Guess who came to give us a lecture?! Rod Chester, a journalist at courier mail!!

NEWSPAPER SALES ARE DECREASING!!! That was one of the first things we learnt in Mr. Rod Chester's lecture. But then he made us all happy again by explaining that social media, such as twitter, is now being used to provide news as well, and newspapers are still being purchased especially in times of crisis, when people want more information. I really feel that social media is a great tool to provide fast information for people around the world, I rely on social media a lot! I found out about the earthquakes in Japan which happened in March, through twitter!

We also learnt about the inverted pyramid in his lecture. I think the inverted pyramid method of writing is very useful, as it ensures that the main message that a journalist is trying to convey is already out in the very beginning and that all the important points are being covered before they actually start on the background of a story. Hence, a reader can stop reading at any point they want and they would still have knowledge about all the important parts of the story.

The inverted pyramid

Mr. Chester also told us that it is never wise to start an article with, 'It's official'. He gave us many different examples of how we could start an article. I found all of his examples very creative. The one that really caught my attention was the 'sneaky bastard' approach. Maybe because it had the word 'bastard' in it!

His lecture was very informative and I definitely learnt a great deal!