Basics of News Writing

Basics of
News Writing
Inverted
Pyramid
Inverted Pyramid
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail

of water.
VS.
Jack suffered a skull fracture while Jill is in

critical condition after the pair tumbled
down a hill during their ritual water-
carrying chores yesterday.
Lead Writing
Most journalists think the news lead in

the most important part of the news
story. It is an artwork of concise
information that captures the gist of a
news story in one or two sentences.
Guidelines in
Writing the Lead
1. Keep leads short. Those with 35 words or
less are preferred.
2. Leads limited to one or two sentences are
preferred.
3. Avoid starting leads with “when” or
“where” unless the time or place is
unusual. Most leads starts with “who” or
“what.”
4. Avoid beginning leads with “there” or
“this.”
5. In leads about future events, the time, day
(date), and place usually go at the end of
the paragraph.
Guidelines in
Writing the Lead
6. Use quote or question leads sparingly.

7. In leads about past events, the day
(date) of the event usually appears before
or after the verb. Sometimes, the day
(date) comes at the end of the first
sentence or paragraph if it is a one-
sentence lead.
8. The first five to “what happened”
makes a better story than the fact it did.
Lead Writing Examples
• Who? – Dr. Maria Elsa Ylona Bolado and Justine Bolado presented a research
paper in the 12th Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences in
Honolulu, Hawaii, May 29 – June 1. The two are faculty of USJR main
campus.
• What? – Wearing morally offensive attire was banned in Negros Oriental

State University by the University Security Management Office effective June
10.
• Where? – In Tokyo, Japan last night, the board of education passed a

resolution to ban the wearing of hats in all school districts.
• When? – Last night, October 20, 2021, the Tokyo, Japan board of education
passed a resolution banning hat wearing in all school district buildings.
• How? – By a 6.1 margin last night, the Kobe City Board of Education passed a
resolution banning the wearing of hats in all school district buildings.
• Why? – To give Josenians easier access to the web, the University of San Jose –
Recoletos (USJ-R) will implement its Wireless Fidelity Project in MC I and II in
the second semester of AY: 2023-2024.
Body Construction
and Organization
• The body of the story explains or

clarifies information found in the
lead or add features not found in
the lead.
• The body of the story provides
details and background.
Keep paragraphs short. Those limited with 60
words or less or no longer than 10 typeset
lines are preferred.
Guidelines in Paragraphs limited to one to three sentences

are preferred.
Writing the Each paragraph should only contain one idea.
Body of the
News Remember, short paragraphs encourage
readers to continue reading.
Use simple words. Don’t let readers look for

a dictionary.
Guidelines in Writing
the Body of the News
• Make sure information introduced or outlined in the lead is covered in
the same order in the body of the story.
• Avoid introducing new information at the end of a story. All aspects of
a story should usually be introduced or outlined in the first few
paragraphs.
• Transitions are necessary to show the reader that the writer has a
sense of direction. A word, phrase, sentence or paragraph can move
the reader from one thought to the other.
• Add attributions of prominent persons.
• Add faculty and students’ reactions.
• Before using the acronym of a word or phrase, elaborate it first on the
previous sentence.
• In attribution, use the position of the person.
Direct
Quotes
A. Should be linked Because of anonymous P250,000 donation,
to the paragraph students who ride a school bus to and from
school will have access to the internet during
before them. The their commute starting March 1.
quote should “Giving free Wi-Fi to our students will enable
elaborate on the them to do research, read the news or even
previous paragraph. watch educational videos each day,”
Superintendent Jose Ramos said.
B. Should Principal Amalia Sanchez said that
not repeat several teachers have been reluctant
to give assignments that require
the internet access.
transition/le “Several of our teachers have been
ad before hesitant about giving assignments that

would require the internet,” Sanchez
them. said.
• Can be longer than one sentence.
• Should have attribution after the first
sentence of the quote.
Direct • Do not place two people’s direct quote next

to each other without transition.
Quotes • Attribution should be: Noun then verb.

Example:
Correct: Senior Bob Rodriguez said…
Incorrect: said Senior Bob Rodriguez
Transitions
VERY IMPORTANT as they hold the story Can be a fact, indirect quote or a partial
together/link the paragraphs together quote
FACT Transition
FACT Transition
(Lead) President Rodrigo Duterte will speak on Friday to the youth to get involved in community
extension services.
(Direct Quote) “The youth will learn a lot about duty and commitment when they hear President
Duterte,” Principal Mark Valle said.
(Fact transition) Before becoming president, Duterte worked as a community organizer in Davao.
Indirect Quote Transition
(Lead) Vice-President Leni Robredo will speak on Friday to the youth to get
involved in community extension services.
(Direct Quote) “The youth will learn a lot about duty and commitment when
they hear VP Robredo,” Principal Mark Valle said.
(IQ Transition) VP Robredo said she believes community service is more
important than college in building character.
Partial Quote Transition
(Lead) President Rodrigo Duterte will speak on Friday to the youth to get involved in
community extension services.
(Direct Quote) “The youth will learn a lot about duty and commitment when they
hear President Duterte,” Principal Mark Valle said.
(PQ Transition) President Duterte said he believes community service is “extremely

valuable lesson” for every teen to have.
Transitions
• Use transitional words to help with the flow (as needed): after all, also, finally,
in addition to, similarly, however, otherwise, meanwhile, etc.
Example:
In addition to speaking about community service, Macapagal plans to talk to
students about the importance of voting.
Note: Be sure to use the appropriate transitional word/s.

Things to be avoided in
news writing:
• Editorializing – keep your opinion out of the story.
• Using first and second person – Keep yourself out
of the story e.g. “our school”
• Messy handwriting/font style, poor grammar and
spelling
• Too long paragraphs
• Misspelling names in the story
• Trying to use all of the information
Things to be avoided in
news writing:
• Eliminate the word “that” whenever possible.
• Eliminate the “be” verb. Write “she will resign”
instead of “she will be resigning. Write in future
tense instead of progressive tense (-ing).
• Avoid using contractions. There are instances
when the contraction can mean two things e.g.
he’d (he would, he had)
Editing
• Always double-check the spelling of the names.
• Make sure number match the items listed.
• Make sure “only” is placed properly in a sentence. The location
of “only” can change the meaning of the sentence.
• Read the story out loud to catch awkward sentence
constructions.
• Write. Rewrite. Revise. Rewrite. Revise. Edit. Revise. Edit. Edit.
The first version of the story is NOT GOOD ENOUGH to go into
print.
“There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”

Other points to
consider:
• Avoid using the same word twice in a sentence.
• Count the number of words in a story’s sentence. Sentence
length should vary. Stories become full dull when sentences
have the same length.
• Quotation marks should go outside commas (,”) and
periods (.”). They go inside semi-colons (“;) and colons (“:).
• You can use transition words to show coherence from one
paragraph to the other.

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Basics of

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail

Jack suffered a skull fracture while Jill is in

Most journalists think the news lead in

6. Use quote or question leads sparingly.

• What? – Wearing morally offensive attire was banned in Negros Oriental

• Where? – In Tokyo, Japan last night, the board of education passed a

• The body of the story explains or

Guidelines in Paragraphs limited to one to three sentences

Writing the Each paragraph should only contain one idea.

Use simple words. Don’t let readers look for

transition/le “Several of our teachers have been

ad before hesitant about giving assignments that

Direct • Do not place two people’s direct quote next

Quotes • Attribution should be: Noun then verb.

(PQ Transition) President Duterte said he believes community service is “extremely

Note: Be sure to use the appropriate transitional word/s.

“There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”

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