Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lesson 6: News Writing and Reporting
Lesson 6: News Writing and Reporting
Lesson 6: News Writing and Reporting
LESSON 6
NEWS WRITING
And
REPORTING
CHARACTERISTICS OF NEWS
1.Timeliness / Immediacy
A news is to be reported immediately so
the readers will appreciate it. If it
happened today, its a news, if it happened
last week, its not; with 24-hour news
access, breaking news is important
Example:
Radio/TV: President Benigno Aquino III
today orders the creation of an agency
to investigate the real cause of..
Newspaper: President Benigno Aquino
yesterday ordered the creation of an
agency to investigate the real cause of
..
2. Proximity / Nearness
Readers will be more interested to
know what is happening around
them, in their neighborhood or
community because this will affect
their lives.
3. Prominence
When famous people are
affected, the story matters (i.e., car
accident involving you family vs. a
car accident involving the
President).
4. Significance
This refers not only to the importance of
the event but more on how this event
will affect the lives of people. The
significance of the event must not be
relied on facts only but the reporter
must interpret or explain the meaning of
the facts.
5. Oddity
Any event that deviates from the
ordinary is newsworthy.
SOURCES OF NEWS
1. Traditional Sources
The government has always been the
source of traditional news. Going with
the Republican dictum the public office
is a public trust, public officials are
constantly under observation by media;
any wrong doing is therefore a media
fiesta.
2. Non-Traditional Sources
These are the activities, projects and
plans of the supreme student
government, youth organizations,
around the campus.
THE LEAD
News stories always begin with a lead. This
maybe a single word, a phrase, a clause, a
paragraph, or a series of paragraphs.
Its main function is not only to introduce
the story, but to tell the story in a capsule
form. The lead is the summary of the story.
KINDS OF LEAD
1. Conventional or Summary Lead
This is used in straight news to answer
right away all or any of the 5Ws and/ or
the H. Your lead maybe one of the
following:
News Structure
The Inverted Pyramid
LEAD
Elaboration of a W
Elaboration
of another
Further
Summary Lead
(5ws and H, starting
with most to least
interesting item)
Lead:
An 18-year-old female student died in a car accident
along North Expressway yesterday.
2nd par. (identification of the WHO):
The victim was Joan dela Cruz, pre-law student of
Far Eastern University, and daughter of court of
appeals justice Jose de la Cruz.
3rd par. (expounding the WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN)
She was found dead inside a 1980 Toyota Corolla
with a plate number AUV 340, by a highway
patrolman at around 3 p.m. The car was in a ditch
not far from the toll plaza of the