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Writing News Stories
What makes a story newsworthy? Journalists have four basic values they look for:
- Timeliness—Is the story happening now?
- Proximity—Is the story happening here?
- Impact—Does the story affect the audience?
- Interest—Will the story engage readers?
When you write a news story, you need to pick a topic that is happening now and here, something that impacts or interests readers. Then, write your story to answer the 5 W’s: who, what, when, where, and why?
This chapter includes a model with all these values and shows you how to write a similar news story.