How to use quotes in your news reports?
Being a journalist, one of the biggest challenges is to prepare the news reports and figuring out how to best use the format and handle quotes that help to get more recognition from the readers. Worry not, in this guide; you will learn how to use quotes in your news reports by choosing the right format and understand the needs of your audience. Are you ready? Let’s get into it!
What Is a Good Quote?
A good quote is when a person says something in an interesting way or says something interesting. Here are a few examples:
“We‘ll use the military force in a decisive manner whenever possible against the enemies. “
“When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $4million worth missile at a $20 empty tent; I’ll use it in a decisive and appropriate manner. “
Which one is the better quote? You can give the answer to this question when you know what a good quote should do?
Why they are important, and what should a good quote do?
Quotes help the news stories move forward by adding urgency and moving it to the finishing point. The news reports don’t echo what the news reporters have already written in their voice. The best quotation helps you to reveal the truth of the person whose quote is used in the report. They reflect the opinion of the speaker on the story’s subject in a lively manner, whereas offering a hint to their personality in how they express their emotions in words.
How to use quotes in your news reports?
Here are some tips on how news reporter should use quotes in news reports:
If you are a reporter, don’t start a new story with a quote. You need to include it in the news report if the speaker has some valuable information that educates and engage the readers. In the test of the reporter, the statistics or dry facts are usually not included. For instance, if you are going to write a news report about an entertainment event, you will surely give a little value in quoting the event’s promoter if all he says is, “ the event begins at 2 pm. “ Always use the quote where you want to highlight the opinions and emotion of others. You might use a quote from the event’s promoter if he says, “we have tried for around 5 years to get this musical band to appear at our festival, and they finally said yes to us. “ The partial quotes are discouraged by the associated press (AP). Associated Press also suggests that use the quotes for the sensitive and controversial remarks of the source.
Rules for attribution:
The name of the speaker should be listed after the quote. For instance, “President Trump 4th of July speech was too brief this year, “said Mike Jonas Kosher. If you quote another speaker immediately after a quote, the best way is to give the speaker attribution before the quote. This way, readers will not be confused: “President Trump 4th of July speech was too brief this year,’ said Mike Jonas Kosher. But Joe Braiden disagreed and said, the president was short and to the print.” After the first sentence
, give the attribution or credit to the speaker if more than one quote is used in one sentence.
Author: Vicki Lezama