How to Write a News Story Here's something very few people realise: Writing news stories isn't particularly

difficult. It does take practice and not everyone will be an expert but if you follow the guidelines below you should be able to create effective news items without too much stress. The Five "W"s and the "H" This is the crux of all news - you need to know five things: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Any good news story provides answers to each of these questions. You must drill these into your brain and they must become second nature. For example, if you wish to cover a story about a local sports team entering a competition you will need to answer these questions: Who is the team? Who is the coach? Who are the prominent players? Who are the supporters? What sport do they play? What is the competition? Where is the competition? Where is the team normally based? When is the competition? How long have they been preparing? Are there any other important time factors? Why are they entering this particular competition? If it's relevant, why does the team exist at all? How are they going to enter the competition? Do they need to fundraise? How much training and preparation is required? What will they need to do to win? The Inverted Pyramid This refers to the style of journalism which places the most important facts at the beginning and works "down" from there. Ideally, the first paragraph should contain enough information to give the reader a good overview of the entire story. The rest of the article explains and expands on the beginning. A good approach is to assume that the story might be cut off at any point due to space limitations. Does the story work if the editor only decides to include the first two paragraphs? If not, re-arrange it so that it does. The same principle can apply to any type of medium. More Tips It's About People News stories are all about how people are affected. In your sports story, you might spend some time focusing on one or more individuals, or on how the team morale is doing, or how the supporters are feeling. Have an Angle Most stories can be presented using a particular angle or "slant". This is a standard technique and isn't necessarily bad - it can help make the purpose of the story clear and give it focus. Examples of angles you could use for your sports story: "Team Tackles National Competition" "Big Ask for First-Year Coach" "Local Team in Need of Funds" Keep it Objective You are completely impartial. If there is more than one side to the story, cover them all. Don't use "I" and "me" unless you are quoting someone. Speaking of quoting... Quote People For example: "We're really excited about this competition," says coach Bob Dobalina, "It's the highest target we've ever set ourselves". Don't Get Flowery Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. Don't use lots of heavily descriptive language. When you've finished, go through the entire story and try to remove any words which aren't completely necessary.

Source: Media College.com, <http://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/news/writestories.html>, accessed on March 24, 9:32 PM. Web. How journalists write
Peter Cole , The Guardian, Thursday 25 September 2008

Journalists usually refer to what they write as stories. Not articles or reports, occasionally pieces, but stories. This does not apply only to reporters but to everybody in the editorial chain, from desk editors, copy editors, specialist and sports writers to the editor him or herself. Words published in newspapers, on air or online are stories. Stories sound interesting; reports sound dull. To some, stories mean fiction: "Tell me a story, mummy". Stories are tall and short, made up and true. True stories are about what happened. We tell stories in conversation, recounting experiences and events in which we took part or observed. The crucial thing about a story is that other people want to hear it, because it is interesting or entertaining. Otherwise the storyteller is a bore. So journalists write stories for their readers to tell them what is going on, to inform them, engage them, entertain them, shock them, amuse them, disturb them, uplift them. The subject matter will vary according to the nature of the publication and the intended audience. The good newspaper editor will have a clear idea of the sort of people who are reading it, and cater to their interests and preoccupations, sometimes their prejudices. And the paper will include that vital ingredient serendipity - the story you didn't expect, the "just fancy that", the absurdities as well as the travails of the human condition. Journalism is basically a simple game. It is about finding things out and telling other people about them. The finding out requires a variety of skills because those in power often prefer that we know only so much. Journalism is about holding such people to account, exposing their humbug and hypocrisy, the abuse of their power. This includes the control it gives them over the flow of information, the ability to bury the bad news, to spin and obfuscate. Good journalists must ask the awkward questions and question the answers, must dig to unearth and then explain, making comprehensible that which authority, by intent or verbal inadequacy, has left confused, incomplete or plain mendacious. Incomprehensible journalism is quite simply bad journalism, and therefore pointless. Ultimately there is only one purpose: to make the reader read the story. If they don't, what was the point of finding it out and telling it? This booklet picks up the story when the reader has reached the stage of deciding to address the story. That is not the same as reading it, or even reading a certain amount of it. They have just reached the first word, perhaps attracted by the picture, the extracted quote, or any of the other presentational devices used to drag the reader to the story. We have reached the stage where the reader is going to subject the story to the final test, reading some or all of it. This is about writing. Newspaper reading is different from reading a book. It is selective, does not involve commitment to the whole. Relatively little time is spent reading a daily newspaper. The newspaper reader, unlike the reader of the more literary novel, does not expect to invest effort in the endeavour. He or she will not read a sentence or paragraph a second time to be clear about what is being said. Confusion, more often than not, will mean abandoning the story altogether and moving on. Many newspaper readers skim, sample or get a flavour of a story rather than reading it through.

So journalistic writing is different from creative writing. Many young people think they would like to be journalists because they have "always loved writing" or started writing poems when they were eight. It is certainly not enough and may well be a barrier to success in journalism. The late Nicholas Tomalin famously wrote that "the only qualities essential for real success in journalism are rat-like cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability." He included writing, but he placed it third and prefaced it with a diminutive. The writing matters; but don't think of it as art. Think of it as working writing, writing doing a job, writing that puts across information in a way that makes readers want to absorb it. At a time when the vast majority of entrants to journalism have degrees - welcome because journalism in a complex world is an intellectual pursuit - it is worth pointing out that writing for newspapers is also very different from the academic writing of student essays. No time to produce a route map for the essay and reach the point somewhere near the end; the journalist must grab the attention at once. It is difficult to write simply and engagingly, so that readers will keep reading; to explain so that all the readers understand, and want to. This is the task the writing journalist has. Source:The Guardian, <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/sep/25/writing.journalism>, accessed on March 24, 9:45 PM. Web.

PURDUE Online Writing Lab (OWL) I. Journalism and Journalistic Writing Introduction Why is it that mass media outlets feature particular news stories prominently while others receive little, if any, coverage? Although every outlet is different, mass media gatekeepers have traditionally relied on some predictable values to evaluate the newsworthiness of a story. Their decision might impact how the story is covered, including how many resources are spent following the story, and how prominently the story is featured. In the present era of audience fragmentation, individual audience members increasingly choose what kind of news content they receive, yet traditional news values often still govern how deeply a news story permeates a community. In 1973, Gatlung and Ruge developed one of the first models of news values. Shoemaker el al. followed up in 1987 with a similar model. Both offer a useful framework for understanding how gatekeepers evaluate potential news stories. Gatlung and Ruge, 1973 Relevance - How relevant is a news story to the audience in question? For example, a California earthquake is almost always more relevant to a West Coast audience than to an audience in Calcutta. Timeliness - How recently did the event unfold? Timing is of the utmost importance in todays 24 hour news cycle. Recent events, or events in the making, are most likely to lead the news. Simplification - Stories that can be easily simplified or summarized are likely to be featured more prominently than stories that are convoluted or difficult to understand. Predictability - Certain events, such as elections, major sporting events, astrological events, and legal decisions, happen on a predictable schedule. As the event draws closer, it typically gains news value. Unexpectedness - On the other hand, events like natural disasters, accidents, or crimes are completely unpredictable. These events are also likely to have significant news value. Continuity - Some events, such as war, elections, protests, and strikes, require continuing coverage. These events are likely to remain in the news for a long time, although not always as the lead story. Composition - Editors have to keep in mind the big picturethe sum of all content in their media outlet. For this reason, an editor might select soft human interest stories to balance out other hard hitting, investigative journalism. Elite People - Certain individuals, like politicians, entertainers, and athletes, are considered, by virtue of their status, more newsworthy. If someone throws

a shoe at an everyday person, its probably not news. If someone throws a shoe at the President of the United States, it will likely be in the news for weeks. Elite Countries - Famine, drought, and national disasters are more likely to draw attention if they are happening in First World countries than if they are happening in developing countries. Negativity - Generally speaking, editors deem bad news more newsworthy than good news.

Shoemaimker et al., 1987 Timeliness - Shoemaker et al. also recognize timeliness as a critical news value. Proximity - Similar to Gatlung and Ruges Relevance. The closer an event takes place to the intended audience, the more important it is. This is why huge local or regional stories might not make the national news. Importance, impact, or consequence - How many people will the event impact? Issues like global warming issues have become big news in recent years precisely because environmental changes affect the entire planet. Interest - Does the story have any special human interest? For example, the inspirational story of a person overcoming large odds to reach her goal appeals to a fundamental human interest. Conflict or Controversy - Similar to Gatlung and Ruges Negativity. Editors generally deem conflict more newsworthy than peace. Sensationalism - Sensational stories tend to make the front pages more than the everyday. Prominence - Similar to Gatlung and Ruges Elite People. The actions of prominent people are much more likely to make the news than non-public figures. Novelty, oddity, or the unusual - Strange stories are likely to find their way into the news. Dog bites manno story. Man bites dogstory. Conclusion Every news outlet has a different protocol for selecting which stories to run, but some traditional values often determine the newsworthiness of a story. The more of these news values a story satisfies, the more likely you are to see it prominently featured in mass media outlets. Sources Campbell, Vincent. Information Age Journalism: Journalism in an International Context. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. 117-123. Fleming, Carole, et al. An Introduction to Journalism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2006. 4-26. II. The Inverted Pyramid Structure Introduction For decades, the inverted pyramid structure has been a mainstay of traditional mass media writing. Following this structure, the base of the pyramidthe most fundamental factsappear at the top of the story, in the lead paragraph. Non-essential information appears in the following paragraphs, or nut graphs, in order of importance. While some media writers are critical of the inverted pyramid structure, it remains one of the most widely used and time tested structures in mass media writing.

Whats Essential? Essential information generally refers to the oft-cited Five Ws of journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. A successful lead paragraph communicates, on a basic level, the essential facts of who did what, when, where, and why. The nut graphs that follow contain additional details, quotes from sources, statistics, background, or other information. These are added to the article in order of importance, so that the least important items are at the bottom. Origins The inverted pyramid structure is the product of an old media technologythe telegraph. When news outlets would telegraph information over the wires, it made sense to use the inverted pyramid because the most vital information in the story was transmitted first. In the event of a lost connection, whoever received the story could still print the essential facts. The inverted pyramid structure also benefits editors. If an editor needs to cut an article, they can simply cut from the bottom. If their reporter was writing in the reliable inverted pyramid structure, the most essential information would remain at the top. Criticisms Some in the media critique the inverted pyramid for being artless, and certainly, it is not right for every news story, as it removes a great detail of autonomy from the reporter. Others link inverted pyramid style to the decline in newspaper readership, arguing that, by giving away the ending first, the structure goes against the very fundamentals of narrative. Some scholars have theorized that the inverted pyramid structure might actually be more difficult for readers to understand. With the emergence of online news writing, the inverted pyramid structure is not as prominent as it once was. In the online format, where editors are no longer bound by column inches, an articles length is more flexible. Similarly, online journalism is increasingly influenced by the presence of bloggers, who typically eschew traditional news writing structure. Conclusion The inverted pyramid structure simply means placing the most fundamental information in the lead paragraph of the story, and then arranging the remaining details, from most important to least important, in the following nut graphs. Although there are critics of the inverted pyramid style, it remains a widely used approach to mass media news writing. Source Scanlan, Chip. Writing from the Top Down: Pros and Cons of the Inverted Pyramid. www.poynter.org. 18 Dec 2008.
III. How to write a Lead

Introduction The lead, or opening paragraph, is the most important part of a news story. With so many sources of information newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and the Internet audiences simply are not willing to read beyond the first paragraph (and even sentence) of a story unless it grabs their interest. A good lead does just that. It gives readers the most important information in a clear, concise and interesting manner. It also establishes the voice and direction of an article. Tips for Writing a Lead The Five Ws and H: Before writing a lead, decide which aspect of the story who, what, when, where, why, how is most important. You should 6

emphasize those aspects in your lead. Wait to explain less important aspects until the second or third sentence. Conflict: Good stories have conflict. So do many good leads. Specificity: Though you are essentially summarizing information in most leads, try to be specific as possible. If your lead is too broad, it wont be informative or interesting. Brevity: Readers want to know why the story matters to them and they wont wait long for the answer. Leads are often one sentence, sometimes two. Generally, they are 25 to 30 words and should rarely be more than 40. This is somewhat arbitrary, but its important especially for young journalists to learn how to deliver information concisely. (See the OWLs page on concise writing for specific tips. The Paramedic Method is also good for writing concisely.) Active sentences: Strong verbs will make your lead lively and interesting. Passive constructions, on the other hand, can sound dull and leave out important information, such as the person or thing that caused the action. Incomplete reporting is often a source of passive leads. Audience and context: Take into account what your reader already knows. Remember that in todays media culture, most readers become aware of breaking news as it happens. If youre writing for a print publication the next day, your lead should do more than merely regurgitate yesterdays news. Honesty: A lead is an implicit promise to your readers. You must be able to deliver what you promise in your lead.

What to Avoid Flowery language: Many beginning writers make the mistake of overusing adverbs and adjectives in their leads. Concentrate instead on using strong verbs and nouns. Unnecessary words or phrases: Watch out for unintentional redundancy. For example, 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, or very unique. You cant afford to waste space in a news story, especially in the lead. Avoid clutter and cut right to the heart of the story. Formulaic leads: Because a lot of news writing is done on deadline, the temptation to write tired leads is strong. Resist it. Readers want information, but they also want to be entertained. Your lead must sound genuine, not merely mechanical. It: Most editors frown on leads that begin with the word it because it is not precise and disorients the reader. Types of Leads Summary lead: This is perhaps the most traditional lead in news writing. It is often used for breaking news. A story about a city council vote might use this just the facts approach. Straight news leads tend to provide answers to the most important three or four of the Five Ws and H. Historically this type of lead has been used to convey who, what, when and where. But in todays fast-paced media atmosphere, a straightforward recitation of who, what, when and where can sound stale by the time a newspaper hits the stands. Some newspapers are adjusting to this reality by posting breaking news online as it happens and filling the print edition with more evaluative and analytical stories focused on why and how. Leads should reflect this.

Anecdotal lead: Sometimes, beginning a story with a quick anecdote can draw in readers. The anecdote must be interesting and must closely illustrate the articles broader point. If you use this approach, specificity and concrete detail are essential and the broader significance of the anecdote should be explained within the first few sentences following the lead. Other types of leads: A large number of other approaches exist, and writers should not feel boxed in by formulas. That said, beginning writers can abuse certain kinds of leads. These include leads that begin with a question or direct quotation and those that make a direct appeal using the word you. While such leads might be appropriate in some circumstances, use them sparsely and cautiously. Examples Summary lead: County administrator faces ouster By Tony Cook for The Cincinnati Post, Jan. 14, 2005 Two Hamilton County Commissioners plan to force the countys top administrator out of office today. Commentary: This lead addresses the traditional who, what and when. If this information had been reported on TV or radio the day before, this lead might not be a good one for the print edition of the newspaper; however, if the reporter had an exclusive or posted this information online as soon as it became available, then this lead would make sense. Note that it is brief (15 words) and uses an active sentence construction. Summary lead: Lobbyists flout disclosure rules in talks with commissioners By Tony Cook and Michael Mishak for the Las Vegas Sun, July 13, 2008 On more than 170 occasions this year, lobbyists failed to file disclosure forms when they visited Clark County commissioners, leaving the public in the dark about what issues they were pushing and on whose behalf. Commentary: This lead is more representative of the less timely, more analytical approach that some newspapers are taking in their print editions. It covers who, what and when, but also why it matters to readers. Again, it uses active verbs, it is specific (170 occasions) and it is brief (35 words). Anecdotal lead: Tri-staters tell stories of the devastating tsunami By Tony Cook for The Cincinnati Post, Jan. 8, 2005 From Dan Ralescus sun-warmed beach chair in Thailand, the Indian Ocean began to look, oddly, not so much like waves but bread dough. Commentary: This article is a local angle on the devastating tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in 2005. As a result of the massive death toll and worldwide impact, most readers would have been inundated with basic information about the tsunami. Given that context, this lead uses an unexpected image to capture the readers attention and prepare them for a new take on the tsunami. Again, it is brief (23 words).

Question lead: Same lobbyist for courts, shorter term, more money By Tony Cook for the Las Vegas Sun, June 29, 2008 Whats increasing faster than the price of gasoline? Apparently, the cost of court lobbyists. District and Justice Court Judges want to hire lobbyist Rick Loop for $150,000 to represent the court system in Carson City through the 2009 legislative session. During the past session, Loops price tag was $80,000. Commentary: Question leads can be useful in grabbing attention, but they are rarely as effective as other types of leads in terms of clearly and concisely providing the main point of a story. In this case, the second paragraph must carry a lot of the weight that would normally be handled in the lead. Source: Purdue University, Online Writing Lab < https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/05/>, accessed on March 24, 10:05 PM. Web.