CIE’s requirement regarding a Newspaper Report: An Example

Rescuers find trapped student caver alive

Eight Swiss potholers trapped in a cave in eastern France by rising water were found alive yesterday. Rescue teams were preparing to work through the night to bring them to the surface.

Known as Bief-du-Paraud, the cave, which runs for 415 yards but only about 20 feet below the surface, is normally considered a beginner-level site for potholers.

The expedition had been part of a project for the students to develop their ability to face challenges.

Inexperienced, poorly equipped and with one of the group being partially blind, the students were initially given little chance of survival.

The potholers had entered the long narrow cave on Wednesday despite warnings from local people to stay away because rain in recent weeks had made the area dangerous.

Hope for survival of the three women and five men – students and a teacher in their twenties – had been fading when they were found before midday by a driver who swam through a narrow passage to reach a chimney where they had taken refuge.

The diver had discovered them crouched in the corridor above the water level 75 yards into the cave at Goumois in the Doubs department, 30 miles from the Swiss border. They had been trapped there for nearly 40 hours by sudden flooding on Wednesday.

Distraught relatives who had gathered at the site gave a cheer when news of their discovery was announced. The group was expected to be brought out through a hole being drilled into a chimney where they had taken refuge.

Rescuers were pumping water from the cave to avert flood danger from heavy rains over the past 24 hours. Two divers, one of whom is a doctor, where spending the night with the students in the chimney. They brought them food and water and heating appliance.

‘The group took refuge in a dry spot in a chimney, ’Eric Zipper, technical adviser informed. ‘They are in good shape considering their ordeal. They are hungry and a little weak. They have very little food left, but they are in good spirits. There was no panic. They had a little light because they had rationed their batteries.’

Local potholing experts described the expedition as foolhardy, given the dangerous prevailing conditions. ‘They were equipped only with walking shoes, jeans and anoraks’, M. Zipper said.

Markus Braendle, director of the Social Workers College of Zurich, where most of the students came from, asserted: ‘I am so happy this nightmare is over’.

The French authorities are expected to start a legal inquiry into the conduct of the group’s leader, a normal practice in such incidents.

Assessment

1. Newspaper reports are often confused with reports written to the principal or some other authority or personnel.
2. A newspaper report always begins with a heading, a more precise or an accurate term is a HEADLINE, as we have here in the above example. (See my Format of newspaper report for details). Other reports would begin with a subject stating what the report is about or they may have no subject at all (depending how the examiner demands the candidate to open his/her report. Also see my example on report writing for a better understanding).
3. Some newspaper reports also have a sub-headings either immediately after the headlines or some where in between the text. Those are just to reiterate certain points or draw the attention of the readers on certain matters. There isn’t any here.
4. You would have noticed from the above example that unlike other accounts of events, newspaper reports generally follow this pattern as written below.
5. The first paragraph or the first few sentences state the summary of the recent event you are writing about. This would include answers to the questions of Who?What?When?Where? relevant to the event. It in actual summarizes the facts about what happened.
6. The report proceeds with answering the queries of ‘How’ and ‘Why’?’ it happened at a stretch of a few short interlinked paragraphs. The report expands in covering the background details of the story or event. In the above example it is written in six short paragraphs.
7. Then it further returns to the immediate situation i.e. to proceed towards the description of what is happening now. Here it is described in two paragraphs: 7 and 8.
8. The next step is to record the responses of those involved. This includes the official statements by the authorities involved. E.g here we have statements given by a technical adviser, a local potholing expert and the director of the Social Workers College of Zurich, all illustrated in three separate paragraphs.
9. In the end, the report looks ahead to the near future as we have in the last paragraph above.
10. This report is adapted from “The Times, 19 May 2001, therefore, the word count is approximately 470 words, perhaps as required.  In that respect, students may cut short the explanation part where they have to describe about the background of the event to keep within the word limit of 200-300 words as demanded in the GCE O-level examination English Paper 1- directed writing.
11. The language is kept simple yet very precise using Standard English readable for a general audience. Short and compound sentences are  linked with and, so, but.
12. There are short paragraphs – some even consisting of one sentence.
13. Direct Speech is added to give an authentic touch to the report. In the examination the candidate may have to assume certain situations.
14. In the reported speech the verbs should not be repeated. There should be variety of verbs introduced e.g ‘asserted, confirmed, said’.
15. Vocabulary should be kept sensational to give a sense of drama. This should not be confused with using emotions. Remember! Reports should not have any emotional response or personal views of the reporter, or any direct address to the reader.  In the above example the drama has been kept intact by using words inexperienced, poorly equipped, partially blind, Hope for survival had been fading etc.
16. Good luck! 

Source: IGCSE First Language English.