International Press

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INDEX
1. Introductory Letter…………………………………………………………………(2)
2. Concepts and Terminologies.………………………………………………………(3)
3. Tasks assigned……………………………………………………………………...(4)
4. Points to be noted…………………………………………………………………..(7)
5. Tools/References…………………………………………………………………....(7)
6. Sample Report………………………………………………………………………(8)
7. End Note…………………………………………………………………………….(8)

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INTERNATIONAL PRESS
GUIDELINES FOR REPORTERS

INTRODUCTORY LETTER

Dear Reporters,
I feel glad to welcome you as members of the International Press at VIT Pune MUN 2022!
Journalism is the medium through which the world is informed about the present and is
reminded of the past. As a news reporter, you have been vested with the power to establish a
public opinion and reveal the truth to the world through your words since they will echo in
people’s minds long after the conference is over. Although you are expected to meet deadlines
and will probably have to skip a few breaks, you will definitely embark on the most interesting
journey that will be etched in your memory forever.
You might be aware of the general structure in which an MUN conference is simulated. There
are several committees with various agendas and delegates discuss these topics under the
supervision of Executive Board members. Additionally, there is a team of reporters and
photographers collectively known as the International Press whose responsibility is to record
and release the manner in which discussions progress in each committee on all three days of
the conference. Although everyone who is involved in the conference (including the organising
team) has a specific role to play, the uniqueness with which the Press operates stems from the
fact that there are no restrictions on the manner in which we carry out our tasks. As a reporter,
you may approach a delegate, executive board member, or even the organisers in order to gain
a broader perspective of what is going on at the conference.
Dweeja Pathak
Head of International Press

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CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGIES

Before understanding the tasks that will be assigned to you, it would be preferable to revise a
few concepts and terminologies that you may already be familiar with.
• News:
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the news is “new information about something that has
happened recently”. One must keep their eyes and ears open during the committee sessions in
order to constantly gather information about and note down the new developments that take
place.
• Report:
The Oxford Dictionary defines a report as “a written account of an event, especially one that is
published or broadcast.” Once the news is gathered, the information is compiled in the form of
a report for the sake of print media.
• Journalism:
The production and distribution of reports on current events based on facts supported with
proof or evidence. Journalistic media include print, television, radio, and the internet.
• 5Ws and 1H:
These encompass the basic questions that your report must answer – Who, What, When,
Where, Why, and How?
• Press Release:
An official statement that is announced either by the reporters or delegates. It is delivered to
the members of news media in order to provide information or to announce a new policy, etc.
• Associated Press (AP):
The world’s largest independent news agency, supplying news services for a fee to media
around the world.
• By-Line:
It includes the name of the writer of an article, mentioned either at the beginning or at the end.
It is essential for reporters to mention their name along with the committee whose news they
are covering in the by-line.
• Hard News:

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Live and current news. The stories may cover serious events or even mundane but important
topics. During the committee sessions, reporters may come across lots of hard news which they
will have to compile in the form of a committee report.
• Soft News:
Stories covering topics that may be regarded as inconsequential or simply for the purpose of
light-hearted entertainment. Details about the opening or closing ceremony may be included as
a part of soft news.
• Off the record:
A phrase used before discussing a piece of information discovered through a journalist’s own
observation, investigation or communication with fellow journalists or delegates. The
information may or may not be published.

TASKS ASSIGNED
There is a set of tasks that you will be expected to complete as a reporter. On each day, there
will be certain activities that you will have to carry out along with a few documents that would
have to be submitted. The details of these activities will be conveyed to you during the
conference itself. Most of these activities are simple in nature and involve basic creative
writing. I would like to stress the word “creative” here. There is no absolute ‘right’ or ‘wrong’
way to frame a document. The whole point of creative writing is to bring out the uniqueness
that lies within you. Hence, I encourage you to be as ingenious as possible while carrying out
the tasks that are assigned to you. My instructions should be treated as a set of constraints that
you must stick to and if you wish to implement anything that falls within the limits of those
instructions, you must translate that creativity into words.
In order to bring out the best in you, I request you to stick to the following guidelines in order
to maintain some form of uniformity for the sake of evaluation.
You will be graded for your:
Case Study:
This is a piece of writing that provides a deep analysis along with a conclusion of an event
while being supported with reliable factual information and an appropriate timeline. At the
MUN conference, reporters have the freedom to choose the subject matter of their study but
the topics selected should be such that they are relevant to the agendas that are being discussed
in the committee.
In order to successfully write a case study, one must:
Select a relevant topic with enough research material available in print media or online.
Collect data and gather findings based on that topic.

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Review previous literature published on similar lines.

Analyse findings.
Summarise them in the form of a report with a proper conclusion that is historically accurate.
The document is expected to be around 500 to 1,000 words long and may also contain
photographs, charts, graphs, or other infographics (whose source must be cited) in order to
make the study visually attractive.
Committee Report:
This is a news report that summarises all the discussions and debates that occur during the
formal sessions/moderated caucuses of the committee. One must be attentive, keep a track of
the conversations between delegates, and be alert, to realise the relevant facts in order to select
and sort them according to their order of importance. Once these facts have been collected,
they need to be woven into a comprehensive story in a manner that engages the reader right
until the end.
Hard news usually does not have any conclusion. Hence, it is advised to follow an ‘inverted
pyramid format’ wherein the most important information is presented first, followed by the
background information. The document must consist of an eye-catching ‘Headline’ followed
by the ‘Lead’ which contains the 5Ws and 1H. The remaining information that is relevant must
be present in the ‘Body’ along with a closing sentence or endnote.
One committee report of approximately 300 to 350 words has to be submitted at the end of the
second day. The report must solely play the role of revealing the truth about the discussions
during the committee session and hence must not be biased towards a country or bloc.

Interviews:
I encourage you to interact with the delegates at a personal level as much as possible since
these interactions can be used to enrich your articles with information that could have gone
unnoticed during the conference. Apart from the delegates, one can also interview the
Executive Board members and members of the Organising Committee. (Please note that the
interviews must not disrupt the committee sessions and hence must take place during the
informal sessions/unmoderated caucuses or the breaks).
One document consisting of a compilation of all the interviews must be submitted on the third
day of the conference. Interviews need to be properly documented and may also be
photographed/recorded for the purpose of putting them up on social media. The name of the
interviewer, interviewee, the country/designation they represent as well as the committee they
belong to must be clearly mentioned in the interview report.

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Interviews present a singular perspective on a subject matter and hence, the interviewer must
be careful to properly bring out this perspective while framing the interview report.

Op-Eds:
The op-ed, abbreviated from ‘Opposite the editorial page’ is an article that presents the opinion
of the columnist which is independent of the editorial board they work for. Simplistically
speaking, it is a piece of opinionated writing that provides an insight into the mind of the writer
when they put forward their personal views on an incident of global or local appeal.
Rather than the information that was discussed in the committee, the focus here is on what the
author thinks about the discussion at hand. Hence, the op-eds contain an individual’s opinions
regarding one or more debates that occur during committee sessions and are acceptable even if
a unidimensional point of view is presented. Op-eds can be written in the form of essays,
articles, informative pieces, etc. and one can have the freedom of employing a range of writing
styles to put forward their views in a manner that sounds convincing to the readers. The Op-
Eds are expected to be around 500 to 700 words long and one may follow any format they wish
in order to frame the document.

Press Conference:
The Press Conference is an important tool in getting your message out to the general public.
At the MUN Conference, the Press Con. Is treated like a media event where journalists are
invited to speak and more often, ask questions.
This is ideally, the most interesting role of the reporter since the committee finally gets to hear
your voice and not just the sound of your keyboard or the scratching noises of your pencil. The
purpose of a press conference is to bring out the facts that may have been overlooked by the
delegates and to clarify any ambiguity that may have occurred during the course of discussion.
Caution must be taken to ensure that the questions that are asked must be well-framed and well-
researched. One must keep their eyes and ears open throughout the three days of the MUN
conference in order to gather enough material and reasons to question a delegate or a bloc of
nations on various matters such as the behaviour of their country during a certain historical
event, clarification on a country’s stance regarding an issue, etc.

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POINTS TO BE NOTED
A few things that reporters must keep in mind in order to make their work sound more
professional are:
1. Only standard acronyms and approved abbreviations should be used. (For Example: NATO,
MUN, ICJ, etc).
2. The report must begin with a catchy headline and a ‘by line’.
3. Names of all books and print sources must be capitalised and italicized. (For Example: New
York Times).
4. The use of the terms that would cause the slightest of offence such as ‘Third world’ is
strongly discouraged.
5. If a delegate is being quoted, the exact same words spoken by the delegate must be included
in double quotes.

TOOLS/REFERENCES
•For more technicalities, strictly adhere to the ‘AP Style’ described in the link given below:
https://www.codot.gov/business/grants/safetygrants/documents/APStyleGuideCheatSheet.pdf
•You may refer to the ‘White Papers’ released by various governments while seeking detailed
information about past or future endeavours that have been undertaken by the national heads
for the sake of their countries.
•Going through the Background Guide of the committee that is allotted to you is beneficial
while keeping up with the agenda and discussions in the committee.
•Here is an excerpt from the latest edition of VPM’s very own newsletter – Sentinel. I would
like you to go through the report and analyse the manner in which information has been
conveyed as well as the language that has been used. The example is simply for your reference
and you must ensure that you express your own writing style while framing the reports.

SAMPLE REPORT

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ENDNOTE
The most important point to be noted is that a reporter is nothing without his/her research. I
urge you to carry out detailed research regarding all the agendas and the various writing styles
that you can adopt. The guidelines exist as a means of maintaining uniformity and not to restrict
creativity. More than a competition, this must be a learning experience that you can always be
proud of.
Happy writing!