Chapter 3: The L.A.

Times photojournalist Brian Walski was

fired after editors discovered that he used his
News: A computer to manipulate this front-page photo
Backgrounder to look more nefarious than what actually
happened.

Misleading and
Contents misrepresentation is
Understanding News also frowned upon
Characteristics of Good News • Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign
from her U.S. Dept. of Agriculture job
News in School Papers
after blogger Andrew Breitbart
Types of News posted deceptively edited video
excerpts of Sherrod's address at an
Mental Gymnastics
event to his website
Synapse Strengtheners ➢ The logical nature of news may be
Learning Outcomes Learning Outputs drawn, such that, the taste of news
• Enumerate • Portfolio depends on the interest of and
the entry: news impact to the reader.
characteristics with human ➢ But reporters must be careful to keep
of news interest their own opinions out of their stories.
• Decipher the • Survey of ➢ News is primarily about people,
elements of news what they say and do.
news according to
• Apply their types News has qualities that
elements of • Interview distinguish it from
news in session with nearly all other forms of
specific other
situations students

What is News? BALANCED OBJECTIVE CONCISE & CLEAR RECENT

NEWS MUST BE FACTUAL, ACCURATE

YET NOT ALL FACTS ARE

NEWS.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
Journalists can’t write fiction or make up things GOOD NEWS
that didn’t happen
• TIMELINESS OR IMMEDIACY-
Stephen Glass, a star young reporter at the
Underscores the newest angle of the story
New Republic was fired for fabricating dozens
of his magazine stories. The movie “Shattered
Glass” recounts the scandal.
• CONFLICT- The physical and • PROGRESS – Attaining breakthrough
mental struggles of persons are also and achieving scientific discoveries are
newsworthy. given so much attention by the
• PROXIMITY OR readers.
NEARNESS- • NUMBERS- For persuasion, statistics
Although proximity primarily refers to or figures gave the power to shake
geographical location, it likewise means conviction of the audience. This is why
the nearness of interest and appeal. numbers yield a very strong impact on
• ACCURACY- Primarily refers to the the readers.
factualness of news as purveyor of News stories have been written in different
truth ways. This is so because there are different
• SIGNIFICANCE – If something types of news, and each type is treated
is important to the reader, he/she will differently.
read the news. Hence, a writer should
Types of News
survey whatever is significant to the life
of the target reader and write about it. According to their classification:
• PROMINENCE AND • Chronology or Sequence
NAMES- • Range and Reach
“the world is unfair,” so the adage goes. • Construction
In this light, there are person more According to Chronology or
popular than others. Popular names can Sequence
effectuate situation and their act may • Spot News
be more interesting to others. • Coverage News
• DRAMA- Since news is also • Advance News
• Follow-up News
anchored on public interest, writers
should bank on any story that lead Spot News
the writers to crying or to laughing.
• News that are gathered and reported
• ODDITY OR on the spot.
UNUSUALNESS - A
theory explain that when persons are • It deals with unscheduled
curious about phenomenon deviating information demanding immediate
from a natural course, they will be publication.
interested in such a topic or issue. • The reporter himself is an eyewitness
• ROMANCE AND to the event that took place.
ADVENTURE-
Stories about love, including adventure, Coverage News
may ignite the taste of the reading • News written from a given beat.
public.
 • Both spot news and coverage news
are good example of first-hand
reporting.

Advance News

• Also known as anticipated News According to Construction

• News published before its • Straight News
occurrence, sometimes called dope • News feature
or prognostication. • Fact story
• Action story
The reporter foretells events expected to
• Speech, report, quote, and interview
occur at the definite time in the future stories
Follow-up News • Minor news forms

• It is a sequel to a previous story. Straight News

• Having a new lead of its own, it is a • News that consists of facts given
second, third, or subsequent chapter of a straight without embellishment.
serial.
• Its main aim is to inform.
• It uses the summary lead and is written
According to Range and
using the inverted pyramid structure
Reach
• Local News News-feature
• National News
• Featured news distinguished from a
• Foreign News
feature article.
• Dateline News
Local News • It is also based on facts, but it
entertains more than it informs.
• Report of events that take place • It uses the suspended interest structure like
within the immediate locality the narrative; thus, it cannot meet the cut-off
National News test.

• News that takes place within • In writing a news-feature, the writer may
the country give his impression, may describe and
narrate, but without resorting to biased
Foreign News
opinion; i.e, without editorializing.
• News that takes place outside
the country
Single -Feature or One - Incident
Dateline News Story
• News preceded by the date and • An account of a speech, an interview, an
place of origin or place where it election, that deals with isolated event.
was written or filed.
• News writing in this structure include the
one -feature in the lead
 • Add in the body details which clarify
Action Story
and explain the lead.
• A narrative of actions involving not
• Story breaks logically at every
mere simple facts but also of dramatic
paragraph and that the story may be
events, description of persons and
cut if lengthened as space dictates
events, perhaps testimony of
Several-Feature, Multiple - witnesses, as well as explanatory data.
Angle or Composite Story
Speech
• Two or more divergent aspects of a
• news story usually written from a
news topic are drawn together for the
public address, talks, and speeches
sake of space and coherence.
Quote Story
• In structure, it may resemble that of a
follow -up story, that is, both aim to • Speeches, statements, and letters, and
consolidate component parts to some extent, interviews when
reported, are regarded as quote
Difference
stories.
• Follow -up story ends in a tie -in with • All are based on recorded information,
the past story either written or spoken, and
transcribed by the reporter in the form
• Composite story is composed of units, of news.
each one is made -up of fresh spot
Interview Story
news frequently with reference to the
future. • A news report written from an interview

Minor News Form

a. News Brief. This is a short item of new

interest, written like a brief, telegraphic
message. It gives mainly the result with few
details.
b. News Bulletin. It is similar to the lead of a
straight news story. Its aim is just to give the gist
of the news.
Fact Story
c. News Featurette. This is a short news feature
• This is a plain exposition setting which usually used fillers, say, quirks, in the
forth a single situation or a news.
series of closely related facts d. Sidebar. It is a news item or a feature placed
that inform. side by side its mother story to which it is related
• It is written in the inverted but under a headline of its own.
pyramid design.
e. Flash. This is a message giving first brief news
of an event. It is usually boxed.