INTERNATIONAL
PRESS
STUDY GUIDE
The press is the best instrument
for enlightening the mind of man,
and improving him as a rational,
moral and social being.
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INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY CIRCLE
Literary Circle is the club in NIT Durgapur, which gives the college an extra dimension
of creative expression amid technical unilateralism and allows the students of the
college to transcend the ordinary and mundane.
The Literary Circle organizes a plethora of events throughout the year. Verve, The
Literary cum Youth Festival of the college and the biggest of its kind in eastern India
being one of them. The Literary Circle has successfully pulled off 18 editions of Verve
till now. Flagship events in the fest have become a matter of college folklore. The
club maintains a blog, The Darkest White, as the culmination of myriad pen strokes
from the collective literary expression of the college club publishes the yearbook, so
each student graduating out of college can reminisce about their days in the college,
their hostel life and take with them a part of it. Humans of NIT Durgapur, by The
Literary Circle, captures the untold stories, legends, and experiences of individuals,
showing our readers how ordinary people can be unique, inspirational and relatable.
The TEDx is an initiative where influential speakers are invited to realize TED’s overall
mission to research and discover “ideas worth spreading.” TEDxNITDurgapur was co-
organised by The Literary Circle and was a confluence of ideas and innovation. The
club is known to be highly selective in its admission of new members, with only
about 10- 15 students inducted out of the entire batch of 900 each year. Great
believers of the phrase ‘quality over quantity’, the members selected every year are
the best of the best in the field of expression and creativity.
Come, step into the Circle!
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ABOUT NITMUN
NITMUN is a forum convened by the members of the Literary Circle for discussion
and analysis of global issues. It seeks to bring out motivated delegates from all over
the country for a meaningful debate on significant international issues. Our greatest
goal is to make sure that each delegate learns how to tackle world issues better at
the end of the conference as the world is in dire need of young leaders now.
Currently, in its 12th edition, NITMUN has been extremely successful in providing the
perfect experience to each delegate. Over the years, we have entertained more than
2000 delegates totalling all the editions. Delegates arrive from all corners of India for
an experience they will never forget
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
Overview
Maybe you’ve always been interested in foreign affairs and international relations but
felt like being a delegate representing a nation wasn’t for you. Perhaps you have a
better knack for expressing your point of view through the written word. Have you
found journalism interesting and never found an outlet to try your hand at it?
If this sounds like you, the International Press Corps is for you. Similar to how
delegates representing a country engage in open debate in other committees, IPC
delegates are journalists who represent news agencies. Our goal is to provide
aspiring journalists and budding writers the unique opportunity to put their skills to
good use, in the backdrop of the hustle and bustle of a MUN conference.
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Today, the IPC stands as the epitome of creative expression of the truth. You, as
journalists, have come to the right committee; being in the Press Corps is an
experience unlike any other. It is in your hands to question, observe and report every
detail during committee. It is you that everyone relies on to capture every moment in
NITMUN XII. IPC delegates are encouraged to engage, interact and interview the
delegates in their committee and compile their article with quotations from
committee proceedings, interviews as well as pictures captured mid-debate. Using
intelligent humour is encouraged to boost readership appeal.
Purpose
The IPC is arguably the most interesting committee in NITMUN XII! Instead of being
confined to one committee and one political stance, as a Press delegate, you will
have the chance to experience debate through the broader lens of the media, while
expressing yourself creatively and cogently through writing, art, or photography.
During the conference, you will have a platform to showcase your talents – you have
the chance to be witty and sarcastic in your illustrations and informal articles, while
also being serious and addressing the issues at hand in the opinion pieces and formal
articles
Remember that the point of a Press Conference is not to attack a particular delegate,
but to help arrive at a resolution quicker or make the debate more productive We
hope your experience with IPC will be a memorable and educational one.
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Research for International Press
You can use the following guidelines for effective research.
You must be adequately prepared to understand the debate.
• Go through the backgrounds for a basic understanding of the agenda and then
the documents and links it mentions. The background guide can be obtained
from the website of the conference.
• Read about the agenda and various perspectives on it. Aid and form an opinion.
• Understanding the legal, social, cultural, and economic implications of the
debate.
• Read about the foreign policy and agenda perspective of nations that you might
think will majorly impact the debate.
• Access the quality of research required through various websites of the new
agencies and see how the research and content are balanced.
Press Conference
Press conferences are one of the most important aspects of the press. While they
take a variety of forms, most often committees will pause debate for 5-15 minutes
and allow press members to ask delegates questions about their proposed
solutions, specific clauses on draft resolutions, or the committee in general. This is
your opportunity to represent your newspaper, hold delegates accountable to
their countries’ positions, and ask questions that will help you write an article
about the committee later on. It is also a chance to display your public speaking
skills — the only one you may get in an International press committee!
During the press conference, ask questions! Find a clause in a resolution or
directive that your newspaper’s readers would want to know more about, and
direct your question to either an individual delegate or the committee as a whole.
You can also ask about the issues delegates are not addressing, and why they
chose not to. Don’t be afraid to challenge delegates on their policies’ feasibility or
alignment with their country’s position on an issue — in fact, these are often the
best questions. A great question is very memorable, and performing well in press
conferences is necessary to be awarded in a press corps committee.
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Social Media Updates
Reporters of the International Press will be given Twitter handles for the news
agencies they would represent, and it is required of the reporters to post timely
updates about the proceedings in committee onto these platforms.
These updates must be formally worded, concise (within the character limit of a
tweet), and unbiased, and will serve as a record of their presence and attentiveness in
committee.
Any usage of unparliamentary language or visible display of bias through these
tweets will result in heavy demarcation and may lead to the disqualification of the
delegates.
How to conduct interviews?
Conducting interviews with individual delegates would let you obtain quotes and
information which would help you decorate your articles. The interviews should be
scheduled in the same way as press conferences: become familiar with a few
delegates in each committee and request their contact information.
Pick delegates who seem knowledgeable about the committee and have the time
to speak with you. While delegates who lead their committees are excellent
candidates, but they are often preoccupied with other matters and may not have the
time to speak with you.
The Press Corps. articles are always clear and concise. Use short paragraphs and omit
unnecessary information. Committees often discuss complex topics, which must be
explained in an accessible manner to people who are not attending the debate. The
articles would help them understand these topics. Define terminology and provide
background information on policy proposals and committee topics.
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How to write articles
While IPC delegates are required to observe and report council proceedings, they will
also be expected to produce enticing articles full of debate analysis at a news angle
of your choice within the guidelines and alignment of your news agency’s mandate.
Delegates must take it upon themselves to remain unbiased in their personal
opinions when forming these articles, staying true to their news agency’s biases.
Points to keep in mind:
• No personal opinions should be included in your press statement. Opinions of the
respective news agency can be used.
• Journalism, not creative writing: This article should be reported strictly in a factual
sense. Make sure to keep things interesting with sound conduct in language.
However, avoid overusing too many adjectives, flowery words, and euphemisms.
• Always verify the details of your article and crosscheck the facts and statistics
provided by you in your report.
• Delegates are encouraged to bring their research notes
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Style Guide
There are certain rules that every IP member must adhere to when writing articles
and these are compiled in the style guide.
Abbreviations:
No periods should be used in separate letters of an abbreviated organisation or
agency. Only standard acronyms and approved abbreviations should be used. If
questions arise, feel free to ask any of the editors. Before using an acronym, first, the
full form should be mentioned once within brackets. Example: United Nations (UN).
Some example abbreviations include: NITMUN, UNGA, UK, UN, US, and DPRK.
Apostrophes:
This punctuation mark will only be used to indicate possessive nouns or secondary
quotations. Apostrophes are never used to indicate plurals. Currency: Dollar values
are displayed with the appropriate currency symbol. Values on orders at or greater
than one million are summarised, for example, $54,000, $135,000 or $214 million.
Indian Rupees shall be written as INR and not Rs.
Capitalization:
Nowhere shall anything but Abbreviations be capitalised.
Boldface text:
There is no situation in which boldface should be used in an article. Headlines and
article titles may be bolded by the Publisher. Books and print sources. Names of all
books and print sources should be capitalised and italicised, such as the newsletter,
New York Times and The Economist.
Developing nations:
Within the international community, the use of the term “third world” is actively
discouraged. No nation will be referred to as “Third World.‟
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Diplomatic courtesy:
While Reporters are encouraged to faithfully report on the statements of
representatives within each NITMUN simulation, no quotation should violate the
dictates of diplomatic courtesy. All articles, editorials, letters, press releases and
personals to be included in the newsletter will be carefully edited to ensure that all
content remains courteous to all participants at NITMUN. If a Reporter feels that a
quotation by a representative is discourteous, the representative should be
courageous enough to rephrase the statement in a more courteous fashion or risk
having it omitted from the Reporter’s article.
Hyphenation:
Hyphens should only be applied according to American English grammar. If
questions arise, consult the Editors. Examples of typically hyphenated prefixes
include non-, sub- and ex-. Some compound words are hyphenated as well, such as
socio-political.
Member States. In print, references to United Nations "Member States "should be
initially capitalised
National references:
When referring to any UN Member State or Observer, standard UN country names
should be used. These names match those with which each nation signed the UN
Charter. For example, Libya is recognized by the UN as “Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.”
Numerals:
Any numeral ten or less should be spelt out in English. Numerals over tenure
reported using standard Arabic numerals, such as 2018. Numerals with five or more
digits should include commas. Fractions and decimal numbers should be reported
as decimal numerals or percentages, such as 0.5 or 50%(rather than “1/2”). Roman
numerals are used only when referring to a source which was originally designated
using Roman numerals, such as Chapter VII of the UN Charter (articles of the UN
Charter are written as “Article 7”). Ordinal numerals are spelt out within the text of an
article, such as the First Committee of the General Assembly. In article headings or
titles, the Publisher may choose to use ordinal abbreviations, such as 1st Committee
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Percentages:
Percent symbols will be used to report percentages, for example, 35.8%.
Quotation marks:
As per standard English grammar, punctuation after quotation must always be
included inside the closing quotation mark.
Quotations:
All quoted statements within articles should be incorporated grammatically into the
sentence being written. Additional capitalization should be avoided. If only part of a
sentence is being used in a quotation, an ellipsis should be used to indicate the
omitted portions of the statement. If, within a quotation, the speaker uses an
abbreviation or reference which would be unclear to the reader, the journalist may
interject a clarification within brackets (i.e.:[...]). This indicates that the bracketed
information is not a direct quotation; rather it is a clarification on the part of the
author.
Spacing:
One space is used to separate words, as well as following commas, semicolons,
colons and periods. Since the newsletter is published in a variable-width font, two
spaces between sentences will not be necessary.
Spelling:
Reporters should be sure to spell-check all articles before the editorial deadline. This
will greatly assist the Editor.
Titles:
The categories of titles to be used include: • Standard professional titles: Periods will
be used on abbreviated titles, such as Mr., Ms., Amb., Dr., Pres.
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UN Titles:
These These titles will not be abbreviated. UN and MCGS MUN official titles include
Secretary-General, Under-Secretary-General, Director-General, Assistant Secretary-
General, and Deputy Secretary-General. Secretary-General shall never be abbreviated
as Sec Gen.
Journalism can be done by everyone, even without any special skills. Unlike other
communities of NITMUN, IP is completely different and you can have the most
amazing experience of interacting with every committee simultaneously.
Restrictions are for the world not for the press. You are free to express and explore
yourself as a journalist or reporter, and by preparing you for this role we expect you to
have the best NITMUN ever!
You are the press, uncover the truth to the world!
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