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MRT train halts at Guadalupe station--official
First Posted 16:36:00 07/15/2008
MANILA, Philippines – One of the trains of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) stopped at the Guadalupe station Tuesday afternoon, according to an MRT official
In a live interview over radio dzMM, Roberto Lastimoso, MRT general manager, said they were still investigating the incident.
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When a dog bites a man, that, my friend, is not a news. Unless of course it was GMA who was bitten by a rabid dog. But when a man bites a dog, then by all means the story should be put on the front page of a newspaper and chances are, people will read it. The rule I just mentioned was the essence of our Newswriting class back in college. Funny how the guideline still bores deep inside my head even when I am not a practicing reporter.
The rule came to light after stumbling upon a news bulletin I read in the Inquirer website this afternoon. I understand that there are rules applying to economy of words. However, when the story suffers to the point that it becomes too lame for a news space, then it would have been better if the story hadn't been uploaded at all.
For one, MRT trains occasionally suffer from machine breakdown. It is a given fact.
Second, if the train broke down at 3 in the afternoon, where normally there are few passengers riding the trains and the operations would not suffer any major hassles, then what is the point of reporting the news?
The weakness of the bulletin lies in its lack of details. Had something catastrophic resulted to such unexpected stoppage (like someone jumping off the tracks out of sheer frustration of getting to work) then the news will become more interesting. I know, Inquirer updates their bulletins as the news develops. But in this case, it seems like they left the news suspended in mid-air.
In such cases, our professor gave away some creative techniques on how to spice a story.
Seasoned journalists call it Salsal. I'll leave it to your wild imagination to interpret what the slang means.
The rule came to light after stumbling upon a news bulletin I read in the Inquirer website this afternoon. I understand that there are rules applying to economy of words. However, when the story suffers to the point that it becomes too lame for a news space, then it would have been better if the story hadn't been uploaded at all.
For one, MRT trains occasionally suffer from machine breakdown. It is a given fact.
Second, if the train broke down at 3 in the afternoon, where normally there are few passengers riding the trains and the operations would not suffer any major hassles, then what is the point of reporting the news?
The weakness of the bulletin lies in its lack of details. Had something catastrophic resulted to such unexpected stoppage (like someone jumping off the tracks out of sheer frustration of getting to work) then the news will become more interesting. I know, Inquirer updates their bulletins as the news develops. But in this case, it seems like they left the news suspended in mid-air.
In such cases, our professor gave away some creative techniques on how to spice a story.
Seasoned journalists call it Salsal. I'll leave it to your wild imagination to interpret what the slang means.
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