Structure of a Good News Story by Kevin Payne for LogosPost.com
Structure of a Good News Story The news story starts with the most important and interesting part of a story depending on what the audience will know. All stories are inherently political to some degree. Economy, sports, fashion, they all stem from politics in some way. The inverted pyramid is the structure most commonly used by journalists. The inverted pyramid: Lead -> nutgraph -> body paragraphs -> conclusive sentence that cuts the piece off, does not resummarize. More important or interesting information first. Most applicable to hard news pieces where timeliness is essential. Attributive tags will be in body paragraphs. Body will contextualize the story, give the background of the people and events. Narrations, quotes, physical descriptions, additional information. Definitions The Lead: or opening paragraph, is the most important part of a news story. Journalism leads are like first impressions. You want to make sure they're good. The way journalists report the news may be changing, but having a strong story opening remains as important as ever. Example: This evening at about 9:30 p.m. at Ford's Theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Harris and Major Rathburn, was shot by an assassin, who suddenly entered the box and approached behind the President. The Nutgraph : A paragraph in a feature story or essay, as in a newspaper or magazine, that summarizes the most important facts. Example : Motorola has a new Android smartphone out, and judging by the looks of it, it s going to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it devices. Writers sometimes have trouble deciding where to put a nut graph in a story. In short stories, the lead and the nut graph could be one in the same. In a good old-fashioned inverted-pyramid news piece, the nut graph should follow the opening who, what, where, when and how information and serve as the story s why. In longer news, news features or feature stories, the nut graph could follow the lead by some distance, but not be buried so deep the reader gives up before figuring out what he or she is reading about. Body: The main section of the news story. It tells the story. It gives the facts. The body is where the story is.
Conclusive Sentence : or short paragraph. It leaves the reader with something to think about. It doesn t summarize the entire story. It can be a quote from one of the sources or a factual statement that hasn t been stated somewhere else in the article. Examples: With regard to the changed state of affairs in the Church, it must be said that this can be a conclusive argument only to one who holds the view of the Tubingen scholars, that the Apostolic Age was all of a piece and was dominated solely by one controversy. The Catholic Church, unlike civil society, sees marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. So has the rest of the world throughout history. Accordingly, the Church has the legal right not to acknowledge gay marriage any more than it is required to accept polygamy, Donahue said. Those who believe in diversity should welcome the Catholic Churches teachings on marriage and homosexuality. Some More Examples News lead In one of their bloodiest raids into Lebanon in years, Israeli warplanes killed dozens of Muslim guerrillas with rockets and machine-gun fire Thursday as they pounded a training camp of the pro-aranian party of God. Quote lead ``I have the worst job in the Army.'' This is an example of a good quote lead because the reader asks, ``What could that possibly be?'' Description lead Penciled sketches of an air strike, complete with renderings of F14s and Patriot missiles. And on the ground, tiny people run for cover. That's how 8-year-old Jimmy Zayas pictures war in the Middle East. Transitions
With one-sentence paragraphs consisting of only one idea -- block paragraphs -- it would be easy for a story to appear as a series of statements without any smooth flow from one idea to the next. Block paragraphing makes the use of effective transitions important. Transitions are words or phrases that link two ideas, making the movement from one to the other clear and easy. Obvious transitional phrases are: thus, therefore, on the other hand, next, then, and so on. Transitions in news stories are generally done by repeating a word or phrase or using a synonym for a key word in the preceding paragraph. Think of block graphs as islands tied together with transition bridges of repeated words or phrases. Direct quotes You should use direct quotes: if a source's language is particularly colorful or picturesque when it is important for written information -- especially official information -- to come from an obviously authoritative voice to answer the questions ``why, how, who, or what?'' Use a direct quote after a summary statement that needs amplification, verification or example. Remember, a direct quote repeats exactly what the interviewee said. If you don't have a person's exact words, you can paraphrase, but you cannot change the meaning of a person's words. And when you paraphrase, you must never use quotation marks. The Nutgraph : A paragraph in a feature story or essay, as in a newspaper or magazine, that summarizes the most important facts. Example : Motorola has a new Android smartphone out, and judging by the looks of it, it s going to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it devices. Writers sometimes have trouble deciding where to put a nut graph in a story. In short stories, the lead and the nut graph could be one in the same. In a good old-fashioned inverted-pyramid news piece, the nut graph should follow the opening who, what, where, when and how information and serve as the story s why. In longer news, news features or feature stories, the nut graph could follow the lead by some distance, but not be buried so deep the reader gives up before figuring out what he or she is reading about.
Body: The main section of the news story. It tells the story. It gives the facts. The body is where the story is. Conclusive Sentence : or short paragraph. It leaves the reader with something to think about. It doesn t summarize the entire story. It can be a quote from one of the sources or a factual statement that hasn t been stated somewhere else in the article. Examples: With regard to the changed state of affairs in the Church, it must be said that this can be a conclusive argument only to one who holds the view of the Tubingen scholars, that the Apostolic Age was all of a piece and was dominated solely by one controversy. The Catholic Church, unlike civil society, sees marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. So has the rest of the world throughout history. Accordingly, the Church has the legal right not to acknowledge gay marriage any more than it is required to accept polygamy, Donahue said. Those who believe in diversity should welcome the Catholic Churches teachings on marriage and homosexuality. Here is an example Bargainers from General Motors and UAW Local 160 will resume talks in Warren this morning seeking to end a day-old strike over the transfer of jobs from unionized employees to less costly contract workers. Who, What, Where, When, Why and How... The five Ws and an H Depending on the elements of news value, the summary news lead emphasizes and includes some or all of the five Ws and H. Who, names the subject(s) of the story. The who, a noun, can refer to a person, a group, a building, an institution, a concept -- anything about which a story can be written. The who in the lead above are the bargainers from General Motors and the UAW. The what is the action taking place. It is a verb that tells what the who is doing. Reporters should always use active voice and action verbs for the what because they make the wording direct and lively. What, are the bargainers doing? The lead says they will resume talks. When, tells the time the action is happening. It is an adverb or an adverb phrase. When, will the bargainers resume talks? This morning. Where, is the place, the action is happening. Again, it is an adverb or adverb or adverb phrase. In our story, the where is Warren. Why, another adverb, explains the action in the lead. The bargainers are meeting to discuss the transfer of jobs.
How, usually describes the manner in which action occurs. A couple of things to remember When writing news story s or news articles, always avoid using personal pronouns such as: I, we, me, us. You do not want to sound like you are giving your opinion. A news story is about the facts, period. You should only use personal pronouns when quoting a source. If you are writing an opinion piece, personal pronouns are expected. Avoid paraphrasing or making personal comments on what a source says. Keep to the facts and state exactly what the source said. Putting it all together School superintendent suspended for invoking the name of Jesus during speech By Kevin Payne A school superintendent was recently suspended for his position for praising Jesus during graduation ceremony speech. (The Lead) Dr. Ken Medlin, superintendent of Greene County School system in Willard Missouri, delivered an address during commencement exercise at Willard High School. During the speech he used an acronym, G.U.T.S, which stands for grit, understand and teamwork. It was the s that got him into trouble. (The Nutgraph) Body For me, that S stands for my Savior, he told the group of graduating seniors and their parents. He also invited everyone to join him in prayer. He went on to tell the crowd that everyone needs somebody or something that will guide them to the finish line. The speech did not go over well with several of the graduating seniors. Several graduates claimed that the speech was both offensive and divisive.
I came here to graduate, not go to church, said Preston Schaeffer, one of the graduates in the crowd. He sort of ruined the rest of my night. It was my last night of high school experience and he chose to talk about religion instead of graduation. In the aftermath of the graduation ceremony, Dr. Medlin offered an apology. If my behavior was offensive to anyone, then I am truly sorry, he said. I in no way wanted to offend anybody. That was not my intention. But Dr. Medlin s apology fell on deaf ears. The offended graduates and their parents demanded that he be punished for invoking the name of Christ in public. The school board agreed and suspended Dr. Medlin until June 30. The leave will continue until June 30, 2017 when Dr. Medlin s contract expires, a board member said in a statement. The board s action was based upon the board s belief that Dr. Medlin s High School Commencement Speech violated Board of Education policies regarding prayer at school sponsored events. Earlier in the year, Dr. Medlin had announced his retirement plans. His last day in office would have been June 30. (Conclusive sentence) This is by no means an exhaustive lesson on writing news stories. It is a brief summary of points to remember about writing news stories. But, it is a good start. Kevin Payne Church News Editor B.A. in Communications/Advertising: University of North Carolina M.S. in Journalism: South Dakota State University