Page 256 - DENG401_Advance Communication Skills

Unit 15: Business Report Writing

Notes
Example: 200 people are shouting against company policies and putting a gherao
outside the head office.
Possible angles: 1. The city police/office authorities are putting off the elderly,
2. A tragic but unavoidable loss,
3. 200 vacancies may be freed up for young talent, etc.

Any of these can be made into report, but it is important to know where you are coming from
when you make up your list of questions.
Motive is vitally important when talking about any misdeeds, and given the subject matter,
your subject's motives will almost invariably be money and power.
Follow those and read other colleagues who have reported about it – there often are some – and
it will give you an idea of what other questions to ask.
When given a task of writing the report, always get paper, wherever you go. It will be easy for
you to jot down contact numbers, official documents, stuff lying on the table where it shouldn't
be, all of it. The more facts you have that have been written down, the better able you will be to
justify the report you've written.

Research

Above all, don't fall into the trap of finding an easy answer which fits into your world view and
then writing it up as unassailable fact. Dig, dig and dig some more. You aren't writing this for an
editor who keeps on forcing you day in and day out to get as many stories done as possible.

There is no excuse for laziness in your research (though equally, if you have a deadline for your
career's sake stick to it, there's nothing worse for an authority than going through a report at the
last moment before taking a decision).
Remember that in all cases, you have to avoid going with all guns blazing looking for a fight,
people will always be more likely to talk to you if they think you're on their side.

Pictures

If you are reporting for a newspaper, it will be better if you take or find a picture of the event you
are reporting on. Pictures sell papers, and not just that, they give readers a much clearer view of
what you are talking about. Where you can, have a camera with you at all times, preferably
digital (for easier storage, transfer and not insignificantly, so you don't have to get worrying
photos developed). Try and get wide angle shots so the sub-editor has more to work with, and
a high pixel resolution so it's big enough to look good on a page.

Court reporting

Do not report on active court proceedings unless you have taken an have learned the ropes
thoroughly from someone extremely experienced (which is not very likely for a manager). It
can end up putting you, the newspaper publishing you and their distributors into bankruptcy.
You can even end up in jail if you don't know what you're doing.

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