Freelance Journalist

A freelancer is a self-employed journalist who is not necessarily committed to a particular media organisation. Freelancers sometimes represent a media firm or many media firms, or use websites to freelance. Freelancers get paid for their work by hours, day, or on the basis of work, etc. Working on contract basis helps to remove any kind of personal allegiance or attachment. But it is considered as a risky and inconsistent job, because of the unsure income and less security.

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News Interview techniques

Interviews

An interview aims at providing the audience the experience of being a part of the happenings. Interviews are of various types ranging from the informal one to one chats to roundtable discussions. Giving information is not the sole aim of conducting interviews. Usually, the subjects for the interview are the ones who hit the headlines regularly or people with unusual experiences and hobbies or people who are well versed in the areas of knowledge. The person who conducts an interview is called an interviewer and the subject who is being interviewed is called the interviewee.

Questions are an integral part of an interview. An interviewer should be thorough with all the information on the subject to prepare effective questions. Interview questions are classified under various divisions.

-Open questions and closed questions.

Open questions demand more information and require descriptive answers; while closed questions can be answered with a yes or no.

-Empty questions

These are questions that do not require a specific answer. For example: do you have anything more to say to our audience?

-Contact questions

These are the initial questions that are asked to develop a rapport between the subject and the interviewer. Contact questions are not meant to make any substantial revelations.

-Leading questions

Leading questions are used to start a new session or topic.

-Closing questions

Closing questions attempt to sum up issues that are already discussed during the session.

Interviews are broadly classified under two divisions. Purpose-based interviews and Setting based interviews.

According to BBC, there are three categories under purpose based interviews.

1. Hard exposure interviews: Used for investigating a subject thoroughly. For eg: interviews with politicians or other personalities involved in a controversy.

2. Informational interviews: These are of interactive nature and attract the audience. Film based interviews, entertainment interviews, and personal interviews come under this category.

3. Emotional interviews: These types of interviews aimed at revealing the interviewee’s state of mind. For eg: ‘How do you feel being the first ex-PM to face many charges soon after leaving the office?’

Setting-based interviews consist of seven variations.

A. Eyewitness interview: They are also called spot interviews. At the place of happening, the reporter must identify subjects who are willing to talk in front of the camera. They are conducted under the tremendous pressure of time and focus on gathering facts.

B. Door stepper: The short time interview with a political personality or other dignitaries at an event and which involves a very few questions is called a doorstepper. These interviews focus on such hit or miss affairs. Even capturing a ‘no comment’ reply is adequate for the authenticity of the report.

C. Set piece: These type of interviews are widely used during the occurrence of major events such as annual budget presentation, cabinet formation etc. Such interviews are conducted at the interviewee’s office. It requires much planning for the preparation of questions.

D. Studio interview: These are live interviews where the interviewees are invited to the television studio.

E. Down the line: In this type of interview, the interviewer is connected through telephone or other digital communication devices, to the subject who could be in another place.

F. Car interview: A car interview is commonly used for personal interviews, where the interviewer asks the questions sitting in a vehicle, while the interviewee answers it while driving.

G. Walking interview: These interviews are common when making a documentary or a news report on an individual. It requires great technical skill to shoot and record such interviews. 

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Types of News Sources

There are uncountable news sources that a journalist can rely upon. In the digital age, news sources are limitless and easily accessible.

1. Press conference

The press conference is also called a news conference. It is a formal meeting conducted by any person who wants to reveal specific information through the media. The person who invites media is liable to answer the questions of the journalists on whatever information he disclosed. This also provides a platform for interaction and discussion. The status of the person decides the value of the news. Background materials like brochures, leaflets etc., will be distributed by the individual.

2. Meet the press

In this case, the press association or the press club invites a dignitary to meet the media persons. There won’t be any fixed topics for discussion to meet the press. Brochures or any kind of background material won’t be distributed here. Every arrangement regarding the meeting will be made by the press organization. The individual who is invited by the press authorities can be a celebrity or a person related to a newsworthy event.

3. News releases and hand-outs

News releases are also called press releases. These are authorized statements given by government authorities, political or business organizations and other institutions or individuals for the purpose of publishing through media. A press release is prepared by the public relation officers of the concerned institutions. These are also called press hand-outs and press notes.

4. News agencies

UNESCO describes news agencies as “An undertaking of which the principal objective, whatever its legal form, is to gather news and news material of which the sole purpose is to express or present facts, and to distribute this to a group of news enterprises, and in exceptional circumstances to private individuals with a view to providing them with a complete and impartial a news service as possible against payment, and under conditions compatible with business laws and usage.”

The main news source for news media is a news agency or wire service. News agencies have large networks connecting thousands of places from where their reporters gather news and deliver it to various news media on a commercial basis. News agencies have their network worldwide. Major news agencies of the world are Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP) and Reuters.AFP is the oldest news agency in the world. The Free Press of India (FPI) was the first news agency in India. The leading news agency in India is the Press Trust of India (PTI).

5. Interviews

An interview aims at providing the audience the experience of being a part of the happenings. Interviews are of various types ranging from the informal one to one chats to roundtable discussions. Giving information is not the sole aim of conducting interviews. Usually, the subjects for the interview are the ones who hit the headlines regularly or people with unusual experiences and hobbies or people who are well versed in the areas of knowledge. The person who conducts an interview is called an interviewer and the subject who is being interviewed is called the interviewee.

6. Press brief

A briefing is similar to the press conference. The only difference is that the briefing is done by a spokesperson who is authorized to make statements on behalf of an organization or individual. This spokesperson will address the questions of the media representatives.

7. Public relation departments

Every organization and institution will have a public relations department. It is not always possible to meet the chairman or head of an institution in person. So the information or statement regarding the organization/ institution can be provided by the public relation department.

8. House journals

House journals comprise of the information regarding policies and functioning of an organization/ institution. It is produced for the employees and shareholders of the firm. It is also called house magazines.

9. Non-Governmental organization

NGO’s are non-profit organizations working for social development. They can provide information on various topics on the basis of their area of work. For example environment, water resources, tribal protection, ecology, etc.

There are also many other sources of news such as:

10. Parliament

11. State legislative assemblies

12. Police stations

13. Courts

14. Hospitals

15. Banks

16. Seminars and symposiums

17. Theatres

18. Speech, etc.

In most cases, each type of media will depend on other media as a source of information. For example, regional language newspaper depends on news channel or radio for recent news; or online news portal gathering information on an on-going event from a news channel. 

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News Gathering

News gathering is the initial stage of writing a news story. It is a process of finding news sources and facts and researching news items with a view to come up with a news angle or viewpoint. The essence of news gathering is the collection of useful facts. Every news story should have a focus. Focus gives meaning to the story. News is neither planted nor cultivated. News is found among the general public, organization, history; science etc. Different types of news stories have different newsgathering process. For example, hard news items like public events and elections need to be researched quickly; whereas soft feature stories should take more time and go deep into the facts. 

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