Basics of News Writing

Compiled by
Ariel Dizon
 What is News Writing?

News writing gives the reader information

that will have an impact on them in some
way.
It usually flows from most important to least
important.
“What is news? It is information only.” –Walter
Cronkite, former CBS News anchor
 Structures of News Story

 Headline
 Structures of News Story

 Byline
 Structures of News Story

 Lead
 Structures of News Story

 Body (Details)
 News Writing

Inverted Pyramid
 The Inverted
Most interesting or Pyramid of news
most important suggests that news
Least
be told in order of
interesting most interesting or
or least
important important to least
interesting or
important
 News Writing

 Jack and Jill went up

the hill to fetch a pail of
water.
vs.
 Jack suffered a skull
fracture and Jill is in
serious condition after
the pair tumbled down a
hill during their ritual
water-carrying chores
yesterday.
News Writing

 The Newark Valley boys’

baseball squad played a
game yesterday
afternoon.
vs.
 The Newark Valley boys’
baseball squad beat
Candor at home
yesterday in a thrilling
extra-inning showdown
between neighboring
rivals.
 News Writing

Most Important
or Interesting

Least Important
or Interesting
 Lead Writing

 Most journalists
think the news lead
is the most
important part of the
news story. It is an
art work of concise
information that
captures the gist of
a news story in one
or two sentences.
 Purposes of LEAD

 To summarize the story.

 To arouse the interest of the readers.
 Lead Writing

 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 start with "who" or
"what."
 Lead Writing
 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.
 6. Use quote and question leads
sparingly.
 Lead Writing

 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 the 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

 Who? — Dr. Maria Elsa Ilona Bulado and Justine

Bulado presented a research paper in the 12th
Hawaii International Conference on Social
Sciences in Honolulu, Hawaii, May 29-June 1. The
two are faculty members of NORSU main
campus.

 What? — Wearing morally offensive attire was

banned in Negros Oriental State University by the
University Security Management Office (USMO)
effective June 10.
 Lead Writing

 Where? — In  When? — Last

Newark Valley last night, the Newark
night, the board of Valley Board of
education passed a Education passed a
resolution to ban the resolution banning
wearing of hats in all hat wearing in all
school district school district
buildings. buildings.
 Lead Writing

 How? — By a 6-1 margin last night, the Newark

Valley Board of Education passed a resolution
banning hat wearing in all school district
buildings.
 Why? — To provide Norsunians easier access to
web, the Negros Oriental State University
-Communication and Information System Office
(NORSU-CISO) will implement its Wireless
Fidelity (WiFi) Connectivity Project in MC I and II
in the second semester of SY 2013-2014.
Body Construction and
Organization
 The body of the story explains or
clarifies features found in the lead or
add features not found in the lead.
 The body of the story provides details
and background
 Body Construction and
Organization
 Keep paragraphs short. Those limited to 60 words
or less or no longer than 10 typeset lines are
preferred.
 Paragraphs limited to one to three sentences are
preferred.
 Each paragraph should contain only one idea.
 Remember short paragraphs encourage readers to
continue reading.
 Use simple words. Don’t let readers look for
dictionary.
 Body Construction and
Organization
 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 another.
 Body Construction and
Organization
 Add attributions of prominent persons
 Add faculty and students’ reactions
 Arrange your details in logical order
 Before using the acronym of the word or
phrase, elaborate it first on the previous
sentences
 In attribution, use the position of the person
(other titles may be omitted)
 Body Construction and
Organization
Note:
When you want to incorporate
information which is not directly
connected to the main story, but is
related, use conjunctive words or
conjunctive phrase such as meanwhile,
in a related development, in this light,
etc.
Transition/Quote Formula

and so on…until the story is complete

 Direct Quotes

 Should be linked to the paragraph before them. The

quote should elaborate on the previous paragraph.
Example:
Because of an anonymous $25,000 donation,
students who ride a school bus to and from school
will have access to the Internet during their commute
starting March 1.
“Giving free Wi-Fi to our students will enable them to
do research, read the news or even watch
educational videos each day,” Superintendent Kelli
Putman said.
 Direct Quotes

 Should not repeat the transition/lead before them.

Example:
Principal Jeanette Rother said that several teachers
have been reluctant to give assignments that require
Internet access.
“Several of our teachers have been hesitant about
giving homework assignments that would require the
Internet,” Rother said.
 Direct Quotes

 Can be longer than one sentence.

 Should have attribution after the first sentence of
the quote.
 Do not place two people’s direct quotes next to
each other without a transition.
 Attribution should be: Noun then verb.
Example:
Correct - senior Bob Rodriguez said.
Incorrect - said senior Bob Rodriguez.
(unless you have an unusually long title)
 Transitions

 VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. Hold the story together.

Link the paragraphs together.
 Can be fact, indirect quote or a partial quote.
For example - FACT TRANSITION:
(Lead) President Barack Obama will speak on Friday to
seniors about getting involved in community service work.
(Direct Quote)“Seniors will learn a lot about duty and
commitment when they hear President Obama,” Principal
Ike Sumter said. “We are so excited that he agreed to
come.”
(Fact Transition) Before becoming president, Obama
worked as a community organizer in Chicago.
 Transitions

 Can be fact, indirect quote or a partial quote.

For example - INDIRECT QUOTE TRANSITION:
(Lead) President Barack Obama will speak on Friday to
seniors about getting involved in community service work.
(Direct Quote)“Seniors will learn a lot about duty and
commitment when they hear President Obama,” Principal
Ike Sumter said. “We are so excited that he agreed to
come.”
(IQ Transition) President Obama said he believes
community service is more important than college in
building character.
 Transitions

 Can be fact, indirect quote or a partial quote.

For example - PARTIAL QUOTE TRANSITION:
(Lead) President Barack Obama will speak on Friday to
seniors about getting involved in community service work.
(Direct Quote)“Seniors will learn a lot about duty and
commitment when they hear President Obama,” Principal
Ike Sumter said. “We are so excited that he agreed to
come.”
(PQ Transition) President Obama 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,
However, Otherwise, Then

For example:
In addition to speaking about community service,
Obama plans to talk to students about the importance
of voting.
NOTE: BE SURE YOU USE THE APPROPRITE
TRANSITIONAL WORD.
 Transitions

 Use parts of the direct quotes to create the

transition. And then use the rest of the quote as
direct quote.
 Needed to avoid
 Editorializing - Keep your opinion out of the story.
 Using first and second person - Keep yourself out of
the story. Common error: “our school”.
 Messy handwriting, poor grammar and spelling
 Too long paragraphs
 Misspelling names in the story
 Trying to use all of the information
 Editing

 Eliminate the word "that" whenever possible.

 Eliminate the "be" verb. Write "she will resign"
instead of "she will be resigning. "Write in future
tense (will) instead of future progressive tense (will
be "ing").
 Avoid the contractions of he'd and they'd. "He'd"
can mean both "he had" and "he would," and
"they'd" can mean both "they had" and "they
would."
 Editing

 Always double-check the spelling of

names.
 Make sure numbers match the items
listed.
 Make sure "only" is placed properly in a
sentence. The location of "only" can
change the meaning of a sentence.
 Editing

 Read the story out loud to catch awkward

sentence constructions.
 Write. Rewrite. Revise. Rewrite. Revise.
Edit. Revise. Edit. Edit. The first version of
a story is NOT good enough to go into
print. Someone once said THERE IS NO
GREAT WRITING, ONLY GREAT
REWRITING.
 Grammar

 When you use a pronoun to refer to a team or a

group, the proper pronoun to use is "its," NOT they.
Example: The team wants to improve its record.
 Make sure verbs or other phrases are "parallel" or
the same in structure when they appear in stories
or list.
 Examples: He likes gardening, fishing and
hunting. The fire killed at least 12 persons, injured
60 more and forced scores of residents to leap
from windows.
 Grammar

 Use THIRD PERSON (she, he, it, its, her, hers,

him, his, they, them, their, theirs) in news stories.
Only on rare occasions do you use first person (I,
mine, we, our, ours) or second person (you, your,
yours) in news stories.
 Use active voice vs. passive voice. The passive
voice is formed by using some form of the verb
"be" with the past participle of an action verb: is
shot, was shot, has been shot, had been shot,
may be shot, will be shot.
 Other points to consider

 Avoid using the same word twice in a sentence.

 Count the words in a story's sentences. Sentence
length should vary. Stories become dull when
sentences are all the same length.
 Quotation marks go outside commas (,") and periods
(."). They go inside semicolons (";) and colons (":).
 You can use TRANSITION WORDS to show
coherence from one paragraph to another. Examples:
meanwhile, on the other hand, moreover
 Headline Writing

 A headline is an abstract sentence

 A headline will determine the angle of
the story
 Usually it is only five to ten words
 It is a complete thought
 It has a subject and a verb, and often
an object
 Headline Writing

 Be specific, direct and to the point.

 Write headlines, not titles. A headline must
state a benefit to the target audience.
 Headline Writing

 Functions of Headline:
 To attract readers
 To tell the story (in summary)
 Headline Writing

 Limit your headline to maximum of 10 words

 Use “,” instead of the word “and”
 Use the present tense of the verb
 Use the shortest words possible:
cop-policeman vs-against
nab-arrest stude-student
up-increase join-participate
down-decrease prexy-president
 Headline Writing

 Use historical present tense if the verb is

in the active verb
Wrong: Reyes topped editorial tilt
Correct: Reyes tops editorial tilt
 Avoid helping verb if the verb is in the
passive verb
Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed
Correct: Drug pushers nabbed
 Headline Writing

 Use infinitive verb for future event:

Wrong: NORSU will enjoy WiFi connectivity
Correct: NORSU to enjoy WiFi connectivity
 Do not use a period at the end of the headline
 Omit the articles ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’
 Use single quotes (‘’) instead of double quotes (“”)
 Provide the source of the quote at the end of the
headline
Ex: Crackdown on errant bus firms–Enrile
 Headline Writing

 Do not use a person’s surname unless he/she is

prominent, use common noun instead
Wrong: Repe wins nat’l painting tilt
Correct: NORSU stude wins nat’l painting tilt
 Use specific verb instead of generalities
Wrong: Trader killed
Better: Trader stabbed to death
 Just report facts; do not editorialize
Wrong: Pnoy gives inspiring talk
(The word “inspiring’ is an opinion)
THANK YOU!!!
“There is no great writing; only great rewriting.”
-Nick Joaquin


Sources:
***‘Hot 100’ News Writing Tips of Sheryl Swingley
***News Writing PPT Presentation by Romulo Amarado