What s the Story? An introduction to news writing The following notes are based on the FAN workshop of 26 June 2008. 1. Workshop Aims and Outcomes 1.1 Workshop Aims: To foster an understanding of the demands and disciplines of news journalism as a written craft To foster understanding and identification of the characteristics of good stories To develop and consolidate basic journalism and narrative skills To develop skills in the use of language to communicate news and features Use this newfound knowledge as a tool for communicating FAN stories 1.2 Workshop Outcomes: Demonstrate a basic understanding of the demands and disciplines of journalism and communications media Understand what makes a good story and appreciate the dos and don ts of news and feature writing Write concise reports, mini features and personal stories in a journalistic or non-fiction narrative style Identify stories in raw, diffuse or incomplete information, or information presented in specialist or unfamiliar formats Use language and editorial judgement to produce clear, concise and jargonfree written information 2. What is news? The unusual, uncommon or unknown Something the public needs to know about Something the public wants to know about Something of interest to a mass audience Important information It s these elements that make a story newsworthy but news has to be professionally generated, produced and packaged to be NEWS as opposed to EVENTS. 3. What news isn t PR Advertising Selling Marketing Propaganda Biased Subjective 4. Finding the story using the Five Ws and H
The aim of a news story is to provide information to a wide readership about an event or topical subject. The best formula for doing this is the 5Ws and the H system Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? In a hard news story, the 5Ws and H (certainly the first four) should be answered in the Intro. In a soft news story we can spread this information out beyond the Intro (in the facts of the story). 5. The Intro Is your first and most important sentence. It should tell the reader what the whole article is about in approximately 30 words. In other words, you need to put the most important information first. Don t build up to it as if it was a punch line. While the majority of news stories use the standard formula of the 5Ws and H, it s not always feasible or desirable to try to include all of these elements in the intro Readers may become confused if too much information and background is given in the first sentence The following intro illustrates this point Robbers stole a charity collection box from St Jude s Church, Vauxhall, at the weekend. The intro only answers the questions who, what, where and when but provides enough information to encourage further reading of the story to establish how and possibly why the incident occurred. The naming of the church and town would be especially important for a local readership. But don t labour the point. Divide your intro into two sentences if need be to make it punchy, as in the following example: COPS are searching for a missing girl who can't speak English. Xiao Xiao, aged 14, has been spotted in Surrey Quays and Camberwell in South London since she went missing from her east London home on September 1. South London Press, 26-09-07 5.1 A Good intro...
Will clarify the thoughts of a journalist into making a news judgement about the most important and striking facts Thereafter the rest of the story should follow a logical and flowing pattern The ordering of information the Inverted Pyramid Model allows the subeditor to cut the story from the bottom if space is tight but still retain the most important facts 6. The Inverted Pyramid Created during the war when news copy was sent over telegraph wires. Correspondents had to develop a system to send the most important information before the connection was lost We still use inverted pyramid today because readers are busy and easily distracted Just because they start reading a news article doesn't mean they'll finish it The most important facts should appear at the top of your story Arrange the rest of the facts in descending order of importance 7. The Facts The facts of a story should go in the paragraphs that follow the Intro. Remember that news writing uses short sentences and paragraphs. Each paragraph should be no longer than two or three sentences; and a hard news story does not usually have conclusion In any case, sub-editors may cut the last few paragraphs to make the article fit on the page (journalists sometimes talk of delaying the drop on a softer news story). 8. The Supporting Paragraphs In order to create a readable, engaging story that backs up the intro, a news story should be (among other things): Interesting Revealing Informative Colourful Narrative Lively Authoritative 9. Basic Construction Introduction a summary of the main points of the story.
Explanation following on from the summary in the intro and giving more detailed information on the participants, description of the circumstances surrounding the story, local angle etc. Amplification elaborating each of the points given in the first two sections with background information, quotations, eyewitness accounts, etc. Conclusion tying up the loose ends of the story. 10. The Sixth W: So What? This is the first question your editor will ask you, or your readers will ask themselves, when you present the details, i.e. the five Ws, of your story. Your Intro should answer that question by telling the editor or the reader why they should read on. Don t hang about editors and readers are always pressed for time tell them what they need to know as simply and memorably as you can. The so what? is the news angle, the sixth W that makes news, news. 10.1 The News Angle Is the aspect, twist, or detail of a news or feature story that pegs it to a news event or gives it news value for the reader. Choose your angle (focus) and ensure that all the elements of your story tie into it. 10.2 The Human Interest Angle Legendary ex-sunday Times editor, Harold Evans once said: News is people. It s people talking and doing. Committees, cabinets and courts are people; so are fires, accidents and planning decisions. They are only news because they affect and involve people. The human interest angle is often the best way to introduce the story. If there has been a major fire at a local school the first thought of readers will be whether there have been any injuries to pupils and staff and not the state of the school buildings. To that end a journalist would probably begin this kind of story with Two teachers and five pupils were seriously injured in a fire at a Vauxhall primary school yesterday. The fact that the classrooms and the canteen were gutted by fire is of secondary importance. Once the angle has been established the reporter can then concentrate on constructing the story. Most readers briefly scan the pages and therefore it is paramount that the opening paragraph grabs the attention of the readers so that they wish to read on. 11. Using Quotes
Quotes are a useful way of amplifying and illustrating reaction to a particular news story. They are indispensable because a news story does not exist without reaction, so you should always try to cherry pick the best quotes and place them as high up your running order of paragraphs as possible. Basically, if you haven t used a quotation, directly or indirectly, by the fourth or fifth paragraph, something is wrong with your news story. 11.1 Where do we get quotes? Face-to-face interviews Telephone interviews Public meetings Press conferences Other news sources Anywhere where people are speaking or quoted! The following tabloid news story illustrates a good use of quotes: A British tourist seen hiding in a stairwell outside Madeleine McCann's apartment on the night she disappeared was being investigated last night. The new suspect, stocky and wearing two-tone glasses, was spotted by an Ocean Club worker just 12 metres from the flat. The employee, who did not want to be named, exclusively told the Mirror: I'll never forget him. It was around 6pm on the day the little girl went missing. I saw this Englishman standing under the stairwell. Daily Mirror, 29-09-07 12. Conducting Q&As Remember, Q&As are not police-style interrogations! Bear in mind the following points when carrying out interviews: Elicit information, not confrontation Know your subject/interviewee Be prepared: 5Ws and H Be flexible with your Q&A Open questions v closed questions Take good notes/record Select appropriate environment And don t forget to obtain these four basic pieces of information from your interviewees: Name Age Occupation
Address 13. Dos and Don ts 13.1 Dos Keep the intro to under 30 words. Try splitting the intro into two halves to aid clarity and impact. Use vigorous and direct language to emphasize the urgency and to catch the interest of the reader. Give a precise, clear and accurate summary of the most important points; a basic test is to ask whether it could be used in the news in brief section as a self-contained piece. Use positive rather than negative statements. 13.2 Don ts Begin with a quotation unless the speaker is well known, e.g. the Prime Minister. Begin with a figure/numeral spell out the number. Use boring phrases such as There was and There is. 14. Car Crash Exercise Imagine you must write an inverted pyramid news story from the following basic facts: An accident occurred. It happened yesterday. Today is Tuesday. The accident was a car accident. It happened in Harrow where Springfield Street and Portland Road meet. One person was killed. The person s name was Robert Towne. He was 20 years old and lived in Harrow at 212 Honeywell Drive. He was driving a blue 1998 Honda Accord. He was driving northwest on Springfield Street at about 5 p.m. He lost control of the car. It was raining, and the road was slippery. He was also driving about 20 mph over the speed limit and speaking on a hand-held mobile phone at the time of the accident.. He was the only one in the car. The car smashed into a lamppost along Springfield Street. The impact crushed the whole front of the car. Towne was thrown through the car's windscreen. He landed on the pavement some 20 feet away. He wasn't wearing a seat belt. He was killed instantly. To write an inverted-pyramid story from the above facts, you first would write a lead that summarises the most important information. Here's one possibility: A Harrow man died on Monday afternoon when his car skidded out of control in the rain on Springfield Street and hit a lamp-post, throwing him through the windscreen. Like all good straight news leads, this one summarises the "what," "where," "when," "who," "why," and "how" of the story. The next paragraph of the story should pick up on some element of the lead and elaborate on it. In this example, the next paragraph gives more information about the victim:
The man, 20-year-old Robert Towne, of Honeywell Drive, lost control of his blue 1998 Honda Accord around 5 p.m. while driving at 50 mph in the built-up area and steering with only one hand as he talked on his mobile phone. The next paragraph wraps up the remaining details: Towne, who was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash, died instantly after being thrown through the windscreen and onto the pavement some 20 feet away. The story would still contain all the essential information if an editor had to chop off the final paragraph. If an editor cut the second paragraph as well, the story would lose important information (the mobile phone conversation). But people would still know the name of the victim and a few details about how he died. Get the idea? Note also how each paragraph has a logical connection to the preceding one. The second paragraph, for example, is linked to the lead by the words, the man. Towne does the trick in the third paragraph. These links are called transition and they're essential to keeping the flow of the story smooth and logical.