News Writing

 timely, factual report of events or

situation interesting enough to the
public
An accurate, unbiased account of
significant facts
 Literature in a hurry
Parts of News
 Headline
 Lead
 Body
Charac teristics

 Factual
 Designed to inform
 Enlightening
 Instructive
 Of readers’ interest
 Accurate, timely
 Concise and clear
Elements of News
 Conflict
 Immediacy and timeliness
 Proximity or nearness
 Prominence
 Names
 Drama
 Oddity or unusualness
 Romance and adventure
 Sex
 Disaster stories
Types of News

 Scope and origin

local news
foreign news
dateline news
 Chronology

advance or anticipated
spot news
coverage news
TYPES OF NEWS
 TREATMENT
fact story
action story
speech/quote story
 CONTENT
routine story
police report
science news
dev com
sports news
TYPES OF NEWS
 STRUCTURE
straight news
news feature (single, composite)

 MINOR FORMS
newsbrief
news bulletin
news featurette
sidebar
flash
Do’s and Don’ts
 Write the story write away
 Play up the dominant points
 Be accurate and truthful
 Avoid editorializing
 Give the source and attribution
 Write the names in full when mentioned for the
first time
 Don’t overpack your lead
 Write the news in chunks
 Avoid beginning with there is, articles
 Observe correct grammar
Kinds of Lead
Conventional lead
who, what, where, when,why, how
 Grammatical Beginning Lead

prepositional phrase lead

infinitive phrase
participial phrase
gerundial lead
clause lead
 Novelty lead (suspended interest, dramatic,

one word lead, background, contrast)

Effective Writing
You should know how to write an easy and
understandable article
get the message across
make the readers react..let them feel it
well organized article
easy to read
clear to the reader
understandable
 Think first before writing

consider clarity, consistency, conciseness

accuracy
Effective Writing
 Get to the point
 Use familiar words
 Omit verbal deadwoods.
 Keep sentences short (7 to 8 words)
 Shorten paragraphs (2 to 3 SENTENCES)
 Simple to complex sentences
 Use active voice
 Revise and sharpen your article by loud voice
Headline
 Title of the news
 Consist of subject and verb and direct obeject
 Always in the present tense
 For future events, use the infinitive
Do’s and Donts

 Observe proper S V agreement

 Be careful when splitting verbs
 Include the most improtant W’s only
 Avoid label head, mandatory and confusing

titles
 Concentrate on the lead
 The headline should be the story itself
Tips in Writing Headline
 Easily read headlines
simple subject predicate
 Two deck headline

The main idea at the first deck,by using the

who-what angle
 You have to be specific
 Avoid using negative words
 Avoid improper splitting
 Avoid hanging preposition
 An active verb is better than a passive verb