The document discusses the key elements of writing news stories. It defines news as events, ideas, or opinions that interest or affect a large number of people in a community. An effective news story follows an inverted pyramid structure, with the most important information in the lead paragraph and additional details in subsequent paragraphs. The lead should include the essential who, what, when, where, why and how and emphasize the most interesting element. Proper news writing also requires testing the lead, emphasizing features, varying sentence structures, and writing concisely and clearly.

1. May 25, 2011
News Writing
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2. What is News?
• NEWS
Any EVENT, IDEA or OPINION
that interests or affects a large
number of persons in a
community, and it is capable of
being understood by them.
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3. Structure of a
News Story
1. LEAD- beginning of the paragraph which
is just a short sentence presenting the
MOST IMPORTANT or MOST
INTERESTING element of the news
story.
2. ADDITIONAL PARAGRAPH- may be one
or two which contains the OTHER
HIGHLIGHTS of the story.
3. ELABORATION- contains LESS
IMPORTANT facts
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4. Structure of a
News Story
INVERTED PYRAMID:
LEAD
ADDITIONAL
PARAGRAPH
ELABORATION
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5. HOW TO WRITE A
SUMMARY LEAD
1. Look for the ESSENTIAL 5 W’s and H from the notes
you took for the story.
2. Choose the feature on the basis of news values and
your reader- What will interest them?
3. Arrange 5 W’s and H in the order of DECREASING
importance. WHO and WHAT are usually the most
important.
4. Determine the best way to start the lead sentence.
5. Test your lead.
6. Rewrite the lead if there’s a need to improve it.

6. HOW TO TEST YOUR
LEAD
1. Are all the essential 5 W’s and H included?
2. Is the feature the really most interesting/most important
fact of the story?
3. Are the remaining essentials arrange in proper order?
4. Does the lead begin with specific interest-arousing or
provocative words?
5. Is it generally short about 25-35 words only?
6. Is the source/authority well suggested/explicitly stated if
necessary?
7. Are all persons well identified?

7. HOW TO TEST YOUR
LEAD
8. If the story depends upon previous/current news, is the
relationship made clear?
9. Is the lead clear in both structure and content? Can it be
cut from the rest of the story and be published by itself?
10. Is the lead written as colorful as possible?

8. TIPS FOR NEWS
WRITERS:
1) Be sure to emphasize the feature in the lead.
2) Proceed from the most interesting to the least
interesting.
3) Don’t cover all the major components in the lead.
4) Avoid using expression “there is”, “there
was”, “according to”, “a”, “an”, “the” at the beginning of
the lead.
5) Give your source or authority when necessary.
6) Identify all person: write their full name, the first time
they are mention.

9. TIPS FOR NEWS
WRITERS:
7) Remember that the time element is important part of the
story.
8) Avoid opinions, colored words, adjectives, adverbs
unless you are quoting somebody.
9) Write one idea one sentence paragraph.
10) Strive to make your writing style clear and graphic,
simple, clear and natural.
11) Choose your word with care. Don’t assume their
meanings.
12) Prefer concrete/specific words rather than
general/abstract ones.

10. TIPS FOR NEWS
WRITERS:
13) Avoid wordiness.
14) Strive for variety in sentence structure.
15) Guard against misleading statements.
16) Shorten your paragraphs.
17) Determine the length of your story by its value in
reader’s interest.
18) Study constantly the construction of news stories in
leading newspaper to improve your news writing skills.
19)Be careful with your grammar.
20) To assure consistency of style in your paper observe
rules on your style sheet.