GENERAL COMMENTS / TIPS ON MAKING SCHOOL PAPERS

NEWS PAGE / PAHINANG BALITA

1. Make sure that each page has a biggest story. Story that affects most people in your
area/community.
2. Each news story should be treated in-depth. Provide facts, figures and interviews.
3. Prepare at least 5-7 stories per page which means you have to prepare 25-35 stories

for a 5-page news section. Follow hierarchy of stories.

4. Make each story timeless by focusing on issue or advocacy. Avoid, remove and

replace event-based stories like Buwan ng Wika, Deworming, Brigada Eskwela,

Winnings, Competitions, Nutrition Month, Drills, Pageants and the like.

5. Each page should have a special story for variety purpose. (News-Feature/Balitang

Lathalain, Investigative News, In-Depth, Special Report, News Analysis, News Briefs).

Special stories should discuss socially-relevant issues and localized national issues.

6. Prepare a dominant photo for each biggest story. Provide a good photo and

supplement it with Associated Press Style news caption. Avoid, remove and replace

photos that are scripted, posed and blurred.

7. Provide variety of headlines: SVO, Quoted, Hammer, With Kicker, With Deck. Use

hammer to emphasize big stories.

8. Anggulo. Ang pinakaimportanteng bahagi ng isang kuwento ay ang anggulo. Ito ang

magtatakda kung magiging importante at magkakaroon ng kuwenta ang inyong

kuwento. Gamit ang elemento ng pagsulat ng balita, tiyakin na magiging patok sa
anumang panahon (TIMELESS) ang anggulo ng kuwento. Kung magkukuwento ka ng
mga tipikal na pangyayari (routine events), ito iyong mga kuwento na taon-taon
nagaganap, huwag ikuwento ito sa paraang naikwento dati. Halimbawa, BUWAN NG
WIKA, IPINAGDIWANG, eh ano naman (so what)? Imbes na pagdiriwang, bakit hindi
angguluhan kung ano ang kahalagahan nito, ano ang problema o isyu na maaring
ikabit sa pagdiriwang o ano ang adbokasiya.

9. TIGILAN NA ANG MGA ISTORYA NA NAKABATAY SA KAGANAPAN (Events-Based):

Buwan ng Wika, Ipinagdiwang Buwan ng Nutrisyon, Ipinagdiwang Brigada Eskwela,

Ginanap Earthquake, Fire Drills Isinagawa Mag-aaral, nagwagi
DSPC, ginanap
 G. at Bb. UN, idinaos
Pagsasanay, dinaluhan
School wagi sa Brigada Eskwela Gusali, itatayo

10. HINDI LAHAT NG PANGYAYARI SA PAARALAN AY KARAPAT-DAPAT IKWENTO, PILIIN ANG

MGA KWENTO NA MAY MALAKING EPEKTO SA MGA MAG-AARAL AT KOMUNIDAD.
HANAPIN ANG ANGGULO KUNG PAANO ITO MAGIGING IMPORTANTE PARA SA LAHAT.

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11. SUMUNOD SA TAMANG PAMANTAYAN NG PAGSULAT NG BALITA. DAPAT MAY

ESTRUKTURA, MAY DATOS AT MAY INTERBYU. WAG LANG BASTA GUMAWA NG NARRATIVE
REPORT.

Halimbawa: Nagsimula ang programa sa pamamagitan ng panalangin na sinundan ng

pambansang awit na pinangunahan ni......Nagtapos ang palatuntunan sa pamamagitan
ng.....

12. IWASAN ANG EDITORIALIZING! Halimbawa: Matagumpay na

13. IWASANG MAGLAGAY NG MGA LARAWANG:

Naka-pose o firing squad o nakatayo lang
Walang human element tulad ng building, facilities at basurahan
Down loaded sa internet
Stretched at pixelated
Walang kapsyon. Bawat larawan dapat may kapsyon. Sundin ang AP Style.

14. IWASAN ANG PAGLALAGAY NG SANGKATERBANG LISTAHAN NG MGA PANGALAN SA

MGA TALATA. Halimbawa: Ang listahan ng mga nagwagi ay ang mga sumusunod:

BALITA ITO AT HINDI LISTAHAN NG MGA UTANG.

15. MATUTONG MAG-LOCALIZE AT CONTEXTUALIZE NG MGA BALITA MULA SA

INTERNASYONAL NASYONAL, PANREHIYON AT PANLOKAL. Ikwento kung paano
nakakaapekto ang mga issue na may national significance sa inyong komunidad. Halimbawa,
kung nais mong ipilit ang kuwento na may kinalaman sa ASEAN INTEGRATION, humanap ng
paraan para hindi ito magmumukhang pinilit o masabi lang na may ASEAN. Gumamit ng
inductive o deductive method.

16. MAG-DOBLE EFFORT SA PAGKUHA NG DATOS. MAG-INTERBYU. MANGALAP NG

IMPORMASYON SA MGA LEHITIMONG TAGAPAGSALITA O TANGGAPAN.
17. LAGYAN NG BIGAT ANG BAWAT KUWENTO. HANAPIN ANG ISYU O ADBOKASIYA SA
KUWENTO AT IYON ANG IYONG BIGYANG-DIIN (O I-HIGHLIGHT)
18. IWASANG GUMAMIT NG MABUBULAKLAK NA SALITA SA PAG-UULAT. LIMITAHAN
ANG MGA SALITANG: WINIKA, BINIGYANG-DIIN, BINULALAS, NAMUTAWI ATBP.
(UTTERED, UNDERSCORED AND SPEARHEADED and the like)

19. TIYAKING BAWAT PAHINA AY MAY PINAKAMALAKAS NA KUWENTO. ILATAG SA LAYOUT

MULA SA PINAKAIMPORTANTE PABABA SA PINAKAMALIIT NA KUWENTO.
20. MAGLAGAY NG NEWSBITS O BALITANG KINIPIL PARA SA MGA DI MASYADONG
MAHALAGANG BALITA.

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SPORTS PAGE / PAHINANG PAMPALAKASAN

What the judges look for in Sports Page

Sports pages are judged for its contents - articles, photos and caption and layout. To
contend for the contest, I suggest we seriously take little sacrifices for the sake of our
papers.
I’ve noticed that many sports pages are still littered with traditional photos (firing squad,
awarding, celebration and parade) which contribute to the dullness of the sports pages. I
suggest we do away with these to make room for sports action photos. Choose photos that
will provide the best color and depict the best action. Make sure that it’s the one taken in
the thick of play during the game with the ball being the integral part of the action.
Remember
that sports pages are the entertainment of the newspaper.

Local and Homegrown

What I’m looking for in a sports page is the originality, variety, accuracy and relevance of
the layout, illustration or photos and stories. In the selection of the stories, I give
importance to local and homegrown sports news that are not culled from the national
sports news mills like the PBA, UAAP, NCAA, NFL or even the international athletics leagues
like NBA, SEA Games, FIBA, USNCAA and the likes.

I’ve observed that most papers resort to using rehashed stories and photos that are lifted
from the news wires or press releases that are readily available in the internet. In my
opinion, there’s no stopping the student editors from resorting to this practice for as long
as it is used sparingly as a last resort, just to fill up the void in the pages. In the selection,
rehashed articles would likely end up in the lower bracket of importance.

I believe in the journalism parlance that “there’s no such beat as a dead beat” and in same
manner, there’s no dearth of articles in the local scene for as long as we have enterprising
young journalists who use their nose for news to track down good stories. Look for articles
that best typify what campus journalism is all about.

Dominant and Minor Photo

Every sports page must have one dominant and one minor action photo. All photos must
have the right captions. Some photos are disrupted or cluttered either by misplaced logos
or mastheads, captions or banner headlines. In short, the essential elements of the photos
are diminished simply because the deskman couldn’t find the best location for logos,
captions or headlines.
A good sports page is selected on the strength of its finely chosen banner photo that
complements well with its banner story.

Missing LEAD Paragraph

It was noticeable that some articles are poorly written as evidenced by the absence of lead
paragraph that does not even mention what sports game was covered. Some articles that
should have come out as “Gamers” came out instead as Feature because of inconsistencies
in style.
Cropping To Enrich, Not Diminish
Allow cropping to adjust on size and not to diminish the essentials of the photo. Make sure
that photos are used for its right purpose. Use action photo for Gamers. Limit the use of
profile photo to sports feature stories.

Editorial and Opinion Sports Pages

There’s no such thing as sports pages dedicated only and strictly to editorial or opinion. If
you

have to use these for the purpose of infusing for variety, make sure that you tone them
down in terms of sizes and prominence, and balance it with Gamers and photos.

Color Pages

There’s no extra point for colorful pages so avoid color texts.

On aesthetics, look for pages that are uncluttered. Uncluttered in a sense that there are less
annoying color combinations and less of photos with busy background. Simply put, a well-
delineated page means spaces for photos are not being encroached by stories and spaces
for stories not being invaded by photos.
I see very clear similarities in the page design or layout with that of the face of a woman.
The kind of make-up she put on her face would likely tell what kind of a woman she is –
bold or outgoing, a flirt or a hooker - or a simple, elegant, smart type of a woman.
One can tell what kind a layout you have with the kind of make-up you put on a page.
If your page is your face, would you color it yellow, green or blue, or combination of all of
these? Or you just want to highlight your best feature - your sparkling eyes, kissable lips,
rosy cheeks, or simply your pointed, well-balanced nose.

Writing Captions

When writing captions, make sure that you first describe in full what’s being shown in the
photo before articulating other details that are not shown in the photo. Identify properly
the prominent players (Who) and describe adequately their actions (What), the competition
they play in and the location (Where) and the date (When) the game was played. Limit
caption to two sentences. Aside from forgetting outright to describe the action in the
photo, some writers have the tendencies to jump into conclusion by describing something
that’s not being illustrated in the photos.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

1. Yung ilan may problema sa subject-verb agreement, particularly sa headlines. Kapag singular ang
subject dapat ang verb ay may ‘s’. Kapag plural ang subject, kabaligtaran naman ang verb. Examples:
Davao High defeats Carmona High, Eagles soar over Falcons

2. Huwag maging matalinhaga sa headline lalo na kung straight sports news. PLEASE AVOID THIS:
Stolen championship ball kicked further
Better: Marinduque HS bids title hopes goodbye

3. May nauusong pagta-title ngayon na may ‘gigantic’ word or phrase before the headline, [people
call this HAMMER] Kapag gumamit ng ganito, kailangang malinaw at may koneksyon sa headline.
Hindi stand-alone ang Hammer, it requires a deck.

4. As much as possible sana active voice ang lead, instead na passive. Kung hindi maiwasan dahil ang
school nyo ang receiver ng action (halimbawa, talo ang school nyo) then restructure the lead in such
a way na magiging more acceptable.
NOT SO GOOD: Butuan ES got beaten by Surigao ES during the recently city meet.

BETTER: Butuan ES absorbe a beating from Surigao ES during the recently city meet.

5. The word championship can stand alone, so can title. Wag gamitin nang sabay kasi magiging
redundant. Avoid using/writing ‘championship title’

6. Champ is a shortened version of champion. Never use it as substitute to championship. Wrong:

Davao High nabs district champ, Right: Davao High nabs district championship.
7. Tiyaking tugma ang headline o title sa lead paragraph.

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8. May mga ilan na kailangang alisin ang buhol sa paragraph:

a. Pwedeng hatiin na ang paragraph sa dalawa kapag masyadong marami nang impormasyon para sa
iisang paragraph lang.
b. Observe cause and effect in lead paragraph:

DON’T: Winakasan ng Tagum ES ang apat na taong title drought matapos pataubin ang Purok 5 ES sa
finals ng Citymeet Basketball tournament.

DO: Pinataob ng Tagum ES ang Purok 5 ES sa men’s basketball finals upang wakasan ang apat na
taong title drought sa City meet.

9. Iwasan ang mga event-based na pagkukuwento sa sports. Tanggalin o palitan ang mga balitang
hindi naman game coverage tulad ng Mr. and Ms. Intrams, Intrams isinagawa at mga katulad nito.

10. Iwasan ang mga larawang nakaphotoshop na tila nakalutang iyong mga players. Mas mainam pa
rin na larawan ang mga hindi inalisan ng background.