There are many duties of the news reporter. Some important duties during his reporting are given as below:
Duties
1. It should be the duty of every reporter to make his copy pulsate with life and full of interest for the readers. His stories should be bright and sparkling, something that should make people thinks and talks and looks forward to the next issue.
To do this a reporter has to put his heart and soul into his work. Of course, the reporter of today has to work at a greater speed and under more stressful conditions than his predecessors in the past.
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But he also gets more remuneration today as compared with the past. It goes without saying that a reporter has also to sacrifice many of the pleasures of home life to answer the call of duty, at all odd hours.
2. A reporter must appreciate the importance of having a good reputation for absolute reliability.
For this purpose he must be systematic in his habits and punctual in keeping his appointments. He should be quite careful while making inquiries to know the facts and should be fair in his comments.
The most important thing is that he should be efficient and prompt in turning out his copies. By observing these principles, every reporter can make his path smooth and trouble free.
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3. A reporter should have the ability to write good English or the language of his paper. He should possess the quality to write in a condensed manner according to the availability of space.
This goes without saying that whenever a reporter writes his copy in his own hand, it must be readable.
In fact, he should write his reports in such a way which obviates any possible chance of mistake and subsequent query regarding spellings of words and their meanings.
4. The reporter should type or write his reports clearly only on one side of the paper in double space so as to allow enough space for sub-editorial corrections. Every good reporter should develop the habit of turning out a neat and clean copy.
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Sometimes a reporter may give headlines to the report, but generally the headlines are given by the sub-editor. Now-a-days the reporters usually type out their stories but whenever a hand written copy is to be filed, it must be written in ink.
5. The reporter of a local newspaper occupies a unique position and he becomes quite popular with the people of his town. He reports the local events, functions, fairs, social activities etc., and comes closer to the social life of the town. A reporter should follow some professional ethics in his work.
Sometimes, while engaged in his profession, he may come closer to some persons and develop confidential relations with them. Some persons may also tell him their personal, private and business affairs.
A reporter should never betray their confidence under any circumstances by divulging their secrets which they have told him in good faith.
This quality of trustworthiness increases the popularity of the reporter and he is welcomed wherever he goes. This will also enhance his reputation in all sections of the society.
6. Sometimes, a reporter may be asked to write short length paragraphs regarding the local intelligence or about the city news.
For this he should keep his eyes and ears open and develop a nose for local news. He should develop a system to ensure that none of the entrusting news is missed by him.
He should try to know the secretaries of social, religious, political, musical, dramatic, legal, official and other organisations and should call upon them regularly to get some interesting stories. He should make inquiries from the police regarding news of accidents and crime. He should also contact the fire station for the particulars of local fires.
Similarly, he can contact hospitals for collating information regarding accidents and deaths. In the same fashion, he can get a lot of good news from the sports clubs and other organisation.
7. Every reporter should keep an engagement diary. In this way he can systematise his working and attend to all his appointments properly and punctually. By keeping an engagement diary he can know about the important engagements and other events in the future and cover them without fail.
It is very necessary for a reporter to possess a good knowledge of shorthand and typing. This helps a reporter greatly in writing down verbatim reports of political meetings and speeches made at some political functions.
8. Generally, the reporter types the copy in the office or telephones it to a copy taker. Whenever the reporter types the copy in his office, he should prepare it in such a way that it should not need much sub-editing. It should be so neat and clean that it could be photographed and put in the paper as it is.
9. The reporter should not forget to give a catchline to his copy. Every copy which goes to the typesetting unit to be set is given a catchline. The catch line is a key-word, because during the production it identifies all the sheets of the copy. The catch line is given on each sheet so that the typesetting unit can collate the whole story. The catch line should be chosen very carefully. It is better to choose an uncommon word, which may not resemble with another catch line. If the reporter chooses a very common word as a catch line like ‘accident’, it might be confused because there may have been half a dozen accident stories in that edition of the newspaper.
10. The word chosen as a catch line may not have a very close identification with the story, but there should be some mental link with it. He should put the catch line and the page number at the top. Before starting the story he should leave half page of the first sheet. At least two inches margin should be left on the left side of every page. The space which he has left at the top of the first sheet can be used by the sub-editor for writing the headlines or any other instructions for the typesetting unit. On the left side margin, the editor might write corrections if any.
11. It is a good rule to end the page at the end of a paragraph. Similarly, the reporter should not continue a sentence on to the next page. At the end of each sheet the reporter should type the word ‘more’, or the letters ‘mf’ or ‘more follows.’ Whenever he finishes his story he should write at the end of the last page the word ‘end.’ All these things are very necessary, otherwise, sometimes a page or a paragraph of his copy might be lost on the printer’s desk. The reporter should also try to follow the house style, which must be adhered to.