Why did I choose this topic?
In the world of PR, whether you are the PR practitioner writing the press release or the journalist receiving it, it is important that your audience receive the message that you are trying to convey. How well one writes is how the professional world views us. Therefore, I felt that this would be a beneficial topic to blog about.
Information Nuggets to nibble on
- There are various types of prose that we may be required to write as practitioners within the media. There are news/media/press releases that we, as PR practitioners, may have to write on behalf of our organisation, or as journalists, be required to select a few from a mountain of many, and perhaps re-write them. There are also news stories and backstories, where the latter allows for greater freedom of creativity than the former.
Other types of prose include annual reports, feature articles, personality profiles, and brochures and pamplets, perhaps to be included in a media package. Even members of the public may write prose to be published, such as letters to the editor. - Why is it important to know about the different types of prose? Different types of prose have different functions, and therefore need to be written in different ways. One cannot write a feature article or personality profile the same way one writes a news story, or write an annual report the same way as a brochure. Different types of prose have different purposes, and one must use the appropriate style of writing and syntax that is suited for that type of prose.
E.g. News stories have to be factual and objective. The additional embellishments that may be used in a backstory, or the subjective opinions in a feature article or commentary would not be appropriate. Likewise, news releases and brochures have to be written and framed in a way that is tactically advantageous to the organisation that is writing it, since its purpose is to attract readers into reading the content. - SPAG: If you can't spell properly, use punctuation appropriately, or structure your words in grammatically-correct sentences, your prose will look clumsy, unprofessional and, in certain cases, convey the wrong message to your audience. Content aside, promotional material needs to be persuasive. Your audience will not be receptive to your message if they cannot understand it, are receiving the wrong message, or do not have a good impression of you and your organisation.
Thoughts and opinions
I found this chapter to be quite useful, as it covers a wide variety of prose. Furthermore, it introduces each type to the reader, explains its purpose, and elaborates on what is important to have in that type of prose and how to go about writing it.
I can't agree more. Not only do we have to constantly keep in mind who our target audience are, we need to be able to write proper English, spell correctly and perhaps at times the simpler the passage is being written, the easier it is for our target audience to absorb and understand. Too many a time people try to too hard to impress with bombastic words which are close to unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I thought it'd be nice to be able to read a summary about the importance in the different kinds of prose.
Too many a time people try to too hard to impress with bombastic words which are close to unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteWorse is when they use words that they don't quite understand, because sometimes the word has a different definition from what they think it means. While it's good to keep in mind that one's writing should be professional and aimed to impress, there's a thing as trying too hard, haha. People can get turned off too, I feel.
Oh, and in posting this blog entry, I totally agree with you re: the word limit.
I enjoyed reading this post. It's indeed important for journalists/PR practitioners to do a complete SPAG check before submitting their articles. I can still recall that article on Wall Street Journal that spelled Afghanistan wrongly; it was so obvious especially when it's on the headlines.
ReplyDeleteDifferent types of prose have different purposes, and one must use the appropriate style of writing and syntax that is suited for that type of prose.
So true. Not all writing styles are applicable for certain publications or print. The level of expectation from the audience is different; for instance, the use of big words or technical terms may not appeal to someone who has no knowledge of the industry.
However, I do think that it is only when we start writing these articles/reports, that we will truly understand what there people are going through; having to think of the perfect way to convey the message in the most creative way. Easy to say, but hard to do.
I think this blog post is indeed very informative and refreshing.It gives good insight as to how there is a distinct dirrerentiation between diffrerent types of prose and it will be very useful for practising PR practitioners. The choice of words is indeed very important in prose.not how "extravagant" the words are.
ReplyDelete