How to write news

Dear Editor, First I want to thank you for taking the time to make this a better article. I believe that's good for everyone. I added a step describing the inverted pyramid style, but I'm not sure what you are considering for resources. Please define this request.Thank You - JohnJournalism is the art of researching, writing, filming, editing and presenting information on current events. Today's events are often presented as they're occurring, though few facts are available. Stories unfold over time; and as facts are uncovered they're added to descriptive accounts. The basics of recording facts and publishing accounts remains the same for all media, although news is presented in entirely different styles by television, radio and newspapers. Here's a look at how to write news, with a surface exploration of varying media styles.

Things You'll Need

• Facts on current events
• The desire to sharpen writing and editing skills
• Any writing format

Instructions

1. Attribute informational origins.The old movie line about a reporter never revealing sources couldn't be more false. The quickest way to end up in court and out of a job is to pass information without crediting the provider. The reporting party is liable. As such, stories include intros or tag-lines like: Boston police say, or The L.A. County Sheriff's Department advises. In place of a government agency, another media company is often credited. As long as the information has been relayed accurately, the attributed provider is responsible.

2. Get the facts.The skeleton of a story outline includes: who, what, where, and when. These facts are presented first. A hypothetical story opening, "John Doe is critically injured after a tour bus struck him on Pennsylvania Avenue this morning." How and why something happened is not always known initially. Yet any information relating to how and why should be included. "D.C. police say he was apparently jaywalking."

3. Employ the inverted pyramid.Not unlike an ice cream cone, the inverted pyramid offers the big end first. The summary, or most notable fact of the story comes first. All other information is listed in decreasing order of importance. The least interesting facts come last. A hypothetical example comes from the Saturn edition of the Star System Sentinel, at the close of the Venesian war. The headline itself is the summary."THE WAR IS OVER! Venus surrenders after the invading fleet is captured by Ring Perimeter. The fleet commander conceded saying, 'we were no match for Saturnite warriors while our technology was hampered by the cold gaseous atmosphere.' In compliance with the skirmish fairness clause of the planetary pact, the Venesian fleet will be resupplied and sent home. Saturnite engineers confirm the Venesian's neutron friction powered vessels were operating at half capacity.This writing style catches attention from audiences and readers by billboarding the highlights. Many news readers skim through headlines to collect these highlights, and only read further into certain stories.Editing stories to fit news pages is also made easy by this writing style. The information at the bottom is sacrificed first, leaving the upper part of the inverted pyramid with the prominent facts in tact.

4. Keep children anonymous.By law, the names of children who are crime victims are not disclosed by reporting agencies. Sociologist believe naming childhood victims makes them targets for other perpetrators of the same crime.

5. Create interest with headlines or teasers.The printed headline, or the verbalized introduction for broadcast isn't just an opportunity for a journalist to exercise clever writing skills. It's also a hook to make readers, viewers or listeners curious enough to take in the whole story. While these tend to write themselves, "City drops ball on proposed sports arena," they should also raise questions in the audiences mind; "Mad milk bandits injure clerk in latest strike." This leaves people to wonder: what store did they hit; who is the injured clerk; how do we know it's the mad milk bandits; did they steal more dairy products? Use the headline to lead into the facts by creating this type of curiosity.

6. Put stories in order.If the local police get into a shootout with bank robbers on a busy downtown street, that story will be featured before reporting on new driving laws the state put into effect. In turn both of these take priority over the insect infestation threatening area trees. Deaths, high dollar amounts, and major destruction are the elements of interest that give stories priority.

7. Finish on an up note.Feature something heart-warming or humorous as your final story. Charity fund raisers are a great source for inspirational sketches. Certainly if a bear wanders on to a putting green, the golfer's accounts will be good for a laugh. Then some gems come through normal channels. "A defendant representing himself in a purse snatching case, asked the victim on the witness stand; 'did you get a good look at my face when I stole your bag?' The jury took little deliberation to return a guilty verdict!" These make good transitions into the other features of your broadcast or publication

8. Style writing to fit the format.Newspapers ask reporters to include as many facets of their stories as possible. There's a lot of room on those pages. Papers are historically credited to cover stories more inclusively than any other media. Television has the ability to show events as they actually happened. Dialogue is written to accompany film, pointing out specific items. Even footage of firefighters rolling up hoses to leave a scene, adds interest to the annunciation of fire story facts. Radio demands stories to be written in as few words as possible. The longest newscast on a radio show runs for six or seven minutes, at the top of the hour. That includes weather, sports of local interest and at least a minute of sponsors commercials. Quarter hour and bottom of the hour reports only last about 90 seconds.

Tips & Warnings

• As with any craft, you have to practice at how to write news and tailor it to a specific media.