Certain rules may be laid down for writing a development story. These rules are as follows:
Rules
1. If you are writing a development story, see that the story is meaningful to the community that your paper is serving. A development story that is readable but has no relevance to your readers fails of its purpose, which is to enthuse and inspire parallel action.
2. Research the background of the story from the pre- development stage to its current status and find out whether schedules have been met, expenditure properly audited and if schedules have not been met, the reasons why.
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3. Give a patient and objective hearing to all those involved in the development project including government servants, plant managers, workers, representatives and the people for whose benefit the project had been undertaken in the first place.
4. Mention names. Take down the complaints or excuses made by different parties and where possible check whether they bear scrutiny.
5. Beware of public relations men who will provide you pre- digested material that in laudatory but could be misleading.
6. Look for parallels. Has a similar project been launched elsewhere and how does it compare with the project on which you are planning to write?
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7. If two contrary opinions are advanced by two different sets of people, state them impartially. Do not take sides.
8. Wherever possible talking, quote profusely. Let the reader know that you have actually been talking to individuals and not just generalising on what you may have heard.
9. Be meticulous about providing facts and figures.
10. Avoid the temptation to rewrite hand-outs; treat these as basic raw material on which to build the superstructure of your own well researched story.
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11. Keep your personal hang-ups, likes and dislikes, prejudices and preferences strictly to yourself. Let them not intrude in your reporting which is for the purpose of informing your reading public of what is happening around.
12. Be constructive where criticism is merited; be generous where praise is warranted. Remember; no matter how hard you have tried to get all the facts, the whole truth may still elude you. You are a reporter, not God.