News Writing

NEWS WRITING
What makes news a NEWS?

• It is new.
• It has numbers.
• It has conflict.
• It has impact.
• It’s about
popular people.
• It’s near.
• It’s odd.
So here we go…
• When we write news, we place the most
essentials in the beginning, then we write the
facts in decreasing order of importance.
Hence, the term INVERTED PYRAMID is
applied.
• BUT HOW DO WE DECIDE WHICH IS THE

MOST IMPORTANT?
A news story is made or broken by its angle.
• To choose an angle, we should ask what is the

most striking thing about this story?
• Identify specific angle of an event as highlight
of your story (news within a news)
• Once you find that, the story will write itself.
Lead…
• Keep it short
• Avoid starting lead with “when”
and “where”
• PLAY IT BY THE EAR
Look at this news.
The administration announced on
Monday during the flag ceremony that a new
set of school rules and regulations will be
implemented in Kinatakutan National High
School (KnNHS) to address cases of students’
cutting classes.
Secondary lead (2nd paragraph):
elaboration of WHO
Mr. Arlan A. Silvestre, Teacher-in-
charge, made the announcement after
several reports from the guidance office
confirmed that cutting classes have been
rampant during the first quarter.
Building the nutgraph/ narration of source,
background of the event (3rd paragraph)
Initial reports from the third year

guidance office said that there were 200
cases of cutting classes recorded for June
2018.
DIRECT QUOTE (4 -5 PARAGRAPHS)
TH TH
“We have to impose an iron hand for

these students who cut classes. We have to
implement stiff policies this time and make
students realize their self-responsibility,” Mrs.
Natividad said.
“Students with three consecutive
absences will be subjected for first offense,
then for disciplinary measures if they continue
doing so,” she added.
6 to the last paragraphs -
th
• Continuation of the DETAILS

• Attribution of sources
• Canned action (last paragraph)
The TIC told the Ang Sawali reporters
that the administration is open for revisions
should some provisions in these new rules
found to be ineffective.
THE STRAIGHT NEWS FORMAT
Here’s the suggestion:
• 1st paragraph: the lead (usually the WHO, WHAT, SO WHAT
elements of the news)
• 2nd paragraph: secondary lead (bring the other w’s). Start
building your nutgraph.
• 3rd paragraph: elaboration of the most important W’S. (Give
the background of the event.)
• 4TH paragraph: quote from the key person involved.
• 5th to last paragraphs: reverse chronology of details (from
the most to the least important details), narrative of action,
citing the sources from reported interviews, canned action.
The previous example is obviously a straight
news.
• Like any other straight news, the dominant
w’s are presented in the example.
• It uses third person point of view which is a
requirement in news writing.
• Adjectives are sparingly used.
• The lead is not more than 35 words.
How straight news is written
• DIRECT LEAD: Summary lead/ grammatical
beginning lead
• Elaboration of the w’s (vital information)
according to degree of importance must be
presented in the body.
• Follow the one-sentence, one-paragraph
structure.
Getting started
• After reading sample news, the next step is
gathering your materials to write your own
news story.
• This process is called the gathering of data
through interview, research, actual coverage
or any other means.
Choosing what’s news can be harder
The reporter chooses stories from the
flood of information and events happening in
the world and in their community. Stories are
normally chosen because of their importance,
emotion, impact, timeliness and interest.
Note: all these factors do NOT have to
coincide in each and every story!
Identify what kind of story is it.
• Hard news: This is how journalists refer to news of the day. It is
a chronicle of current events/incidents and is the most
common news style on the front page of your typical
newspaper.
• It starts with a summary lead. What happened? Where?

When? To/by whom? Why? (The journalist's 5 W's). It must be
kept brief and simple, because the purpose of the rest of the
story will be to elaborate on this lead.
• Keep the writing clean and uncluttered. Most important, give

the readers the information they need.
What kind of story is it.
• Soft news: This is a term for all the news that isn't time-sensitive.
Soft news includes profiles of people, programs or organizations.
As we discussed earlier, the "lead" is more literary or novelty.
• News Feature is a soft news : A news feature takes one step

back from the headlines. It explores an issue. News features are
less time-sensitive than hard news but no less newsworthy. They
can be an effective way to write about complex issues too large
for the terse style of a hard news item. Street kids are a perfect
example. The stories of their individual lives are full of
complexities which can be reflected in a longer piece.
Getting into the task
• Reporters usually get assignments from their editor. But the best
reporters also come up with ideas for their own stories. How?
They look, think, ask lots of questions, and talk with LOTS of
people.
• Topics for stories are everywhere. Do you see a new student in the
halls, a new teacher in the classrooms? Has your principal
introduced any new programs or schedules that will affect
students directly? These are the kinds of questions to ask yourself
when looking for a news "hook" or angle. And keep in mind the
timeliness of the topic. You may have an interesting subject, but
it's not a news story unless something is going on that makes your
subject of interest today.
Decide and Follow the format.
• Go back to the basic format of straight news.
(if you wish to write it in hardcore news style)
• Use the featurized format for news is

applicable.
BALITA
DepEd may hotline na para sa classes opening
Inanunsyo ng Department of Education (DepEd)

ang pagtatalaga nila ng hotline kaugnay sa
senior high school program na magsisimula sa
muling pagbubukas ng klase sa Hunyo.
Ayon kay DepEd Sec. Bro. Armin Luistro
nakipagugnayan sila sa call center na IBEX Global
Solutions para sa senior high school help desk.
“Lahat ng tanong ukol sa senior high school
program, partikular na ang mga curriculum at
discount vouchers ay maaaring itawag sa
numerong 667-11-88”, wika ng kalihim.
Nabatid na ang linya ay bukas mula 6:00 na
umaga hanggang 6:00 ng gabi mula Lunes
hanggang Biyernes, at tatagal ito hanggang sa
katapusan ng buwan ng Hunyo.
Sinabi ni Luistro na layon nito na magkaroon ng

maayos na muling pagsisimula ng mga klase sa
mga pampubliko at pribadong paaralan.
End of lecture.
Thank you for listening…

News Writing

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NEWS WRITING

What makes news a NEWS?

• BUT HOW DO WE DECIDE WHICH IS THE

• To choose an angle, we should ask what is the

Initial reports from the third year

“We have to impose an iron hand for

• Continuation of the DETAILS

• It starts with a summary lead. What happened? Where?

• Keep the writing clean and uncluttered. Most important, give

• News Feature is a soft news : A news feature takes one step

• Use the featurized format for news is

Inanunsyo ng Department of Education (DepEd)

Sinabi ni Luistro na layon nito na magkaroon ng

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