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SESSION B. 2 (b) : TRAINERS NOTES.
 
THE SHAPE OF WRITING
AND REPORTING ON COMMUNITY MEDIA
 
 Objectives:
* To develop effective writing and reporting skills for community media.
* To introduce consensual teamwork.
 
You will need to collect a wide selection of articles and in particular a sample of different 'leads', or opening sentences from media texts.
 
You can quote from the 'Exercise sheet' and display shapes on flip chart or PowerPoint
 
Explain that this is only an introduction to a wide subject. It is intended to get them thinking more creatively about writing for community media.
 
More research and practice is required.
 
Some opening lines:
 
Become a wordsmith and you will be an effective media writer.

Writing for a news or current affairs programme can be a critically important function, whether you are with a public service, a commercial station or an alternative community project.

With the welter of information now cascading into every newsroom from the 'global village', the skills of accurately gathering and writing clearly will be a much sought after skill by all types of media for the foreseeable future. 

Most people in the media are 'lexicon starved', that is, they haven't many names for story structures. This module, which is based on story structures, can help you to plan the organisation of your story in an effective manner.
 
Your choice of structure depends on the story you want to tell. You can experiment over a period with different shapes, or you may well find that one particular shape suits you and the stories you want to tell.
 
As this is a huge subject, we can only deal in this module with the general shape of your copy and how to craft an effective opening lead.
 
Materials:
Samples of media texts
Samples of leads.
Writing paper/ pens

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