Reading an English Newspaper
A student-reader must learn how to separate wheat from chaff, how to distinguish between facts and fiction, and read between the lines
By Mukesh Sharma
Gone are days when newspapers used to be the surrogate of public opinion, and the main business was to collect and disseminate the information in the largest interest of the people. Now, the most of the newspapers are partisan; news are tweaked and twisted with vested interest; the ‘salad’ is made out of raw ‘vegetables’ and served to the synthetic mass of readers. Though the most of the readers succumb to ‘spices’ and ‘dressing’, only a few matured readers are able to distinguish between apple and orange, cucumber and carrot, tomato and turnip. But to student-readers who look at the world through the eyes of the newspapers, and read it to augment their vocabulary, brush up their English, increase their general awareness and keep themselves up- to-date from the point of view of various competition exams for government services, it (newspaper) remains rather as confusing as the grammar of English language. Student- readers read an English newspaper like the contents of a text book, and lots of precious time is wasted in the reading exercise. In fact, with the sheer knowledge of the standardized format and content which are followed by all the newspapers, one can understand and read it quickly and comfortably within 30-45 minutes maximum.
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| Reading an English Newspaper |
The common contents of most of the newspaper are: News Story, Editorial, Column, Letter-to-Editor, News Article, Feature Article, Weekly Magazine Section, and Advertisements.
Each write-up in a newspaper is ‘crowned’ by an attractive and catchy HEADLINE; it reflects the purpose and proclivity of a newspaper; it can be ‘offensive’ and ‘submissive’ depending on target audience; it can be informative or commentative. What a human face is to emotions, headline is to a newspaper. In other words, true 'character' of a newspaper can better be ‘understood’ and ‘recognized’ by its headlines.
A headline of a story is always in present tense; it is anti-grammar and anti-syntax; it has timeliness, for, a news is news so long as it is new; over and above, it is complete story in nutshell. Just by reading a headline of a story, one can learn about the content of news. If one flips through the pages and just cast cursory glance on the headline of each story/news, one can have fair idea of all the important news of the day. Furthermore, if any headline catches the interest, and a reader wants to know more details, one can go further and read highlight which is usually written beneath the headlines. A highlight further elaborates the headline. Look at a news story published in a newspaper:
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The very first PARA of a news story is usually described as INTRO in journalistic parlance that conforms to 5W and 1 H – who, what, when, why, where and how. In other words, an INTRO of news story also gives complete information about the news in question in nutshell. If one reads a story up to INTRO only, one can have good referable knowledge about an event/incident/happening unfolded in the news.
A news story is a collection of different but relevant facts. Each fact is couched in a separate PARA. And the facts are arranged in descending order of importance and follow a pattern of inverted pyramid; it means the most important fact goes to top and the least important one to bottom or tail. What is noteworthy, the PARAS that represent different facts are not inter-connected or linked. There is no flow of thoughts from one PARA to another; there is flow of different facts which are independent. If a reader misses any PARA , particularly, the tail-ender, one loses nothing except a few inconsequential facts. So, if a students-readers just concentrate on headline, highlights and intro of each story, it will suffice his/her knowledge of event/incident/happenings delineated in the story.
Editorial of a newspaper is always commentative; it reflects the stand or viewpoint of the newspaper on a particular development; it is usually carried at extreme left on the middle pages of the newspaper. A student reader must read the editorial thoroughly, for, it helps to develop the critical bent of mind in the matter of national or international importance. Editorials are also headed by headline and supported by one or two liner highlighter. Through an editorial, a newspaper seeks to delve deep into a subject matter, and dissects and discusses it ‘subjectively’ and concludes it ‘objectively’.
Though a newspaper derives its power of ‘persuasion’ from its circulation among supposedly faithful readers – exposure makes target vulnerable, letter-to-editor is the only small space provided to so called ‘valued’ readers on the editorial page itself where they register their duly ‘selected’ responses.
News Articles, usually carried on Editorial page, are written by an experienced ‘staffer’ or by the renowned ‘guest’ with immense social and political clout. A News article is an interesting amalgamation of news and comments with an objective. It acquaints a student-reader with diverse views on the subject-matter. News articles are published on an opportune time.
Feature articles are purely revelatory in nature, predominantly, written on a topic of social or geographical importance. Such articles have no timeliness e.g. an article on Himalayan venture can go to press on any day.
The most of the newspapers also bring out weekly magazine section on Sunday. It is full of gossip and scoops about the cine stars. It caters to the saucy needs of young readers, not the serious one.
Advertisements are the main source of revenue for a newspaper. But it is an open secret that the newspapers have other ‘sources’ also. How come a newspaper that costs Rs.80-90 per copy, is sold out just for Rs 5 per copy. Though as per PRB Act 1860, the ratio between news and ads should be 60:40 but it is just vice-versa.
Journalism is described as a literature in hurry. And of course, it can be read also hurriedly. A student reader must read at least two newspapers daily. A comparative study shall reveal how the newspapers play up or play down the news stories. The people allege that newspapers are no longer the watch dogs of democracy; they wag and turn tail purposefully; they bark and bite selectively.
A student-reader must learn how to separate wheat from chaff, how to distinguish between fact and fiction, and read between the lines.
