1What is online journalism? - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

106 Journalism Online
sentences without verbs, start sentences with conjunctions (‘but’,
‘and’, etc.) and end them with prepositions (‘of’, ‘for’, etc.). This is
the syntax of their readers and makes the journalist’s message
more acceptable and easily understood. Again, such approaches
(especially the non-verb sentence) should not be over-used but
they are perfectly legitimate techniques.
Try to write actively, about things happening to people rather
than not happening. So a football team might escape relegation,
rather than not be relegated.
Use punctuation correctly. Commas should be used where there
is a mental pause in the sentence. A sentence can be confusing or
even misleading without them. But use too many, and your
sentence coughs and splutters along the page, making little
headway. If you’re using a lot of commas, this again may suggest
that your sentence needs splitting into several smaller ones.
Apostrophes and their positioning are another blind spot for many
aspiring journalists. The office belonging to your singular client is
your client’s office. The office belonging to your plural clients is
your clients’ office. But there is one very important anomaly to
remember – it’s means it is and not ‘belonging to it’. Please.
Finally, constantly work and rework your piece, within your
time limits, to improve the sense and flow of your writing. This
should be an enjoyable challenge, not a chore. Even if it is the
latter, as Sellers observes, ‘struggle is good for the soul.’
Words
As Keith Waterhouse (1989) remarks ‘Every word that gets into
print should have something to say’. So:
don’t use more words than you need;
avoid long words if shorter alternatives are available;
avoid words with complex meanings if simpler alternatives are
available;
use words with a concrete, rather than an abstract, meaning
whenever possible;
be specific rather than use generalities;
give words their correct meaning.