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Regional press news - this story published 17 December 2003

NCE Autumn 2003: Examiners' report - Speech

by the hostel's trustees and not by the police.

Speech
205 candidates; 116 passed - 57 per cent

For this speech exam, more background information from the reporter's initial brief was expected to be included in the story because of important developments since the previous issue.

The Oxdown Gazette had reported that drugs had been found and seized in a police raid at The Haven, Oxdown's only hostel for homeless people. The manager and two vagrants sleeping there had been taken to the police station and questioned.

The brief added that since the previous issue the three men had helped further with police inquiries but no one had been charged. Later the police said the manager had been cleared of any involvement with the drugs.

To be fair to the manager, it was essential that the paper should report in this next issue that the police had cleared him.

A few reporters omitted the manager entirely. Several said vaguely that he had been cleared - but gave the impression that he had been exonerated by the hostel's trustees and not by the police.

Candidates were offered several other angles for a strong intro.

The press statement was read by the chairman of The Haven's trustees, who wanted to clarify their policy on drugs. He went on to announce:

accommodation would be increased to create 18 single bedrooms instead of one dormitory for 12 men;

for the first time, there would be accommodation for women as well as men;

the improvements would open earlier than expected, thanks to an anonymous donation of £30,000.

Markers hoped that whichever angle was chosen, the other main options should be mentioned early in the story.

Few candidates were able to achieve this successfully. Many mistakenly suggested that the £30,000 donation was entirely responsible for the hostel's improvements. But in fact it had only brought forward the completion of the project by a few months.

Most took advantage of a good supply of emotive phrases to produce strong quotes, which were mainly reported accurately.

Spelling of names was better than usual. But once more there were problems with numbers.

The printed brief, giving information from the newspaper's database, said clearly:

23 September 1998: A full-time manager, Adam Jamieson, aged 41, was appointed.

Copying carelessly, far too many candidates said that by October 2003 he was still aged 41. This error occurred in 72 of the reports - an alarming 35 per cent.

Find out who passed their exams
PLUS

Examiners' report: News Interview

Examiners' report: Newspaper Practice

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