The Reporter's Handguide

This guide is one of the first that I hope to make for every position on the Los Santos Network as a part of both instructing newbies and refining roleplay of those which are already in the faction it may be sub!ect to change"

I The first thing that you've got to reali#e is that anyone can be a reporter but not anyone can be a good reporter the position does not re$uire you to have a degree in %edia Studies or &ournalism but you're highly advised to have had the said degree or at least have some basic notions of what they're about as they will without a doubt be the foundation for your work as a reporter in the Los Santos Network" The first skill that you'll need to have in your posession in order to be a good reporter are sharpened comunication skills this means that you need to be able to read'write'speak to a fluent or $uasi(fluent level in )nglish as this will cause an impact on your daily work life on events ranging from writing a news article to something as simple as knowing what $uestions should you ask to a person you're interviewing" How can these be developed* +ou'll need to read as many )nglish literature and surround yourself with it watch ,NN -http ''edition"cnn"com') or NBC (http://www.nbcnews.com/) news clips on youtube and read their articles on their webpages and check out how the reporters speak and conduct their article on the video reports and on how they write and organize their written articles. eep a !ournal around yoursel" and write as much as possible in #nglish: write practice stories or !ust "ocus on developing your character story as that can help you both in developing a more comple$ level o" #nglish and raising your level in roleplay at the same time. %% &s a reporter in your li"e you will need to always aim to "ill the "ollowing two laws o" ethical conduct whenever writting or composing an article as they are the basic "oundations o" 'uality (ournalism: Recording the facts )our task as a reporter is to gather and report the "acts to the public and not making assumptions or guesses on how you think they should be: "ailing to abide to this vital protocol o" (ournalism can be achieved by "ailing to report the "acts properly which is

something that you*ll do i" you either get your investigation wrong+ you lie or make up the "acts or the events contained in your news report or i" you mis'uote someone. ,hould you break the protocol above and you*ll be "inding yoursel" in a heap o" trouble which can either result in a sanction "rom your company or even a lawsuit "or libel "rom any person you*ve a""ected or mis'uote in your report: all these actions will cause a very hard impact on your credibility which is one o" the most vital 'ualities that a !ournalist can ever have. -o avoid breaking this rule you should be very thorough in your investigation and on your dra"ting o" an article: make sure you*ve got the right in"ormation and the right "acts be"ore you post them and ensure that you*ve got sources and proo" to back it up: on when it comes to 'uotes ensure you always display the name (or at least keep it noted) o" the person/corporation that you 'uoted to have your credibility being unharmed "rom damage should it be wrong or "alse. Be neutral and avoid displaying your own personal opinions on the matter at hand. .uch like it was said above your task as a reporter is to purely gather and report the "acts to the audience and letting the public decide by themselves while not passing !udgment or giving your own personal opinion about them which could in"luence the opinion o" the public: impartiality is an important 'uality and it contributes both to the reputation o" the reporter and to the one o" the media outlet he works "or. /henever investigating a story which involves two or more sides (eg: an arrest made by the 0,12 o" a gang member) try to hear all parties involved instead o" choosing a particular one: again+ your !ob is not to take sides or pass !udgment but to report that these divisions and di""erent opinions e$ist. %%% -here are news everywhere: there isn*t no such thing as a 3no4news3 day but the perpetual e$istance o" news doesn*t mean that every single one o" them is worth spending the e""ort to report. 5ow newsworthy an article or a piece can be is calculated according to these variables: %mpact: -he signi"icance+ importance+ or conse'uence o" an event or trend6 the greater the conse'uence+ and the larger the number o" people "or whom an event is important the greater the newsworthiness. -imeliness: -he more recent+ the more newsworthy. %n some cases+ timeliness is relative. &n event may have occurred in the past but only have been learned about recently. 1rominence: 7ccurrences "eaturing well4know individuals or institutions are newsworthy. /ell4knownness may spring either "rom the power the person or institution possess 8

the president+ the ,peaker o" the 5ouse o" 9epresentatives 8 or "rom celebrity 8 the late 1rincess 2iana or "ashion designer :ianni ;ersace. 1ro$imity: Closeness o" the occurrence tot he audience may be gauged either geographically 8 close by events+ all other things being e'ual+ are more important than distant ones 8 or in terms o" the assumed values+ interest and e$pectations o" the news audience. -he Bizarre: -he unusual+ unorthodo$+ or une$pected attracts attention. Bo$er .ike -yson<s dis'uali"ication "or biting o"" a piece o" #vander 5oly"ield<s ear moves the story "rom the sports pages and the end o" a newscast tot he "ront pages and the top o" the newscast. Con"lict: Controversy and open clashes are newsworthy+ inviting attention on their own+ almost regardless o" what the con"lict is over. 5uman %nterest: -hose stories that have more o" an entertainment "actor versus any o" the above 4 not that some o" the other news values cannot have an entertainment value.
Courtesy o" http://vegeta.hum.utah.edu/communication/classes/news.html

&s a rookie reporter you should always go "or the 5uman %nterest stories: go "or gentle news with a more local "lavour such as the opening o" a local business or covering a certain event taking place on town such as a party. /henever you get more e$perience start moving into the type o" news which are categorized as 3hard news3: murders or any type o" criminality+ accidents or other more relevant stu"" that would re'uire you already to have some stomach and some baggage to be able to report the event calmly without "reaking out due to the pressure. -here aren*t always going to be enough news on our %C universe due to our reduced playerbase and due to the "act that we*re a videogame and people sometimes pre"er not to roleplay certain things in their daily virtual lives: it is no shame to pick up a couple o" relavant %90 news and reporting them with some adaptation but never copy4pasting it directly.