WEEK ONE

1.2  Presentation of Copy

•  Journalism is now mainly an electronic profession, and the majority of copy is submitted by disk, e mail etc.. Since electronic text can be instantly reformatted, presentation is becoming less important. But as an aspiring journalist you may need to submit copy to an editor on paper. If so, there is an agreed method of presentation of copy. This dates back to B.C. (before computers), and has two functions

•  To ensure that every piece of paper is easily accounted for. This covers such events as loose sheets of paper floating round the office, and printers setting an article and missing out a page of text.

•  To ensure there is plenty of white space around the text to allow a sub-editor to edit the copy.

•  An article should thus be submitted in a larger, readable font size (usually 12 pt Arial or Times Roman) and double-spaced layout.

•  The article should be given a unique keyword e.g. an article on changes in education may be called “schools” , and each page of the article is then numbered e.g. schools/1, schools/2, etc. This info goes in the top right-hand corner of every page, and is called the catchline.

•  The by-line, the journalist's name, should appear at the top left side of the page.

•  Between them should be the dateline, the date on which the article was written. This info helps an editor to judge whether an update will be necessary etc.

•  Before the article proper, there should be a simple one-line heading telling the reader what the article is about, e.g. BLAIR PLANS CUTS IN THE EDUCATION BUDGET. Do NOT attempt a catchy tabloid-style headline. If you do it badly, it doesn't reflect well on you, and if you're too good, the subs, whose job it is to think up headlines, will only resent you anyway.

•  At the bottom of each page, to tell the reader that there is more to come, put MORE FOLLOWS, or MORE, or just MF (centred).

•  When you get to the last page of the article, make this clear by putting END or ENDS.

•  Finally, if you are a freelance, don't forget to put your full contact details on the first or last page.