NEWS WRITING

Introduction

This module discusses the intricacies of news writing that student writers should be
familiar with as they engage in the arena of campus journalism. Topics geared towards the
development of skills in designing the proper news structure based on time-tested methods of
writing. This will also discuss how and where news can be sourced out.

The various manners of writing the headlines are also presented in this module,
emphasizing t heir characteristics and individual appeal and advantages. Indeed, the structure
of a news story can never be underrated. A novel or play or nearly any other piece of writing
begins with the setting or the groundwork of the plot; and then builds up to the climax. The news
story, on the other hand, uses a reverse structure. It opens with a summary or the climax in its
lead paragraph, and then develops the rest of the story by giving the details either in
chronological order or in the order of decreasing importance.

Learning Outcomes

This module aims to impart to the student specific subject content that will enable them
to:

1. Elucidate the news structure, specifically

1.1. its characteristics,

1.2 its sources,

1.3. its structure,

Lesson Proper

The News Structure

There is logical, practical reason for the “inverse pyramid” structure in news writing. First
of all, it is a natural way of telling a story. “I just saw a fireman rescue a child from a burning
building on Recto Street,” you will naturally begin if you want to tell your friend what you saw.
More than likely, you will start your account with a description of the colorful patterns formed in
the sky by the setting sun as you walked along the Recto Street, only to have your reveries
broken by the wail of the fire siren. What you have done then is to give your listener a summary
of the news you wish to convey; then you add the details.

Summarizing a news story in the opening paragraph has several practical advantages. It
facilitates reading, satisfies curiosity, aids the headline writer, and makes it possible for the
makeup man or page designer to fit a story into its space by cutting from the bottom up.

The following illustrations show the common structures of straight news:

The Inverted
Pyramid

Paragraph 1

The
subsequent

paragraphs

The Quote Story

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

Paragraph 4

Paragraph 5

The Lead

The first task of a reporter in developing the lead or opening paragraph of a straight
news story (as distinct from a feature story) is distilled from his scribbled notes the dominant
news points in what he has just uncovered – a speech, an accident , a natural phenomenon, or
some other development the newspaper readers might want to read about.
 Here then are the famous five W’s and the H that comprise the ingredients of a
comprehensive lead. By merely seeing to it that they are all included is not enough. The good
lead requires, among other elements, selectivity – the determination of what elements is most
important.

Let us take, for example, the explosion of a bomb (what) placed under a manhole cover
(how) by a disgruntled employee who wanted to “get even” (why, and to some extent who), at
the corner of Recto St. and Quezon Blvd. (where) at 12 p.m. (when) with thousands of people
on the street, resulting in the death of the son of the mayor of the city, who was passing by at
the moment, and 12 persons (who).

Any one of the news elements in this case could serve as a springboard to propel you
into the story. The opening words could emphasize any W’s – what happened? Who was
involved? When did it happen? Where did it take place? How did it happen? Or why? The point
is that there is no formula one can apply which can guarantee a good lead. The experienced
newsman can “feel” it carefully in his mind before he puts it on paper, and if he is not satisfied
with it, he will try again - because he knows that once he has the good lead, the rest of the story
tends to “tell itself”. Even highly trained newspapermen are made constantly aware of the need
to strive for appropriate leads.

The Body of the Story

The body of the story should emerge from the lead, and the dominant point made in the
opening paragraph must be fully borne out and developed in the sentences that follow.

If the reporter starts with a summary lead to give the “story in a nutshell,” then in the
body of the story he has only the task of retelling the story in sufficient detail and with the facts
and incidents arranged in logical order – either the decreasing importance or chronological
sequence. This organization of material makes sense, for if the reader stops reading at any
point or a makeup man finds it necessary to cut, nothing omitted will be as important as what
was read or left in the story.

Briefly, the body of the story serves one or both of two purposes:

1. It explains and elaborates the feature or features presented in the lead; and
 2. it adds and amplifies minor features not given in the lead.

Factors Essential to News

 The three factors that are essential to news are facts, interest, and readers.
 The basis of all news is fact. The task of the reporter is to make facts interesting to the
particular readers for whom he is writing for this reason, a reporter of a campus paper
must slant his news stories for his student readers.
A. News must be factual; it must be based upon actual happenings, situations, thoughts and
ideas.
B. News must be interesting. The degree and breadth of interest vary. One story may have a
high degree of interest for only a small number of readers, while another story may have a
great degree of interest for a large number of readers.
C. A number of elements help make facts interesting to people. They are following:
1. Immediacy or Timeliness. A reporter must stress the latest angle of a news story. The words
today and tomorrow characterize the most newsworthy words in the lead of a news
story. Occasionally, a story happens in the recent past. In this case, the reporter must
seek for a today angle of the event. However, since most events actually happened or
witnessed before the paper is issued, it is necessary to depend rather heavily on the
less time-bound element if the story is to be of interest to a large number of students.
For example, if a school head resigns on November 5, we can’t expect readers to be
interested in that fact on December 10, when the next issue of the paper comes out.
The reporter must find something about the school administrator’s resignation, of his
new plans that will be timely or new to the students, and therefore, news. The reporter
must dig out some point of interest with regards to the school administrator’s
resignation.
2. Proximity. This element refers not only to geographic nearness but also to interest nearness.
A graduate of your school who makes it to the editorial staff of the New York Times in
distant United States is news to your campus paper.
A reporter must emphasize a local or school angle of a news story whenever possible.
The campus paper should restrict stories to school activities – to students, faculty, other
school personnel, and to those community, city/provincial/regional or national events
which somehow affect the students or the teachers.
3. Consequence. This element refers to importance or breadth of appeal. A story that affects
every student in the school will have more reader interest than one affecting only
members of one class. The reporter must emphasize the angle of a story that will
interest most of his readers. Occasionally, he will need to interpret the significance of a
story for his readers.
4. Prominence. This element includes persons, places, things, and situations known to the
public by reason of wealth, social position, achievement, or previous publicity. Always
include names of persons, especially those that are well-known, in your news story for
names make news. The more prominent a particular name, place, event or situation,
the more interesting it will be a story.
5. Drama. This element adds vitality and color to a news story. A reporter must try as much as
possible to find dramatic action and picturesque background to his story. Mystery,
suspense and comedy are the chief characteristics of drama.
6. Oddity or Unusualness. This element always help to make facts interesting to people. The
greater the degree of unusualness in a story, the greater its value as news.
7. Conflict. This element is one of the most basic of all the news elements. It involves physical
and mental conflicts; man vs. man; man vs. animals. It is perhaps the news element
that appears most frequently in the daily news.
8. Emotions and Instincts. These elements involve the desire for food, clothing and shelter; the
universal interest in children and animals; fear, sympathy, jealousy, and generosity in
human affairs. The public enjoys having its emotions appealed through the press.
9. Progress. This element involves any significant change for the betterment of mankind. It may
refer to achievement in the laboratory, the observatory, the industrial plant, or around
the council table. It may refer to construction of new buildings and highways or
improvement of those already in existence.
D. A reporter must develop his “nose for news”. A “nose for news” simply means curiosity about
people, what they do, and what to think of everything that happens in school in terms of a
possible this way, you will develop your nose for news.

Gathering News
A. The best news gathering is done by reporters who have the following traits:
1. Intense interest in all kinds of people and converse with them.
2. Ability to speak and write good English or any languages used by the newspaper.
3. Being resourceful and persevering when a story is difficult to obtain.
 4. A sense of responsibility and punctuality.
5. Willingness to respect confidences, consider requests, and keep promises.
6. Ability to work quickly and accurately.
7. Realization that there are always two sides to every story, and willingness to hold
judgment until all facts are known.
8. Broad interests and wide educational background.
9. Keenness of observation and a “nose for news”.
 Ability to get information that will be of interest to readers.
 Ability to spot clues which may lead to the discovery of important news.
 Ability to recognize the possibility of other news related to the particular
information at hand.

10. Extensive reading and enjoyment of good literature.

11. An extensive vocabulary.

Source of Campus News

A campus paper obtains news from following sources:

1. Beats – school head or principal, heads of various school departments, athletic coaches,
students, sponsors of activities, school PTA, community or civil organizations, public
officials, barangay officials, and alumni association.

2. Future Book or Datebook – which includes a record of all coming campus activities.

3. School Handbook – if it includes a calendar of the year’s activities.

4. Press or publicity releases.

5. News tips from teachers and students.

Requirements of News Gathering

a.) Consult your editor to be sure that you know what is to be expected.

b.) Look up previously related stories in earlier issues for background information. Use
those facts which will help you make your story more interesting. For example, if you are
covering the results of the student council elections, you might want to look up in the
previous issue of your campus paper the news on the results of the elections last year
and make a comparison. Information of this kind makes your story more interesting to
your readers and helps develop your reportorial skills.

c.) Know who are the most informed news sources for a particular news story and
consult them.

d.) Plan in advance questions to ask in interviews with your sources. A reporter should
not confine himself to getting the five W’s and H, plus a few obvious details. Real
reporting is hard work and demands that a reporter gets every detail there is to a story.
Then he can select the most important and interesting details in the story. Only by
exhaustive reporting can a news story be made more interesting to the readers.

B. Make appointments sufficiently in advance of deadline. Your news sources with whom you
wish to interview are busy people. Moreover, unforeseen circumstances sometimes may
occur to cause you to miss your deadline or to prevent you from obtaining your story.

C. Know how to converse by telephone.

a.) Be ready to talk when a called person answers the phone.

b.) Identify yourself by giving your name clearly and stating you are a reporter of your
campus paper (give the name of your paper).

c.) Explain briefly the purpose of your call.

d.) be attentive and repeat the time and place of appointment before hanging up the
receiver to be sure that there is no misunderstanding.

e.) Be polite, always thank the person for cooperating with you.
D. Know how to conduct an interview.

a.) Be on time to conduct an interview.

b.) Know the correct pronunciation of the interviewee’s name.

c.) Have with you a number of pencils and notebooks.

d.) Introduce your name by stating it clearly, the paper you represent, and your purpose.

e.) Begin the interview promptly upon arrival if your news source is too busy to visit
socially for a few times.

f.) Be friendly and courteous. Make your interviewee feel that what he has to say is
important.

g.) Avoid interrupting the interview.

h.) Ask questions that will enable the interviewee to do most of the talking. In other
words, ask leading questions; avoid questions answerable by “yes” or “no” unless
absolutely necessary.

i.) Keep the interview going smoothly. Do not permit the interviewee to wander from the
topic. However, should the topic digress to something equally as interesting or important,
do not fail to pursue it with intelligent questioning.

j.) Avoid asking questions that are too personal.

k.) Observe interviewee’s facial expressions, mannerisms, and gestures. Sometimes

l.) Take plenty of notes, but don’t bury your face in your notes. Take notes as
unobtrusively as possible.

m.) Be sure that you obtain all the information that you need and ask to verify notes
before you leave your sources.

n.) Observe carefully all requests.

1, Accuracy, simplicity, and clarity are requisites of a good news story.

2. Be sure the facts are clear before you try to tell them to others.

3. Be specific, do not generalize. “A big crowd” is less specific than “80,000”.

4. The active voice has more life than passive.

5. Use short sentences or phrases to describe action. “The driver, lunging at the bee buzzing
around his head, lost control of the driving wheel, and the car wound up in a ditch” is slower
than “The driver lunged at the bee, lost control of the car, and wound up in a ditch”.

6. Vary the construction of sentences and paragraphs. To get away from the excessive use of
the simple declarative statement (subject-predicate), which makes for dullness, you can see
participles, subordinates, clauses, infinitives, and other grammatical devices at the beginning
of the sentence. For example: “Jose said that Pedro had absconded the money, and then
added that he tried to stop him” can be written to give variety, as “Saying that he tried to stop
him…” or “Pedro took the money even though I tried to stop him,” Jose said.

7. Keep paragraphs short. Include only one main idea in a paragraph. In this way, unity is
achieved.

8. Keep paragraphs and sentences follow one another smoothly – for continuity or coherence.

9. Do not begin sentences with numerals. Instead of “34 men were arrested…”, write “Thirty-four
men…”.

10. Identify all the persons mentioned in the story. This can be done by giving their age,
address, occupation, etc.
11. Each word that gets into print costs money and may keep another word out of the paper.
Omit superfluous words like: “He was divorced from his wife.” “The accident happened at
4:30 a.m. this morning.”

12. Avoid legal terminology and unexplained technical terms or foreign words.

13. Avoid such expressions as had leg broken, had his pocket picked. No sane person has
these things done to himself.

14. Use simple, everyday words.

15. Be concise.

16. Avoid editorializing. Editorializing is putting of the writer’s opinion in the story. This is taboo
in an objective news reporting.

17. Read, study, and review the rules of grammar and rhetoric frequently.

18. Read your story carefully before handing it to your editor. Be instantly on guard against
inaccuracy or libel.

Types of Lead

A. Summary Lead – the briefest possible summary of a news story. It answers the five W’s and
H – Who, What, Where, When and How – that is, as many as are important. Often, it
also answers “Who said so?”

1. WHO Lead – features the WHO when the person involved in the news story is well-known
to the readers of the newspaper that publishes the news story.

Example:
2. WHAT Lead – when the circumstances are the most important.

Example:

3. WHERE Lead – when the place is the most important item in the story.

Example:

4. WHEN Lead – occasionally used when the answer to the question “When will it be?” has
been sought eagerly.

Example:
5. HOW Lead – used often in sports stories. Used occasionally in stories when the HOW is
usual.

Example:

6. WHY Lead – features the WHY when the cause is the most important point of the story.

Example:

B. Novelty leads (unconventional leads)

Reasons for writing novelty leads:

1. To enhance the readability of the newspaper.

2. To add vigor and color to writing.

3. To make stories as interesting as possible.

4. To challenge the ability of the writer.

When to write novelty leads:

1. When you have some facts that are not entirely straight news.

2. When you have some facts that may be made much more interesting by a novel way
of presenting them.
 3. When the use of a novelty lead seems natural, appropriate, and unrestrained.

4. When the purpose of your lead is to arouse the reader’s interest, not to satisfy it.

Types of novelty leads:

1. Punch or Astonisher Lead

a. Consists usually of a short, snappy sentence set of in a paragraph by itself with the summary
of other facts in the second paragraph.

b. Used when you have one fact that is extremely important or startling.

Example:

2. Background Lead

a. Consists of a sentence or sentences describing an event in which the background

b. Used often for stories about carnivals, dances, gymnasium exhibitions, music festivals, and
homecoming events.

Example:
3. Descriptive Lead

a. Consists of a description either of a person, place, or event.

b. Used when a comparatively few words can formulate a vivid image in the reader’s mind.

Example:

4. Exclamatory Lead

a. Consists of short exclamatory sentence frequently set off in a paragraph by itself.

b. Used for extremely striking formation.

Example:
5. Direct Quotation Lead

a. Consist of speaker’s direct words.

b. Used when what is said is more striking or important than the person who made the
statement.

Example:

6. Question Lead

a. Consist of a question usually set off in a paragraph by itself.

b. Used only when the question is the crux of the story.

Example:
7. Contrast Lead

a. Should be sharp and vivid to be most effective.

b. Used to point out opposites and extremes.

Example:

8. Literary, Historical, or Mythological Allusion Lead

a. Consist most frequently of a quotation or a reference to a literary, historical, or mythological

b. Used only when the reference is natural and appropriate.

Example:

9. Parody Lead
a. Consist most frequently of a parody of a well-known song, poem, quotation, book, or movie
title.

Example:

10. Atmosphere Lead

a. Consists of a group words or phrases that help to portray the setting or mood for the reader.

b. Used only when the setting or mood of an event is interesting or significant.

Example:

11. Suspended Interest Lead

a. Consists usually of several sentences in which the reader’s interest is intensified as he

b. Used most frequently for news-feature stories which must be pointed in their entirety to
preserve their news interest.
 Example:

12. Direct Appeal Lead

a. Borrows the interest-compelling device of the personal letter.

b. Addresses the reader directly or by implications as “you,” and has the effect of making the
reader a collaborator in what follows.

c. It often begins with such phrases as “If you have ever thought.” Or “If you have ever seen or
heard.”

Example:
 This lead business makes even the veteran journalist pause. While covering a story he
carries in the back of his mind, the consciousness that a suitable beginning for the story must
somehow evolve with him. He keeps on the watch for that element or those elements in the
assignment which would make a good lead. The best way to gain journalistic facility is to
practice the writing of the leads.

ACTIVITY

Directions: Rewrite the News Story in the box using various leads discussed in the lesson and
ensuring its adherence to the prescribed news structure.
Analysis

Directions: Using the article in the previous activity, pick out and label the elements that make
the story interesting.

A P P L I C A T I O N

 Write a News Story focusing on the BSK ELECTION situation in your municipality/city.
This may be about the readiness, threats, practices or measures taken by leaders,
organizations and notable private individuals.
 Use two (2) types of Summary Leads and two (2) types of Novelty Leads in writing your
story; this means you have to write your News Story four (4) times.
 Label each News Story as to Type of Lead used.