I am the Club Reporter...What are my duties?

Write a report of each club meeting immediately following each gathering. Either e-mail, mail, or take a copy of the report into the local newspaper for publication. Remember that "old news" is worse than "no news."

Collect news items concerning your club and give them to the club secretary or historian. These should be added to the club's permanent record.

Write articles about special club or FCE events, which occur outside the usual meeting.

Remember "The Reporter's ABCs":

• be Accurate
• be Brief
• be Concise

As a club's reporter, there are a couple of important things to remember when working with local media groups. Here are a few helpful hints to remember when reporting on your club's happenings.

Deadlines

Everyone in the newspaper business has deadlines and the editor covering community events is no exception. Club-notes have no particular deadline; however, you should try to submit them soon after your club's meeting has occurred.

Style

Newspaper style is a policy that is set by a newspaper's head editor and adhered to by everyone else to give the paper a uniform look. Here is an example of a newspaper's style works.

• When a name of a woman is mentioned, for the first time, refer to her by her full name. On future references use only her surname.
• When the extension unit is first referenced, spell out its name entirely. You may abbreviate all future references.
• Do not start a sentence with a numeral, such as 1, 2,or 3. If you are using a number, spell it out, like eight, ten and two.
• Do not use first or second person references, such as I, we and you, in the article.
• Use the day of the week and the date when necessary, like Monday, June 7.
• Spell out numbers one through ten. Use numerals for any number greater than ten.