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News-Writing.pptx
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- 2. This session aimsto enable participants to: • Give the basic information and salient points of a news article • Explain the meaning of “angle” in news writing • Write an effective and compelling news story based on facts OBJECTIVES
- 3. What are yourstruggles in writing news stories?
- 4. What are yourstruggles in writing news stories? Go to www.menti.com Use the code 5 0 4 4 1 4 8
- 5. Discussion Outline • Pre-writing •Elements of News • Skills • Getting the News • Writing • Angle • Structure • Parts • Post-writing
- 6. What is news? •North,East, South, West •News is information that has a meaning for a set of readers
- 7. News… “Do not limit yourwriting to what you know, but expand your it to what you do not know.”
- 8. Elements of News •Impact—How many people does the event affect? How seriously does it affect them? • Proximity—An event will be more important if it is closer to the readers. • Timeliness—Is the event fresh? Is it new? The news must be timely to be of use to readers.
- 9. • Prominence—Names makenews, and big names make big news. Ordinary people are intrigued by the doings of the rich and famous. • Novelty—This is the new in news, the unusual. The "firsts," "lasts" and "onlys" have been the staples of the news business for many years.
- 10. • Conflict—Conflict hasbeen the currency of great literature, drama and movies for all time. Newspapers are no different. • Audience—Who is the audience?
- 11. Is it enoughthat you write grammatically sound news stories?
- 12. Important to master theseskills • Nose for news • Listening • Comprehension • Curiosity
- 13. Getting the news •Actualcoverage •Interview •Research
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- 15. The Angle The mainidea of a news story or lead is called the “angle.” It is also referred to as the “hook” because it is used to grab or hook the reader’s attention.
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- 21. The Inverted PyramidStructure from the most important to the least important Lead Supporting details Minor details
- 22. News Reporting Basics •Contains5Ws and 1 H • Parts of news story – Lead – Body
- 23. The Lead • Refersto the first few paragraphs of the news article • Presents the gist of the story
- 24. The Body • Importanceof News Reporting – include a chronology of the issue being reported – provide background information or historical context of the issue – cite sources of information – primary sources for crucial data – secondary sources for background info
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- 27. Tips •KISS. •Use the activevoice. •Verify your data. •Focus •Revise and sharpen.
- 28. More tips… •Understand theevent first. Then write. •Write when you know what you want to say. •Keep your eye on the lead. •Be coherent. Paragraphs must flow.
- 29. More tips… •Always assumethat your reader is a first time reader so provide definitions if there are any needed. •Avoid judgments and • inferences. Let the facts talk.
- 30. Practical tips… •Avoid toomany details in the lead paragraph. •Numbers 1-9 are spelled out, 10 and higher – write in numerics. •Grade school – PUPILS ; •High School and College – STUDENTS
- 31. More practical tips… •Avoidrepeating the same word in the same paragraph. •Leads must be, at the maximum, 35 words long. Paragraphs must only be one or two sentences long.
- 32. More practical tips… •Whenusing a company/ institution/ department name more than once in a story, use its acronym after the first time you use the term in its fullness
- 33. More practical tips… •Beespecially careful to avoid phrases and sentences that are redundant--- that unnecessarily repeat the same idea. The following phrases contain only two or three words, yet at least one--- the word in italics– is unnecessary:
- 34. • that particularday • for the purpose of • in the event that
- 35. More practical tips… Avoidlong, unfamiliar words. Whenever possible substitute simpler and shorter words that convey the same meaning .
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