The term Journalistic writing comes with an ambiguous meaning since there are two different mature words combined. ‘journalistic’ is a word on its own whiles ‘writing’ is another word on its own. What then would convince scholars to combine these two words to generate a term? The updated format of the introduction to journalistic writing would expose you to all these mysteries.

What is the meaning of Journalistic?

You may have probably heard journalistic elsewhere and from the word journalism in particular. According to a definition from vocabulary.com, it defines journalistic is the things relating to writing or reporting news and stories. One can observe that most journalistic pieces or reports are mostly found in the newspapers aside the news broadcasting.

Gone were the days when journalistic jobs were mainly about writing news stories and publishing them. Things have changed today and so have the ways of journalism.

What is Writing?

Writing has been a common word in our academic discourse communities, especially the university discourse. Assignments are written, projects are written and almost every task in the academic discourse community is written. What then is the real meaning of writing?

Writing can mean a lot in many different ways since writing is not used only in the academic discourse community. Let’s consider some of the meanings of writing:

Writing is said to be simulating. This means that writing can be used as a means to express emotions. You may be sad though but you can write to someone who is not with you at that moment that, you are okay. Writing tends to move emotions and persuade, that is why most men are good at writing love letters to their loved ones and it can move the opponent’s feelings or emotions, that is one meaningful power of writing.

Writing is also said to be Practical. This happens to us in our everyday life especially our brothers and sisters in the academic discourse communities. Most of us jot down points, make notes, and tend to create something as a reference whenever we may need it. In our everyday life, we sometimes jot down dates, lists of items, and whatever we think would be difficult to remember. That is one of the meanings of Writing.

Writing is said to be a Job-related and Professional Task. White collar workers as we normally refer them to be are mostly into writing. Doctors write, teachers write, and all professional workers are one way or the other, writers. Professionals like secretaries are more like talented writers because every single record has to be written down.

Writing is Therapeutic. Just as how simulating writing can be, it can also aid in expressing feelings that are difficult to express with words hence writing gives the mandate to do that. Therefore actions are sometimes taken down into writing and some of these writings are so powerful to speak to the soul.

It is also Social. We all sometimes write thank you notes and gratitude notes to our loved ones in society. We do sometimes invite our loved ones to special occasions through writing.

Writing is more of just putting a pen on paper to put words together. It goes beyond that. Scholars say that it is the final stage in the complex process of communication that begins with thinking. This indicates that not everything at all on a paper can be accepted as writing.

We are now convinced about the meanings of the two words ‘journalistic’ and ‘writing’, now what is Journalistic Writing?

What is Journalistic Writing?

As it was stated earlier gone were the days when most works of journalism were about writing. Things have changed today but good journalism is still associated with competent writing. The keyword here is ‘competent’ meaning not all writers can be accepted as journalists.

Journalistic Writing is a style of writing used to publish or report news stories through various mediums known as the media. So any style of writing on Television, radio, in newspapers, and online is all part of journalistic writing. Journalistic writing has some features that aim to catch the attention of readers and that is why not any write-up is considered to be a journalistic piece.

What is a Good Journalistic Write-Up?

A journalistic write-up is said to be good when it possesses the following qualities;

• Accuracy: From the Longman dictionary of contemporary English, accuracy is the ability to do something exactly without making a mistake. In Journalistic writing, when you can include the right amount of information in the right order then that piece can be a good journalistic write-up. As a journalist writer, you are not supposed to add your opinions and emotions to a story you are reporting, just write it the way it should be and the credit of accuracy would be awarded to you.
• Brevity: According to the Oxford Learners Dictionary, brevity is the quality of using few words when speaking or writing. Very self-explanatory when you transfer it into the business of journalism. Your reports must be brief, people get bored when your news stories are too lengthy. There are at times when it acceptable to write lengthy articles in journalistic pieces but that one is exceptional (will be discussed in the subsequent topics)
• Conciseness: The Longman Dictionary describes conciseness as short with no unnecessary words. Just like a summary, a journalistic piece must achieve the aim of clarity and shortness. Such write-ups must be clear and understandable to every reader. You are not supposed to include unnecessary heavy words just to confuse your readers. The write-up must be clear as possible because our only aim is to write a good journalistic piece or write-up.

These qualities are popularly referred to as the ABC principles of Journalism. Just apply these principles in Journalistic Writing and your works shall be adored.

This is just the basis of Journalistic Writing as we would be diving much deeper into journalistic writing. You now know a few basics of Journalistic Writing and it’s a privilege knowing these things, as time goes it is going to fit into practicality.

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