Reporting for the Web

Writing for the web is easy once you understand what readers are seeking. It is important. It is important to write for the reader a headline for example; this way you would be telling the reader what's going on. Reporting on the web is more about keeping up with the broadcast model and less on the print model.



In web journalism, there aren’t any new concepts, or new terminologies, or new software that the writer should master, you just need to have skills and think in a new way, and have your own way in working and writing.



The web reporter should keep the points below in mind:
1. Being timely and relevant
2. They should write lively and tightly
3. Use time stamps
4. Use headlines to sell the story

1. Being timely and relevant:- Time is very important for reporting on the web, and writing news that are not going to make the newspaper is also important such as, "A bomb threat at school that turns out to be a false alarm."
All these should be on the news web, and the reader should find the stories they are looking for on their time.

2.Lively and tightly:- Writers should use simple language, and they should be direct to the point, write actively and not passively, the writer should stick to one idea per sentence, the writing should be easy to understand, th writer should use strong verbs and sharp nouns, the writer should have his/her own way in writing, for ex. use humor, try writing in attitude. Most important is speed and style. Once the reporter have done all these the reader would appreciate the writer for not wasting his/her time.

3. Use time stamps:- The writer should use time stamps for updating a story for ex. you wrote information at 12:00pm then at 11:00am you continued writing the information, you put the time and write the information under it.
4.Use headlines to sell the story:- Using headlines is very important, when you write a headline such as, "A 9 year old girl, raped by her uncle." This way the headline would let the reader know if her/she is interested in the subject or not. It is very important to put a headline, and headlines shouldn’t just be used to tell the news, but to make readers want to read the story, a good headline would make the reader want to know more, or make the reader cry, or laugh, or make him angry, a headline should effect the reader.



It is important that the rush to be on time wouldn’t make you forget something if it was necessary like adding photos, a locator map, audio, video, and many other things.