General
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UNIT 9 MEDIA AND REPORTING
Key Unit competence: To use the language learnt in the context of media andreporting
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY
9.1. Describing words and expressions used in media
9.1.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY
Reading and text analysis
• Text: How to start a newspaper
A smartly dressed young woman stood at the front of the school hall and
addressed the senior students of the school. “Good morning, everyone,” she
started. My name is Faida Muhoza. As you know, I am the chief editor of your
newspaper, The Ladies Daybreak. But my career as journalist began a long time
ago. I was one of the reporters of our school newspaper which we called ‘Our
little daughter.’ Later, I trained as a journalist at college. But there is only one
place to acquire experience, and that’s on the job; and it is never too early to
start learning about being a reporter.
I have come here today to tell you how you can run your own newspaper. Let
us start by talking about the four steps towards starting a newspaper. First,
you must consider the purpose of your newspaper. Second, you must form an
editorial committee to produce the newspaper. Third, you must decide on the
types of articles you want to include in the newspaper. Finally, you must decide
on the size, shape and make up of your newspaper.
The first duty of the editorial committee is to agree on the main purpose of
the newspaper and therefore, the contents. The editorial committee is made
of five members who perform different duties. The chief editor is to make sure
that the committee works well as a team, to check the whole newspaper for
quality and content, to write the editorial column in the newspaper, to chair
most of the editorial meetings and report. The editor reviews the articles from
the reporters to give any comment on articles presented. The chief editor and
the committee proofread the articles; they work with the designer(s) on the
arrangement of the articles. The Chief Editor also chairs editorial committee
meetings.
The Secretary has the duty of handling all correspondences, takes notes at the
editorial meetings, receives articles from reporters and passes them on to the
editors. He or she works with and helps the chief editor. The Designer organizes
articles and advertisements by deciding on the space between them, etc. He
or she organizes the illustrations and photographs; works with the editors to
make sure that the articles have the right structure and the articles are ready on
time. He or she should also ensure that the printing goes smoothly.
The treasurer is to look after money and find ways of getting funds to pay for
the printings. The treasurer contacts advertisers and informs the designer
about all the advertisements on various issues. He/she organizes the sales and
distribution of the newspapers and pays for printing expenditures. He or she
also receives money from sales and advertisements.
Adapted from English Language, book 6, p.51
• Comprehension questions
1. Analyze the steps to start a newspaper as shown in paragraph two.
2. Examine the duty of the editorial committee.
3. Contrast the role of the chief editor with that of the secretary in the
production of a newspaper.
4. Assess the contribution of a designer to the writing of an effective
newspaper.5. Determine the importance of a treasurer for the planning of a newspaper.
9.2. Describing a scene
9.2.1. LEARNING ACTIVITYReading and text analysis
• Text: A road accident
On January 15, 2014, a cyclist died on the spot after being hit by a truck a few
kilometres from Butare town in Huye District. The accident occurred when the
truck failed to negotiate a bend on the road at the place called the beautiful girl,
black spot and overturned, falling over the cyclist who was carrying tomatoes
to Butare town, according to eyewitnesses. The truck, which was carrying
bricks and other construction materials, was en route to Rusizi District from
Mombasa, Kenya.
The victim was identified as Anselm Harorimana, a resident of Save Sector in the
neighboring Gisagara District. He is survived by a wife and one child. The truck
driver and his co-driver survived the accident with minor injuries and were by
press time admitted to the University Teaching Hospital of Butare. Sources at
the hospital said the driver and his co. were out of danger. An eyewitness, who
identified himself only as Ernest, told this paper that he was also riding a bicycle
a few metres ahead of the victim. “I heard a huge bang,” he said, describing the
moment the truck overturned. “When I looked back to see what was happening,
I realised that it had overturned at the spot in which Harorimana was.”
Police in Southern Province said they were yet to identify the cause of the
accident but warned drivers to always respect traffic rules and road signs. The
beautiful girl bend is a black spot that is often blamed for several accidents at
the scene, especially those involving foreign truck drivers. Because the roadcurve,
located at about three kilometres from Huye town on the highway to
Kigali, has led to one too many accidents, theories keep coming up as locals
attempt to explain why it is a black spot.
The most told story is a superstitious tale of a ‘beautiful lady’ who is said to be
behind the tragic accidents, a theory that has earned the corner the name of
the beautiful girl (which literary translates as (“At the beautiful lady’s place”).
However, others say the spot is just tricky to negotiate, especially for nonfamiliar
motorists.
https://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/72336
• Comprehension questions
1. Analyze the above text and label where the accident took place.
2. Which report did the hospital put out after that accident and who was
the victim in it?
3. Explain what happened to the driver and co-driver.
4. Examine what caused that accident as described in paragraph 1.
5. After reading the above text, suggest different pieces of advice you wouldgive to the truck drivers and drivers in general.
9.3. Reporting a speech
9.3.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY
Reading and exploitation of text
• Text: Third Youth Connekt Africa Summit
Increasingly, integrating countries from across the continent and creating
connections among citizens will make Africa an ideal home for all, President
Paul Kagame said.
President Kagame made the remarks at the opening of the 3rd YouthConnekt
Africa Summit underway in Kigali convening over 8000 young people from
across the continent. The President said that the summit is in the spirit of
bringing together young people irrespective of gender, religion and borders,
and this is what integration and connection mean.
This, he said, would expand their context of ‘home’ from their individual
countries and regions to the entire continent. “So to be able to connect people
across the world, you should have a starting point. The starting point maybe
home, home means home, whether in Rwanda, Mali or Cameroun, or from
where you have all come from.
“That word, connect, starts from home and then you go beyond home. You have
initially someone you call a neighbour or a neighbouring country and that too
becomes home as well and a neighbour feels like you’ve provided a home to
him and that’s how people connect. Connect expands the definition, expands
the home, home stops being Rwanda for me, and home becomes Africa for me,”
Kagame said.
Integration, he said, is not only important for geographically smaller countries
such as Rwanda but for all nations’ survival and relevance in the current global
state of affairs. “Those who are lucky to come from big countries, those you call
big countries, I have a message for you, that you are better off, together with
even smaller countries. Especially in this world full of sharks,” he said.
Adding: “Alone, it doesn’t matter the size, the sharks will eat you up. Together,
we constitute the size that those sharks cannot swallow. They can’t swallow us.”
Together, African countries are bigger, can get further and can achieve much
more faster. “When you want to go far, you come together, and walk together.
When you want to move fast, then you better go alone. But why can’t we have
both? Isn’t it possible? We can be together, move far, and still move fast. Moving
fast now this time becomes an issue of ambition,” the head of state said. The
President urged the youth not to sit waiting for governments to solve all their
challenges and called them to be more involved and innovative in seeking the
results they seek.
“You don’t have to look to government and say government is not doing this,
government is not good at doing this. But government is actually you,” he said.
Among the ways young people can be involved in governance including taking
part in elections and joining public service in different capacities. Fielding
questions from the summit’s participants, Kagame said that Rwanda is a
believer in facilitating free movement of people across the continent hence
adopting a visa on arrival policy for citizens across the continent.
He allayed fears that free movement of persons would increase crime rate
noting that by Rwanda’s experience there had not been any impact on the
levels of security. Assistant Secretary-General and Director of United Nations
Development Programme Regional Bureau for Africa Ahunna Eziakonwa said
that Africa remains the youngest continent in the world with a rapidly growing
youth population that is expected to double by 2055 hence the need to tap
into demographic dividend. The continental summit, first held in 2017, was
conceptualized from the Rwandan version of the annual summit launched in
2012.
The summit features over 100 speakers who include leading professionals
from policy influencers, political and industry leaders, to public, private
and development sector youth champions. The agenda will cover key issues
affecting young people including creating jobs for Africa, turning passion into
profit and bridging the gender divide.
Other subjects on the agenda include the digital economy and opportunities
therein and opportunities in the agriculture sector.
https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/integration-will-make-africa-home-allsays-
kagame
• Comprehension question
1. How many people attended the third youth connect summit as described
in the passage?
2. According to His excellence President of Rwanda, what is the meaning of
the term connect?
3. Based on the text, what was the message of His excellence Paul Kagame
in the summit and one of the guests of honor, Director of United Nations
Development Programme Regional Bureau for Africa.
4. How would you explain the importance of this summit to the people of
Rwanda, especially youth?5. Which conclusion would you draw based on the above text?
9.4. Describing stages in reporting
9.4.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY
Reading and text analysis
• Text: The relevance of a summary.
Writing summary is an essential part of the organization of various events.
The main reason for it is to give your client full and necessary insight into the
effectiveness of your event. Besides, it is good for learning. The review of your
event can help you to add some enhancements to your further planning of
events in the future. The reports will help you to collect the necessary data
about the event, such as the number of people who attended it, the expenses
that went into it, and various other aspects. Collecting all this information
will reveal trends about your event, which will help you to plan them more
effectively from now on.
However, learning how to write a good report on an event is not exactly easy.
You will need some brief guidelines to learn this art. Here, we will give you
some of them, and you will be able to plan your perfect report for your clients
and yourself.
First of all, you will have to determine the style of your presentation and its
format. The reports of events can come in a different format they can be done
as PDF files, PowerPoint presentations, stapled, bound or other. You should
make sure that the report has been organized and divided into a number of
clear sections. The purpose of writing the report is comparing the event results
and the objectives for the event. The primary outcomes of the event have to
be summarized. The report has to be tailored to the interests and needs of
every audience and sponsor that have been affiliated with your event. Take the
sponsor objectives into consideration. Keep in mind that the sponsors, to some
degree, are the main audience for your event, and they would like to know if it
was worth to be sponsored. The other audience for your event might include
the financial managers and senior executives.
Then, your next step will be tracking all the information needed for your report.
For this, you will not only have to rely on memory, but you will also have to
note down data. Taking notes is extremely important during the event because
later you might forget things that happened, and during the event, you are sure
that they are still fresh in mind. Pay attention to the important tidbits, like the
number of people who attended the event, the environment, and the parts
which were approved or disapproved by the audience.
Shortly, during the event, you have to capture everything you can and write
it down. This will greatly help you out later. Sometimes, you will have to take
photos of the event since some clients may want them for the administrative
purposes. They can also be used on the Internet for advertising your event. In
some cases, the videotape of the event would also be relevant. If you track as
much information as possible before the event, during it, and after the event,
your event description will become more specific and effective. Continuously
collect data, and use different people for it (for instance, interview them on their
opinions). It can be useful to write down things from different perspectives.
You should not be waiting to start working on your report until the very end of
your event.
Briefly, as far as stages of reporting an even are concerned, the following are
different steps to be taken into consideration: executive summary of the event
where you should write down the summary of your event. This is a short version
of the full report, and it will play the introductory role in your review.
Another smart move would be including the visuals in your report. Everything
that has got visuals is more interesting for the public than things which have
no visual presentation. Therefore, it will be effective to insert the chart which
illustrates statistics of the event, instead of giving the audience just a bland
list of numbers. The documentation of advertising exposure and social media
audience can also be helpful. For this, completing the following steps would
help: Focus on the ads which contain the names of sponsors. It will be useful in
gathering the advertising rates and circulation figures. Document the advertising
on television, ratings, news coverage, and public service announcements. Also,
you should document the radio, advertising and promotional values, rate card
advertisements, audited reports, and other things that can be helpful. Then, it
would be good to include the statement where you list all the objectives of your
event. It is significant to link the objectives with the results of the event. So,
you need to make certain that you remind people of the original mission of the
event, and the goals that were set by its organization.
Finally, financial highlights, statistical data, quotes from actual people, and
you will have to summarize your report by making it into a final product. This
also requires a few steps that you will have to complete before handing in your
report.
https://www.legit.ng/1174531-how-write-a-report-event.html
• Comprehension
1. To what extent the report can lead to the effective result achievement of
a given institution. Explain
2. Discuss different forms of the report as described in the passage.
3. Explain different stages of reporting.
4. Do you think data collection in reporting is important? Identify the
method of collecting data in media reporting as mentioned in the text.
5. How would we maintain huge information collected from the first hand?
• A text 2: writing an article
Steps for writing an article
Research your topic. To begin writing a news article you need to research
the topic you will be writing about extensively. In order to have a credible,
well written, well-structured article, you have to know the topic well. Begin
by asking yourself the “5 W’s” (sometimes “6 W’s”). Who - who was involved,
what - what happened?, Where - where did it happen? why - why did it happen,
when - when did it happen? And How - how did it happen?
Compile all your facts.
Once you can clearly answer the “5 W’s”, jot down a list of all the pertinent facts
and information that needs to be included in the article.
Create an article outline. Your outline, and subsequently your article, should
be structured like an inverted triangle. The inverted triangle allows you to
build your story so that the most important information is at the top.
Know your audience. In order to write a great news article, you need to know
exactly who you are writing for.
Find an angle. Why is this article unique to you? What is your voice? These
questions will help you to make your news article unique and something that
only you could write. Do you have a personal experience that relates to your
topic? Maybe you know someone who is an expert that you can interview.
Interview people. When writing a news article, interviewing people and
getting a firsthand source on your topic can be invaluable. And while reaching
out to people and asking for an interview may seem daunting, it can greatlyaffect the credibility and authority of your article.
Start with the lead. Begin with a strong leading sentence. News articles begin
with a leading sentence that is meant to grab a reader›s attention and interest
them.
Give all the important details. The next important step to writing news
articles is including all the relevant facts and details that relate to your lead
statement.
Follow up main facts with additional information. After you›ve listed all
the primary facts in your news article, include any additional information that
might help the reader learn more.
Conclude your article. Congratulate your readers for sticking with you to the
end by giving the reader something to take away, like potential solutions to the
problem or challenges expressed in your article.
Lastly, Check facts before publishing, Ensure you have followed your outline
and have been consistent with style, Follow the AP Style for formatting and
citing sources and have your editor read your article.
• Comprehension question
1. Based on the text, identify different steps of reporting mentioned in the
passage.
2. Justify the relevance of the identified steps in writing articles.3. Predict other important information forgotten when writing an article.
9.5.Describing a report
9.5.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY
Reading and text analysis
• Text:
A Report may be defined as a statement or an account, either big or small,
on some happenings, findings, observations or recommendations prepared
either by an individual or by a group. A report may be oral or written. It may
be prepared by a single individual (like a secretary or a departmental head or
an investigator) or by a group of persons or a committee or a sub-committee.
A report may be prepared at regular interval of time (like annual report of an
organisation or a monthly report by a branch to the head office) or only once
(like a report by an enquiry committee).
Reports play a very big role in organizational life and for general administration
is very great. Decisions are very often taken on many controversial and
problematic issues based upon some reports. Members of an organisation or
a committee or a department, etc., can know many relevant and material facts
about the organisation or committee or group itself or of other organisations,
committees or groups through reports thereon. General administration is
guided very much by different kinds of internal and external reports.
Sometimes reports have to be prepared, submitted, and circulated statutorily.
For example, annual reports of a company. A report has a documentation value.
It is a source of reference, evidence, and history. The secretary of an organisation
or a committee or a sub-committee, etc. has great responsibility in connection
with reports because he has to prepare them. Reports are of various types.
They are classified on the basis of various principles. Such classification is also
based on groups.
First of all, a Routine Report is prepared and presented as a routine work and
at a regular period of time. For example, the annual report of an association
or a company which has to be prepared by the secretary or by the Board of
Directors at the end of every financial year and copies have to be distributed
among the members.
Then, a general report is that which is for distribution among many, like the
members of an organization- Such reports may be printed in large numbers
or even published in newspapers for the public information. The Government
publishes reports of different committees or commissions and places them on
sale to the public. A Confidential Report is meant for some superior person or
persons and is not for general information. Sometimes the report may be so
confidential that the secretary or any other person preparing it. Writes it by
hand or types it out him-self.
In addition, a formal Report is that which is prepared according to some
prescribed form and at a prescribed time and is presented according to a
conventional procedure. For example, the annual report of a company or any
association, a report of a branch to its head office, etc.
Lastly, reports can be classified one-man report or group report. A report may
be prepared by an individual only like any report by a secretary or it may be
prepared by a group or a committee. Even in case of a committee, there is a
secretary or convener to each committee who drafts the report on behalf of the
committee and gets it confirmed by others, with or without modifications. A
committee may be divided and two reports, one by the majority and the other
by the minority, may be separately submitted. Therefore, reports may be of
majority and minority types.
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/company/meetings/reports-definitionfeatures-
and-types-company-management/75173
Comprehension questions
1. How would you define the term report?
2. Examine the relevance of a report in different company’s services.
3. Identify different types of report as discussed in the text.4. How would you differentiate formal report and confidential report.
9.6.Expressing Probability on a Past Event
9.6.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY
Tense used when expressing probability on a past event
• Notes
When we want to express probability on a past event, we use must
have or might have + past participle of a verb.
We use must have + past participle to express that we think that
something happened.
We use might have + past participle to express the possibility for
something to have happened, but with some degree of doubt.
Examples
1. The Chief Editor must have thought no one knew what he was doing.
2. He must have scanned the advertisement.3. According to some newspapers, the road might have been broken.
9.7. Language structure: Past perfect continuous, passive
voice and reported speech
I. Past perfect continuous
Example
1. The manager had been taking money from the company.
2. They had been planning to write this report since last month.
3. The witness said that the driver had been talking on his mobile phone.
4. The car had been emerging into the main road when the accident took
place.
5. Janet had been preparing her news presentation for an hour when I
arrived.
6. Betty failed the final test because she had not been attending class.
7. Reporters had been waiting there for more than two hours when thepress conference finally started.
• Note:
The past perfect continuous is used to talk about actions or situations that
were in progress before some other actions took place.Using the past perfect
continuous before another action in the past is a good way to show cause and
effect. You can use time expressions like ‹for› and ‹since› with this tense.You
have learnt about the use of ‘since’ and ‘for’ in unit 3 of this book.
Exercise
I. Put the verbs into the correct form of the past perfect continuous.
1. We (sleep) ……….. for 12 hours when he woke us up.
2. They (wait) ……….. at the station for 90 minutes when the train finally
arrived.
3. We (look for) ………… her ring for two hours and then we found it in the
bathroom.
4. I (not / walk) ………… for a long time, when it suddenly began to rain.
5. How long (learn / she) ..………. English before she went to London?
6. Frank caught the flu because he (sing)………… in the rain too long.
7. He (drive) ………… less than an hour when he ran out of petrol.
8. They were very tired in the evening because they (help) ……….. on the
farm all day.
9. I (not / work) ..………… all day; so I wasn’t tired and went to the disco at
night.
10. They (cycle) ………... all day so their legs were sore in the evening.
II. Passive voice
Examples
1. This article was written by a young journalist.
2. All articles had been checked by the chief editor.
3. The newspaper has been banned by the government recently.
4. The news was presented late because of the football match.
5. Reporters were advised on professional rules of ethics.
• Note:
The passive voice is marked by be+the past participle form of the verb + by +
noun (agent). The verb in a passive sentence contains the appropriate form
of the auxiliary be and the past participle form of the main verb. We use thepassive voice when we are interested in what is done rather than who does it.
The phrase by + noun (agent) is left out when the doer of the action has been
mentioned earlier, is obvious, is unknown or is considered unimportant.Below is a table showing the main verb forms.
Exercise
I. Put the following sentences in passive voice.
1. The secretary received the article in the morning.
2. The chief editor structured all the reports himself.
3. Jimmy had carefully planned the writing of the report.
4. The editor understood the purpose of the report.
5. The reporters gathered and selected the information wisely.
6. This made the writing much easier.
7. The manager had taken the money from the company.
8. A burglar broke into the house.
9. Many journalists use cameras and reporters.
10. A police officer rescued a seven-year-old boy.
II. Reported speech
Examples
a. Direct speech: The senior editor said, “you wrote a good article.”Reported speech: The senior editor said (that) I had written a good article.
b. Direct speech: The minister of infrastructure said, “new machines arrived
yesterday.”
Reported speech: The minister of infrastructure said (that) new machines
had arrived the previous day.
c. Direct speech: “Thirty news journalists graduated yesterday,” the dean of
faculty announced.
Reported speech: The dean of faculty announced (that ) thirty news
journalists had graduated the day before.
d. Direct speech: “This girl wrote a very good article for Nyampinga
Newspaper,” said the headmistress.
Reported speech: The headmistress said (that) that girl had written a
very good article for Nyampinga Newspaper.
• Note:
In newspapers, reporters need to repeat what other people have said. In this
case, the mastery of reported speech is needed. Mostly, in newspapers the
simple past is used to report events. This tense changes into past perfect if
the event is reported indirectly. However, to report a progressive past event,
the past perfect continuous tense is used. In reported speech, the word that is
optional. That’s why it is put between brackets in the above sentence.The table below shows other important changes:
Exercise
Put the following sentences into Reported speech.
a. The newspaper reported, “The manager intended to take a big amount of
money.”
b. The policeman said, “The robbers broke into the house and stole money.”
c. “Police officers rescued a seven-year-old boy,” the witnesses told
Imvaho Nshya.
d. The driver reported, “There were many passengers at the scene.”
e. Brown said, “We didn’t hear gunshots and the boy was out here fighting
with somebody.”
f. ‘The magazines were featuring various articles about women rights,’ the
project manager told us.
g. “The plane crashed en-route to Dubai,” The BBC reported.
h. “Seventy per cent of the farmers used fertilisers last year,” minister of
agriculture told The New times.
i. “Her article inspired young entrepreneurs in this region,” said the Chief
Editor.
j. ‘James was writing a report about the scene,’ the police announced.
9.8.Spelling and Pronunciation
Use dictionaries and thesaurus to find the missing pronunciation and meaningof the given words in to complete the following table.
9.9. End of unit assessment
