Agricultural News Writing Principles You and I Can Master

CYUE,JYUN-NI（China Productivity Center Smart Agriculture Promotion Department ）

In the face of the strong flow of a variety of news topics every day, to stand out and attract high-profile is the key to the success of each industry. Providing a press release that is accepted for publication in the media and even winning high exposure is an important part of public relations event planning in many agricultural administration units.

Generally speaking, the "inverted pyramid" writing format is the most widely used in journalism. However, among the competition in the huge information flow, in addition to the basic writing skills, writers of news releases would require more sensitivity in mastering the trends, data, and title giving. This would take not just experience and intuition, and perhaps also more scientific and precise methods.

A good tool for keyword analysis

Google Trend has a free keyword analysis function for the users. The analysis can be on single words to multiple words, with the trend of use displayed in graphics to show the changes of word usage at different times and regions. For keywords to use in the news release and topic, news writers can make good use of Google Trend to select the keywords the public is interested in.

Why is it so important for news to be located? The first key to having the news release stand out in the vast sea of information is for the general public to locate it. When the painstakingly prepared news is released on Google recognized websites, multiplied positive effects are evident. On the contrary, news released on some websites rarely heard of or with negative content, even with high rate of exposure, has little effect. Therefore, the key to success is to select right keywords through Google Trend. For instance, what is the best keyword for an agricultural fair that addresses the incorporation of technologies in agricultural applications? "Smart agriculture”, “Precision agriculture”, or “AI agriculture"? An analysis using Google Trend would show that "Smart agriculture" is the top choice.

Which format of journalist writing is best for me?

All journalists, whether well experienced or a novice, have faced the problem of choosing the most suitable writing format or of picking a point to cut in with a lot of information at hand. In the most commonly used "inverted pyramid" writing format, the most important and perhaps the most interesting part is given in the paragraph of introduction, and the rest is arranged in the subsequent paragraphs according to the degrees of importance. There is quite a lot of introduction to this writing format. The key points of the "Inverted Pyramid" format are listed as follows:

Title: Recommended to be within 20 characters, as in a concise and eye-catching manner to attract readers to read on.
Introduction: To be kept within 100 characters, following the 5W1H principle.
Inner text: Illustration to the introduction, recommended to be within 800 characters.
Conclusion: Supplementary remarks, addition to make up for the required length, or excessive text deliberately written for the deletion by the editor.

What writing formats would a professional journalist use?

News writing has its standard formats, including the pyramid format, inverted pyramid format, inverted/positive pyramid blended format, straight narrative format, polynomial narrative format, diamond format, etc. All of these are for the readers to most easily know the news content. However, there is another common writing format for agricultural reports, the "diamond" format, which is a popular format of reporting used by the Wall Street Journal. According to Professor Fensch (1988) of the University of Texas, the "diamond" format includes at least four elements: introduction, theme, trunk, and ending. Also known as the "focus writing method", it reports complex news content taking the approaches of “to large from small” and "to the whole from the parts”.

Introduction: Focused on real case description, this is usually practiced in reporting farmers’ cases.
Theme: Connections built between personal and macroscopic issues, for instance, agricultural issues addressed through the monologues of farmers.
Trunk: Report on more complex and grand issues, such as the problems from the past agricultural development to the present.
Ending: Refer to the introduction to ensure the cohesiveness from the beginning to the ending, and then conclude with a concise summary.

Do this before writing: fully understand the event and present with comprehensible language

Other than the two common formats of press writing in agriculture, the presentation of news content starts even before writing begins. Any writers, government administrators, experts, reporters, scientists, and various recorders, need to fully understand the overall event and make thorough preparation.

Full understanding: To thoroughly understand the whole story and the background.
30-minute writing: Give oneself full 30 minutes to concentrate on writing. Focus on writing a 1000-word text within the time limit, regardless of the quality. Revision can be done afterwards.
Popular comprehensible language: Use popular language comprehensible to the general public so that even laymen can understand and enjoy reading. This is the success we hope for.

Finishing touch on news writing, taking into account of trends, current events, policies, and quotes.

To put it bluntly, a press release is a simple and concise report written for the media, providing first-hand information for reporters before conducting in-depth reports. Although press release is different from actual interview, it still provides enough key information in positive perspectives and the third-person perspective will not be a deviation. Finally, some practical finishing touches in news writing are suggested, which hopefully can be of reference to the readers.

Timely citation of views by scholars or experts on the event to increase the chance of publication.
Various sources of information so that reports can be fair, objective, and balanced.
Texts supported with pictures prepared in advance so that readers understand better.