Picture by Salvatore Vuono
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Hard news stories report on an event, a happening of some description and the confinements are based on ethical standards within journalism, they should be accurate and authentic and show a balanced and unbiased occurrence or representation of an event.
Soft news is however does not share the same confinements of hard news reporting, the issue can be fluffier, not as important at times possibly, it can be a ‘good news’ story for example, a family wins the lotto.
The medium used to tell a story can have an effect on whether you use the soft or hard news style, for example a story on the rising levels of violence on the streets of Melbourne may be adapted for TV a more personalised approach to the violence, adopting more of a soft news piece. Broadcasting often adopts more of a soft news approach purely for its entertainment factor.
The article titled ‘Naan Violent protest’ fills the expectations of a soft news story appropriately, although by changing the lead to include the Premier and Minister on Multicultural Affairs showing their support by attending the lunch, it could be re-arranged to be more of a hard news story style. ‘Flying in the face of convention’, fits the A typical bill of soft news reporting, stories about actors, directors, films, art shows, books and authors. ‘Melbourne Gastronome’ again is a life happening / following immersive soft news piece, following Melbourne ‘foodie’ through a cultural journey for several days.
‘RBA’s Steven warns against housing speculation’ follows the hard news format, so too does ‘Push to end underquoting as market stays hot’, they both use the inverted pyramid to structure the piece, stick to the one sentence per paragraph format. As these pieces report on recent occurrences they are best suited to the hard news style, and the five ‘W’s’.
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