By Yusuf Amirah and Lawal Farida
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| Ismaila Biliaminu |
The Head of Education and Literature of Observers Mag, Ismaila Biliaminu, has trained Campus journalists of Gamji Press at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS) on the fundamentals of News Reporting. The training which was held on Wednesday, 25th October 2023 at the Students Union Secretariat, UDUS Main Campus was to groom budding journalists on news reporting.
The training session had in attendance the newly inducted students of Mass Communication and campus journalists of the Gamji Press, UDUS.
During the session, Biliaminu exposed attendees to the fundamentals of News Reporting as a key skill for Journalists and other forms of writing. He noted that it is about telling the detailed information of an event, quickly and concisely.
In his explanation, he stated that news reports should always be in an inverted pyramid where important information, the newsworthy information comes first or captured first before the less newsworthy information. He further stated that news should be factual, balanced, and unbiased written.
"In a news report, the lead is very important, which is the first sentence or paragraph of the report, and it should be written in a 'tell a friend strategy,' clear and unambiguous."
"The lead should contain the 5W(s) and 1H of the story. That is, What is the story? Where is it happening or happened? Who is involved? When will it or did it happen? Why is it happening? and How will it occur or how did it occur? at least 3W's should be in the lead and the rest can be in the body, and the headline should be catchy and written in simple tense," He said.
He urged the members to utilize what they learned and be inquisitive of everything readable because "You can only be a good writer if you're a good reader," He added.
In his closing remark, Ibrahim Ghazali, the Deputy Editor-in-chief of the Gamji Press outfit advised members of the press outfit on the benefits of joining the press outfit, which is relevant to the course they are studying and how they will be exposed to the practical aspects of what has been said in the class.
Sheikh Ismail Samaky, the publication officer of the press outfit told the members not to give up and that they could be who they wanted to be with persistence and consistency.