involves the techniques used in newspaper design and any specific considerations,
respectively. Other important considerations (beyond the news
gathering, news writing and copy editing aspects) are the techniques for
putting the material together so that your paper
emphasizes what is important. You will also need to know what makes an attractive
appearance and draws and holds the reader‘s eye. All of this is done through good layout and
makeup designed to achieve the best overall appearance and style of the publication and to allow
the reader to obtain the maximum information in the shortest time.
Layout is the planning of the position and page that each piece of copy or art will occupy in your
publication. This includes the choosing the styles and sizes of headlines desired, the kinds
and sizes of type to be used and deciding how to use them, and indicating these plans on the
layout sheets. Makeup is normally the execution of that layout by the publisher (the compositor),
although sometimes the terms layout and makeup are used interchangeably. For
instance, the name ―makeup editor‖ is used on some newspapers instead of ―layout editor.‖
2.6.2 THE DUMMY
Indicating on the layout sheet where each element will be placed (sometimes called
dummying or roughing in) may be done as each segment of material is forwarded to the
publisher. Some publishers will even give you rough proofs of galley type, headlines and art
and let you make a paste-up dummy on a layout sheet. Paste-up dummies ensure a high degree
of accuracy in page makeup because they give the publisher a better.
Whether you consider layout an art or simply a mechanical skill, it is clearly an involved,
demanding function. One must acquire some skills to become a good layout editor.
A keen news sense to know which stories to emphasize and how strongly to emphasize
them .
A good working knowledge of typography .
An understanding of graphic design principles and techniques.
A familiarity with modem newspaper design techniques.
Layout duties on ship and station newspapers are
usually handled by the editor, associate editor and
subordinate editors (sports, leisure, and so forth).
On large commercial dailies, front-page layout is usually done by one of the executive
editors — managing editor, news editor or copy editor — to ensure top-level emphasis
of particular stories and ideas. Other pages are done by department editors (sport, feature,
editorial) and by copy editors. Remember: your layout is your blueprint, and blue- prints are
drawn to scale. So start by making up a standard layout sheet, showing the page with its columns
drawn either to scale or to size. (A layout sheet of actual page size is the easiest to use.)
The layout sheet should be marked for column widths. The top of each page should allow
space for showing the issue, the page and the section of the paper. The best way to indicate
where a story goes is to write in the story slug (the short identification line that goes right before
the writer‘s name on a piece of copy). You can use keys for art and your headlines can be written
2.7 DESIGN AND TYPOGRAPHY

2.7.1 NEWSPAPER MAKEUP

―Newspaper makeup‖ is defined as the design of a
newspaper page or the manner in which pictures, headlines and news stories are
arranged on a page. The importance of newspaper makeup are, To indicate the importance of the
news , To make the page easy to read , To make the page attractive .
2.7.2 FRONT-PAGE FOCAL POINT
Each page of a newspaper has a focal point — a point on the page to which the reader
normally looks for the most important story. Any area can be the final point,
depending on the chosen design. Advertisements can
also dictate the focal points of the inside pages of a newspaper.
On the front page of some daily newspapers, the focal point is often in the upper right-
hand corner a now-dated practice that reflects the style of a bygone
era. Americans, although trained to read from left to right and top to bottom, greatly altered
this pattern for many years with respect to their newspaper reading
habits. Through the use of banner headlines that extended more than half the width of the
page, readers were trained to seek the upper right-hand corner of the
front page. Newspaper readers begin their reading by
following the banner headline across the page and continuing down the right-
hand side of the page. Therefore, many newspaper readers have come to expect the
most important story in each issue to appear or touch in the upper right-hand corner of the front
page. The right-hand focal point is not as important to makeup editors as in the past, since
fewer newspapers use banner headlines on the lead story.
However, many newspapers still carry the most important story in the upper right-
hand corner of the front page because of established practices. Today, a large percentage of
newspaper editors use the upper left-hand corner as the focal point. These editors think that
readers, trained in school to read other literature from left to right, prefer their newspapers to be
designed that way too. A few editors still use other areas, such as the upper center of the front
page as the focal point. Only time will tell which is best, if indeed, there is a ―best.‖
2.7.3 INSIDE PAGE FOCAL POINT
The focal point on inside pages is the upper left-
hand corner if there are no advertisements. Therefore, the focal point is influenced by a
newspaper reader‘s natural sight tendencies and is not hampered by customs. On inside pages
with advertising, the way ads are placed on the page influences the position of the focal
point. The focal point is always opposite the lower corner of the page that is anchored by
the largest mass of advertising.
2.7.4 MAKEUP LINES
There are four basic types of ―lines‖ in newspaper makeup:
a) Vertical ,b) Diagonal c) Circular d) Horizontal
Vertical Line- The vertical line is used to get the reader to read up and down the page. The line
is carried out on the page by displaying stories, headlines and pictures vertically
on the page. It is characteristic of the makeup of newspapers in early America and is
still used to a limited degree in making up newspapers today.
Diagonal Line -The diagonal line is used in newspaper makeup to
get the reader to read through the page. The line is
carried out on the page by displaying headlines and pictures so together they forma
diagonal line from the upper left-hand corner to the lower right-hand corner of the page. Also, a
page can contain a double diagonal by
forming another diagonal in the opposite direction from the first. The diagonal line lends a
sense of rhythm to the page. It is characteristic of many of today‘s newspapers.
Circular Line -The circular line is used in newspaper makeup in an attempt to get the reader to
read around the page. The line is carried out on the page by displaying stories, headlines
and pictures on the page so the reader sees each as being equally important. This creates a
tendency on the reader‘s part to read all the stories. The circular line is used to a limited degree
in modem newspapers.
Horizontal Line -The horizontal line is used in newspaper makeup to get the reader to read
back and forth on the page. The line is carried out by displaying stories, headlines and pictures
horizontally on the page. The horizontal line is a post-World War II development and it is
probably the most striking change in the appearance of newspapers in this century. It is a
characteristic of many present-day newspapers.
2.8 NEWSPAPER DESIGN CONCEPTS
Examples;
Successfully designing a newspaper page encompasses more than experimentation. It is
evidenced by the following five newspaper design
concepts: a) Balance b)Contrast c)Rhythm d)Unity e)Harmony

a)BALANCE
In the balance concept, the page designer ( referred to as the editor, although it may be any
member of the newspaper staff performing this function) tries to balance heads against
heads, pictures against pictures, stories against stories and artwork against artwork. This
balance, however, is a relative balance, and it is not
measurable but is something gauged in the viewer‘s mind. Therefore, the editor has to
sense, rather than measure, the balance for a page. This perception is one Developed by
experience. The editor looks at the page on the page. Rhythm is achieved in newspaper makeup.
b)CONTRAST
In the contrast concept, the editor strives to separate display items on the page so each gets the
attention it deserves. The editor uses type, headlines, pictures, white space and color to achieve
contrast. For example, the editor can achieve contrast with type by using regular type with
boldface type. Headlines also can be contrasted by using bold, blackheads or by displaying
reman type with italic type. The editor can
achieve contrast with pictures by using verticals with
horizontals, small column widths with large column widths or dark and light photographs.
Further, the editor can achieve contrast through color by displaying black type with color boxes,
pictures and heads.

c)RHYTHM
By using the rhythm concept, the editor tries to get the reader to move from one element to
another element by staggering headlines, stories and pictures on the page.
d)UNITY
The unity concept of newspaper makeup is used to tie the page together; therefore, the page is
not divided into one, two or more sections. A page that lacks unity is called a paneled page.
Avoid paneled pages by crossing the column gutters
(space between columns) with headlines and pictures in the middle areas of the page.

e)HARMONY
The harmony concept is used to give a newspaper a
standard appearance from day to day. Harmony generally
refers to typographic harmony. This means using one typeface
for body type and a contrasting typeface for cutlines. Headlines should have the same typeface
as the body type and maybe varied by weight and the use of italics on certain occasion.

The nameplate can be made to float on the page. Although a nameplate that runs
the entire width of the page can be made to float, a floating nameplate usually occupies
two or three columns and is placed anywhere in the upper third of the page.
FLAGS- A flag of the newspaper is a display used by a
newspaper to indicate section pages or special pages,
such as editorial, sports and family pages. Just like
nameplates, a flag should not dominate its page and should appear above the fold.
Flags can also be floated. (NOTE: Some authorities maintain that a flag is the
same as a nameplate and identify a section head as a ―section logo.‖ )

2.8.1 MASTHEAD

A masthead of the newspaper is often referred to, incorrectly, as a nameplate. A masthead is a

statement that should appear in every edition to give information about the publication. The
masthead of a funded military newspaper includes the following elements; The name of the
officer in command or head of the activity. The name of the newspaper and the producing
command. The following statement: ―The editorial content
of this newspaper is prepared, edited and provided by the public affairs office of
(command).‖ The name, rank or rate (if military) and editorial position on the newspaper staff of
all personnel assigned newspaper production and editing
duties. This is listed under the heading ―(command) Editorial Staff.‖
The following disclaimer: eg ―This newspaper is an
authorized publication for members of the military services (add the words ―stationed
overseas‖ ―at sea‖ or ―and their families‖ if applicable). Its contents do not necessarily
reflect the official views of the Kenyan Government, the Department of Defense or the
Kenyan Navy and do not imply endorsement thereof.‖
The following disclaimer : ―The appearance of advertising in this
newspaper, including inserts of supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the
Department of Defense, the Kenyan Navy, (name of command) or (name of publisher) of the
products and services advertised‖ ―Everything advertised in this newspaper shall be made
available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, gender,
national origin, age, marital status, physical
handicap, political affiliation or any other non-merit factor of the purchaser, user or patron.
If a violation or rejection of this equal opportunity policy by an advertiser is confirmed,
the publisher shall refuse to print advertising from that source until the violation is corrected
These regulations also require that the masthead contain the following information:
a) Name of publication b)Date of issue . c)Frequency of publication d)Issue number
e)Subscription price (if applicable.)

2.8.2 HEADLINES
Headlines, or simply heads, contribute to all five concepts of newspaper design —
balance, contrast, rhythm, unity and harmony. The headline for one story should be separated
from that of another. Heads that appear side by side (called ‗Tombstones‖) could be read as one
head and confuse the reader. Tombstoning also prevents each head from gaining its share of
attention. When headlines and pictures are used together, they should be placed so the reader is
not confused by their positions.

2.9 NESPAPER TYPOGRAPHY

Typography is the art of printing with type. It involves the style, arrangement and
appearance of the printed page. As editor of a newspaper, be familiar with a few important type-
related terms.
Printers’ Measurements- Type size is measured in points. One point is approximately one
seventy-second of an inch. Twelve points equal one pica (six picas equal one inch). Points are
used to measure the height of a letter of type. The width of a line of type is given in picas. Most
newspaper columns are about 12 picas (2 inches) wide. Type ranges in size from 3 to 120 points.
Stories will usually be printed in 8- or 10-point type. Most headlines will range from 12 to
36 points. The depth of a column of type or art (measured down
the page) is given in inches. A column inch is one
column wide and 1 inch deep; a photograph two columns wide and 3 inches deep
occupies six column inches.

Type Classification- Some handwritings are large and bold, some are weak, some small, some
clear and some are almost illegible.Type styles, called typefaces, are much the same. The first
concern of selecting a type is, of course, clarity. Type must be legible. However, there is more
to it than that. Like handwriting, typefaces reflect certain characteristics, such as refinement,
dignity, boldness or strength.
Properly used, they can convey the feeling or mood of a message. They maybe warm,
brisk, dignified, modern or old-fashioned — whatever is needed to emphasize or
suggest the thoughts expressed in copy.
Type can be used to attract the reader‘s attention. The use of large boldfaces is one of the most
effective ways of stopping the eye. Large, boldface type, however, is difficult to read. It
should be limited to a few words and should be followed by smaller, more legible
faces that invite reading. Most kinds of type have both capitals and small letters.
Publishers use the term uppercase for capitals and lowercase for small letters. These terms
originated in early printshops where type was set by hand. The less-used capital letters
were stored in an upper storage. Case and the frequently-used small letters in a lower one.
As early as the seventeenth century, publishers knew they had to organize their typefaces
efficiently. They arranged their typefaces into main type classes. The six main classes of
type are as follows: . Roman , Gothic , Text , Italics , script, Contemporary .The six main
classes of type are;
a) ROMAN.— Roman is the type most commonly used for the text of magazines,
newspapers and books. It is chosen because most readers are familiar with it and because it is the
easiest to read in smaller sizes and in lengthy articles. Roman types are divided into two
classifications: modern and old style. The chief difference between modern and old style
reman is found in the serifs (the small cross strokes at the ends of the main lines of a letter). The
old style letter has soft, rounded serifs, while
the modern letter has heavier shadings and thin, clean-cut hairlines.
b) GOTHIC.— The reman letter is composed of a
series of thick and thin lines, the gothic letter is
constructed of lines of even weight. It has no serifs (known in the printing profession as
“saris serif”); it is perfectly plain. Gothic type is popular for use on posters and as headlines.
c) TEXT.— Text type is sometimes referred to as ―Old English.” Text was the first type style
used in the history of printing. Although it is still used frequently, it is
generally limited to a few lines of copy. As far as
newspaper work is concerned, it should be limited to
something formal, such as religious announcements, prayers, programs and invitations.
d) ITALIC.— In italic type, the letters are slanted and
made to match almost every reman, gothic and contemporary type style in use today.
Italic is used in text matter to show emphasis. Although italic was
originally used for text, it was rather hard to read in lengthy articles and it is seldom used
for this purpose today.
e) SCRIPT.— Script typefaces have little connecting links, or kerns, that combine the letters and
give them the appearance of handwriting. Script is suitable for
announcements and invitations.
f) CONTEMPORARY.— The past 50 years have been highly significant in typographic
history. The old Gothics have had their faces lifted, and new streamlined
faces have appeared everywhere. Contemporary type refers to the thousands of modern,
artistic faces used in a variety of ways, such as advertisements, labels on cans
and boxes, display composition and television commercials. In general, modern types
feature more lightface than bold.
Type Families - From classes, type is further categorized into typefaces that are similar
in design, though not exactly alike. These groups are called type families. Each type
family has a name and a certain basic family
resemblance. Many type families are named for their creators, such as Bodoni and Goudy.
Some names come from regions or nations: Caledonia and Old English.
Some type families include dozens of typefaces, all
different in some way, yet all having general characteristics that unmistakable
, identify them as members of their particular family, such as the Bodoni family.
Type Series -The next type category refers to the weight, width and angle of type. This
category is called type series. When a series carries only the family name, with no
adjectives indicating variations in width, weight or
angle, assume that the type is normal. The usual
distinction is between big letters (called display or
headline type) and small letters (called body or text type).
Type Font -Type font is the next category and has all the letters, numbers and characters
necessary to set copy in one size of type. However, a modern newspaper uses either one or two
families of compatible type to achieve variety in the series choice and point size.
.

Review Questions

a) What do you understand by the term ―editorial Production‖

b) Discuss the various types of newspaper layouts.
c) What do you understand by ― Typography‖ in a newspaper?
d) Explain the elements to consider when designing a newspaper.
e) Discuss the various types available in designing a newspaper

References
Adisa R. M. (2005). Fundamentals of Newspaper/Magazine Editing and Production. Osogbo:
positive Impact Publications, pp 25-32.ISBN 978-32581-4-3.

Frost C. (2005). ―Design for print media” in Richard K. (Ed.) Print Journalism A critical
introduction. London: Routledge, pp 201- 204. ISBN 0-203-00676-3.
Tattersall M. (2008). ―Page layout and design‖ in Franklin B. (Ed.) Pulling Newspapers
Apart, Analysing Print Journalism, London: Routledge, pp 196-203. ISBN 0-203-63070-
3.0 LAYOUT &TECHNIQUES
Effective use of white space; colour publication layout & techniques :

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the Functions of layout artist
Discuss the importance white balance in the designing of
Newspapers
Explain the process of fitting copy in page.

Page layout or page composition is the process of placing and arranging and rearranging text
and graphics on the page. A good composition is one that is not only pleasing to look at but also
effectively conveys the message of the text and graphics to the intended audience. There are
certain tried and true elements of page composition that can help insure a successful layout.

Place each text or graphic element on the page so that they have a visual connection to each
other. You can use horizontal or vertical alignment, align objects along the same edge or center
them.

Creating the right balance is both about the number of text and graphics elements and how they
are arranged on the page. Odd numbers tend to create a more dynamic layout. Use an odd
number of visuals, odd numbers of text columns. Or, create a dynamic layout with an
asymmetrical arrangement of elements. Symmetrical balance or the use of even elements such as
two or four columns or a block of 4 pictures generally produces a formal, more static layout.

Related to balance, the rule of thirds suggests that a more pleasing composition is possible if
your arrangement of text and graphics can be placed using one of these guidelines:

1. most important elements spaced more or less evenly within vertical or horizontal thirds
2. most important elements concentrated in the upper or lower third of the page
3. most important elements centered on one of the points where lines intersect after visually
dividing the page into thirds horizontally and vertically

Repetition can come in the form of consistent use of alignment, using the same colors for related
items (such as pull-quotes or headlines), using the same style or size of graphics, or simply
placing the page numbers in the same spot throughout a publication.
Add White Balance in the right place -Just as important as the text and graphics on the page is
the empty space. Cramming too much on the page even if it is perfectly aligned and balanced and
falls within the rule of thirds can ruin a composition. The page needs visual breathing room. The
best place for white space is around the edges of the page and the edges of text or graphic
elements so it doesn't get trapped in the middle of the page but increased paragraph, line, and
letterspacing can also improve a layout.

White space is an important principle of design missing from the page layouts of many novices.
White space is nothing. White space is the absence of text and graphics. It breaks up text and
graphics. It provides visual breathing room for the eye. Add white space to make a page less
cramped, confusing, or overwhelming.

How to deal with white space:

1. Increase paragraph spacing.

Use a line of space or a deep indent (but not both) to put white space between
paragraphs.
2. Increase space between columns of text.
Alleys or gutters that are too narrow cause the eye to skip over to the next column. Put
white space between columns with adequate alleys.
3. Put space at the end of lines of text.
Use ragged-right alignment to add white space between columns and at the end of lines
of text.
4. Put more space around outer edges of page.
If space is necessarily cramped within the body of the publication, add white space with
generous margins or gutters.
5. Leave more room around graphics.
When wrapping text around graphics or wherever text and graphics meet, provide plenty
of standoff white space. Don't run text right up to the edge of graphics.
6. Increase space around headlines.
Add white space between headlines or subheads and the preceding copy and a bit below
as well.
7. Increase space between lines of type and individual characters.
Add typographic white space by increasing the leading of body text, using lighter type,
avoiding letter spacing that is too tight, and avoiding unending condensed or heavy type.

Tips:

1. Keep design balanced.

Achieve a balance of ink and white space using a mix of techniques described above, as
appropriate to your design.
2. Don't go overboard.
Avoid 'bad' white space caused by trapping space within text, rivers of white (often found
with unadjusted justified type), overuse of expanded type, too wide gutters, excessive
leading, and poorly kerned headlines.
 3. White space is any color.
White space isn't white, literally, unless your paper is white. If the paper is yellow, the
white space is yellow. White space is simply empty space - that area devoid of text and
graphics.
4. Preprinted designs need white space.
When printing on preprinted paper that has its own obvious design elements - lines,
circles, etc. that aren't simply an overall pattern blending into the background - treat those
elements as if they were part of the text and graphics you are printing and allow for
adequate white space around those parts of the design.

Layout artist

A layout artist is responsible for the overall visual look of a publication. He or she arranges text
and images to create a pleasing layout for readers. Layout artists work in advertising agencies,
newspapers and magazines. Brochures, articles, reports, posters and ad copy are just some of the
different types of projects that a layout artist produces.

While layout artists once used tape or glue to piece together pages of copy and images by hand,
today most graphics professionals lay out their work digitally using computer graphics
software. Learning graphics software is a key accomplishment in a layout artist's education and
training. Working with images and text on a screen using visual editing software tools is a daily
task for layout artists. There may be some smaller publications or small businesses that still use
manual paste up layout techniques.

Layout artists must select colors that fit with each publication or project to convey the desired
mood or tone of the material. The format of the page layouts must be easy to read. The font and
lettering size chosen by a layout artist must be clear. Layout artists must make many daily
decisions about all of the details of their work in order to produce successful projects.

Working for a publication such as a newspaper or magazine requires a layout artist to be

cohesive in his or her designs. Creating fresh-looking pages while maintaining the magazine or
newspaper's unique style is an important goal to achieve. Layout artists are considered creative
production staff. The number of page layouts expected daily by these artists varies greatly
depending on the type of business or publication.

Newspaper layout artists are usually under pressure to produce pages on an extremely strict
deadline, if the publication is a daily one. A newspaper layout artist arranges photographs and
text to create easily readable pages. He or she chooses different font sizes for story headlines.
Similar duties are performed by magazine layout artists, but the deadline pressure may be less
intense if the publication is produced monthly rather than weekly or daily. Both magazine and
newspaper layout artists create ad pages for advertisers.

The distinction between the duties of a graphic designer and a layout artist is often a slight one.
Their tasks of producing finished page layouts from images and text tend to overlap. In general
though, layout artists' work usually focuses on page arrangement rather than drawing. A graphic
artist may add more of his or her original drawings and artwork to production projects.
COPY FITTING
As a layout editor, determine an approximate length, in column inches, of a story from typed
copy. (A column inch is one inch of copy,
measured down the column, regardless of the column width being used.) By making a few
simple calculations, determine beforehand how much space the typed copy will fill when it is
set in type (on the basis of 2 3/8-inch or 14-pica-wide column — six picas equal
one inch). For most 10-point type, three typewritten lines, 60 characters wide (on a regular 8
1/2-by 11-inch sheet of paper) equal one column inch of copy. If other than 10-
point body type is used, check with your publisher. The publisher will provide for you a
simple fitting formula for all sizes and styles of typefaces available, taking into
consideration such things as variations in column widths, differences in fonts, and so forth.
Before forwarding your copy to the publisher, mark
it clearly with all necessary instructions (guidelines) for the typesetter. If the publisher is
going to makeup the entire page from the layout plan, apiece of copy must
contain the following notations:
A key to its position in the layout (shown by the slug on the story and the slug on the dummy).
The type and size of headline according to a headline chart.
The specifics on the size and style of typeface (if it varies from the standard body type
previously agreed upon between you and the publisher).
The column width (one column, two columns,
and so forth, should be designated by picas to
avoid confusion with column inch measurements). A good publisher can make up the p
ages exactly as you want them from your blueprint, as long as you have provided the necessary
information. The layout techniques for offset printing, can be applied to desktop publishing.

Review Questions

a) How does the designer achieve the white balance in a

newspaper.
b) What is the importance of use of colour in a newspaper layout.
c) Describe the functions of a layout artist
d) What is the process of fitting a copy in its space in a
newspaper
 4.0 USING PICTURES5

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the elements that makes a good caption
Discuss the procedure of cropping a photo in Newspapers

CUTLINES OR PHOTO CAPTION:

There are two kinds of photo captions. One is traditional, meant to enhance and support the
photograph for someone looking at it, usually for enjoyment or information, or both. The second
kind of caption is geared more for web searches, and goes with keywords as a way of trying to
sell the image on a stock library site. The difference between the two is that the first considers
the image first and foremost, while the second attempts to play games with search engines.

Typically, a viewer will look first at the photograph. If it‘s not interesting, that will be just a
glance and move on, so the caption doesn‘t even come into play. However, if your image passed
the first hurdle, which was to spark an interest in the viewer, then they will go to the caption to
find out something about it. IF the caption takes them a step further and encourages more
interest, they‘ll go back to the photograph to look at it more carefully.

What counts in writing a good caption:

1. Explain what needs explaining

Think clearly and hard about the image and what it contains. Step back from it into someone
else‘s shoes. What should they know about it that they can‘t already see? Avoid
generalizations,A useful template for beginning to write comes from the journalistic 5 W‘s:

Who-Not you the photographer but whoever is in the frame, if there is a person and that person is
prominent.

What-Usually the alternative to who, but also can be what the person is doing. Again, a simple,
accurate description of the main subject or subjects.

Where-What‘s the location, and what details about the location are important for the viewer to
know? Immediate locale, followed by town or city, followed by state or region, followed by
country.
When - Is time important for the image? Time of day? The actual date? Season? It may not be,
but if it‘s part of the story, write it in.

Why - Is there a reason behind the event unfolding or the subject being there? This W is the one
that is usually least obvious from just looking at the image.

2. Don’t spell out what’s obvious

The issue here is redundancy.

3. Keep the sentence tight- This is succinct. Avoid unnecessary words in caption.
4. Don‘t overload with detail - There‘s a finite limit to what most viewers want to absorb about
an image. It is, after all, a photograph first and foremost and doesn‘t need to be over-burdened.
5. Intrigue just a little - A caption takes the viewer/reader back to the photograph, try to add a
touch of interest, that will help.

There are methods used in gathering material for cutlines and identify
cutline components, typography, layout and datelines. Photographs have a unique storytelling
ability. They are most effective when accompanied by some explanatory text.
A missile launching may make an exciting
photograph, but it fails as a news vehicle unless the
reader understands the when, where and why of the photograph, as well as the more
obvious what and how. The function of providing information the photo- graph does not furnish
is performed by the photograph‘s cutline, also known as a photo caption. A cutline
supplements the photograph by explaining action, naming people and giving background
information. The cutline writer is normally a middleman, who takes a photograph (which is
inflexible) and adds the cutline (which is flexible) and comes out with a story.
The cutline writer determines what additional information must be given to communicate
the story the photograph is meant to tell. Cutline writing is a specialized form of news-
writing. It answers the same basic questions as the news story. Yet, it does this in a single,
concise paragraph. The cutline writer must be alert to answer any questions the photograph may
arouse in the reader‘s mind

GATHERING CUTLINE OR PHOTO CAPTION INFORMATION

There is no secret formula to gathering cutline
information. However, there are certain practices you
should follow that will allow you to write effective cutlines after you return to your office.

a) How to Record Cutline Information

Cutline information maybe recorded in a notebook or a locally designed ―caption log.‖ A
caption log may serve as a handy reminder of what information you should record . What
Cutline Material Is Recorded .When you gather material for cutlines, you generally use the
same methods and techniques as for gathering information for a news story. The major
difference is that you do not need as much information, but it must be pertinent to the scene in
the photograph. Points to consider before you write a cutline or Photo caption:
a) What is the storytelling value of the photograph?
b) Is the photograph intended for internal or
external use? (Photographs for civilians may need more information.)
c) Will the photograph be released to a hometown paper? If so, you must include a
hometown tie-in.
d) Will the photograph be used alone or with a story?
With these basic considerations in mind, try to stick
with the old but reliable five Ws (and H) when you
gather cutline material. Find the answers to the most pertinent questions, and you will have
more than enough information to write your cutline.
WHO.— Identify people in the photograph by rank
full name, title, hometown, and so forth. Also note
relative positions of people in the photograph when there are more than one and if it is not
obvious who is who by action, age, gender or rank Sometimes it is
helpful for you to note the clothing or physical characteristics of the people being
photographed. Keep in mind that when you or your photographer use black-and-
white film, it will do little good to note ―yellow T-
shirt‖ or ―red dress‖ on the caption log. However, such notations as ―Mets T-shirt,‖
―sunglasses‖ or ―curly blond hair‖ will prove helpful.
WHAT.— The ―what‖ can apply to two areas. First, it may involve what is happening in the
photograph. In the caption log, it may be necessary to jot down a word
or two to describe the action. For example, ―slicing cake,‖ ―performing PMS.‖
Second, the ―what‖ may entail equipment in the
photograph. Unusual equipment often is included in photographs. The equipment should be
identified. Ships and aircraft should always be identified. Never guess or
suppose you know the proper nomenclature; ask an expert on the scene.
WHERE.— Make sure you record the location of
the action. Write down the name or number of street names, building names or numbers,
and so forth. If there are landmarks, either natural or man-made, identify them as well. These
might include rivers, lakes, statues, bridges and mountains.
WHEN.— Record the time and date the photograph
was taken. This is especially important for ―wild‖ or ―stand-alone‖ photographs that will not
be accompanied by a story.
WHY.— Unless it is obvious, record why an action is taking place. Is it part of a base basketball
champion- ship or a monthly awards ceremony? As in the ―when‖
category, this is important for photographs that will stand by themselves.
HOW.— If there are circumstances that led to the photograph being taken and they require
explanation, make sure you know how they came about. Matching Cutline Information with the
Photograph You should record cutline information by individual frame number. However, if you
shoot several frames of the same subject and action, it is not necessary for you to record
information each time. Simply list the range of frame numbers in which the subject appeared.
When to Record Cutline Information Record the cutline information immediately after each
shot or series of shots. Do not let subjects getaway without jotting down the required cutline
information. They may be hard or impossible to track down later.

b) The Background Information

This consists of additional facts or explanations needed to clarify the subject matter
of the photograph. The length of this section of the cutline depends on two factors:
(1) where the photograph will be used .

(2) How the photograph will be used.

The amount of background information needed to explain a photograph of carrier operations to a
civilian reader will obviously be greater than that needed to explain it to crew members who
are participating in such operations. If a photograph is to accompany a news story, do not
duplicate details used in the story. If the photograph is to be used alone, the cutline must be
complete. Cutlines prepared for picture stories are similar to those written for single
photographs, except that a story is told by means of a series of related photographs. In this case,
a main cutline, usually written for the lead or
key photograph of the story, can supply background information for the entire story.
Although present tense is used to describe the action, the correct past, present or future tense
is used when presenting background facts related to the action. However, you should be
careful of changing tenses in the middle of a sentence. The Credit Line The last component of
the cutline is the credit line. Most ship and station newspapers use credit lines for photographs.

CROPPING PICTURES
Cropping is used when one only want to reproduce a portion of a picture. Pictures are cropped
for the size, emphasis and composition desired. They are also
cropped to focus on one specific area to achieve a desired effect in makeup. A picture can
be cropped to show the hugeness or smallness of the topic. It can also be cropped to delete a dead
area.
Cropping Concerns; As a public affairs practitioner, your first
responsibility is to make sure security, accuracy,
propriety and policy are not violated when photographs are cropped.
a)Security.— During exercises, operational
plans, maps, charts and equipment can be compromised easily by a photographer. Access is
usually limited and photographers are kept away from secure areas, but breaches of security
may occur in the heat of battle. ―Operational security is everyone‘s business.‖ When cropping a
photograph for reproduction in your newspaper, you should be aware
especially of the background areas that might reveal classified information.
b) Accuracy.— Make sure the photograph reflects second place finisher ahead of the winner,
if taken from reality. A photograph taken from the wrong angle or at
the wrong angle. A sneeze or facial twitch during a the wrong time can, in fact,
misrepresent the facts of the somber ceremony can make the subject look like a fool story. A
road race taken at the finish line can show the in addition to misrepresenting the story.

Marker normally works best when making your

cropping marks in the borders of photographs. China markers allow you to make changes
without difficulty and mess.
c) Aesthetics -The aesthetics, or beauty, of the photograph should be improved by cropping.
The rule of thirds suggests that the center of interest be positioned roughly at one of the four
intersections created by equally spaced
horizontal and vertical lines. These lines divide the photograph into horizontal and
vertical thirds. When the subject is centered in the photograph, as is frequently
done by amateur photographers, the photograph is often static and boring. When you
consider aesthetics, cropping should be
based on the movement of the subject, leading lines, lines of force and other framing
considerations
d) Shapes -The shape of the photograph also must be
considered before it is cropped. Normally, a 3:5 proportion is most pleasing to the eye.
Proportions of 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, 4:7, and soon, are acceptable proportions. Simply cropping a
photograph to make it square (3:3, for example) leaves a newspaper page dotted with
square blocks and results in an unattractive page.
When you are considering the shape of a
photograph, there are times when a strong vertical or
horizontal will improve the look of a newspaper.
e) The rule of thirds- verticals work well in tall buildings, parades, travel photo features
and many sporting events. Photo Within a Photo
Careful examination of a print may allow you to extract two or more reproduction-
quality photographs from a single print. There maybe two centers of interest or separate
actions taking place that separately qualify as photographs. In a football game, an offensive
lineman may be blocking the star defensive end, while a wide receiver catches a short pass
across the middle of the playing field. Both actions could be stand-alone
photographs.

Cropping Methods
To crop a picture, mark off the unessential
parts. This can be done by cutting, masking or using cropping L‘s.
a) CUTTING.— If the photograph or piece of artwork
is expendable (you have several originals or the negative), you can do your cropping with a
paper cutter. This is the most accurate method and the one most commonly used by station
newspaper editors.
 b)MASKING.— When a section of a valuable
photograph is to be reproduced, you may mask it by covering the picture face with a sheet
of paper that has a window cut out to expose the desired area.

c) CROPPING L’s.— Cropping L‘s are useful tools when you are narrowing a photograph to
its center of interest. Cropping L‘s are L-shaped cardboard or plastic devices, often black in
color, used to eliminate dead space. When you place them over a photograph in
the window on the inner disk displays the
―percentage of original size. Percentages less than 100 indicate a
reduced size; those higher than 100 mean the photograph will be enlarged.

Marking Photograph
Photographs or other artwork must be marked appropriately so the publisher will know
exactly what you want. Instructions are usually printed on the reverse of a photograph with a
china marker. For instance, you mark a photograph ―1-A, reduce to 24 picas by 5 inches‖ (width
is always given first in art sizes). The ―1-A‖ is a
way of letting the publisher know you want the
photograph to appear on page 1, fitted into a space designated ―A‖ on the layout. It also
tells the publisher that you have scaled the photograph, and when reproduced, it will
occupy a space 24 picas wide and 5 inches deep; or you might simply use slugs to match a story
with a related head, art and cutline. Usually, an editor devises the ―key‖ system to be used.

Review Questions

a) Define a cutline.
b) What are the elements that makes a good caption
c) How does a photographer get information write a good
caption
d) Explain the procedure of cropping a photo

5.0 TEXT EDITING

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the procedures to be followed when editing a copy
Discuss the things to consider when using punctuations in a copy
of Newspapers
COPY EDITING
One of the most important and exacting jobs on any publication is that of written copy being
given the final professional touch of accuracy. This job of catching and correcting inaccuracies
before they can be printed and distributed is called copy editing.
Readers may have a high regard for a newspaper that is carefully edited, but they quickly
lose respect for one that is sloppy and full of errors. It is the copy editor‘s
job to make sure incorrect copy is not printed unless it meets certain standards. The copy
editor is the guardian of both style and accuracy. Always on the alert for questionable facts,
ambiguous statements and violations of office policy, the copy editor must catch errors in
grammar, spelling, syntax, punctuation, capitalization, and so forth; cutout words or sentences
that are not needed; and add copy when necessary for clarity, emphasis or continuity.
Another responsibility of the copy editor is to restore objectivity to a story in places where a
writer may have editorialized, quoted out of context or inserted an opinion without attribution to
a source or pertinent authority.
Also, the copy editor is constantly alert for statements of a libelous or slanderous nature. .
The copy editor of a newspaper has an
additional function of assigning headlines for the edited stories. Most experienced
writers will admit that the final result, despite its mangled appearance, is a better piece of
writing. There are standard symbols and style used by the copy editor and explains the
procedures, rules and guidelines of copy editing. The basic pattern of news style r follows the
style of The Associated Press and United Press International. Most newspapers
now use this style.

COPY-EDITING PROCEDURES
Copy editing follows a set system of procedures. To be absolutely accurate, read each story in
the following manner:
a) Read the story quickly to grasp its meaning and note its arrangement.
b) Read the story more slowly and more thoroughly
to correct every mistake and to add or delete material as necessary.
c) Read the story again to check the copy editor‘s own corrections.
d) The final check is also intended to make sure that no new errors occurred in copy editing
and that the story reads smoothly.
e) If the story contains too many mistakes and it appears obvious that copy editing will
not improve it, the story goes back to the originating source for rewriting, or in the case
of copy received from outside sources, to a rewriter.

PREPARING THE ROUGH

The original copy of a story is known as a rough . Normally, it is typed double- spaced
on only one side of the paper. In general, a copy editor follows the same format in typing a
rough as in preparing a finished news . It does not have to be as neat, however, and
may include Penciled-in corrections, additions or
deletions, as necessary. The rough obviously does not
need the letterhead information usually carried on a release ready for dissemination. It is
a recommended practice in large offices for the author‘s last name to
appear on the rough. This, of course, enables the copy editor to identify the writer.

USING SYMBOLS
To prepare copy for reproduction in its final form, the copy editor uses a special set of shorthand
symbols to indicate any required changes .For example, if the writer forgets to capitalize a
letter such as the ―M‖ and ―P‘‘ in mr. poindexter, the
copy editor, using a soft lead pencil (the tool of the trade), would inscribe three horizontal
lines under each letter that needs to be capitalized.
When the copy is corrected, the copy editor‘s
shorthand indicates that the final work should read as follows: Mr. Poindexter.
Most of the copy-editing symbols are standard to all
media. There will be only minor variations from one newspaper to another.

APPLYING BASIC RULES

The basic rules to remember when copy-editing stories:
a) Use a soft, black lead pencil.
b) Make corrections above or within the lines where mistakes occur.
c) Place the necessary copy-editing symbols at their correct points of insertion.
d) Write legibly.Your longhand corrections will not do any good if they cannot be
understood.
e) Use scissors and either paste or a stapler to move
a paragraph from one position to another in a story.
f) If you want to add a new paragraph to the story, do not write it out in longhand in the
margin or on the back of the original story.
g) Type it out, then insert it where it belongs, using scissors and paste or transparent tape.
h) After you copy edit a story, you should have a finished product.
i) Any obvious mistakes that slip by will be attributed to the copy editor, not the writer.

COPY-EDITING ELEMENTS AND USAGE

As a journalist assigned copy-editing duties, you should always strive for accuracy, rather
than speed You might adopt the slogan, ―All I miss, they will print.‖ Before you try filling the
seat of copy editor, make sure you have a copy of the locally produced stylebook), as well as a
copy of the latest version of The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. Both books
are designed to standardize all news-writing and word usage for internal publications and for
news releases to civilian media. The copy-editing guidelines include:
Style, Editorializing Contradictions ,Incompleteness, Names, Numbers ,Spelling ,Punctuation,
Capitalization ,Abbreviations ,Military terms, Religious terms,
a) STYLE- Everyone in the office should be acquainted with the locally accepted stylebook, but
it is up to the copy editor to catch any violations of good style. It is annoying for an editor to
pick up a story and find, for example, the word ―avenue‖ spelled out one time, abbreviated as
―ave.‖ a second time and written as ―av.‖ a third time. An office that is careless or
inconsistent
about little things may eventually become careless or inconsistent about big things. Once a news
medium loses respect for you, you might as well close shop. No newspaper will take the chance
of publishing sloppy or carelessly prepared material.
Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation and other mechanical aspects of grammar
are details of writing that have a tremendously important impact on the clarity, readability and
effectiveness of your copy. Once your office gets away from using a set stylebook, your news
copy will slowly become a hodgepodge of inconsistencies.
b) EDITORIALIZING- Editorializing happens when a writer consciously or unconsciously
expresses doubt, censure or praise in a news story. The only persons permitted to express an
opinion in a straight news story are the persons in the
story itself. Even then, the opinion quoted must be attributed to the person who gave it.
News stories should be written in the third person. The writer‘s personal opinions
should never be injected into a news story. Facts should be reported as they are found, without
personal pronouns referring to the writer. Editorials are articles in newspapers or magazines in
which the views of their editors or those in control of
the periodicals are intentionally presented. However,
such articles are clearly identified and purposely set apart from the publications‘ news and
features. The electronic media also offer editorial opinions, but they, too, take care to keep them
separate from their regular newscasts. Editorials require a very specialized style of writing —
the fundamentals of which will not be covered in this
training manual. The focus of this section is the
inclusion of personal opinions in your news-writing through carelessness or by design.
Consider the following examples of editorializing
in straight news copy, then note the following suggestions offered to eliminate the implied
opinions:
a) Poor: Lt. Post is exceptionally well qualified for the position.
b) Improved: Lt. Post, with a degree in law, has
eight years of experience as a Navy legal officer.
Poor: An interesting program is planned for tonight at the Officers‘ Club.
c) Improved: Here is tonight‘s program at the Officers‘ Club

TEXT EDITING AND LANGUAGE USE

PUNCTUATIONS
Punctuation in writing serves the same purpose as voice inflection in speaking.
Proper phrasing avoids ambiguity, ensures clarity and lessens the need for punctuation.
Period- The period (.) serves the following functions as shown in each example:

Ellipsis -The ellipsis ( . . . ), three periods and two spaces, is used :

To indicate omitted material Example: ―I pledge allegiance to the flag . . . and to the Republic.
. ..‖)
Comma -The comma (,) serves functions like –
a) To separate various elements within a sentence and to indicate a slight pause
Examples: When lightning struck, Bob Smith
fainted. When lightning struck Bob, Smith fainted.
b) To separate clauses Example: They fought the battle, but no one won.
c) To separate a series Example: Neither snow, rain nor heat ...
d) To set off attributions Example: ―The work,‖ he said, ―was exacting
and satisfying.‖
e) To set off apposition or contrast Example: Wilson, the favorite, won handily.
f) As used in the following examples, the comma is omitted before Roman numerals, Jr.,
Sr., the ampersand (&), the dash, in street addresses and Social Security numbers.
Examples: Louis XIV, Joe James Jr., Smith &Co., 54321 Pine St., 123-45-6789.
g) To mark the end of a sentence Example: Close the door.
h) To accentuate most abbreviations Newspaper usage has, inmost cases, eliminated the
comma before ―and‖ and ―or‖ in a series, but a comma
is still required before ―and,‖ ―or‖ and other
conjunctions in compound sentences.Example: Fish abounded in the lake, and the
shore was lined with deer.

The semicolon (;) separates phrases containing commas to avoid

confusion, separates statements of contrast and statements closely related. Examples: The
party consisted of E. E. Wright; R. J. Kelly, his secretary; Mrs. Jordan; Martha Bowen, her
nurse; and three accountants. (Without the semicolons, that could read as nine persons.) The
draperies, which were ornate, displeased me; the walls, light blue, were pleasing. Yes; that is
right.

The colon (:) precedes the final clause and summarizes previous
material; introduces listings, statements and texts; marks discontinuity; and takes the place
of an implied ―for instance.‖ Examples: States and funds allotted were as
follows: Alabama $6,000, Arizona $14,000. The question came up: What does he want to
do? The colon also is used in the following reamers and examples: In clock time Examples: 9:20
p.m., 10:30 a.m. In Biblical and legal citations Examples: Matt. 2:14, Missouri Statutes
3:234-432
The question mark (?) follows a direct question. Occasionally, it is used to indicate
uncertainty, as with some dates or identifications. In the latter use, it is enclosed in
parentheses. Note the following examples: Examples: What happened to Dean? Columbus, an
Italian (?) sailing for the Spanish crown, discovered America...
The exclamation point (!) is used to indicate surprise, appeal, incredulity or other strong
emotion as in the following examples: Examples: You are wonderful! What! He yelled,
The apostrophe (’) indicates the possessive case of nouns, omission of figures and contractions.
Usually, the possessive of a singular noun not ending in ―s‖ is formed by adding the apostrophe
and the ―s‖ as in the example that follows: Example: The boy‘s ball, but the boys‘ bats. The
apostrophe is used in the following instances and examples: After plural possessives
Examples: the girls‘ coats; the marines‘ rifles. In contractions Examples: I‘ve, isn‘t, don‘t.
In omission of figures Examples: ‘90s, Class of ‘22. The ―s‖ is omitted and only the
apostrophe used in ―for conscience‘ sake‖ or in a sibilant double or triple ―s‖ as Moses‘ tablet.
As in the following examples, the apostrophe is not used to form plurals unless it is in the
context of the exception shown: Examples: MiGs, P-3s, B-52s, ABCs. Exception: When a single
letter is made plural, as in ―mind one‘s p‘s and q‘s,‖ the apostrophe is required.
Quotation marks (― ‖) enclose direct quotations, phrases in ironical uses, slang expressions,
misnomers and full titles of books, plays, poems, songs, lectures, speeches, hymns, movies,
television, and so forth. As in the next example, use quotation marks around nicknames when a
person‘s full name is used. Example: Paul ―Bear‖ Bryant. Note the following examples in which
the comma and period are placed inside the quotation marks. Other
punctuation is placed inside quotation marks only when it is part of the matter quoted.
Examples: Why call it a ―gentlemen‘s agreement‖? He asked, ―Is the interview completed?

Parentheses ( ) serve the following functions as shown in each example:

To set off material not intended to be part of the main statement or that is not a grammatical
element of the sentence, yet important enough to be included Examples: It is not customary
to stand at attention. ―That proposal,‖ he said, ―and one by (Prime Minister John) Major are
being studied.‖
To facilitate further identification that is not part of the official name Example: The Springfield
(Virginia) Historical Society.
To set off letters or figures in a series Examples: The order of importance will
be (a) general acceptance, (b) costs and (c) opposition. The water is (1) tepid, (2) muddy
from silt and (3) unpalatable.
Dash (—) is used in the following cases:
To indicate a sudden change and interjection I mean? — approved it. If that man gains control
Examples: The commander—do you know who started — God forbid —
our troubles will have just After dateline and before the first word of a story
Example: NAIROBI — five people were injured. ...
A dash consists of two strokes of the hyphen (or minus sign) key on your computer
keyboard.
The hyphen (-) is used to separate compound words,
figures, abbreviations and figures, double vowels in some cases and to divide a word at the
end of a line. The general rule for hyphens is that ―like‖ characters take the hyphen;
―unlike‖ characters do not. Examples-Secretary-Treasurer (compound word); 20-20 vision
(figures); bell-like (use a hyphen to avoid tripling a consonant).
Other uses of the hyphen and examples are as follows: Adjectival use of hyphens must be
clear. Examples: The 6-foot man eating shark was killed (the man was). The 6-foot man-
eating shark was killed (the shark was).
Ordinarily, in prefixes ending in vowels and followed by the same vowel, the hyphen is
used. Example: pre-eminent. (Check dictionary for
exceptions ‗such as cooperate, coordinate, etc.)
The hyphen also serves to distinguish between meanings of similarly spelled words.
Example: recover (from illness), re-cover (couch).
The hyphen separates a prefix from a proper noun. Examples: un-American, pre-Christian
era. Do not use a hyphen between ―vice‖ and ―president‖ or other such titles, or with
adverbs ending in ―ly.‖ .Examples: badly damaged car, frilly informed public, newly elected
official.
CAPITALIZATION
In newswriting, capitalization is correct in the following cases, examples and exceptions:
The first word of a sentence Example: Good grammar is essential.
Titles and ranks (rates) followed by a proper noun, but lowercase titles standing alone or
following a name Example: Secretary of State C. R. Dryden, but C. R. Dryden, secretary of
state. Exception: The President of the United States is always capitalized. Pope and the titles of
foreign religious leaders, when used as a formal title before a name, but
lowercase when titles stand alone or follow names

ABBREVIATIONS
To abbreviate is to make a word or phrase shorter
by leaving out or substituting letters. Some military and civilian terms are so long that
abbreviation is almost a must. However, always spell out the name of organizations or
groups on its first use. If a name does not have a commonly known abbreviation, the
abbreviation should be parenthesized after the first spelling. Thereafter, you may use just the
abbreviation as in this example: The guidelines of the Civilian Health
and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) have changed. ...
The abbreviations that follow and those used
throughout this TRAMAN are basically those
standardized for civilian and military newswriting by The Associated Press and United Press
International.

TEXT EDITING ; SENTENCE ,PARAGRAPH & GRAMMAR

Creative Duties of Sub Editor of a Newspaper

The sub-editor's creative work, and its success, depends on the liveliness of his own mind and his
knowledge of typography. He is responsible for putting in 'cross-heads' (they are the headings-
usually in heavier type-that appear at intervals in the story), he writes the headlines, and he
decides on the style of type to be used for them, as well as for the rest of the story.

As the sub reads through the copy, he puts in necessary cross- heads and indicates to the linotype
operator the various sizes and founts of type to be used. Having done that, the sub will get to
work on one of the most difficult tasks of all-that of thinking out a headline (or 'head').

Heads are set up in a number of sizes and styles of type, according to the degree of prominence
the story is to have, and the sub has to remember that the larger the size of type, the smaller the
number of letters that can be put into the width of a column. Some words will fit into a column
width better than others, no matter what the size of the typewriter.

A sub-editor is more than a reporter who has been given an inside job and more or less regular
working hours; he is in every sense a specialist.
He is not a man who re-writes copy merely to justify his existence (at least, he should not be) ;
he must have a knowledge of type and type sizes, he must have had a sufficient experience of re-
porting to appreciate its difficulties and its pitfalls; and he must be constantly on his guard
against libels, not only in the body of a story but also in the heading and cross-heads he himself
writes. Above all he must have the right mentality for the job.

There are some reporters who, used to being out and about, dislike being tied to a desk and miss
the fascination of personal contact with people and the individuality that a reporter cannot help
but develop. On the other hand, there are those who prefer the regular hours and the comfort of
working inside an office, and can settle down to the methodical routine.

The ultimate thing a competent newspaper sub-editor accomplishes is to make the news more
meaningful for its readers. All the sub-editor's efforts are aimed at that target in a general way.

Polishing the language, writing the headlines, selecting and fitting the news into available space,
arraying it in the paper-at all these levels the sub-editor's chief concern is to present as much as
possible of news in a form as significant and interesting as possible in which it can be read and
understood by the greatest possible number of readers.

Readable Writing:

Possibly the largest single ingredient in meaningful writing is readable writing. No effort is made
here to distinguish between the two. The term "readability" usually is used to describe the
stylistic factors in writing which make it easier to read. (Readable writing, as it is usually
defined, is not necessarily meaningful to a particular individual, however.)

Readability has been given a good deal of attention in the news services and newsrooms in recent
years. It has almost become a cult. However, concern with readability in the newspaper
profession is perhaps only a little old. Using simple words and simple sentences has been the
old-time editorial injunction to the reporter, as what they are writing is meant for the people.

The recent interest in readability has done no injustice to that idea. When the work of readability
experts has been reduced to its essentials, the advice is : "Use simple words and simple sentences
and remember you are writing for the people".

Students of readability have however performed an important service in increasing the attention
newsmen pay to these doctrines. And they have provided a means of testing writing to establish,
roughly, at least, how closely a given writer is adhering to this excellent advice.

Reading for Meaning:

In dealing with the problem of meaning, the copy editor must work at two significant levels. He
asks himself, as he reads,

(i) Did the reporter himself understand clearly what he was writing about?
 (ii) Did he tell the story in such a way as to make his meaning apparent to his
readers?

It is clear that reporters incapable of understanding the materials with which they work cannot
survive long as reporters. Yet, one of the most difficult parts of the sub-editor's job is that he
must be unflaggingly alert for indication of a want of understanding on the reporter's part. This is
not to imply that newspaper reporters as & lot are short of brains. But conditions under which
they work are demanding.

These include the pressure of time, the increasing complexity of the facts they deals with, and the
fact they must deal with a wide range of specialized subject matters-the day of thoroughgoing
specialization in the newsrooms is not yet arrived.

So the sub-editor must read with skepticism; the more complex the story, the more intense the
skepticism. He must seek out internal evidence of the reporter's lack of understanding, if any,
The subeditor did not witness the fire, he did not study the tax report, he did not attend the
council meeting, so he cannot be expected to know for certain that the reporter misunderstood.
But he can ferret out signs of inconsistency between parts of the story signs in the reporter's
statements of fact that betray confusion and signs that the speaker's statements do not square with
his past statements or known attitudes.

Coordination with Reporters:

These are only clues, however, not evidence. Finding such clues, the sub-editor's next duty is to
discuss the story with the reporter. If necessary, such a conference might lead to the reporter's
discussing the story with the news source. At any rate, the sub-editor clearly is not in a position
to convert his doubts directly into changes in the copy. The confusions must be painstakingly
cleared up at the source.

This sort of copy reading is often done at other levels than the Tim. The city sub editor is the first
to subject a story to scrutiny of this kind. The slot may also be the backstop. But the fact that
others are concerned with the question of the reporter's understanding does not by any means
absolve the copy sub-editor. His role is simply magnified by the fact that he is the last protector
of the full meaning of the story; he cannot depend on others to catch confusions of detail, for
instance, because the others are not concerned with -detail but rather with the broad outlines of
the story.

What is a meaningful story?

The first essential of a meaningful story is the story's meaning- fullness to the writer.He cannot
tell it clearly if he does not understand it clearly. But his understanding is no guarantee that he
will convey his understanding to his reader. He is the second reason which the sub-editor
scrutinizes the story in terms of meaning.

The best evidence the sub-editor has that the story will not be clear to the reader is whether he
the sub-editor grasps the full meaning of the story instantly.
COMMON STRUCTURE ERRORS
To be effective, sentences must be grammatically correct. They should be well-chosen and
effectively combined with a goal of clarity, emphasis and interest. These goals are
often thrown off target by any one of a variety of common errors in sentence structure.

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
There are necessary parts in a sentence — a subject and a predicate, or verb. In terms of
grammar, writers are frequently at fault for writing incomplete sentences. For a sentence to
express a complete thought, it must contain the subject to be understood, rather than stated,
that it is clearly implied. Some examples of incomplete sentences include the following:
The ―sightseeing tour‖ , which was arranged for the liberty party. (There is no main verb.
The relative clause has a verb, ―was arranged,‖ but what appears to have been intended as a
statement with completed.)
A tall, thin man with owlish spectacles and a bald head. (The verb is omitted.) Floated toward the
beaches. (Here the subject is omitted. What floated?)
Just as the searchlight swept across the harbor. (This tells when something happened, but the
main statement is still incomplete.)

Often an incomplete sentence results from the writer‘s failure to recognize that a
modifying phrase or clause is really part of the preceding sentence. For instance, a comma
should be used instead of the first period in the following example: Steaming eastward through
the Caribbean. The result in this case is one complete sentence instead of a sentence
followed by a fragment. You should not be misled by the fact that some
writers deliberately construct incomplete sentences at times. As the late Emily Post once said
about etiquette: ‗Well-bred persons sometimes break some of the rules; but to break them and
getaway with it, you first have to know them.‖
It is true that fractured sentences may occasionally produce the desired effect, but be sure you
know why they are being used and that they are suitable to what is being written. Many regard
a sentence that begins with ―but,‖ or another connective, as incorrect, largely because
the connective standing first seems to indicate
a fragment. In this instance, the rule may be ignored occasionally, if by doing so you
achieve a more effective statement.

RUN-ON SENTENCES
Another common error in sentence structure is the punctuation of two or more sentences as if
they were one. This usually occurs with sentences that are closely related in thought.
Examples:
Poor: The ship held its first swim call, the water was 4 miles deep.
Improved: The ship held its first swim call. The water was 4 miles deep.
Often a run-on sentence is the result not only of faulty punctuation, but of the writer‘s
failure to think the construction through and recognize the relationships of the various ideas.
Examples: Poor: Detailed decontamination is a lengthy process, it is usually carried on at a
home base or rear area.
Improved: Detailed decontamination is a lengthy process, usually carried on at a home base
or rear area.
 Poor: An emergency tourniquet can be made from something like a neckerchief, it is
wrapped once around the limb and tied in an overhand knot.
Improved: To apply an emergency tourniquet made from something like a neckerchief, wrap
the material once around the limb and tie an overhand knot.
The cruiser was headed for the canal zone.
DANGLING MODIFIERS -A writer‘s misplacement of a modifier can confuse
the meaning of the sentence, often with ludicrous
results. Modifiers should be positioned close to the words they modify; otherwise, they may
seem to modify something else.

Review Questions

a) What do you understand by the word ―copy‖

b) Explain the procedures to be followed when editing a copy.
c) Explain things to consider when using punctuations in a copy.
d) What are the common errors a copy editor should avoid in a
copy.

Reference
Hodgson F. W.(2001)Newspaper layout and Typography. Focal Press
6.0 WRITING HEADLINES
Writing headlines ;Headline typography ;shape and arrangement ; Type style &character
counts

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the functions of headlines and styles available when
writing headlines
Discuss the headline formats , shape & arrangement and type in
Newspapers

WRITING HEADLINES

Once a story has been given to an editor, the story might vanish into obscurity on
any newspaper page if the accompanying headline does not entice or inform the reader.
Well-written headlines grab the reader‘s attention,
convey clear, concise thoughts and dress up the
publication. Poorly written headlines can mislead,
confuse and even embarrass the newspaper staff,
command and Navy. Headlines must be free of libelous statements and must not contain
violations of security, accuracy, policy and propriety. A reader often decides whether to read
a story based on what the headline says. A headline tempts the reader to dig into the story. To
do this, you, as a headline writer, must have a sense of what will attract the reader. You must
have abroad vocabulary and enough versatility to
say the same thing several ways to make sure the headline will fit the space allotted for it
on the page. There are some essentials one need to become an effective headline writer.

HEADLINE FUNCTIONS:
The modern trend in headlines is toward simplicity. Most newspapers now use heads that say
what has to be said in a minimum of words. A good headline conveys
the news in a story and the significance and meaning behind the story. It never implies
more — and should not say too much less — than what actually appears in the story. It does not
contain misleading suggestions and it does not leave false impressions.
An easy way to remember the functions of the headline is through the acronym

HEADS:
H - Heralds the days news; tells what is of importance.
E - Entices the reader with essential or interesting facts.
A - Advertises the most important story by size or placement on the page (the most important
stories are displayed at the top of the page).
D - Dresses up a page with typography; helps male design attractive.
S - Summarizes the story with a ―super‖ lead; tells what the story is about.

A good headline should:

a) Attracts the reader‘s attention
 b) Summarizes the story
c) Helps the reader index the contents of the page
d) Depicts the mood of the story
e) Helps set the tone of the newspaper
f) Provides adequate typographic relief
g) Headlines are Windows of the newspaper. They are a major source of information to
most the people who judge top of the news by reading the headlines.
h) They convey to readers the relative significance of the news
i) Headlines also compete with each other in attracting readers to their stories.
j) A good story may be largely overlooked if its headline fails to attract the reader.
k) They make the pages eye-catching, balanced and attractive
l) The consistent use of familiar headlines styles gives the newspaper a relatively familiar
look
m) Headline sells the newspapers, especially those editions which are purchased at News
stands or traffic crossings and streets

HEADLINE STYLES:
There are several ways in which one can display headlines. For style variation, the headlines
can beset in all-caps, caps and lowercase or downstyle. eg.

a) ALL-CAPS HEADS
The all-capital letter headline style is almost extinct. All-
caps heads, while they are easier to write than others, are the most difficult to read eg:

AS THIS PARAGRAPH DEMONSTRATES, THE ALL-

CAPITAL SETTING IS NEITHER EFFICIENT FOR THE READER, NOR
PLEASING TO THE EYE. WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST USED TO HAVE KEY
GRAPHS IN HIS EDITORIALS SET ALL-CAPS.
I N S T E A D O F M A K I N G T H E P O I NT
EMPHATICALLY, AS HE INTENDED, SUCH
SETTING ACTUALLY CUT DOWN THE READERSHIP AND ITS IMPACT.

Even the most patient, attentive and skilled reader will be blinded
by the onslaught of all those capital letters.

b) CAPS AND LOWERCASE HEADS

A widely used headline style is the uppercase and lowercase head In this headline style, all
words, other than articles, conjunctions, and prepositions of fewer than four (and sometimes
five) letters, are set with the first letter in caps and the others in lowercase.

c) DOWN-STYLE HEADS
The down-style head usage has increased in popularity in recent years. In down-
style heads, the first letter of the first word— and the first letter of any proper noun — is set as
a cap, and all other letters are lowercase. Down-style is presented in the way persons are taught
to read and write. The style is visually attractive and enhances the readability of the line.
By design, it lacks the numerous capital letters in a headline which serve as ―eye stoppers.

HEADLINE FORMS
Headline forms constantly come and go. Regardless of the form, the most common headlines
are easy to read, easy to write and easy to set. Some of the most common headline forms are ;

BANNER HEAD

The banner head is set the frill-page width at the top of a news page to draw attention to the lead
story or that particular page. If you run a banner head
above the flag or nameplate, it is called a skyline. A streamer applies to the widest and
biggest multicolumn head on a page, regardless of whether it is the full width.

CROSSLINE HEAD
The crossline head is very similar to a banner headline. Although it does not always span the
full width of the page, it does cover all the columns of the story to which it pertains.

FLUSH LEFT HEAD

The flush left head is a two- or three-line head with each line set flush left. The lines do not have
to be equal in width or set full. The white space at the right is considered enhancing, because it
allows ―air‖ into the otherwise stuffy column spaces. Flush left is the
most commonly used head today.
.

SIDE HEAD

The side head is a headline form that runs alongside a story. It is normally three or four lines and
looks best when set flush right. A side head is usually placed slightly above the center of the
story.

KICKER
The kicker opens up the area on a page where the headline is located. It can be used to introduce
a feature article with a pun line above the main head .Some basic rules one should follow when
writing kickers are:
a) Extract kicker information from the bridge or the body of the story.
b) Do not repeat words in the kicker and main head.
c) Interpretation of the main head should not depend on information in the kicker.
 d) Make the kicker 1/2 the point size of the main head. For example, a 36-
point main head will have an 18-point kicker.
e) Set the kicker 1/3 to 1/2 the width of the main head. For example, a three-
column main head requires a one-column to 1 1/2-column kicker.
f) Alternate type postures to give the head the
proper emphasis. For instance, a reman style
main head requires an italic kicker and vice versa.
g) Indent the main head two counts under the kicker to add white space.
h) Always underline the kicker.
i) Do not use a kicker at the top of a page.

HEADLINE WRITING SKILLS

Headline writing requires skill and concentration. A headline must give the essence of the story.
While explaining the story accurately, the headline also must fit into a limited space.
Some copy editors approach headline writing by looking for a key word or two that expresses
the high point of the story. Then they add other words until they have a headline. Other copy
editors begin by forming a sentence that contains the essential elements of the story. Then they
edit out excess words (adverbs, adjectives, articles, and so forth) and minor details until all that is
left is a well-tailored headline that tells the story essentials. Headlines are written
in telegraphic English, a term coined because they closely resemble the wording found inmost
telegrams. While the consideration in telegrams
is mostly monetary, the economical consideration of
headlines is space. Therefore, headlines usually contain — as the ―bare bones‖ of language
— a subject and verb. Other strong uses of telegraphic English might include subject-predicate
or subject-verb-object constructions. A straight news headline is written for a straight news
story and a feature headline for a feature story. If the story is a colorful account of some event or
trip, the headline should be colorful. If the story is a romantic or dramatic account of an event,
the headline should follow form. If it is a human interest story with an element of pathos, the
headline should not be humorous. If the story is humorous, the headline should not be pathetic.

USE OF VERBS
The key to good headline writing is the use,
whenever possible, of strong action verbs. Headline
writers use verbs in what is sometimes called the ―historical present‖ tense —
meaning they use the present tense verb to describe action that has already happened.
Primarily, this tense is used to convey a sense of immediacy, in the same way many people
normally speak in the present tense to describe exciting
experiences to friends. Present tense verbs contain fewer letters than do their past tense
forms. Verbs may be omitted when implied. Action verbs are still best for capturing a reader‘s
attention. The verbs is and are frequently understand. It is not necessary to use them except
for clarity. The infinitive ―to be‖ is also awkward in headlines and one should avoid using it. Eg:
a) Poor: New pay raise is approved
 b) Better: New pay raise approved
c) Poor: Halloween Dance to be held Oct. 31 at Fleet Park
d) Better: Halloween Dance slated Oct. 31 at Fleet Park
Do not begin a headline with a verb that might
convey the imperative mood (implying a command).
Examples:
a) Poor: Reject new pay hike for armed forces ,
b) Good: Armed forces pay hike rejected by Congress ,
c) Better: Congress rejects new pay hike for armed forces.
To give the reader a better sense of immediacy, the verb should be in the first line of a headline
whenever possible. When you can avoid it, do not place the verb in the bottom line of a three-
line head.

ARTICLES
Omit all articles (a, an, the) and other unnecessary words. Example:
a) Poor: Today‘s submariners are ―lucky‖ says veteran of the USS Grant
b) Better: Today‘s submariners ―lucky‖ says USS Grant veteran

VOICE
Use the active voice in preference to the passive voice whenever possible.Examples:
Poor: Better: Poor: Better: More pilots being sought for T-45 test Navy seeks more pilots for T-
45 test Navy flight training bolstered by new T-45 New T-45s bolster Navy flight training.

DECKS
Make each deck (not necessarily each line) a
complete construction. Write the headline so it will stand alone and make sense, especially
when you use it as the main deck. Eg
a) Poor: Decade of off-duty study cams degree at Memphis
b) Better: Memphis chief earns law degree after decade of off-duty study
Because headlines are restricted to a small space,
copy editors generally limit headlines to one specific
idea expressed forcefully, rather than several ideas expressed vaguely. If space permits,
editors sometimes connect two independent thoughts by a semicolon in a headline —
or add another section to the headline (a second deck) —
to include additional important aspects of the story. If a story involves a plane crash that kills
one crew member, injure the pilot and disrupts a training exercise, you should limit the main
deck to the death. Subordinate headlines, or the story, should cover the other news

BE SPECIFIC
As with all forms of newswriting, the use of specifics is better than generalities. Eg
Auto crash proves fatal .
This headline does not contain nearly as much information as the headline that follows:
2 die as car smacks tree .
BE POSITIVE
Another custom most headline writers observe is phrasing headlines in a positive, rather than
in a negative manner. This is based on the principle that a newspaper is supposed to tell readers
what did happen, not what did not happen.
When writing about a family that escapes injury when their car overturns and bums on a
highway, a novice headline writer would probably write the following:
-No one hurt in car fire.
Given the same story, a good headline writer composes the following headline:
-Family escapes flaming death .

OPINIONS
Headlines on stories dealing with opinion should show the source of that opinion. If a story is
attributed to a secondhand source, this should be reflected in the headline. Example:
‘Courts too lenient‘ claims parish priest NFL players unhappy with owners‘ offer says
arbitrator.

REPEATS
You should avoid repeating words in the same headline deck. Also, watch out for similar
phraseology in adjacent heads and decks. Example: Former Abraham Lincoln journalist
returns to Abraham Lincoln as public affairs officer

THE FIVE Ws ;
A good headline generally has the who and the what
of the story in the first line, with the following lines explaining the how and why, if
necessary. People expect newspaper stories to concern events
that have occurred since the previous edition was published. Therefore, the when can
usually be omitted. If an event is yet to happen, however, warn the reader by the inclusion of the
when through the use of the future tense or a specific day or date. The where in a headline on a
local story is generally omitted. Readers expect their newspapers to print local
stories and will assume a story is local unless the dateline or headline specifies otherwise.

SHORT SYNONYMS
Use short, vigorous words. Headline writers usually have a vocabulary all their own. They learn
to think in terms of short synonyms for longer expressions when writing headlines. Many copy-
editing texts contain lists of short synonyms for headline use
Examples: Named for appointed or elected , Set for arrange or schedule,
Win for victory Ex for former, Job for appointment or position, OK for accept, approve or adopt
,Try for attempt, Vet for veteran ,Hike for raise or increase, Tell for reveal or inform,
In addition to these synonyms, many more are
commonly used in Navy newspapers. Some of these are as follows; Sub for submarine,
Flyer or pilot for aviator ,Jet for jet-propelled aircraft ,All hands for entire ship‘s company, Ships
for reenlists ,Crew for crew members ,Plane for aircraft or airplane XO for executive officer
CO or skipper for commanding officer or captain .

SPLITS:
Do not split words, phrases, proper nouns or compound nouns between lines. Examples:
a) Words: 5,000 PO1 advancements predicted off September examinations
b) Phrases: Crew members of USS Basil Fome visit Funafuti Proper
c) Names: Capt. Robert J. Matron assumes command of HC-16 Compound
d) Nouns: Saufley chief petty officers sponsor orphans‘ picnic.
LINE BALANCE:
Try to balance headlines typographically. Examples: Unbalanced: Navy, Coast Guard
icebreakers save U.K. ship Balanced: Navy, Coast Guard icebreakers rescue grounded U.K.
corvette
ABBREVIATIONS:
You should use commonly known and accepted
abbreviations when they are appropriate. Do not be
afraid to use Navy abbreviations for ships, aircraft,
ratings, ranks, commands, titles, and so forth, in ship and station publications.
The following are some commonly used Navy abbreviations: CPO for chief petty officer
PO1, P02 and P03 for petty officer grades ComRats for commuted rations NCO for
noncommissioned officer LDO for limited duty officer GQ for general quarters SecNav for
Secretary of the Navy CNO for Chief of Naval Operations Use these and other Navy
abbreviations only in ship or station publications. Never use them in press releases
to civilian news media.

PUNCTUATION:
Newspaper editors generally adhere to the following style for headlines:
Use single quotation marks instead of double.
Use commas to replace the word and. Also,
where natural, use commas to make pauses or breaks in headline construction.
Use semicolons to divide thoughts, where needed especially three-line heads.
 Use periods only after abbreviations. In a caps and lowercase head, start each line and All
punctuation characters each receive one-half (0.5) count. EXCEPTIONS: Each hyphen (-)
receives one (1) count; each dollar sign ($) or question mark (?) receives one and one-half (1.5)
counts; each dash (—) receives two (2) counts. In counting the units in a headline, you place one
every important word with capital letters. Articles (which are rarely used) and prepositions
(which do not lead off a line) are not capitalized tick mark over each character or space that has a
count of one; place two tick marks over each character that has a count of two; and place one tick
mark beneath each character that has a count of one-half. in a caps and lowercase head.
HEADLINE FITTING METHOD –Character Count
To make sure a headline fits in its allotted space, you can use a form of measurement called a
―unit count.‖ This system assigns each letter, number, punctuation
mark and space character a specified number value. The area on a newspaper page is
limited, so it is important that you use the unit count system properly.
Unit Count System- (The ―flit-j‖ unit count system)
Headline counting systems vary from newspaper to newspaper. However, the standard system in
the newspaper industry today is used — the ―flit-j‖ unit count system. The letters that compose
the name of this system act as a crutch to remind you what groups
of letters receive unique values when counting the headline. The ―flit-j‖ unit count system is
determined by the following rules:
l All lowercase letters and spaces between words or characters each receive one (1) count.
EXCEPTIONS: f, l, i, t and j each receive one-half (0.5) count; m and w each receive one and
one-half (1.5) counts. All uppercase letters and all numeric characters each receive one and one-
half (1.5) counts. EXCEPTIONS: M and W each receive two (2) counts; I and the numeral 1
each receive one (1) count. For example, say you want to count the units in the
following headline:

Congress approves $2 billion year-end budget

11111/51111 1 1111111 1 11 1 1111111/2 11111111/21 111111

Headline count is 43
First, either write or type the headline on a sheet of paper. Then place the tick marks in pencil.
After placing the tick marks, total the whole number count values and then add any one-half
count values. In this example, the headline count is 43. If the count does not fall within the range
of allowed minimum and maximum values for the headline width on the headline
schedule, try to change the verb to make it fit. If the headline still does not fit, work with
other words in the headline. If you cannot make it fit by changing the other words, begin again
with a new headline.

Review Questions
a) Explain the functions of a headline
b) What are the styles available when writing headlines?
c) Discuss the headline formats Page 52
d) Editing,
Module: What doLayout
you understand
and Designby character count?
 HEADLINE SCHEDULES

Reference:
The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.
Hodgson F. W.(2001)Newspaper layout and Typography. Focal Press

7.0 REWRITING STORIES

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the factors leading to rewriting a story.
Discuss the approaches to rewriting Newspapers stories

Re-writing stories
It is the Angle or an entirely different approach from the one used in the original spot news story
to which it is related.
Factors That Lead To Rewriting a Story
Rewriting can be necessary for reasons that have nothing with the way the reporter has written a
story. The treatment of a story is influenced by the volume and changing pattern of news of the
day and the availability of the space on the page which might after the story has been completed
and the reporter gone home. It can be governed by new developments that put a story in different
light eg the inclusion of other copy sources, a change of emphasis to suit the night editors or
chief sub-editors judgment , a clash with editorial policy or changes for the editions. Sometimes
the work to be done for these stories is so complex that rewriting is the quickest solution.
Rewriting or partial rewriting would be best means of editing when;
a) Angling
This means deciding the viewpoint in which to tell the story. The intro of a story defines the
angle. The facts that follow supports and justifies what the first paragraph has said .Night editor
or chief sub can see a story differently from the reporter and the sub is instructed to re-nose the
story for the page from a new angle.
Angling shows how the creative assessment of story after it has left the reporters hands can result
in recasting the material by the sub-editor even if it is not totally rewritten. There is also a more
general angling of a story for the general readership .Like political stories are presented in
regional and town papers in terms of the local connections of the politician or proposed
legislation. The sub can consider the amount of work to bring the local angle often for different
editions.

Module: Editing, Layout and Design Page 53

 b) Multiple copy sources
Sometimes an editor can have many copies from different sources of similar story.The story may
have different ends eg by reporter, correspondent ,freelancer agency etc Keeping up with this
amount of copy with many sided ends requires rewriting to help compile the story material into
one.

PRINCIPLES OF REWRITING
It helps to recognize the basic principles of rewriting a story in terms of
improving copy, updating the story, transforming informal reports, localizing,
combining stories and shifting emphasis.
Interview — before a finished product can be turned out, one have to convert a feature story —
or a poor attempt at a feature — into a news story. The principles of rewriting are the same as
those for good news-writing. If a story does not conform to acceptable news-
writing standards, it should be rewritten
and made to do so. In other words, you take what
someone else has written poorly and convert it into usable news copy. When you are
assigned to a command publication, such as a ship or station newspaper, you will find that a
certain amount of your material comes from contributors who do not write in journalistic
style.
Other material comes as handouts and from outside sources, such as clipsheets, naval
messages, directives and official correspondence. If the publication have
to contain readable and consistently good material or have a local angle and want it to be
accepted by commercial news media in the area, it is often necessary to rewrite it.
To transform informal reports into properly written news stories. Therefore it involves
to localize general information ,to combine two or more stories and to change story emphasis.
IMPROVING COPY
Often, a person‘s first attempt at writing a story produces dismal results. Some
members of a public affairs office staff may not be thoroughly skilled in the writing craft. Also,
material for intended release is often received from other staff offices or departments. These
articles frequently need the professional touch of a rewrite reporter. A rewrite reporter
organizes a poorly written, improperly arranged item into a sequentialy
logical finished product. A rewrite reporter may have to turn a straight news story into a feature.
In this event, the rewriter often needs to acquire additional information and can expect to
spend some time on the telephone — or in a face-to-face. There are times, too, when the rewrite
reporter may be proficient in both types of writing before assuming a rewrite assignment.
One of the most frequent faults of badly written copy is the writer‘s failure to give ample
play in the lead to the dominant news element of the story. The rewriter must dig through the
story, find the proper lead, put it at the beginning where it belongs and, finally, organize the
remainder of the story in coherent form.
UPDATING THE STORY
Often, the rewriter must update a story that has already been printed. So naturally, this
person needs a fresh angle to perform this feat. For example, assume that a military aircraft
crashes with three people aboard. Two crewmen are killed and the third is missing. A story
based on these facts would be released as soon as possible. Then suppose the third man is
still alive, that he had managed to parachute from the falling airplane,
The following are six basic reasons for rewritting copy: To improve poor copy
had made his way back to a highway, caught a ride,
telephoned the base and reported his experience. The
news of a survivor is the fresh angle needed by the, rewriter to update the story of the
crash.

Review Questions

8.0 CHAPTER
a) Why isNINE-THE
it necessary RUNNING
to rewrite a STORY
copy?
b) Discuss the approaches to rewriting a copy.
c) Discuss
Learning the principles of rewriting a story
Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the factors that lead to a running story and challenges
faced.
Discuss the process of editing a running story of a Newspaper

Definition
A running story is one that continues to yield copy , edition by edition throughout the day or
sometimes in several days. It involves continuous process of copy editing , revising and re-
headlining the material and often revising the layout upto the last press time of the last edition.
It‘s a job for an experienced sub-editor because of its speed and complexity

Characteristics of a breaking news story;

a) An event that is ongoing or dramatic, happening now;
b) News that immediately advances an on-going story;
c) The need to convey information immediately to the public;
d) The story‘s significance to a wide group of people;
e) News of such interest that it cannot or should not hold because of its potential
consequences
Variety of news story can become running stories and others are unpredictable. Examples are
disasters, rescue operations with casualties and hunt for survivors. Those that can be planned
ahead are like elections, important trials, public inquiries, sports tournament ,political crisis
among others.

To edit a running story sometimes in the intervals of handling other stories, an editor needs a
clear head, acute news sense and speed. He gives the story required shape for the first edition
using the copy available, inserting the intro and leading paragraph last so as to start with the most
up to date situation. The editor keeps shaping the story for the next edition and the intro being
the last part to be written. A story can update a story as many times as there are editions if an
ongoing situation demands it and the input of copy warrants it.
The editor should check on figures and amounts so that the story and headline are updated along
with the intro.
Information can change the picture entirely and the whole sequence of paragraphs has to be kept
under the review.

Review Questions
a) What do you understand by the term running?
b) Explain the circumstances that lead to a running story.
c) What are the procedures to be followed when dealing with a
running story?
d) Explain the challenges a subeditor faces when dealing with
a running story.
Reference
Hodgson F. W.(2001)Newspaper layout and Typography. Focal Press

9.0 FEATURES- DESIGN &EDITING

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the factors to consider when designing features pages
Discuss the difference between news and feature in Newspapers

Feature stories (also known as feature articles or news backgrounders) are stories that do
not necessarily break news, but take an in-depth look at a subject. They offer a broader
perspective of a news event or issue, or profile of a person in the news or who is important
to a community. They may or may not be time-critical. Feature stories may include but
are not limited to – immediate features that background breaking news, feature packages,
stand-alone features, feature profiles, human interest, sports, business, social, community,
special interest;

Basic guidelines for editing feature articles

1. Know the assignment. Make sure you know what the story is about and the news questions
that need to be answered. Scan the story.

2. Check the opening of the story. If it is weak, mark it and indicate the problem. Have the
writer start with a soft lead that is an anecdote, a narrative or description.

3. Check the nut graph (lead). This should be the ―lead,‖ stating why the subject is being
profiled. It should be written almost like a standard news lead.
4. Body. In the body of the story, the writer should present additional anecdotes, examples,
quotes and details that give the reader a sense of the subject.

5. Support and Transitions. Make sure examples are supported with a balance of quotes and
attributions from both the subject (if a person) and people connected to the subject. Make sure
quotes are meaningful. Attribute properly. For example, you may use says or said for
attributions.
6. Conclusion of Story. End the story in one of the following ways:
a)Try to frame the story by repeating an image or phrase from the beginning or by completing an
action begun earlier in the story
b)Find a way of restating the theme
c)End with a compelling quote, bit of description or anecdote

7. Statements of opinion. Anything that looks like reporter‘s opinion needs to be deleted.
8. Names, positions and titles. Make sure that they are correct.
9. Direct quotes and attributions. Put the quote first, then who said it. Introduce attribution at
the first natural break in the quote, usually at the end of the first sentence:

10. Indirect quotations. You will build articles with a combination of direct and indirect quotes
that summarizes some information from sources. The best way to write indirect quotations is to
present the attribution first, then report what the source said.

11. Second references. Full name and title the first time a person is mentioned. Last name for
the rest of the story.

12. Facts and numbers, dates and times. Make sure that all are correct according to AP style.

13. Short Sentences. Sentences should average 20 words.

14. Spelling and Punctuation. Use the proper copyediting mark for misspelled words.

Headlines
After editing the story in the light of basic principles of accuracy, balance , clarity, conciseness,
unanswered questions, consistency of style and tone, the sub-editor (Copy editor)‘s next job is
writing a suitable headline.
A good headline should:
n) Attracts the reader‘s attention
o) Summarizes the story
p) Helps the reader index the contents of the page
q) Depicts the mood of the story
r) Helps set the tone of the newspaper
s) Provides adequate typographic relief
t) Headlines are Windows of the newspaper. They are a major source of information to
most the people who judge top of the news by reading the headlines.
u) They convey to readers the relative significance of the news
v) Headlines also compete with each other in attracting readers to their stories.
w) A good story may be largely overlooked if its headline fails to attract the reader.
 x) They make the pages eye-catching, balanced and attractive
y) The consistent use of familiar headlines styles gives the newspaper a relatively familiar
look
z) Headline sells the newspapers, especially those editions which are purchased at News
stands or traffic crossings and streets

SKILLS FOR WRITING HEADLINES:

Four basic skills are applied while writing headlines of stories.
a) Accurate perception of the story
b) Use of broad and deep vocabulary
c) Use of sharp sense of sentence structure
d) A keen eye for ambiguity
Remember;
1) The headline must be drawn from key information of the story
2) Key words selected should fit the allotted space
3) Point size need be fulfilled according to lay-out of the page
4) Normally, a noun is followed by a verb and both are place in the top line if possible
5) No articles, adjectives and adverbs be used in headlines
6) Before writing headlines, the sub editor should try to capture the flavour of the story.
7) Short, simple, crisp and catchy words are preferred
8) Stuffy and overworked words should be avoided
9) Headlines should be phrased in present tense
10) A person‘s name should be used in headline only if he or she is prominent
11) Only single quote marks should be used in headlines
12) Headlines should be specific and not vague.

Important is that the headline must fit within an allotted space on the page. it should convey full
sense or crux of the story

Review Questions

a) Explain the factors to consider when designing features page

b) What is the difference between the news and features page?
c) What factor do an editor consider when designing a headline
for a feature story.

Reference
Hodgson F. W.(2001)Newspaper layout and Typography. Focal Press

10.0 :EDITING AND THE LAW

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:
Explain the difference between libel and slander
Discuss the causes of libel and difense to libelous material
published in Newspapers

Ethics is a system of guidelines based on morals and values that we all follow in everyday life.
Ethics can be personal and professional; each business and career path is governed by its own set
of specific ethical principles. Though these guidelines can overlap at many times, it's important
to know that for certain professions (such as journalism), the ethical principles defining the
execution of your job are unique. In addition, the legal issues that arise can differ greatly from
other professions. Allow me to give you an overview of the ethical principles and legal issues
related to the field of journalism. In our field, we must always be aware of the ethics and law
surrounding what we do in pursuit of the truth.

If our credibility is ever lost because we fail to act in accordance with the ethical principles and
laws governing our profession, the very foundation of our jobs and our lives as reporters is
broken. According to the U.S. Society of Professional Journalists, a volunteer organization, there
are four basic principles of journalism ethics: seek the truth and report it, minimize harm, act
independently and be accountable. With each principle comes more specific guidelines. When
seeking and reporting the truth, journalists must be fair, honest and accurate when gathering and
reporting information. To minimize harm, journalists must treat each source with respect and as a
human being. Journalists need to have no other obligation during the course of their work other
than the public's right to know, and at the same time, they need to be accountable to this public.
In journalism, many times situations will arise in which these principles are in direct conflict
with each other, and this is where journalists must weigh the information carefully to make the
right decision.

10.1 LIBEL, RIGHT OF PRIVACY, FREEDOM OF

INFORMATION AND COPYRIGHT

information on what you should guard against when releasing material to the news media or
publishing it in internal publications is important. Also being acquainted with the right to privacy
and some of the laws of copyright.

LIBEL AND SLANDER:

Definition: Libel is a published (written, printed or pictured) defamation that unjustly

holds a person up to ridicule, contempt, hatred or financial injury. All states agree that libel
is a defamation, an act that tends to degrade or lower a person in the eyes of others. The effects
can subject a person to ridicule, hatred or contempt (or all three), or they can cause a person
financial injury by hurting the person‘s property or business or by causing loss of
employment. As you can see, defamation does not have to be
sensational to be libelous. A picture with the people erroneously identified in the caption
can be libelous. A newspaper headline, even if the story under it is blameless, can be
libelous. Radio and television are not exempt from libel laws. A picture on television can be as
libelous as one printed in a newspaper. A radio broadcast can defame an individual,
although there is some dispute in the courts
as to whether the offense would be libel or slander.

Slander differs from libel chiefly in that it is spoken instead of printed, written or pictured.
In other words, slander is defamation by oral communication. A major
distinction between libel and slander is found in the word ―published.‖ Since slander is an
oral defamation, the courts tend to view it as a lesser offense than libel because the words, once
uttered, are quickly gone. Libel, on the other hand, is a published wrong and is felt to
endure longer and thus cause greater injury. Consequently, the law is much stricter in
dealing with libel cases than with slander claims.
However, the subject becomes a bit cloudy when oral remarks (slander) are read from a
written script or when they are recorded. Therefore, a journalist should exercise
equal care to avoid both oral and written defamatory statements. True statements about a
person also can be libelous. Many people think that libel results only from untruths
told about another. This is not so. The truth can sometimes defame an individual as
much as a lie. A simple defamation, however, is not always libel.
The following are three conditions that are necessary before a statement becomes libel:
a) There must be a true defamation. In other words, a person‘s character or property
must in some way be degraded.
b) There must be clear identification of the person. This identification, however, does not
have to be by name.
c) A writer (or an artist) can very easily leave no doubt in the public‘s mind as to a
person‘s identity without mentioning the
individual‘s name. Even if only a few persons were to realize the person‘s identity,
libel is still possible.
d) The libel must be published. This does not mean that it must be printed in a newspaper.
Libel can be written (as in a letter that is seen by a single third person)
or it can be pictured (as in a photograph or
cartoon). Spoken libel, or slander, is also
considered by the courts to have been published.
Make sure that defamatory statements do not reach
print or the airwaves through a news release. Libel, as an offense, is almost as old as
civilization. Many early societies punished those who would harm
the name or reputation of another.

HOW LIBEL IS COMMITTED

If news media commit libel today, it generally occurs in one or more of the following
areas:
a) Attacking a person‘s character or personal reputation
 b) Accusing someone of a loathsome disease or insanity Accusing someone of a
crime Attacking a person‘s professional competence
c) Subjecting a person, in any way, to public contempt, hatred or ridicule
Instances of libel are more common than most people suspect, and court action does not
have to result before a statement becomes libelous. There are hundreds of instances of
libel everyday in the news media. The vast majority of them are minor or borderline cases,
and most of the more serious ones go unnoticed or uncontested. There are relatively few
court actions for libel.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR LIBEL

In case a Journalist write a story and accidentally include a statement that offends somebody,
the person offended sues for libel. Who is responsible? Who pays? A casual observer
might think that in a suit against a large newspaper, any damages will be paid by the
medium publishing the story. This is not necessarily so. Technically, everybody who had
anything to do with the statement may be sued. This includes the journalist, the editor
who released it, the chief editpr in command who is responsible for everything released,
the editor who accepted it, the editor who approved it and anybody else
in the chain of events who read it, understood it, yet allowed the statement to reach
print. Also any person who reprints a libelous statement can be held as being just as guilty as
the person who originally published it.
For example, assume that one newspaper publishes a
libelous statement. Another newspaper picks up the
story, credits the first newspaper with the facts and
republishes it. The second newspaper may be just as guilty as the first, if the case
reaches court and libel is proved. In some states, charges maybe brought against both
newspapers

Wire services are similarly liable. Occasionally, a

newspaper will publish a wire service story that is libelous and the newspaper cannot or
does not verify the facts in the story. Despite the circumstances, some states hold that the
newspaper is just as responsible as the wire service, while other states place the blame solely on
the wire service. Nevertheless, a person can name anyone in a lawsuit who had anything to do
with the preparation of the story or its distribution.

TYPES OF LIBEL
There are two kinds of libel — obvious libel and libel by inference (hidden libel), refereed to in
law as libel per se and libel per quod, respectively. Libel per se, means ―by itself‖ or ―on the face
of it.‖ The reader or viewer does not have to interpret or study in order to understand the libel per
se because it is obvious or evident. Libel per se is the more serious of the two types, and persons
libeled in this manner do not have to prove that they suffered damage to their reputations,
monetary loss or other injury. Libel per se can support a lawsuit in itself. There are probably
thousands of words, phrases and statements in the English language that are libelous in
themselves. Some of them are of a political nature, others refer to race or religion and still
others involve specific professions and occupations. Others (and this
is no doubt the largest group) affect the honesty, integrity or morals of anyone to
whom they are applied. Here are just a few examples of words and phrases one should not use in
reference to individuals or groups:
Professionals. Attorney: shyster, ambulance chaser, crafty, unprincipled, and slick Business
person: swindler, racketeer, double-dealer, cheat, and phony.
Politician: liar, grafter, perjurer, seller of influence, pocketer of public finds, and
criminal‘s partner.
Doctor: quack abortionist, faker, and incompetent.
Also, never use such words as crooked and criminal to descibe people or their behavior. l
Affiliations. Red, Communist, Nazi, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, atheist, nudist and socialist
(sometimes).
Honesty and Morals. Unreliable, a credit risk, hypocrite, adulterer, unchaste, prostitute,
drunkard, conspirator, mistress and thief.

Obviously, there can be many more classifications of words and phrases that are libelous in
themselves. For example, a word like ―drunkard‖ can have numerous synonyms, all just as
libelous, and the same thing applies to most of the nouns and adjectives in the preceding list.
Another point worth considering is that the meanings of words and phrases can and do
change. Over a period of years the meaning of a word or phrase can shift gradually until it is no
longer libelous in itself or libelous at all. The reverse also is true. A word or phrase harmless a
few years ago maybe libelous in itself today. A word that has almost entirely lost a previous
libelous per se meaning is ―alcoholic.‖ A few years ago the word was synonymous with
―drunkard,‖ but today it refers to an illness — alcoholism.
Words of this type, however, should still be used with caution.
As for a word‘s meaning changing from a safe description to a libelous one, do you
remember when ―gay‖ meant happy and carefree? In a libel suit, if the defamatory material is
libelous in itself, the court decides on the interpretation of the words and phrases involved; the
news medium does not. If the court decides the material can be understood as
libelous by the public, the publisher involved has no argument.

LIBEL PER QUOD

- The second type of libel is committed by inference
and is more ―hidden.‖ Its legal term, libel per quod,
means ―because of circumstance‖ or ―by means of circumstance.‖ In libel per quod, the
statements, words or phrases involved maybe harmless in themselves, but
become libelous because of attached circumstances.
Usually, such circumstances are unforeseen by the publisher, who can claim that the
questionable material was published in good faith and without malice. However, good faith
is not a complete defense. Here is a classic example of libel by circumstance: A news story
reported an athlete‘s spectacular feats on the tennis court the previous Saturday. In fact, the
tennis match was on Friday, not Saturday; a simple error. However, the story was libelous
per quod because the athlete in question belonged to a religion that observes
Saturday as the Sabbath — a day of quiet and
meditation. The story, as it was printed, defamed the athlete as not being a devout member
of his church. Libel per quod is the most common of all libels.
Very few publishers intentionally undertake the risk involved in printing material that is
obviously libelous. However, libel per quod often occurs because of errors or
negligence. There are countless other examples of libel by circumstances —
wrong names, wrong addresses, and so forth. Libel by circumstances also may result from
what the reader may infer. In a story appearing in a national
magazine, a man was described as being a legislative representative (lobbyist) for the
Communist Party. The man charged in a suit that this statement damaged his
reputation because it implied he was a communist
sympathizer. Whether the man was, or was not, a communist sympathizer or a lobbyist
for the party was beside the point. The man claimed he had been defamed, and his claim was
upheld by a federal appeals court. ―Guilt by association‖ also is a form of libel per quod
This form of libel, sad to say, has been employed for many years by unscrupulous politicians and
others seeking positions of power. Perhaps the most obvious use of this method has been the
linking of various persons to the Communist Party by innuendo.

LIBEL LAWS
Libel laws vary from state to state with each state free to make changes in its libel
code whenever it chooses. As a result, there is little
uniformity among the states regarding award of damages or the nature of judgments in
similar types of libel cases. The state laws of libel are complex and can be understood
thoroughly on1y by an attorney or a person trained in this field
There are two types of legal action that can result from publication of libelous material: civil
action and criminal action.

CIVIL LIBEL ACTION

-Civil libel action results when one person sues
another in court because of alleged defamation. This
defamation, again, need not be to the‘ individual‘s character or reputation. It can be to a
person‘s business, occupation or property. Civil libel also can be committed against a legal
―person‖ composed of more than one individual. In this
regard, a corporation, a partnership or any other
association of individuals can be defamed General
Motors could sue an individual for defaming its products or business practices. Also, an
individual could sue General Motors. One corporation also can sue another corporation.
Individuals cannot sue the government, however, unless it consents to the suit. When people
feel they have been libeled by an agency of the government, they still cannot bring suit unless
the government agrees to be sued. Civil libel suits are always between persons, whether the
―person‖ is an individual, an association of individuals or an artificial being, such as a
corporation. A sum of money is the usual compensation awarded by civil courts for damages.
The amount has varied from one cent, a nominal sum to indicate vindication, to
millions of dollars. Money awarded in libel cases is intended to
compensate the injured party for mental or physical suffering and for actual financial loss
and to punish the individual or individuals who committed the libel.
 CRIMINAL LIBEL ACTION
-Criminal libel action is less common than civil libel action, but it is much more serious.
Criminal libel is a crime and can be prosecuted in the courts like any other crime. In criminal
libel the state ‗is the accuser and the punisher. Persons convicted of criminal libel can be
fined, imprisoned or both, depending on the gravity of the offense.
Any libel that tends to disturb public peace and order can be a criminal offense. For
instance, if a popular public figure were to be libeled to the extent that riots
resulted, the libel would be of a criminal nature.
Obscene libel can be a criminal offense because it is considered to have an ill effect on
public morals. One of the most grave types of criminal libel is seditious libel —
that which defames an established government, or one of its agents, in an attempt to thwart
or overthrow it. Criminal libel, if directed at the government, becomes a federal offense
and can result in a long prison term for the libeler.
Seditious libel is rare, but it has occurred in cases when news
organizations or individuals have written violent
defamations of the government in their opposition to
federal laws or the decrees of federal courts. Mere opposition to a court decree is not
necessarily libelous (though it could be seditious). Remember, there is no libel involved until
there is defamation.

DEFENSES AGAINST LIBEL ACTION

An individual, a newspaper or other news organization is not without some degree of
protection when being sued for libel. There are some of partial and complete defense
strategies that might lessen the damages assessed against a defendant in a libel suit.

A)Partial Defenses -There are eight basic partial defenses against libel action,
Innocent Mistake/Accident.— The first
mitigating factor to consider is innocent mistake, or accident, which appears in the libel
codes of most states. It means that a defendant can
be excused partially if it can be proved the libelous material was published unintentionally
or without the publisher realizing it was defamatory. The ―innocent mistake‖ law does not
remove liability, but it may reduce it.
Retraction, Apology Or Correction.— A retraction, apology or correction, usually
printed with the same prominence as the original libelous material, will sometimes
satisfy a person who claims to have been libeled. Nevertheless, the libeled
party still retains the right to bring suit. Although retractions, apologies and corrections are
three separate (partial) defenses, they are related and often overlap. A retraction is often
accompanied by a correction when it is employed, and both, almost always, are accompanied
by an apology. One disadvantage of a retraction, or apology, is that it puts the original
defamatory remark before the public eye again, although hopefully, in a much nicer form.
An example to the contrary is this story about a
southern editor of a few years ago: The editor was bitterly opposed by certain people in the
town and did not hesitate to become quite harsh on them in print. One
man insisted he had been libeled and demanded a retraction. The next issue of the paper
appeared with the following line in large type: JOHN GREEN IS NOT A BRAYING ASS In
that example the editor successfully and wittily continued his feud; but regrettably, he also
compounded the original libel.
Repetition.— The defense of repetition can be used when a newspaper uses a libelous story that
has been printed elsewhere, in a wire service article for
example. In a number of recent court decisions,
newspapers were not held responsible for libels committed by wire services, since it was
recognized that editors could not possibly check out every story received from those sources.
Lack of Malice.— In the lack of malice defense, punitive damages are usually not awarded
if the publisher can demonstrate good faith and justifiable ends.
Self-Defense/Reply.— A self-defense or
reply defense can sometimes be successful if the publisher can show that the libel was a
response to a previous attack made by the person claiming libel.
Un-contradicted Rumor.— The un-contradicted rumor defense can sometimes serve to
lessen the damages that could be awarded in a libel case if the publisher can show that the libel
was merely a published version of widely circulated rumors that the plaintiff had made no effort
to deny.
Use of Authority.— In employing the use of authority defense, a publisher would try to show
that the libel originated from a source that could reasonably be expected to be accurate. A
successful presentation of this defense, while not exonerating the publisher, could serve to
lessen the damages awarded
Prior Bad Reputation.— A prior bad
reputation defense might prove useful to a publisher accused of libel if it could be shown
that the plaintiff already had an unsavory standing in the community and
the defamatory statement caused very little additional injury.
Keep in mind that these partial defenses are just that — partial. They may lessen punitive
damages, or in some cases eliminate them, but they do not excuse the libel charge.

B) Complete Defenses
The seven complete defenses against libel charges can absolve the publisher of all liabilities if
successfully used. Incidentally, it is important to note that in
libel cases, unlike other cases tried in our country‘s judicial system, the burden of proof is
on the accused, not on the plaintiff or the prosecution.

1.TRUTH.— Truth is the best complete defense against libel action. Some state laws read
that truth alone will suffice as a defense in a civil libel suit; others
maintain that the truth must be ―without malice.‖ In either case, the facts published must be
provably true. If the law requires ―truth without malice,‖ the
defendant also must prove good intentions. Malice, however, as judged by the courts today,
does not mean only ―intent to harm.‖ The consensus appears to be that
―truth without malice‖ must be ―truth for a good
reason.‖ The good reason is usually judged by
determining if the material presented is in the best interest or concern of the public. For
example, a newspaper prints a story about a man
running for a high public office and states that the candidate has served a prison term for
embezzlement. The statement is true, and the newspaper‘s reason for printing it is the belief
in the public‘s right to know, or the ―public good.‖ The candidate‘s history, in this
instance, would give reasonable doubt of his qualifications for public office.
If, however, the same statement had been made
about a private citizen who was in no way connected with the public welfare, there would
have been no ―good reason‖ for publishing that information.

2. FAIR COMMENT AND CRITICISM.— A

publisher can claim the fair comment and criticism defense in many instances. The courts
are often lenient when fair comment or criticism is made of a political organization or any
powerful corporation; in reviews of television programs, movies, plays and books; or in
articles dealing with officials or agencies of the government. It has been established that one
of the chief functions of the news media is to serve as a critic of the wielders of public or private
power. The courts reason that this function should not be arbitrarily suppressed.
Many newspapers engage in ―crusades‖ against a dishonest or bungling government and
against crooked gambling or other criminal activities. As long as a newspaper approaches
such a ―crusade‖ in a responsible manner, it is well within its rights. Every year Pulitzer Prizes
are given to individual reporters for either having exposed private or public abuses of power, and
in some cases, having caused their confections.

3. PRIVILEGE.— Privilege, as a defense against

libel, deals with legislative and judicial operations.
There are two kinds of privilege. One is ―absolute privilege‖; the other is ―qualified
privilege.‖

a) Absolute Privilege.— Absolute privilege protects those directly involved in judicial

proceedings (judges, attorneys and witnesses) and legislative matters (the
President, governors, mayors and lawmakers at the federal, state, county and city levels).
Absolute privilege does not apply to the news media.

b) Qualified Privilege.— Qualified privilege does apply to the news media and affords them
qualified, or conditional, protection in reporting public and official proceedings. The conditions
for this protection are that a story must be characterized as follows:

1. Fair, accurate and complete

2. Without malice
3. Published for justifiable ends
The one limitation of qualified privilege is that a story must not include any obscenity. Other
than that, legislative and judicial proceedings may be reported in their entirety, regardless of the
truth or falseness of what is said. The legal theory supporting this license holds
that the public interest in public matters should be served, even at the expense of individual
defamation. Remember, however, that this privilege does not
cover the reporting of conventions of private organizations, such as political parties, labor
unions and churches.

4. LACK OF PUBLICATION.— Lack of publication as a complete defense is more likely

to be used in a libel case involving some form of personal communication that may or
may not have been seen by a single third party. This defense could hardly serve the needs of a
newspaper publisher whose product is seen by large numbers of people

5. LACK OF DEFAMATION.— The lack of defamation defense is used when a publisher

believes that no one has been defamed; and therefore, if it can be proved, there is no basis for a
libel suit.

6. CONSENT.— Consent, as a libel defense, is used

by a publisher when it can be shown that the person claiming libel previously consented to
the statement that is now being challenged.

7.STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.— Statute of limitations, as a complete defense against

libel, means that a libel action was not brought within a maximum period of time as specified
bylaw. The time limit varies from one year from the date of publication, in some
states, to as many as three years in others. Beyond whatever deadline is established, no suit
maybe filed.

10.2 THE PRIVACY ACT

Journalists must have a working knowledge of the Privacy Act (PA) of 1974.

Primary Features -Under the PA, government agencies may collect,

store, disclose, account for and amend required personal
information on military and civilian government
employees. Additionally, individuals may request
access to information about themselves. The premise of the PA is simple. Everyone has
a constitutional right to privacy. People do not waive that right simply because they are in
the military or work for the government. Therefore, when you write a story about a person,
there are a limited number of facts that may be released without the permission of that person.

Releasable Information — MILITARY -In the case of a military person, the following facts
may be released: l Name Rank, Date of rank Gross salary Present and past duty assignments
,Future assignments that are officially established , Office or duty telephone numbers Source
of commission Promotion sequence number Awards and decorations Attendance at professional
and military schools (major area of study, school, year of education and degree) Duty status at
any given time

Releasable Information — CIVILIAN -When releasing information about government

civilian employees, you may include the following facts without approval from the individuals
concerned: l Name Grade or position , Date of grade , Gross salary . Present and past
assignments , Future assignments, if officially established , Office telephone number
.The point for you to remember is that, without a compelling reason that is usually in
connection with the public concern, a person‘s privacy should not be violated. For you
to pry into an individual‘s home life in connection with a news story is inexcusable unless there
is some clear public need for the information. On the other hand a person cannot claim the right
of privacy if an important news event has placed an individual, willingly or unwillingly, in
public view. Even so, this does not give the news media the right to push human dignity and
decency aside.

THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was established in 1966 to give the public the right
to access records of the executive branch of the federal
government. It established for the first time in history the right of ―any person‖ to seek
access to these records. Many FOIA requests are received annually from organizations and
individuals. Requests including (but not limited to) the following: . Projected retirees
, Decklogs, Investigations , Contracts , Nuclear weapons , Disposal of toxic substances

Agency Records -The FOIA provides for access to government ―agency records‖ — simply
stated, products that result from the gathering of data. They may include records
originated by the agency or those it has received and
maintained at the time of the FOIA request. Some examples of agency records include the
following: Books Papers Maps Photographs Machine-readable materials or other
documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristics .Be aware of the
records that do not qualify for release under the FOIA. Some of these records include the
following; Objects or articles (such as structures, furniture, paintings, sculpture, three-
dimensional models, vehicles and equipment) Administrative tools (such as computer soft-
ware) Non-tangible records (such as an individual‘s memory or oral communication) Personal
records not subject to agency creation/ retention (such as notes to jog the memory of an
employee) Unaltered publications and processed documents available to the public through
other means (such as regulations, maps and manuals) .
FOIA Request Format- A request for an agency record under the FOIA must
follow a specific format. First, and most important,
make sure the request is in writing. Do not process verbal requests, whether in person or on
the telephone. Additionally, the request must indicate that it is made under the provisions of a
certain Department of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program.
The request also must contain a reasonable description of the record(s) requested. This will
enable you or others in your office to research the request with more efficiency.

FOIA FEES -All fees related to an FOIA request must be paid by

the organization or person making the request. For commercial requesters, fees are assessed
for the search, review and duplication of the requested records. However, in the
case of educational institutions, noncommercial scientific institutions and news media
representatives, fees can only be assessed for duplication (after the first 100 pages).

FOIA ASSISTANCE- Occasionally, you will receive an FOIA request that does not meet the
format previously described. Since members of the public usually do not understand FOIA
request procedures, it is up to journalists to help them.

TIME LIMITS You must respond to FOIA requests within 10

working days. However, this may be an unrealistic length of time because of your work
schedule. When this happens, you may take a formal time extension of up to 10 additional
working days if you must take one or more of the following actions: Search for or collect records
that are located, in whole or in part, at places separate from the office processing the request.
Search for, collect and examine a substantial number of records in response to a request.
Consult with another naval activity or another
agency which has a substantial subject matter interest in the determination of the request. If
you opt for a formal time extension, advise the
requester in writing and give the reason(s) for the
extension. Also indicate that the requester may make an appeal to the appropriate appellate
authority (such as the judge advocate general or general counsel) within 60 calendar days.
Keep in mind that formal time extension letters must be approved and signed by higher authority.
In FOIA terminology, this person is called the initial denial authority (IDA). The purpose of
this section is to acquaint you with some of the basic provisions of the FOIA Program.

10.3 COPYRIGHT
The copyright system is explained in detail in the
Copyright Act of , which became effective on January 1,1978. This act was the first
general revision of the copyright law of the United States since 1909. It made a number of
changes in our copyright system, and for the most part, supersedes the previous federal copyright
statute.

Definition -Copyright, according to the act, is a form of

protection provided by the federal government to the authors of ―original works of
authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later
developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced or otherwise communicated,
either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.‖
Works of authorship include the following categories: Literary works
Musical works, including any accompanying words
Dramatic works, including any accompanying music Pantomimes and choreographic works
Pictorial, graphic and sculptural works Motion pictures and other audiovisual works Sound
recordings It should be noted, however, that ―copyright protection for an original work of
authorship does not extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method
of operation, concept, principle or discovery, regardless
of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated or embodied in such work.‖
Some other categories of material generally not
eligible for statutory copyright protection include the following: Works that have not been
fixed in a tangible form of expression; for example, choreographic works
that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that
have not been written or recorded Titles, names, short phrases and slogans; familiar
symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring;
mere listings of ingredients or contents Works consisting entirely of information that is
common property and containing no original
authorship; for example, standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and
rule and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources Where copyright
protection applies, it is available to both published and unpublished works. The
Copyright Act generally gives the owner the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do
the following: To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords (phonorecords, for
the purpose of this section, refers to material objects embodying fixations of sounds, such as
cassette tapes, CDs or LPs) To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work
To distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or
other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease or lending To perform the copyrighted
work publicly in the case of literary, musical, dramatic and
choreographic works, pantomimes, motion pictures and other audiovisual works To display
the copyrighted work publicly in the case of literary, musical, dramatic and choreographic
works, pantomimes and pictorial, graphic or sculptural works, including the
individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
LIMITATIONS

It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights

provided to the owner of copyright by the act. These
rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. In some cases, these limitations are specified
exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of ―fair use,‖ which is
now given a statutory basis by section 107 of the act, which states: the fair use of a copyright
work, including such use by reproduction in copies or
phonorecords or by any other means specified (in section 106 of the act), for purposes
such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom
use), scholarship or research is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the
use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, you should consider the following factors:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including

whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes

2. The nature of the copyrighted work

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a
whole

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work In other
instances, the limitation takes the form of a ―compulsory license‖ under which certain limited
uses of copyrighted works are permitted upon payment of
specified royalties and compliance with statutory conditions.

INFRINGEMENT
To use any of the exclusive rights of a copyright
owner without permission is an infringement of copyright. Infringement is in violation of
the law, and as such, it is punishable by the courts.
The owner of a copyright, upon proving that an infringement has occurred, can expect to
recover from the offender any monetary loss suffered as well as any profit realized by the
offender due to the infringement.
When a copyright is infringed by or for the government, the exclusive remedy of the co
pyright owner is, with the government‘s permission, to bring suit against the States in the
Court of Claims. Government employees, including military personnel,
are not personally liable for copyright infringement occurring in the performance of their
official duties.

USE OF GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

Any material published by or for the government, or any reprint in whole or in part
thereof, is generally considered to be in the public domain and
not subject to copyright laws. However, when
copyrighted material is used (with permission) in a government publication, it cannot be
reproduced by a private citizen or in another government publication
without again requesting permission from the copyright
owner. Copyrighted material in a government
publication must have a statement identifying the
copyright holder and indicating that permission has been granted for its use.

COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP
Copyright protection exists from the time the work is created in fixed form; that is, it is an
incident of the process of authorship. The copyright in the work of
authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created it. Only the author or
those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright. In the case of
works made for hire, as is the case when military personnel or civilian employees of the
federal government author a ―work‖ on government
time, the employer and not the employee is
presumptively considered the author. Section 101 of the copyright statute defines a ―work
made for hire‖ as the following:

1. A work prepared by an employee within the scope of his employment.

2. A work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work,

as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary
work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test or as an
atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be
considered a work made for hire. The authors of a joint work are co-owners of the
copyright in the work unless there is an agreement to the contrary.
Copyright in each separate contribution to a
periodical or other collective work is distinct from copyright in the collective work as a
whole and vests initially with the author of the contribution. Mere ownership of a book,
manuscript, painting or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the
copyright. The law provides that transfer
of ownership of any material object that embodies a protected work does not of itself
convey any rights in the copyright. Minors may claim copyright, but state laws may
regulate the business dealings involving copyrights owned by minors.

COPYRIGHT AVAILABILITY
Copyright protection is available for all
unpublished works regardless of the nationality or domicile of the author.
Published works are eligible for copyright
protection in the United States if any one of the following conditions is met: On the
date of first publication, one or more of the authors is a national or domiciliary of the
States or is a national, domiciliary or sovereign authority of a foreign nation that is a party to
a copyright treaty to which the United States also is a party or is a stateless person
wherever that person may be domiciled. The work is first published in the United States
or in a foreign nation that, on the date of first publication, is a party to the Universal
Copyright Convention; or the work comes within the scope of a presidential proclamation.
The work is first published on or after March 1, 1989, in a foreign nation that on the date of first
publication, is a party to the Berne Convention; or, if the work is not first published in a country
party to the Berne Convention, it is published (on or after March 1, 1989) within 30 days of first
publication in a country that is party to the Berne Convention. The work is first published on or
after March 1, 1989, and is a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural
work that is incorporated in a permanent structure located in the United States; or, if the
work, first published on or after March 1, 1989, is a published audiovisual work and all the
authors are legal entities with headquarters in the United States.

SECURING A COPYRIGHT –
The way in which copyright protection is secured under the present law is frequently
misunderstood. No publication or registration or any other action in the Copyright Office is
required for copyright to be secured under the new law.

Review Questions

Define libel.

What leads to libelous material

Discuss the defenses to libel

10.4 LEGAL TRAPS & PRIVILEGES

A) Defamation
What is defamation?

Defamation is a generic term describing the statement to a third party of words or other matter
containing an untrue imputation against the character of another. Libel covers publication
(including TV and radio broadcasts, Internet, email, blogs, chatrooms, and so on) and slander
covers the spoken word.

"Libel is injury to reputation. Words, pictures or cartoons that expose a person to public hatred,
shame, disgrace or ridicule, or induce an ill opinion of a person, are libelous."

To win a libel suit against your news organization, all these things must be proved in court:

a) The statement was false.

b) It was a statement of fact (not opinion).
c) The statement was published.
d) The person who is suing was identifiable in the statement.
e) The person suffered damage.
f) The news organization was at fault.

News organizations have several defenses against libel claims:

The statement cannot be proved false. Provable truth is the only complete and unconditional
defense against libel. (But proving truth can be difficult. Providing that what you published was
the WHOLE truth is even harder.)

The statute of limitations has expired. The time a plaintiff has to sue for libel varies by state.

The statement was privileged. Public officials acting in their official capacities have absolute
privilege to say anything. Journalists have qualified privilege to provide a full and fair account
of anything said during an official proceeding.

The statement was an expression of opinion rather than a statement of fact. Editors should be
sure that opinion pieces are clearly labeled and their assertions supported. This is a tricky area,
and online forms such as blogs are going to make it even trickier.

The person suing is either a public official or a public figure. If so, the plaintiff has to prove
the statement was made with actual malice (you knew it was false but published it anyway) or
reckless disregard for whether it was true or false. If the plaintiff is not a public official or public
figure, he or she only needs to provide negligence -- you didn't do your job appropriately in
checking out the information.

Tips to help editors guard against libel in the stories they edit:

Recognize the danger zones. Think carefully about any negative statements about a person in a
story. These might include accusations or even implications that the person committed a crime
(before being found guilty in court), engaged in undesirable business practices, had a loathsome
disease or was immoral. Other danger areas include making someone look ridiculous or dredging
up irrelevant information from the person's past.

Watch for juxtapositions, such as second references within a story or the use of photos that
could create an unintended (and damaging) impression.

Make changes and write headlines carefully. Be sure not to change meanings in text or to
create misleading headlines -- or cutlines or teasers or anything else that editors write. Headlines
can be especially damaging because so many more people read the headline than read the story,
and courts may consider headlines separately from stories.

Check the sources. If a story includes a source who does not hold absolute privilege and who
says something negative about someone else, you need to triple-check for both credibility of that
source and confirmation from other sources. Sources can and do use journalists to "get at" an
enemy -- leaving you liable for their vendetta.

Check for the response. If the story contains negative statements about a person or group, every
effort must be made to give that person or group an opportunity to respond. Your best bet, if in
fact the story has to run at all without a response, is to detail what those opportunities were -- not
only out of fairness (important though that is) but also to legally cover your backside.

Develop a procedure for responding to someone who says (screams, usually) that he or she
was libeled.. Call the lawyer, and involve him or her in whatever communications ensue with the
person claiming libel.

Prompt and clear retractions or corrections do not take away the libel -- but they often take away
the person's anger or at least assuage it, making him or her less likely to sue. Even if you do wind
up in court and lose, you likely will have to pay less in damages than without the correction.

In particular, avoid two common mistakes that journalists make in dealing with someone enraged
by something they published. Mistake A: Trying to calm the person down by apologizing for
your error (admitting guilt). Mistake B: Getting mad yourself. Be calm and,
especially, unfailingly polite.

What is a defamatory statement?

Generally, defamation is the publication of a statement which ‗tends to lower the claimant in the
estimation of right-thinking people.‘ Most countries have left it to the courts to define what is
defamatory, although a few have defined it by statute. What may be defamatory in one country
or society at one time may not be defamatory in another.

The scope to defame a person or company is very wide but most civil actions fall into three
classes:

a) Imputations of dishonourable conduct or motives, lack of integrity, lying, deceit,

insincerity, hypocrisy, or the misuse of some office or position.
 b) Disparaging a person in his or her job, e.g. suggestions of incompetence or failure to
uphold professional standards, even though no moral fault is implied. You can also
defame companies by disparaging their services or products, e.g. by saying their products
are defective or dangerous, or their service is substandard.
c) Statements causing a person to be shunned or avoided, e.g. implying that a company or
an individual is experiencing financial difficulties.

Defamation and images

Defamation is not limited to words alone. Sometimes, it is the combination of pictures and words
that cause a problem. A typical example is misidentification of a person in a picture as a
terrorism suspect or a criminal. In those cases, there is really no excuse. Another typical example
is using a stock photograph to illustrate a potentially defamatory or sensitive story where the
photograph shows a person or a company who is identifiable and who do not have any other
connection with the story. (E.g. a story about an ailing railway industry illustrated by a picture of
a train with the train company‘s logo clearly visible, or a spread of infectious disease story
illustrated with a picture of a person or a hospital that is identifiable). Under those circumstances,
the person or the company concerned may have a defamation claim against us.

Who may sue?

The claimant may be an individual, or a company suing in respect of its trading reputation, or
any incorporated body whether trading or not. In most countries, a government department, local
authority or a political party cannot sue but individuals within these organizations can if they can
be identified in a defamatory context, whether they are actually named or not. However, this is
not always the case. If in doubt, you should check.

Elements of action

Generally, the claimant must establish three elements:

a) The words were defamatory.

b) The claimant is identified.
c) There was publication.

If the claimant can do that, the action will succeed unless the publisher can offer a defence –
truth, fair comment or privilege.

Element 1 – Is it defamatory?

The claimant must satisfy the court that the words defamed him or her in the way they were used
– either in the ordinary meaning of the words, an implied meaning, or an innuendo. An innuendo
refers to a meaning that is seen in the words by people who have other knowledge of the
complainant. For example, if you reported that Mr. X frequently visited Koinange Street, it
looks like an innocuous statement, but if people who read this knew Koinange Street was a den
of vice, it would impute bad character on Mr. X and so be defamatory.

Defamation is all about the meaning of words and many statements are capable of more than one
meaning. A story which reports an inquiry into the affairs of a company might not be held to
mean it was guilty of some malpractice. The courts must decide whether it means the company is
suspected of some wrongdoing and, if so, whether that is defamatory.

Element 2 – Does the statement identify the claimant?

The claimant must show that he was identified in the defamatory matter. The law does not
require that the claimant be named. If he is not named in the article or in the broadcast, the law
does not even require the world at large would know that he was the person meant. In countries
that follow its common law, it is sufficient if people who know the claimant, such as relatives,
friends or colleagues, would understand the words to refer to him.

If you write about a group of people and the group is so large that no one individual could claim
he is identified, this would be considered a non-identifying statement. Classic examples are: ―All
lawyers are thieves.‖ and ―Journalists write lies.‖ In such cases no one is identified unless there
is something elsewhere in the article that points to a particular lawyer or journalist. But if the
group is so small that what is said about the group might be seen to refer to an individual or
individuals in the group, then everyone in that group could sue for defamation. In such cases, it
would be better to name the particular individual rather than describing him or her as a member
of the group.

Element 3 – Has the statement been published?

The claimant does not usually have much difficulty to establish that the matter was published to
a third party. Publication in this sense does not mean the traditional print media but includes
almost all methods of communication, including email, Internet, chatrooms, broadcasts and radio
casts. In some jurisdictions, publication of a libel is deemed to have taken place in a letter, even
if only the single recipient reads it, but in most countries if the communication is merely to the
claimant there is no cause of action because no damage to reputation would arise in the minds of
others.

Any person or company taking part in the publication is liable – the writer, printer, publisher and
distributor. In some cases, there is a limited defence for printers, distributors or Internet service
providers if they can show they took all reasonable care to avoid communicating the defamation
and had no reason to believe it would take place.
Common defences to a defamation action

Defences 1 – Truth/justification

It is a complete defence to a defamation action that the words are substantially true. Some other
countries, however, require the publisher to show that not only are the words true but that they
were published for the public benefit.

The defendant publisher is presumed to have published a false statement until the contrary is
proved, so truth is a very difficult defence. Under English law, it is not necessary to prove the
truth of every single allegation against the claimant as long as the words not proved do not
materially injure the plaintiff‘s reputation.

One difficulty in defending a defamation action is that it is often possible to prove the words true
on their ordinary natural meaning, but still fail to prove any inference the plaintiff says the words
carry. In this case the defence will fail.

A plea of truth may also fail where the words consist of allegations from the past which might
suggest any taint on character still exists. To say of a person ‗He is a thief‘ on the basis of a long-
ago theft could not be defended because what is at stake is the current reputation.

Defences 2 – Fair comment

The fair comment defence protects statements of honestly held opinion on matters of true fact.
Subject to some conditions, it is a useful defence in reporting comments by others, such as
politicians. The fair comment defence will be defeated if the comment is made maliciously (i.e.
recklessly or carelessly). For example, when reporting a stinging attack made by a public
figure on another person, it is vital that neither the speaker nor the agency which reports his
remarks has confused that person with someone else.

When the facts used for the comment are in a report of a privileged occasion, such as a fair and
accurate report of the proceedings in a Parliament or of a court, it is not necessary for the
publisher to prove the truth of allegations in the course of those proceedings. The defence will
succeed even if the allegations made in the Parliament, or on any privileged occasion, later turn
out to be false.

Defences 3 – Absolute privilege

Absolute privilege protects the following:

a) Statements in parliamentary proceedings (parliamentary privilege).

b) Statements during judicial proceedings (judicial privilege).
c) Statements in state proceedings (official privilege).
 d) Statements by public officials protected by statute (e.g. Parliamentary Commissioner,
Commissioner and for Local Administration, Health Services Commissioners, the Legal
Services Ombudsman).
e) Reports of parliamentary proceedings.
f) Reports of judicial proceedings.

Absolute privilege protects the communication made on the privileged occasion absolutely.
The maker of the statement on those occasions need not fear any defamation claim by
someone who may feel their reputation is injured.

Defences 4 – Statutory qualified privilege

In addition to absolute privilege, there are occasions of qualified privilege: i.e. the
communication is protected, but only to a certain extent. Usually, these include communications
when there is a public interest in the statement being made and received. Typical examples
include fair and accurate report of parliamentary proceedings and judicial proceedings. Qualified
privilege will always be defeated if statements have been published maliciously and privilege
will only attach if the reporting is fair, accurate and contemporaneous.

Defences 5 – Common-law qualified privilege

Common-law qualified privilege may protect other statements which fall outside those given
statutory protection. Outside the media world, common-law qualified privilege will only arise
when the maker of a defamatory statement has a ―duty‖ to communicate the information and the
recipient of that information has a corresponding ―interest‖ in receiving it.

Thus, qualified privilege protects employment references and statements made by a company
director to the board of directors or to shareholders, but it was almost impossible for the media to
use the defence because readers, viewers and listeners had such a wide range of interests and
would not necessarily all be interested in any one particular story.

Since 1999, it is recognised that there may be a qualified privilege defence at common law
where:

a) The publisher has a legal, moral or social duty to the public to publish the material in
question;
b) The public has a corresponding interest in receiving it, and;
c) The nature, status and source of the material are such to invite privilege in the absence of
malice.

The leading judge in such a case suggest that courts should consider the following 10 tests when
deciding whether a publication should be privileged, although subject to the caveat that these are
not the only issues which must be considered.
These are:

1) The seriousness of the allegation.

2) The nature of the information and the extent to which it was a matter of public concern.
3) The source of the information (some sources may have no direct knowledge of the
matter; others might have an axe to grind but the lack of authority for the journalist‘s
sources should not in itself be a reason for defeating a plea of qualified privilege).
4) The steps taken to verify the information.
5) The status of the information (an allegation may have already been under an investigation
which commanded respect).
6) The urgency of the matter (news is a perishable commodity, the judge said).
7) Whether comment was sought from the complainant.
8) Whether the article contained the gist of his version.
9) The tone of the article (for example does the story adopt the allegation as a statement of
fact or does it merely say that the allegation should be investigated).
10) The circumstances of the publication, including the timing.

Implicit in the new defence is that the information is presented in as fair, reasonable and even a
manner as possible. It is commonly known as The Reynolds Defence after the plaintiff in the
case. In cases where the defence has not been allowed, the journalist concerned has generally
failed to seek a comment on the allegations from the claimant, or has failed to write a balanced
piece. In some other cases, courts have criticised newspapers for rushing to print with stories that
could have waited until all the facts could be checked properly.

Recent developments have further limited the Reynolds defence by requiring that even if the
story meets all of the above criteria, it must also satisfy the test of public interest before it can
rely on the defence of qualified privilege. It means that the subject matter of the story must be
such that it is in the public interest to publish the story. It is not sufficient that the public may be
interested in the story. A typical example of the former would be a story on a contaminated food
product, which is potentially defamatory of the producer of the food products but it is in public
interest to publish a warning about contaminated foods. In contrast, the latter would include
stories on celebrity scandals and the like.

The best precaution by journalist is always to adhere to the principles of accuracy, integrity
and freedom from bias. And remember that speed without accuracy can be a dangerous thing.

B) CONTEMPT

Contempt of court involves interference with the administration of justice – either in a particular
case or more generally with the judicial process. This is not a comprehensive coverage of the law
of contempt but a guideline on contempt issues most pertinent to Journalists.
What constitutes an act of contempt depends on the law of the jurisdiction. It can cover a
multitude of sins from scandalizing the court (e.g. by being rude to the judge) to making an
unauthorized recording in a courtroom.

There are two specific acts of contempt that can affect journalists directly. One relates to court
reporting and the other to protecting your sources.

a) Contempt and court reporting restrictions

Most democracies uphold the principle of open and public justice. Therefore, the media is
usually allowed in courtrooms and may report on court proceedings. However, in most
jurisdictions, there will usually be certain restrictions on what the media can report. Such
restrictions may be designed to protect the people involved (whether or not they are parties to the
proceedings) or to ensure the efficient and effective administration of justice. For example, in
most jurisdictions, the media is not allowed to report the identity of a victim of sexual offences
or minors. Many jurisdictions also allow judges to impose specific restriction orders on the
media for particular cases, for example, in family or domestic cases, to protect the privacy of the
parties involved, especially if there are children.

In addition to these special orders or reporting restrictions, some countries also have a general
law that prohibits anyone from publishing anything that may give rise to a substantial risk of
serious prejudice to the defendant‘s chance of receiving a fair trial. This type of law is found
most commonly in countries with a jury system, as juries are thought to be more susceptible to
the influence of the media.

In many countries the greatest danger of contempt arises from:

1) Assuming the guilt of the accused.

2) Disclosing previous convictions or other information derogatory of the accused.
3) Publication of a photograph of the accused if identity is to be an issue at trial or at a
police identity parade.
4) Publication during a trial of material the jury ought not to be aware of or to be reminded
of.

For example in the UK, if you publish anything that could give rise to a substantial risk of
serious prejudice to a fair trial, you are strictly liable. Strict liability means that you will be found
guilty of the offence regardless of your intention or how much care you took to avoid committing
the offence. If the publication seriously prejudices a legal proceeding in the UK, there is a chance
you will be held liable for contempt. In contrast, in the United States, the First Amendment right
trumps any concern over possible prejudice to a fair trial. This poses a particular problem for an
international news agency like Reuters. For example, where people are arrested and awaiting
trial in the UK and the same people are indicted for similar offences in the United States, the
media in the UK will be constrained in what they can report. However, such restrictions would
not apply in the United States. There are internal procedures for dealing with these issues when
they arise and Journalists should refer these to the relevant specialist editors and Legal
Department.

b) Contempt and protecting your sources

Although some countries recognize and protect the right of journalists to protect their sources,
the refusal to disclose your source where the information is deemed necessary by a court for the
administration of justice can mean that you may be held in contempt of court. The sanctions a
court can impose in those circumstances can often include physical incarceration as well as a
fine.One must escalate any issues relating to contempt to senior editors and the Legal
Department.

Procedure for handling stories that risk contempt of court and their publication.

Any decision whether to publish material from outside (or other jurisdictions with similar laws)
that carries a risk of exposing Journalists to contempt of court proceedings must be taken by the
managing editor and the appropriate specialist editor in consultation with their equivalents in the
affected area.

A decision should be based on consideration of internal and external legal advice that includes an
assessment of the probable risk of prosecution, noting that contempt is deemed to be a SERIOUS
risk of SUBSTANTIAL prejudice. Such a risk should be balanced against the news value of the
story. Editorial has the final say on whether to publish and what to publish, having considered all
the relevant facts.

In the event of publication, the following should apply:

a) The story carried on terminals and media wires should carry an advisory that states:
(NOTE TO EDITORS: This story is not for use [or other jurisdiction], where its
publication may be deemed to constitute contempt of court).
b) The story should not be carried on the local site in another jurisdiction and should not be
included in any categorized online news reports that are sent to subscribers. On a case-
by-case basis and after consideration of the relevant facts, editorial may decide to carry
the story on categorized news reports that go to certain subscribers .
c) Similar provisions should apply, with necessary regional changes and transmission
variations, in other jurisdictions where contempt law applies in other countries.

C) COPYRIGHT

Copyright protects the skill and labour that produce a literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work
once it is recorded in any form, whoever has recorded it. The basic principle is that without
permission (usually a licence to reproduce) one is not entitled to make use of a substantial part of
another‘s copyright work and is not able to make use of a substantial part of any work of ours.

Copyright infringement

Copyright protects ―original‖ work, in the sense that if you created the work independently
without copying someone else‘s work, you own the copyright in the work. One of the golden
rules for journalists is never to plagiarize. Given this rule and the originality threshold, we would
never expect a journalist to be accused of infringing someone else‘s copyright material.

Copyright and stringers

Copyright also becomes important with stringers. The law provides that if a work is created by
an employee in the scope of his or her employment, the copyright belongs to the employer. But
if a work is created by a contractor, and not an employee, then the copyright belongs to the
contractor, unless there is an agreement to the contrary. This is why it is absolutely vital that if
you engage a stringer, you should always have them sign a stringer contract so that there will be
no dispute as to who owns the material they produce.

If the journalist writing the story or taking the photographs is an employee, the media owns the
copyright in the news reports or the photographs. However, if it is done by a stringer, it may be
unclear as to who owns the material and it may become a subject of a dispute. So always try to
put a standard contract in place when dealing with stringers or at least make it very clear from
the beginning in writing who would own the copyright in the material produced.

What to do if you discover others are infringing your copyright

If you discover any content infringement by third parties (e.g. others using your articles in whole
or in part without proper crediting), you should bring it to the attention of the Media Sales team
in your region. If the infringing party is a non-client, it presents a sales opportunity for your
media. If it is a client, then the client is likely to be in breach of their contractual obligation and it
helps with future negotiations with the client to know about these breaches. If persistent
infringement occurs, the matter will be escalated to the Legal Department by Media Sales.

D) PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION

The right to privacy is a fundamental human right enshrined in various international conventions
and national laws. Some countries provide greater protection than others for individual privacy
but the general trend in most countries is towards greater protection of an individual‘s right to
privacy. This has consequences for the media particularly with regard to the publication of
photographs but also applies to the publication of private information.
Right to privacy and publication of images

In many countries, the law prohibits the publication of a person‘s image without his or her
consent. This is true of those countries in particular that have adopted or are influenced by a
strong civil law tradition .There is usually an exception, however, if the publication is for the
purpose of reporting current affairs, but only if such reporting is in the public interest.This is the
rule as it applies to private individuals. For well-known people (such as politicians or celebrities)
however, it is accepted that they are a part of current affairs and so long as they are not in a place
where they also have an expectation of privacy, their pictures may be taken and used.

In other countries where privacy laws are not as strict and there is no express prohibition on the
unauthorized use of a person‘s image in news reports, you may still have problems with the
publication of a picture if it is taken against an expectation of privacy and the publication of the
picture does not add anything to the news but is gratuitous.

Public and non-public places

The publication of a picture taken in a non-public place where a person may have an expectation
of privacy is likely to infringe the person‘s right to privacy. However, the boundaries are not
always clear-cut. Non-public places, where a person is entitled to an expectation of privacy, are
held to include the balcony of a hotel, a private strip of beach, a secluded part at the back of a
restaurant and an office. However, in some cases, photographs or footage obtained on a public
street or outside a building have been held to infringe the right to privacy where the image
captured is particularly distressing or humiliating to the person concerned and it is not in the
public interest to publish the image.

It is difficult to lay down any specific guideline in this instance. A good rule of thumb may be to
put yourself in the shoes of the subject of the image and consider whether you would feel your
privacy was invaded if the image were to be published, and whether you would be able to defend
publication on the ground of public interest if we were to publish the image.

Celebrities

Celebrities and well-known people are more likely to bring claims for infringements. In fact,
recent developments in this area of law have largely been funded by lawsuits brought by
celebrities from minor royals to former supermodels against the publishers of magazines and
newspapers. They are more aware of their rights and have the means to litigate. Be extra cautious
if you obtain images or footages that may be of questionable origin or taken in non-public places,
especially using telephoto lenses.

Pictures of minors
Always be sensitive when you take and publish photographs of children. In most jurisdictions,
minors fall into a special category of protected persons and are also held to be incapable of
giving legally effective consent. Therefore, even if you obtain the agreement of the children to be
photographed, it would not necessarily provide any protection against a claim for infringement of
their right to privacy if challenged by their families or guardians.

Publication of private information

Given the nature and the type of reporting, it is unlikely that it would be held to infringe
someone‘s right to privacy by publishing information that is of a private nature. However, you
should always consider whether the detail you are reporting adds to the newsworthiness of the
story or whether it is gratuitous information of a private nature whose publication is not in the
public interest. Also, many jurisdictions prohibit the identification of victims of particular kinds
of crimes (such as victims of rape) to protect their privacy.

A defence against the claim of infringement of privacy is that the publication is in public interest.
However, the courts distinguish between what is in the public interest from what is of interest to
the public. Salacious gossip or scandal about celebrities or politicians may be of interest to the
public but their publication will not necessarily be in public interest.

Data protection

The law of privacy should not be confused with the data protection law. The latter is a separate
body of law developed more recently to protect the unauthorized processing and transfer of
personal data. Personal data in this case refers to any information that can be used to identify an
individual, such as their name, age, gender, address, telephone number, occupation, physical
attributes, personal preferences, and so on.

The law provides a special exemption if compliance is incompatible with the purposes of
journalism. This means that a journalist is allowed to collect, process and use personal
information if such information is required for the purposes of reporting.

This is a complex area where the rules are not clear and there are large differences between
countries.

PENALTIES
(1) A person guilty of an offence under any provision of this Act other than section 8(1),
(4) Or (5) shall be liable—
(a) Rn conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or
both;
(b) On summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not
exceeding the statutory maximum or both.
(2) A person guilty of an offence under section 8(1), (4) or (5) above shall be liable on summary
conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding level 5
on the standard scale or both.

Review Questions

Discuss the following legal traps an editor should be familiar with;

a) Defamation
b) Copyright
c) Data protection
d) Official secrets Act

SAMPLE EXAM PAPER

UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

MAIN EXAMS

DJL 124: EDITING, LAYOUT AND DESIGN

TIME: 2 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS
 Question 1 is compulsory
Choose any other two questions
Cheating leads to automatic disqualification

Question One (30MKS)

a) What is Quark revolution (3 marks)

b) Discuss the factors to consider when designing a newspaper using the knowledge of
design and typography (15 marks)

c) Explain the functions of the following personnel in a newspaper organization (12 marks)

i) News editor

ii) Copy taster

iii) Sub-editor

Question Two

a) Explain the relevance of Computer Technology to the sub-editors work (10 marks)
b) Discuss the various typographical devices an editor can use to make a newspaper
readable and appealing (10 marks)

Question Three

a) Discuss the importance of pictures in a Newspaper. What are the stages of editing
pictures. (20 marks)

Question Four

a) Explain briefly the following elements of Newspaper composition (20 marks)

i) Balance
ii) Harmony
iii) Format
iv) Contrast

Question Five
a) Discuss the various legal traps an Editor should observe when editing a story to be
published ( 20 marks)