News Report
News Report Structure
1. Headline
2. Sub-Heading (short phrase, quotation; optional)
3. Byline By: Beenish Salman
4. News Event
(What? When? Where? Who?)
5. Background
(Why? previous history, lead-up to this event, causes)
6. Report of actual news event
(detailed account of what happened and what is still happening)
7. Quotations
(participants, witnesses, police, hospital etc)
8. Future
(consequences, investigations, predictions)
HEADLINE TENDS TO :
CONSIST OF A MAXIMUM OF SIX WORDS
CONTAIN SENSATIONAL VOCABULARY (E.G CRASH, TRAGIC)
USE SHORT WORDS (USUALLY NO LONGER THAN TWO SYLLABLES)
USE THE SHORTEST SYNONYMS (E.G. WEDS FOR MARRIES)
USE THE PRESENT TENSE FOR EVENTS IN THE RECENT PAST
LEAVE OUT DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES (I.E. ‘THE’ AND ‘A’)
EXAMINATION TIP:
POPULAR NEWSPAPERS LIKE TO USE THE FOLLOWING DEVICES IN THEIR HEADLINES
PUNS – US DOLLAR FOR SUCCESS
ASSONANCE- HIT LIST TWIST
ALLITERATION – FEARS OF FREE FALL
QUOTATIONS – FOR RICHER, FOR POORER
News Reports
Report MAIN FACTS or INFORMATION about very RECENT and SPECIFIC incidents
Style - short paragraphs; short sentences; dramatic vocabulary
Stacking of adjectives and descriptive phrases before the noun (e.g. ‘The Japanese-owned lightweight
racing yacht Sunshine II...’, ‘Divorced former model and mother of two, Susan Smith...’)
Structure - contrary to normal chronological sequence, news reports begin with the very recent past
(usually yesterday); go on to fill in past background prior to the event; return to the immediate present and
how things are developing; then finally speculate about the future.
Objective (more facts ), not biased
Headlines are: Simple and straightforward .A summary of what happened
You know what the incident/event is by just reading the headline
Headline – shows what the focus is (something specific, and something recent)
News reports have the WHO, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN at the start.
Expert or witness account in direct speech are often included to give weight to the article. E.g: “It has
shown aggressive behaviour in the past, however, nothing led us to believe it was appropriate to remove
the goat from its habitat,” park spokeswoman Barb Maynes told the Associated Press.
Report events in sequence: what happened, what happened next Makes use of TIME connectives – first,
later, finally Final paragraph focuses on the current situation and what is happening next (predictions, future
consequences, investigation etc)
The reporter is just an observer No ‘I’ is present (unless it is in direct speech/witness/expert account)
Most verbs to recount what happened is in the PAST TENSE except for headline and final paragraph
Active form “I noticed the fire starting in the factory and called the police,” said John Widjaja. Passive form
The start of the fire was noticed and the police were called. In a passive form, the subject/doer is missing
and makes the text sound more distant. News reporters (except for in a direct speech) makes use of passive
form when they want to give the text more authority
Points to remember
Write at least 5 points for each bullet point to get higher level
marks for task fulfillment
underline the keywords in the question and the bullet points to
ensure full coverage of their response.
The answer to the third bullet point is not explicitly found in the
text but can be inferred from it,
Answers will be penalized if lifted from the text.
A good idea is to use three different colored highlighters to
underline the appropriate content of the three bullet points.
All the ideas should be derived from the text as it`s not a creative
writing task
Sample News Report
Rescuers find trapped student cavers alive
By: Albert John
Eight Swiss potholers trapped in a cave in eastern France by rising water were found alive yesterday. Rescue teams were preparing to work through the night
to bring them to the surface.
Known as Bief-du-Paraud, the cave, which runs for 415 yards but only about 20 feet below the surface, is normally considered a beginner-level site for
potholers. The expedition had been part of a project for the students to develop their ability to face challenges. Inexperienced, poorly equipped and with one
of the group being partially blind, the students were initially given little chance of survival. The potholers had entered the long narrow cave on Wednesday
despite warnings from local people to stay away because rain in recent weeks had made the area dangerous.
Hope for survival of the three women and five men – students and a teacher in their twenties – had been fading when they were found before midday by a
driver who swam through a narrow passage to reach a chimney where they had taken refuge. The diver had discovered them crouched in the corridor above
the water level 75 yards into the cave at Goumois in the Doubs department, 30 miles from the Swiss border. They had been trapped there for nearly 40 hours
by sudden flooding on Wednesday.
Distraught relatives who had gathered at the site gave a cheer when news of their discovery was announced. The group was expected to be brought out
through a hole being drilled into a chimney where they had taken refuge. Rescuers were pumping water from the cave to avert flood danger from heavy rains
over the past 24 hours. Two divers, one of whom is a doctor, where spending the night with the students in the chimney. They brought them food and water
and heating appliance.
‘The group took refuge in a dry spot in a chimney, ’Eric Zipper, technical adviser informed. ‘They are in good shape considering their ordeal. They are hungry
and a little weak. They have very little food left, but they are in good spirits. There was no panic. They had a little light because they had rationed their
batteries.’
Local potholing experts described the expedition as foolhardy, given the dangerous prevailing conditions. ‘They were equipped only with walking shoes,
jeans and anoraks’, M. Zipper said.
Markus Braendle, director of the Social Workers College of Zurich, where most of the students came from, asserted: ‘I am so happy this nightmare is over’.
