Writing for Print News
Writing for print news like newspapers or magazines is different from writing for websites, blogs, or academic journals. News writing is always direct, referenced, and factual. Here are two samples of reporting the same presidential debate of 2021 between Joe Biden, challenger, the democratic presidential nominee and Donald Trump the republican party defending champion.
News Article – Sample 1
October 22, 2020
Print News Article
The Second and Final Presidential Debate of 2020
By Shehbaz Khan
Nashville, Tennessee – The President of United States of America, Donald Trump assures vaccine for COVID19 within weeks in his final presidential debate of 2020.
The second and final presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden for upcoming 2020 elections was held today at the Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
In his plans to handle the pandemic President Trump said “we have a vaccine that’s coming, its ready and its going to be announced within weeks and is going to be delivered”
Military will be used to deliver vaccines through ‘operation wrap speed’ President Trump said.
However, the vaccine is not guaranteed but have good chances to come up with vaccine by the end of this year President Trump said.
In his plans to lead the country through pandemic former Vice President Biden said to set up national standards for handling and reopening schools and business and increase testing
“The President has no comprehensive plan and I will make sure we have a plan” said Joe Biden.
Mortality rate is low as 85% and “we are rounding the turn, we are rounding the corner, its going away” said President Trump
With 200,000 more deaths projected and 1000 deaths per day, the Trump administration is ineffective in handling the pandemic former Vice President Joe Biden said.
About 99% of young people recover and the transmittal rate of virus to teachers from students is very low and it is safe to open schools, President Trump said.
To safely open schools they should be with better ventilation systems, smaller classes, more teachers and pods, and financial support, former Vice President Biden said.
“The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself”, said President Trump.
“I will shut down the virus and not the country”, said former Vice President Biden.
He will give people the financial resources and capacity to open their business safely, former Vice President Biden said.
Debating about Affordable Care Act and insurance President Trump criticized the individual mandate option in Obamacare, he also accused Biden for destroying medi-care and social security by socializing medicine and terminating private insurance.
“No matter how well you run its no good” said President Trump about running Obamacare.
As he is trying to fix Obamacare, his new plan will always protect people with pre-existing conditions, President Trump said.
Biden wants to terminate private insurance, and this will affect more than 180 million people in the country, President Trump said.
“I think healthcare is not a privilege but a right”, said former Vice President Biden.
He supports private insurance and not a single person will lose their insurance under his plan and his plan will also include patients with pre-existing COVID19 conditions, former Vice President Biden said.
The ‘Public Option’ in his plan will automatically enroll people if they do not have wherewithal in home state but qualify for Medicaid, former Vice President Biden said.
He will make sure to reduce the insurance premiums and drug prices and his insurance plan has been endorsed by major labor unions, former Vice President Joe Biden said.
Terminating Obamacare will affect more than 110 million patients with pre-existing conditions and 22 million people insured through Affordable Car e Act, former Vice President Biden said.
People deserve to have an affordable healthcare with covering pre-existing conditions, former Vice President Biden said.
Trump continuing with holding back the tax on social security will bankrupt the social security by the year 2023with no recovery options, former Vice President Biden said.
The debate was moderated by White House reporter Kristen Welker of NBC News.
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden also debated several other topics including; national security, foreign interference, poverty, minimum wage, hunger, taxations, immigration, racism, African American families, climate change, fracking, renewable energy and other critical issues.
News Article – Sample-2
October 22, 2020
The Second and Final Presidential Debate of 2020
By Shehbaz Khan
Nashville, Tennessee – The President of United States of America, Donald Trump in the final presidential debate of 2020 assures vaccine for COVID19 within weeks.
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden debated today in the second and final presidential debate for upcoming November 2020 elections.
The debate was held at the Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
“We have a vaccine that’s coming, its ready and its going to be announced within weeks and is going to be delivered” said President Trump in his plan to lead country through pandemic.
The mortality rate is down 85% because we are doing well and “we are rounding the turn, we are rounding the corner, its going away.” said President Trump.
We are closely working with many private companies and also with governments of other countries to develop vaccine President Trump said.
Since the transmittal rate of COVID virus from students to teachers is very low and 99% of young people recover from it, it is safe to open schools, President Trump said.
The cost of shut down of this massive US economy will be very bad for the country, President Trump said.
The people are being driven to drug abuse and suicides due to shut down and economic slowdown, President Trump said.
“The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself”, said President Trump.
Joe Biden will shut down the whole country and that will be devastating, President Trump said.
On insurance and Affordable Care Act, Biden wants to terminate private insurance companies and their policies of 180 million people, President Trump said.
President Trump accused Biden of wanting to socialize medicine. This will destroy medi-care and social security and will bring the whole country down, President Trump said.
Individual mandate was the worst part of the Obamacare, and his new plan will give better healthcare and will also protect people with pre-existing conditions President Trump said
“No matter how well you run its no good”, said President Trump about running Obamacare.
The stock market will boom if he is re-elected as President again, President Trump said.
While former Vice President Biden disagreed.
“The President has no comprehensive plan” said Vice President Biden and proposed to “set up national standards how to open schools and business” said Biden in his plans to lead country through pandemic.
There are about 1000 deaths per day and estimated to expect 200,000 more deaths Vice President Biden said. He also criticized President Trump for delay in travel bans from China and Europe.
Financial resources to be provided to schools for better ventilation systems run smaller classes hire more teachers and provide more pods to students, in order to open safely, former Vice President Joe Biden said.
“I will shut down the virus and not the country”, said former Vice President Biden.
To safely reopen financial resources will be provided to increase the capacity of businesses and people, and help boost economy with safety, former Vice President Biden said.
Well over 110 million American with pre-existing conditions and more than 22 million people are insured through Affordable Care Act, Vice President Joe Biden said.
Healthcare is not a privilege but a right and under his plan not a single person with private insurance would lose their insurance, former Vice President Biden said.
Former Vice President Biden also promised to bring down the insurance premiums and drug prices, people deserve to have affordable healthcare he said.
He will provide ‘Public option’, which auto enrolls people into his new plan who qualify for Medicaid but do not have wherewithal in home state, former Vice President Joe Biden said. And his plan is endorsed by major labor unions, Biden said.
His ‘Biden plan’ will include treatment of current COVID19 patients with pre-existing conditions as well, former Vice President Biden said.
Trump continuing with holding the tax on social security will bankrupt the social security by the year 2023 with no recovery options, former Vice President Biden said.
The stock market ratings should not be the means to measure what is happening, former Vice President Biden said.
The debate was moderated by White House reporter Kristen Welker of NBC News.
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden also debated several other topics including national security, foreign interference, poverty, minimum wage, hunger, taxations, immigration, racism, African American families, climate change, fracking, renewable energy and other critical issues.
Writing a creative non-fiction
I love reading, listening, telling and writing stories. Few short stories are in the process of being penned down. Here is an excerpt from one of the short stories that talks about quest for cultural and historical identity in the dystopian future.
The Marble Jar
Dr. Norman stared back into his own brown eyes looking into the mirror, taking in a deep breath he said to himself softly “this is the day”. Gently sliding his palms over his ‘senior robe’ he took a final glance at himself, a subconscious gesture as he was trying to calm down the storms of mixed emotions gushing within. Dr. Norman was about take the centre stage at the 43rd anthropological convention in the great city of Komtev. Dr. Normans team of researchers and cyborgs have spent relentless hours on their project. Dr. Norman’s ambitious research if approved will help him achieve a prominent position in the elite council, the designation he believed he deserved. The evidence of the lost civilization before the great calamity happened, discovered by Dr. Norman’s team in their earth core projects is of great significance. “I will soon be on the intergalactic team” Dr. Norman thought to himself, encouraging himself to what the future holds for him.
It was strange, all the biological and non-biological beings knew about the origins and history of their planets and civilizations. But this was not the case with Earth. Civilizations from different planets and solar systems and galaxies together have unraveled the mysteries of the universe. But they all collectively failed to fill in the historical vacuum created by the great calamity. The artefacts give us glimpse into the history of humanoids, most importantly into their beliefs and social system. The carbon dating tests confirm that these materials belong to the time around the year 2020, just before the great calamity happened. The timeline was perfect match.
Total three artefacts were discovered. One container like item, cylindrical in shape with storing capability made of primal quality of glass, with grooves at the neck of the jar, with metal disc with borders curved to the inside, the metal discs also had grooved running lines but in the opposite direction as compared to the groves on the glass cylindrical object. The glass jar and metal disc can be detached and separated this container had small balls, some smooth, glittery and shiny they were made of same material but in manipulated composition effecting the quality of the balls, some were coarse and matte they were made of polymer-based ingredients. The materials used clearly indicate the how primitive was the civilization and their technology as they failed to understand the hazardous effects of the pollutant nature of the polymers and allied products. There was total thirty-eight pieces of balls in the container out of which twenty-five were glass based and thirteen were polymer based, along with a ‘Ledger card’ made of paper not too hard, but strong enough to be used for taking notes or maintaining records. The card was pale yellowish in color, with handwritten inscriptions filling the table of nine rows and five columns. The rows had names and the columns had numbers written in them. Each name was written correspondingly with the numbers in each column hinting to their correlation. Robins, Susan, Ravi, Carlos, and Monty were the inscribed names on the ‘Ledger Card’. Robin’s name had highest total number. Dr. Norman theorized that humans of 21st century used glass and polymer balls for their transactional needs, as medium of currency. The glass marbles held more value than the plastic marbles. The support to this theory was the third artefact found, again a piece of paper. The paper which was once full of colors was seriously injured by the test of time; although the life of the paper was fading away it still held a very significant piece of information. This paper had printed image of a huge conical shape raising high, on the top of the cone were colorful clouds, a part of the white cloud was in a sense melting from the edges of the cone. The surface of the cone was matte and chequered. Underneath this gigantic image there was a group of children, all humans, no traces of any other civilization could be seen in the picture. All the children are raising their hands in front of this image as if praying, each character in the picture is smiling ear to ear, it can be clearly deduced that they are very happy. On the top right-hand side, the paper was falling to pieces, one word which is supposedly is a part of a name only “Ba’ remained while few words were readable, and they said “Ba…Robins the Lord of Joy and Happiness”. According to one of the experts from primitive religion department suggested that the early humans prayed to deity “Ba Robins” (Incomplete name due to torn evidence), who, was a god for spreading joy and happiness and people made glass and plastic marbles offering to this god.
SK Photojournalism 