Newspaper Writing Techniques

1. Headlines: Catchy title to attract the reader. Avoid prepositions. Title should be short and sweet; no
more than 6 words.

2. Headline should summarize the main points of the story.

3. Write the OPENING PARAGRAPH. This paragraph should expand the headline, giving the most
important facts in not more than 30 words. It should attempt to answer the 5 W's: Who? What? Why?
Where? When? How?

4. Topic based paragraphs. Stick to the facts and answer the questions: Who? What? Why? Where?
When? How? They need not be in this order, but must be in a logical progression.

5. Short paragraphs: 2-4 sentences per paragraph.

6. Put human-interest stories before abstractions – to the front of the sentence, and the paragraph, and the
article, and the headline.

7. In your newspaper article, include direct speech (exact quotes taken from someone). If you see a car
crash and you tell a friend about it, you will use DIRECT SPEECH. People tend to believe news if
they think it has been DIRECTLY reported from the source.

8. For direct speech, make sure that quotation marks are used around the words actually spoken.
IE: Constable Henriksen of the Peel Region of Police, claimed: "I caught the criminal and justice shall
now prevail."

9. Always give the title/status of the person being quoted.

IE: Constable Henriksen... Mr. Henriksen's wife... President Henriksen...

10. In your newspaper article, include REPORTED SPEECH. If you see a car crash and you tell a friend
about it, you will use DIRECT SPEECH. If that friend tells someone else, REPORTED SPEECH
will be used to report your words.

** Notice that 'I' has changed to 'He'. In REPORTED SPEECH, the personal pronoun always
changes. "He/she said that" is often a useful way of thinking about reported speech. IE: Constable
Henriksen, of the Peel Region of Police, said that he caught the criminal and justice shall again
prevail.

11. Later paragraphs may give opinion, but make it clear what is fact and what is opinion.

12. The last few paragraphs may be cut by the editor if space is short, so make sure your really important
news is at the beginning.

13. Write your paragraphs in columns so that the style looks like a newspaper article.

Henriksen