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structure of news

The document outlines the structure of news, emphasizing the importance of newness, notability, unusualness, impact, and factuality. It details the inverted pyramid structure, which prioritizes information from most to least important, and introduces the Five Ws and H as essential components of news writing. Additionally, it discusses various types of leads that can be used to engage readers effectively.

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4 views10 pages

structure of news

The document outlines the structure of news, emphasizing the importance of newness, notability, unusualness, impact, and factuality. It details the inverted pyramid structure, which prioritizes information from most to least important, and introduces the Five Ws and H as essential components of news writing. Additionally, it discusses various types of leads that can be used to engage readers effectively.

Uploaded by

gtetteh964
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Structure of News

Introduction
What is news?
Should be new, notable, unusual,
impactful, factual etc.
Structure of news

‘Newness’
‘ Notability’
‘Unusualness’
‘Impactful-ness’
‘Factuality’(not conjecture)
Structure of News
• A good news story should contain the following
components: .
• Inverted pyramid structure
• Five Ws and H
• Lead/Intro
• Body
• Conclusion?
Structure of News
• Inverted pyramid structure
Writing news in descending order of importance
Reasons for that style
1, helps to grab the reader’s attention to read more because important information
is captured
2.Can read few lines and understand the story
3. If the story is cut at the bottom important information will not be affected and the
story meaning will not be lost
4.Inverted pyramid is based on the 5ws and H
Criticisms
1. Makes readers lazy
2. Readers may miss some tiny details of story
Five Ws and H
• Five Ws and H are key in writing a news story and are;
• Who-who said or did what?
• When-when was it said or done or happened?
• Why-why did it happen? Why was it said?
• What-what happened? What was said? etc
• Where-where did it happen? Where was it said or done? Etc
• How-How was it said or done or How did it happen? etc
Lead
• LEAD-on top of a news reporting formula called inverted pyramid
• Start with the most important idea/element in a news story
• Should be short and punchy (not more than 24 words)
• Attention grabber
• Be simple and sharp
• Should contain at least three of the five Ws
Lead
• There are several types of leads
• Summary lead
Typical summary lead contains the five Ws and H or most of them
Summarizes most or all important elements in a story
2. Question lead e.g. Does COVID 19 really kills, this was a question posed by a nine
year old boy to a doctor during a visit to the Tamale Teaching hospital yesterday.
Used to arrest or grab the reader’s attention to want to know the answer

3. Quotation lead e.g. ‘Ghana earns two million dollars from E-levy every hour’, this
is according to the Finance Minister …
Should be used only if it is memorable, unusual or interesting
Lead
4.Delayed identification lead-identifies the critical elements in a story before the
participants. The WHO is delayed for the WHAT. Used when the WHO is not considered
known or popular
5. Immediate identification lead-when the participants or the WHO are most known or
popular
6. Short sentence lead- using a short phrase as a teaser
6. Analogy Lead –a comparison between two issues or events. Used when the reader is
not familiar with what you are writing about
7. Cartridge lead. Short and punchy and used to attract readers’ attention, especially
when conveying a hard-hitting message. Eg. The prime minister is dead.
8. Descriptive lead-Describes a scene or person that makes up the subject of the story.
The idea is to create a visual impact.
Summary: INVERTED PYRAMID

Inverted Pyramid in Diagram


Most important, followed by less important and very less important
End
• End of news structure

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