Writing reports to make them interesting
Sunday, 28 October 2007
I could not check myself from writing this letter though I do not belong to the letter writing species. The occasion is a national news agency story carried by The Financial Express dated October 22, in a three-column spread on developing a religious tourism complex at Taherpur.
The report had all the ingredients of a fantastic and interesting story. Only thing is that it was very badly written. I believe all concerned would agree with me after going through the report.
A visit by some petty government officials do not deserve to be a newspaper or news agency story. What makes it a story is the fact that it was in Taherpur Durga Puja was first instituted (??) years ago(in the dim past) and the possibility of developing a tourism complex there to draw in mostly people of the Hindu community both from the country and the neighbourly India.
Why the heck the reporter would have to begin his intro with the visit of officials to Taherpur and that also "following the demand of the local people and the Hindu community"? Why not begin with the potential of Taherpur as a place of religious tourism because of the fact that worship of goddess Durga in the subcontinent was started at Taherpur. Why the reader will have to wait till the 9th paragraph to know it?
The reporter does not say where Taherpur is situated. The reader will have to guess from the date line that it might be in Rajshahi. But I may file a story on the moon with a Dhaka date line but that will not make for sure that moon is situated in Dhaka district. Then again the list of officials visiting Taherpur has the Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Police Super, UNOs of Bagmara and Durgapur upazilas. The first three names will confirm the reader's guess from the date line that Taherpur is situated in Rajshahi but where in Rajshahi? The other two officials' name would confuse the reader. Is Taherpur situated in Bagmara upazila or in Durgapur upazila? As the name of Bagmara UNO precedes that of Durgapur UNO it would seem Taherpur is situated in Bagmara. But if Graphosman Atlas is authentic Taherpur is situated in Durgapur Upazila. The name of the upazila is also suggestive.
The report mentions Taherpur as a riverport but on which river? It is never mentioned. Again Graphosman shows it to be on the river Baral.
These are the shortcomings of the story that appeared to me from some hurried reading. If one ponders over it he, or she may find out others.
Without these shortcomings will not the story become a splendid one, interesting and informative?
I believe all concerned would agree with me that there are some stories, however insignificant, that must be written by an expert hand.
Hasanuzzman Khan
Dhaka
The report had all the ingredients of a fantastic and interesting story. Only thing is that it was very badly written. I believe all concerned would agree with me after going through the report.
A visit by some petty government officials do not deserve to be a newspaper or news agency story. What makes it a story is the fact that it was in Taherpur Durga Puja was first instituted (??) years ago(in the dim past) and the possibility of developing a tourism complex there to draw in mostly people of the Hindu community both from the country and the neighbourly India.
Why the heck the reporter would have to begin his intro with the visit of officials to Taherpur and that also "following the demand of the local people and the Hindu community"? Why not begin with the potential of Taherpur as a place of religious tourism because of the fact that worship of goddess Durga in the subcontinent was started at Taherpur. Why the reader will have to wait till the 9th paragraph to know it?
The reporter does not say where Taherpur is situated. The reader will have to guess from the date line that it might be in Rajshahi. But I may file a story on the moon with a Dhaka date line but that will not make for sure that moon is situated in Dhaka district. Then again the list of officials visiting Taherpur has the Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Police Super, UNOs of Bagmara and Durgapur upazilas. The first three names will confirm the reader's guess from the date line that Taherpur is situated in Rajshahi but where in Rajshahi? The other two officials' name would confuse the reader. Is Taherpur situated in Bagmara upazila or in Durgapur upazila? As the name of Bagmara UNO precedes that of Durgapur UNO it would seem Taherpur is situated in Bagmara. But if Graphosman Atlas is authentic Taherpur is situated in Durgapur Upazila. The name of the upazila is also suggestive.
The report mentions Taherpur as a riverport but on which river? It is never mentioned. Again Graphosman shows it to be on the river Baral.
These are the shortcomings of the story that appeared to me from some hurried reading. If one ponders over it he, or she may find out others.
Without these shortcomings will not the story become a splendid one, interesting and informative?
I believe all concerned would agree with me that there are some stories, however insignificant, that must be written by an expert hand.
Hasanuzzman Khan
Dhaka