Hard News Vs.

Soft News
News stories are basically divided into two types:
(1) Hard news
(2) Soft news.
Hard news generally refers to up-to-the-minute news and events
that are reported immediately, while soft news is background
information or human-interest stories.
Traditionally Politics, war, economics and crime have been
considered hard news, while arts, entertainment and lifestyles have
been considered soft news.
But increasingly, the lines are beginning to blur. The questions are
quite often asked :
Is a story about the private life of a politician politics or
entertainment?
Is an article about the importance of investing early for
retirement a business story or a lifestyle story?
So journalists have realized that Judging solely on the basis of
the subject matter can be difficult to bifurcate the news
stories as hard and soft.
Thus one major difference between hard and soft news is the tone
of presentation i.e. in terms of style and the approach it adopts to
deal with the topic.
A hard news story takes a factual approach: What happened? Who
was involved? Where and when did it happen? Why?
A soft news story tries instead to entertain or advise the reader or
give suggestions. In this category we can keep newspaper or TV
stories that promise news you can use. Examples might be tips on
how to stretch properly before exercising, or what to look for when
buying a new computer.

Knowing the difference between hard and soft news helps us

develop a sense of how news is covered, and what sorts of stories
different news media tend to publish or broadcast. This can be
important when we want to write articles or influence the media
ourselves.
Apart from the conventional and the basic classification
of news into hard and soft in recent times journalists also provide
the following categories of news stories.
1. Factual
A factual story is a report based strictly on facts. This type of
story is the most common, telling only what actually took
place, for instance at a meeting of city council, or how an
accident occurred and what resulted. In this type of story a
reporter fulfils his/her prime duty writing only what is seen
and heard, without injecting personal opinion or judgement.
The 5 Ws and H are strictly adhered to.
2. Promotional
This is material prepared with the objective of inducing the
reader to support or endorse a specific project or product. To
illustrate, it could be an article urging the purchase of
government bonds, or donating money to an NGO. Most
often this type of material will be published in supplements
devoted to a particular topic. For example, in the spring, many
newspapers provide wedding supplements. The package is
usually put together by the advertising department with the

stories provided by the advertisers and/or special

contributors.
3. Interpretative
This story, also known as in-depth reporting, explains the
significance of some current event, its historical background,
how it compares with a similar situation in another locality,
and possibly how it may affect the future. An example would
be a review of the situation in Iraq since its beginning, the
current situation and possible developments.
4. Features
Feature articles are most often found in special sections and
on section fronts. A feature article will be one that has been
the subject of a considerable amount of research, interviews
and analysis. It will attempt to present an overview of the
subject matter (for example, how to purchase a new
automobile) give examples of what steps should and should
not be taken, and offer expert advice. Feature stories are
usually longer than hard news stories and thus are usually
found away from the general news pages.
NEWS SOURCES
News sources are the ways and routes through which a news
channel gets news. There are several sources of news. Given below
are the important news sources

REPORTERS / CORRESPONDENTS
The biggest source of news for any radio station is its reporting staff.
The reporters live in the community to which they are broadcasting
through everyday contact with people in the area, from there
observations as they move in the society and from their informers
they get news for their organization. So the chief assignment of the
reporter is to get news for the channel he or she is attached with
Network of Reporters .
The news channel has a galaxy of reporters for gathering news.
Their network, according to the size of the
channel, works on local, national and international levels
Local Reporters
Local reporters or correspondents are from towns and villages and
their assignment is to find from their
vicinity and send them to the organization they work for. If needed,
they record the impressions of the people or the recording of any
important function or ceremony and dispatch it. If it is crucial to get
the news in the bulletin immediately, the same recording and the
news details may be sent to the newsroom on telephone lines as
well
City Correspondents

These reporters are deputed in big and important cities and

perform as local reporters do
International Reporters
These reporters are specially deputed in the important cities of the
important countries. They keep a vigilant eye on the happenings in
the country they are deputed in and keep their channel updated
International Reporters
These reporters are specially deputed in the important cities of the
important countries. They keep a vigilant eye on the happenings in
the country they are deputed in and keep their channel updated
Special Reporters
These are the reporters who are assigned news items of great
significance to cover. For instance there is an inauguration of
motor-way and the chief guest is president or the prime minister
himself.
Special reporter will be assigned the coverage of this event.
Likewise the coverage of the press conference of any minister to
make public government's point of view on certain matter will be
assigned to special reporter
Senior Reporters
These reporters are also assigned important and sensitive
happenings and functions to cover

Chief Reporter
Chief reporter is the one who administers the junior reporters