Newsroom vocabulary: news, sources and broadcasts

The idea

Choose media words by function. A muhabir gathers and reports news; a sunucu presents a programme. Haber names a news item, while köşe yazısı names a column that develops the writer’s views. Learn broadcast expressions as units: canlı yayın describes broadcasting as events happen, and yayın akışı gives the order and times of programmes. These expressions do not by themselves tell you whether a claim is true.

Examples

• Muhabir bugün limandan bildiriyor.The reporter is reporting from the port today.
• Sunucu şimdi konuğu tanıtıyor.The presenter is introducing the guest now.
• Editör haberin kaynağını araştırıyor.The editor is investigating the source of the news report.
• Haber ajansı yeni bir açıklama yayımladı.The news agency published a new statement.
• Bu köşe yazısı ulaşım sorununu ele alıyor.This opinion column addresses the transport problem.
• Gazetenin manşeti değişti, ama haberin başlığı aynı kaldı.The newspaper’s main headline changed, but the headline of the news report stayed the same.
• Canlı yayın sırasında ses kesildi.The sound cut out during the live broadcast.
• Yayın akışına göre belgesel dokuzda başlayacak.According to the programme schedule, the documentary will start at nine.

Watch out

Do not translate every headline as manşet. In a newspaper, manşet usually names the prominent main headline on the front page. Başlık is the broader word for a title or headline; an ordinary article also has a başlık.

Try it yourself

1. A reporter gets information from a document. Which word names the origin of that information: kaynak or sunucu?

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   kaynak

   kaynak: the document supplies the information, so it is a source. A sunucu is a person presenting a programme, not the document’s role here.

2. Choose the more specific word for a newspaper’s main front-page headline: başlık or manşet.

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   manşet

   manşet: the clue is the main headline on the front page. Başlık would describe it more generally, without identifying its prominence.

3. The audience watches an event as it happens. Name this type of broadcast in two Turkish words.

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   canlı yayın

   canlı yayın: the event and the audience’s viewing happen at the same time. Yayın akışı would tell us when programmes are scheduled instead.

4. Name the journalist who gathers news at the scene and reports it. Use the word from the table.

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   muhabir / haber muhabiri

   muhabir or haber muhabiri: gathering information at the scene identifies the reporting role. Merely presenting a programme would not establish that role.

Use it today

Invent a local news item. Write four sentences naming who reports it, where the information comes from and how it reaches the audience. Give it a title and explain whether you intend it as a manşet.