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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.
What’s Ahead
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News Story
In the following news story, Lupita Alverez reports on a ground-breaking ceremony for a community garden. This story appeared in the school newspaper, the Applegate Post.
Mayor breaks ground for Nelson Garden
By Lupita Alverez
Beginning:
The reporter includes the 5 W’s in the lead. On June 3, Mayor Kanly and Principal Armstrong together drove the first shovels into the ground at the dedication ceremony for the Nelson Memorial Community Garden. The garden will occupy ground beyond the Applegate Middle School running track. Community contributions to the Nelson Memorial Fund paid for the shed, materials, tools, and water hookup.
Middle:
The body includes quotations, facts, and explanations. “People give flowers for memorials,” said Mayor Kanly in a speech. “The people of Applegate give flowers as well as tomatoes, carrots, corn, and squash in memory of our friend Charley.”
Eighth grader Charley Nelson lost his battle with lymphoma on January 5 of this year.
“Charley loved to garden, but he hated to weed,” said Sandra Nelson, Charley’s mother. “He’d be delighted to have this garden here, as long as he didn’t have to weed it.”
The garden plot will be used by the middle school gardening club as well as members of the community who wish to grow foods and flowers together.
“Charley was always very giving,” said eighth grader Jessica Sanders. “He’s still giving with this garden.”
Ending:
The story ends with the least important information. Principal Armstrong handed out shovels to volunteers, who filled wheelbarrows with topsoil to pour into planting boxes. Mrs. Treber, middle school science teacher and gardening club sponsor, directed other volunteers to plant tomato sprouts in one raised box and corn in another. They also put in seed potatoes and scallion sets.
Famartin, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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Writing Guidelines
Prewriting ■ Choosing a Topic
To choose a topic, investigate what’s happening in your school or community. Consider what your audience (classmates, teachers, and parents) needs to know about. Once you’ve gathered some ideas, decide if they are newsworthy or not. Your art teacher’s vacation may not be news, but this teacher’s retirement certainly is. Below are some factors that will help you determine the newsworthiness of a topic:
Timeliness ■ Current events are almost always more newsworthy than past events. Your audience wants to know about what’s happening now.
Proximity ■ A story describing a statewide or nationwide trend may be interesting, but it needs to also be happening locally to be newsworthy.
Impact ■ The best news stories directly impact your audience. Before you begin writing, ask yourself if your audience wants or needs to know about this story.
Human interest ■ Stories about people who have defied odds, won awards, or done extraordinary things are popular among news readers. These stories should be entertaining and thought provoking
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Prewriting ■ Gathering Details
To make sure you have the basic information to write your story, create a 5 W’s chart. The example below was created for the news story on page 250.
5 W’s Chart
Interviewing
One of the best ways to gather information for news stories is to interview people. If possible, interview more than one person for your story. Here are some tips that will help you conduct your interviews.
Before . . .
Be prepared. ■ Schedule a time for an interview in-person, online, or by phone. You can also send questions and receive answers by email. Write a list of open-ended questions you want to ask.
During . . .
Record the interview. ■ If you plan to record, ask for permission first.
Listen attentively. ■ If you have visual contact, look the person in the eye. Use facial expressions and nod to show you are listening.
Take notes. ■ Write down only the important details. Read back any direct quotations to make sure you got them correctly.
End well. ■ Thank the interviewee. For email interviews, send a thank-you message when you receive the person’s responses.
After . . .
Review your notes. ■ The best time to review your notes is immediately after the interview. Then you’ll know if you covered all of your questions or if you need to ask follow-up questions.
Share your story. ■ Send a copy of your completed story to the interviewee, along with a thank-you note.
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Writing ■ Creating the First Draft
Parts of a News Story
There are two main parts of a news story: the lead paragraph and the body.
Lead ■ The lead or beginning paragraph, is the most important section of a news story. It must grab the reader’s attention and summarize the main point of the story in just a few sentences. Most of the 5 W’s should appear in your lead.
Body ■ The body fills in the rest of the news story with details and important facts that were not covered in the lead. (See below.)
Organizing a Story
The facts and details in news stories are organized by order of importance. The most important information is placed at the beginning of the story, while subsequent information is written in descending order of importance. This top-heavy style is called the inverted pyramid.
The reason news stories are organized in this way is twofold: First, it allows busy readers to understand the essence of the story within the first few lines or paragraphs. Second, the essential information will not be lost if an editor has to cut the last paragraphs to make the story fit.
Helpful Hint
Don’t include your own thoughts and opinions in a news story. But do include quotations that express your interviewees’ opinions. Use these quotations to complement the facts in your story.
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Writing ■ Creating Headlines
The headline of a news story helps the reader decide whether to read the article. A well-written headline attracts readers to your writing. Therefore, it is important to know how to effectively write headlines.
Writing Headlines
Use these tips when you write a headline for your news story.
Reread your story. ■ Jot down key nouns that reoccur. They can provide a good subject for a headline.
Use the active voice. ■ Writing headlines in the active voice gives the story a sense of immediacy.
- Passive: Fund-raising goal is surpassed by students (The subject, goal, receives the action.)
- Active: Students surpass fund-raising goal (The subject, students, performs the action.)
Choose strong verbs. ■ If you are having trouble thinking of a strong verb, check your thesaurus.
- Weak: Students better fund-raising goal
- Strong: Students surpass fund-raising goal
Helpful Hint
Photos also draw readers’ attention. Get creative, taking shots that will intrigue readers and make them want to know more.
Revising ■ and Editing ■ Improving the Writing
When you revise and edit your news story, review the traits using this checklist.
_____ Ideas Do I have a strong headline? Do I answer the 5 W’s?
_____ Organization Does my news story follow the inverted pyramid?
_____ Voice Do I sound knowledgeable and objective?
_____ Word Choice Have I used the best words to develop my article?
_____ Sentences Are my sentences smooth reading?
_____ Conventions Is my writing free of careless errors?
