Different ways to tell a story

On the Internet, in newspapers and magazines, on television, on the radio, you will find the world news. Essential stories, discoveries, live report (time and place) of what just happened, secrets revealed and opinions of those who matter. Journalism is all this: giving information to everyone, in a clear way, to bring the world to us and giving us knowledge, so that we can face it more prepared. That is why it is said that "knowledge is power".

VARIOUS WAYS TO TELL A STORY

The journalist is a professional who is in charge of doing so. They use different tools to do so, so there are many ways to tell a story: this is what we call genres of journalistic texts. Here we briefly explain some of the most important ones, which you may have heard of at school.

NEWS

We talk about it here in more detail because it is the journalistic genre that you will find the most. It is usually written concisely (that is, without extensive conversations) and with short and clear sentences, to be easily read.

It will always describe what happened without great opinions from those who write it - that is, it will be objective. It also tends to be about something that has just happened or been discovered, it is current.

You will find many verbs and nouns, and fewer adjectives - you can always experiment and try to count how many you see.

The title that comes first, which is at the beginning and which must be related to what you will read next. In the first paragraph of the news, you will find the most essential information in a summarised form, in the introduction or lead (guide) of the story. Next is the body of text, which explains what happened better, in more detail. Well-written news should answer some questions right at the beginning:

• Someone who did something (WHO?)
• The place or space where this happened (WHERE?)
• WHEN it happened, what day, at what time, in what year.
• What actually happened, what actions were taken by the protagonists (WHAT?)
• and WHY (HOW?) happened, why they were made, for what purpose.

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INTERVIEW

It is a conversation between one or more people. An interviewer (they may be more, but it is not very common), who asks the questions. An interviewee, the person who answers them, and who always speaks in the first person - here you have it o an example of what direct speech is. The interviewer must not give his opinion about what they are answering, he is only there to have answers.

For this, you have to prepare yourself very well: select the interviewee, who must be an interesting person with experiences to tell, and research on him to develop the interview guide, that is, the right questions to ask him.

In addition to the title, the interviews usually have an introduction where the person who will answer next is presented: they say who they are, what their profession is or what they do in life, for example, and often also explain the reason for choosing that interviewee. Then, in the body of the interview, there will be a questionnaire and the answers.

You can have one or several photos accompanying you, and if you are reading the interview on the Internet, you can even have audios or videos to complete.

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REPORT

This is a more complete way for journalists to tell their stories - and we'll let you know a secret: it's one of the ones they like to do the most.

In it, the journalist, or reporter, goes to the place where the news happens, talks to people who witnessed or were protagonists of the story, describes the environment, often even people's feelings or even their own. As if he were a writer who writes what he saw, heard and felt.

As in the news, the reports have an introduction, where the theme of the story is presented. On the report body, which is most of the text, there is a narration of the facts made in a more detailed and developed way. Usually, there is also a conclusion, which summarises the events. In the middle of the text, you can also have a box, where you can find the most important data, facts and figures to better understand the general theme that is treated there.

You can watch reports on television, listen to them in audio, on the radio, or read them in newspapers, magazines and the Internet, where often not only the text and photos but also videos and audio can fit.

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OPINION ARTICLE OR COMMENT

This is a slightly different genre because here the author of the text or the commentator of a television program not only presents you with the facts but also your opinion about them.

They tell you what they think of the events, talk about the consequences they believe might have, analyse things based on their opinion. That is why it is said to be a subjective gender. Not everyone may agree with them, but usually, the analyst has to be there because he is someone who is an expert on this topic: football, politics or cinema, for example.

It is good to always hear different opinions so that we can decide what is best and have our own idea.