NEWS

WRITING
(NORTH - EAST - WEST - SOUTH)

Write to EXPRESS,
not to IMPRESS;
write to INFORM;
not to OVERWHELM!

===================
RHEE Fer HORTALEZA
* Media Man of Pangasinan *
====================
• NEWS is an inevitable part of a
person’s daily life. News is all around
him.
In fact, at many times in his lifetime,
his own life could be the source of news.
News, indeed, is all around us.
• WHAT IS ‘NEWS’?
Various writers and authors have come up
with different definitions of the NEWS.
Invariably, all may be correct; but for an
acceptable and easy-to-understand definition
of the term, it should be safe to state that
NEWS is any event, idea or opinion that is
timely, that interests and affects a large
number of persons in the community, and
that is capable of being understood by them.
(M. Lyle Spencer)
• Other sources would define
NEWS as a break from the
normal flow of events, an
interruption in the unexpected.
• Others would opt to state that
NEWS is not concerned about
the routine; but rather about
the unexpected, the unusual or
the dramatic.
 Then, there are those who
would simply agree with
Mitchell Charnley when he said
that NEWS is “tomorrow’s
history done up in a neat
today’s package”!
 GOOD NEWS IS NO NEWS?
• There are situations when a newsman is
faced with utterly discerning people’s comment that
– to journalists or newspapermen – GOOD NEWS
IS NO NEWS! Truly, one of the most frequent
complaints an editor or a plain newsman hears is:
“How come you guys never run any good news?”
• While it is true that reporters seek out stories
about murders, felonies or anomalies that did
happen, not about murders, felonies or anomalies
that didn’t, there are times, especially in the current
atmosphere of journalism, when good news must be
published or aired.
• Perhaps, this is human nature. Admittedly, we
do not usually go out of our way to tell people how
good we feel; but if something is bothering us, we let
them know!
 Corollary to this,
Chet Huntley of NBC News
deserves to be quoted when he said:

“Journalists were
never intended
to be the cheerleaders of society!”
Indeed, reporters often see themselves
as the thin buffer between people
and their government!
 What must likewise always be remembered by
the community journalist – including
government or private information officers
school paper advisers and campus journalists –
is this rule:
‘If we neglect to report some NEWS
because we think suppression is in the
public interest, we’ll lose our credibility
as impartial news reporters.’
It is important to note that there is a
difference between selection of news and
suppression of news
 INFORMATION
OFFICERS
• Decidedly, they should also be
knowledgeable about journalism as
they likewise purvey information to
the public; albeit confined to
developments or occurrences within
their respective offices.
 TIPS FOR JOURNALISTS
• Many journalism book authors have come
up with scores of tips for their media
colleagues through the years. All these
add up to just one general rule:
AS A JOURNALIST
(or information officer),
WORK HARD!
Presumably, to be more detailed,
everything can be rounded up and
enumerated this way:
* BE INQUISITIVE
* BE CONSTANT IN YOUR PURPOSE
* BE FAIR AND BALANCED
* BE GENUINELY INTERESTED IN
PEOPLE
* SEEK THE TRUTH
* BE RESOURCEFUL
* HAVE GUTS
* MASTER YOUR GRAMMAR
* KNOW YOUR MEDIUM
* READ
ABCs OF NEWS WRITING:

ACCURACY
BREVITY (or BALANCE)
CLARITY
 • ACCURACY
should be foremost in a journalist’s mind when he/she
writes the news story.
This is imperative.
Foremost, of course, is accuracy in his/her facts. Are the
facts gathered correct? Were they gathered as they really
happened?
Nevertheless, this should not be confined
only to facts of the story.
There is a need to be accurate
in other aspects.
These other aspects include names of persons
in the story that should be correctly spelled.
You may have an inherent idea of how a
certain name is spelled; but if the user spells it
differently, use his spelling.
‘Arlene’ is normally spelled that way; but one
may officially spell it as ‘Arleen’. There should
also be accuracy in the person’s position, rank,
title or designation. Places should likewise be
spelled correctly. ‘Laoag City’ is not Lawag
City’ and ‘La Union’ is not ‘La Onion’! Too,
one should know whether a certain locality is
a province, city, town, barangay or sitio.
• BREVITY concerns the use of words that
are easy to understand. Not all newspaper
readers have high IQs. The successful writer is
one who writes stories that readers from various
educational standings can promptly
comprehend.

• BALANCE refers to the journalistic rule

that all sides of a story should be published and
accommodated. When a government office chief
or a janitor is attacked due to foul-smelling
comfort rooms in the government building or
office, their sides of the story should also find
print. A journalist who does not bother to get the
other side of the issue is disgustingly biased and
unfair.
• CLARITY concerns the writer’s ability to
make his meanings immediately clear to all in
the story he published. Take this lead: ‘A truck
and a car collided in front of the Vigan City
public market yesterday, causing death to the
driver.’ Now, whose driver died – the car’s or the
truck’s? This is not clear. In the sentence, ‘He
was given one million’, what did the man receive
– one million pesos, one million cards or one
million snakes or one million pebbles?
ELEMENTS
OF THE NEWS
• Why is the birth of Jesus Christ or the assassination of the late
Senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino not considered as NEWS?
• Why is it not NEWS when two high school lovers quarrel and trade
arguments in the school campus; but it all becomes NEWS when
the girl gets hold of a knife and stabs the boy dead?
• Why is it not NEWS anymore when a dog bites a boy in the street;
but it becomes news when the boy suddenly bites the dog in return?
• Why is it not NEWS when an office janitor is downed by the flu virus;
but it becomes NEWS when Rodrigo ‘Digong’ Duterte, Maine
Mendoza, Kim Domingo, Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada or Piolo Pascual
catch the disease?

• Or why is it not NEWS when Venus May H. Sarmiento is down with

dengue but it becomes NEWS when 80 employees of the National
Irrigation Administration are down with the illness?
• This is simply because NEWS has elements that make it –
that’s it! – NEWS. These are the elements or characteristics
that should be present to make a happening fall under the
category of NEWS. Some of these are:

• IMMEDIACY or TIMELINESS
• PROXIMITY or NEARNESS
• PROMINENCE
• ODDITY
• CONFLICT
• CONSEQUENCE
• DRAMA
• NUMBERS
• ROMANCE or SEX
• HUMAN INTEREST
• There may be others included by some authors;
but those mentioned above are the more
important ones.

• Basically, these elements form the basis for

knowing whether a happening or occurrence
makes up what is called NEWS.

• The presence of two or more of these elements

or a combination of any of them in an event or
development makes such event qualified or
eligible to be called NEWS.
COVERING AN EVENT / HAPPENING

It is INEVITABLE for a news

reporter, news writer or
information officer to personally
cover an event, activity, occasion
or development. But news
coverage is unlike going to a
party! It is a more delicate and
demanding task. It is therefore
imperative that a coverage
man/woman is aware of what
he/she should do when sent on
such a journalistic errand.
 Know the details of the event very well.
Where is it going to be held? What
time? What is the event all about?
Get a background of the event. It is
best to go to the venue well-prepared with
initial questions about the affair or occasion.
Be sure to come well-equipped. Do you
have your writing pads, ball pens or pentel
pens, cameras, tape recorders and the like?
• Position yourself properly, strategically
and accurately while inside or within the
site of the affair. Do not stay too far away
from the center of activities or the main
stage.

• Be observant about developments not

only onstage but around the site. Write
down anything you see therein which you
consider important or vital so that you
won’t forget such details later.
Do not be ashamed to ask questions
about details of the happening,
the correct names and positions
and other data of personalities
therein.
Get the accurate spelling
of names and places.
It’s better to be inquisitive now
than to be mistaken later.
Be sure that you have all the necessary

or needed details about the event

before leaving the place.

Make certain
that you do not
lose or misplace
your notes!
 WHAT IS
THE ‘LEAD’?
• INVERTED PYRAMID
• Initially, one must know that the structure of the NEWS
when written or presented is that of an INVERTED PYRAMID.
• This simply means that it is totally the reverse or opposite of a
literary piece like the novel or short story. Normally, at the start or
beginning of the novel or short story, the details or backgrounds are
first presented oftentimes in chronological order, with the suspense
and drama gradually building up. This is done so as to gather
explanations for the eventual climax, where the reader finally gets to
know what the conclusion or end is all about. The conclusion is at
the base of the pyramid.
• This is not so when it comes to NEWS. The climax or conclusion is
at once presented right at the very beginning of the news item. The
reader need not read on until the end to know what happened or
what it is all about. Ergo, the NEWS structure is that of an inverted
pyramid – with the base installed at the top portion instead.
• This so-called ‘top portion’ is also referred to as the NEWS LEAD
 In any news story composed
of many paragraphs,
there is always the
very first word or group of words
that comprise the
first paragraph.
In journalistic parlance,
this is known as the

LEAD.
As the name implies, it is the ‘LEADer’
in the news item.
It starts the NEWS presentation.
• There are two kinds of LEADS, however; and
these can be appropriately applied in writing the
news.
• Usually utilized by writers because of what they claim as
its ‘you-can’t-go-wrong’ approach is the
SUMMARY LEAD
• It is named as such because it summarizes the event’s beginning
by answering the well known questions attendant to a
summarized form. These are Who, What, When, Where, Why and
How – or the so-called ‘Five Ws and One H’.
• One need not answer all six queries and lump everything in the
lead, though. The writer has to consider the eventual length of the
lead, as a very lengthy lead is not advisable. A long lead tends to
confuse the reader – and even the writer himself! It has to be
shortened so that the writer’s message in the news item becomes
clearer.
• The other type of lead is the
NOVELTY LEAD
• Under such classification are various news
approaches. These include the Question
Lead, the Quotation Lead, the Punch Lead,
the Picture Lead, the Freak Lead, the
Cartridge Lead, the Parody Lead, the
Sequence Lead, the Epigram Lead and
some others.

• These leads can likewise be effective if one

knows what among them should be used
and when to use any of them.
 The news development should be
thoroughly studied first before
seeking out and choosing the
appropriate novelty lead
for the news story.
It is important to remember that if
no novelty lead is apt or ideal for the
news development, it is advisable to
go back to the reliable summary
lead.
HOW TO WRITE
THE LEAD
 At your workplace later, you come face to
face with your notes from the news coverage.
What do you do with these?
Inevitably, you have to analyze or evaluate
everything you have written. Select the biggest,
most significant or most important fact or item --
or two or three facts or items – from among the
entries you had written in your notes and install
them under your classification of
MUST INCLUDE
Be sure that these are really the biggest
or the standouts because from that item or
these items will emerge your LEAD.
•
 -=o0o=-
Supporting facts in your notes
will go under the
MIGHT INCLUDE
portion.
These are the pieces
of information
that will buttress, justify or strengthen
your lead with additional details.
Finally, cross out the non-important,
non-relevant or useless details
you had earlier inadvertently written
in your notes. This is the
EXCLUDE
portion.
It contains items which you had included
but which you eventually found
to be unnecessary
or not essential to your story.
If there is a need for re-evaluation,
do so again.
 Having classified your notes thus,
you are now ready to start writing your
news as you are now easily guided as to
where to properly place or install the
various facts or items you earlier gathered.

If you consequently decide that two

or three items therein are of equal
importance, then find a way to include
both or all of them in the lead; but without
having a kilometric lead in the process.
Very long leads are taboo.
 SOME
DON’TS
IN STARTING
A LEAD
• DON’T start with an article (a, an,
the) unless its use is necessary to
get the feature of your story into the
opening words of your lead.

• DON’T start a lead with ‘Last

Thursday…’ or ‘At a meeting held
yesterday …’ or ‘In a game played
last Monday …’ or the like. It is
obvious that no such beginning
contain the real feature of the story.
• DON’T start a lead with a sentence like
‘The Government Information Officers
Club conducted a meeting yesterday’.
Remember that in such stories, the
most interesting thing done or said at
the meeting is the main feature of the
story.
• DON’T start a lead with ‘According to
an annual tradition in the Provincial
Health Office …’ Inform the reader at
once what is to be done or tell some
• DON’T start a lead with an expression
like ‘According to Regional Director Piolo
Pascual …’ If what he said is the feature of
the story, put those words in the lead itself!
• DON’T start a lead like: ‘In the
government information writers
competition held last Friday, the Philippine
Information Agency won three first places.’
The interesting fact should come first.
‘Philippine Information Agency (PIA)
writers won three first places in the
government information writers
competition held last Friday.’ Would be a
better, more precise and more acceptable
lead.
 KILOMETRIC LEAD:
ROSALES, Pangasinan – For several years now upon
Mayor Ricardo Velo Revita assumption to office, the flooding
in the whole town, especially in the Poblacion, which is blamed
for blocked waterways or drainage system because of
garbage and other waste products and the laxities of the
past administration is now a thing of the past, this according
to residents since the present administration in full
cooperation of the sangguniang bayan members headed
by Vice Mayor Romy Sim and some agencies, authored the
goal of “Flood-free Rosales”.

86 words!
 EDITED LEAD
ROSALES – Mayor Ricardo V.
Revita’s administration has
implemented moves to ensure a ‘flood-
free Rosales’ in the future.

(18 words!)
 KILOMETRIC LEAD:
• MANGALDAN, Pangasinan – Close to 1,000 campus journalists
coming from various secondary and elementary schools located in
the 4th congressional district under the Pangasinan II schools
division under Division Supt. Viraluz Raguindin – in their bid to
augment their knowledge and skills in the field of campus
journalism in Pangasinan and prepare themselves for the Regional
Schools Press Conference – earnestly and determinedly conducted a
comprehensive three-day seminar-workshop in different journalism
or media subjects at the imposing Mangaldan National High School
Social Hall within the MNHS campus located in the heart of the
fourth congressional district municipality here which started last
Tuesday, August 1, and will last until Friday, August 4, according to
Manaoag National High School Principal Rebecca Cansino.

(119 words!)
 EDITED LEAD
MANGALDAN – Campus journalists from the
4th district of Pangasinan attended a journalism
seminar workshop at the Mangaldan National
High School Social Hall here from August 1 to 4.

(28 words!)
 …HEADLINING…
HEADLINES SUMMARIZE THE
LEAD
Make your headlines as short as
possible
Use the present tense in headlines
They should always contain a verb
Substitute shorter words for long
ones
 Evolution of a headline
• Example 1
• Pangasinan Association of Government Information
Officers (PAGIO) holds seminar workshop on
journalism for government information officers in
Pangasinan at the National Irrigation Administration
(NIA) Conference Hall in Urdaneta City on August 7,
2017
• (33words)
• Example 2
• Pangasinan Association of Gov’t Information
Officers (PAGIO) holds seminar workshop for
government information officers in Urdaneta
• (16 words)
• Example 3
Pangasinan information officers’ group
conducts writers training in Urdaneta City
(10 words)
Example 4

PAGIO elements attend

writers’ seminar in Urdaneta
(6 words)
Example 5
PAGIO conducts
writers’ seminar
(4 words
Example 6

Writers’ seminar held

or

Hold writers’ seminar

(3 words)
• NEWS WRITING can be an easy
task if YOU seriously set your heart and mind
to it. What matters is that you must
constantly think positively when you write
the news.

• The writers or newsmen whose stories you

read in the newspapers were able to do it.
Your predecessors were able to do it. Others
before you – your classmates and friends
and even your relatives -- were able to do it,
too!
Instill in your mind,
therefore:

“IF THEY
CAN DO IT,
WHY CAN’T I?”
TAPOS
NA PO!!!