Writing a News Story

Parts of a News Story

1. Headline – tells what the story is about2. Byline – shows who wrote the story3. Lead – tells the most important facts (5 W’s)4. Body – contains more information and

details, written in inverted pyramid style5. Ending – gives something to think about

Parts of a News Story

1. Headline

Train accident forces evacuationNote that headlines contain a subject & verb

Written by an editor after the story is written

Parts of a News Story

1. Headline

2. Byline

Train accident forces evacuationBy Scott Freed

The byline is the author’s name; sometimes a group will take credit such as Leader-Post staff or Star Phoenix Staff

Parts of a News Story

1. Headline

2. Byline3. Lead

Train accident forces evacuationBy Scott Freed

A freight train carrying dangerous chemicals collided with a semi-trailer in southwestern Manitoba on Thursday, sending a towering plume of toxic black smoke into the air and forcing the evacuation of more than 100 area residents.

Your Story, Your Leads

A good journalist always asks “So what?” or “What’s this about?” or “What’s my point?” when considering gathered information

First, you must identify the main point of your story before you write it!

The lead is what opens any piece of journalism. Other than the headline, the lead is the only chance to “catch” your reader’s attention!”

There are many types of leads; however, we will work with the most popular: a direct news lead. This consists of a single sentence opening paragraph that contains the most important elements of the story. It should tell what happened, who was involved, where and when it happened as concisely as possible.

A good lead sentence is between 20 - 25 words in length.

Readers spend only 3 seconds deciding whether to read your story based on your lead!

Writing Your Lead

Leads

Local police captured two juvenile thieves Wednesday after the robbery of Rob’s Mini-Mart.

The following 2 examples are direct news leads that accurately tell the reader the most important information about the story!

The Student Council has made plans to donate 100% of all its proceeds from Friday night’s social event. The group plans to split the money between two local charities.

Inverted Pyramid

LEAD

Most Important Details

Less important details

Least important details

Most interesting news stories use this style for many reasons; it benefits:

1. Hurried readers

2. Beginning journalists

3. Headline writers

4. Page layout editors

This style is beneficial to many different people because less time will be spent on the parts of the story that aren’t as important! If the story is edited from the bottom, important details won’t be left out.

Parts of a News Story

1. Headline

2. Byline3. Lead4. Body

Fifteen of 20 derailed cars at an uncontrolled crossing along CN Rail’s mail line were ablaze, including cars carrying benzene and plastic pellets. At least one of the derailed cars was carrying hexane, although that car was not on fire, said CN spokesperson Jim Feeny.

Emergency measures officials decided it was too dangerous to send in firefighters to try to douse the flames, said Edward Geirsbrecht, the reeve of Norfolk municipality. “At this point they’re just letting it burn,”he said. “The way it looks it could take a couple of days.”

Feeny said neither the truck driver nor the train’s driver were killed in the 4:15 p.m. accident.

An area five to eight kilometres wide was being evacuated, although Manitoba RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Steve Saunders indicated the region was sparsely populated. “The number of people that will be evacuated will be determined by the weather,” said Giesbrecht. “Right now it (the wind) is blowing in a direction where there is not a high population so it’s OK.

Among the evacuees were 60 members of the Pine Creek Hutterite colony who live two kilometres from the crash site. Colony manager Lawrence Maendel was at the crash site shortly after the accident happened. “My tongue was tingling, but we should be OK,” said Maendel, who was frustrated at being …

Parts of a News Story

1. Headline

2. Byline3. Lead4. Body5. Ending

…

“This is a dangerous toxin – it could get you any time,” Roy said. “One of the guys came tearing down the road. He said a ball of flame was going over his house.”

Objective point of view

The body of the story involves combining the opinions of the people you interview, some factual data, and a narrative which helps the story flow. A word of caution, however. In this style of writing, you are not allowed to "editorialize" (state your own opinion) in any way.

Objective Point of View

• The writer must do his best to remain objective and report in a neutral manner. The languagethat is used must reflect this. Note how articles will report “alcohol may have been a factor” NOT “he was blind drunk and couldn’t see where he was going”

”

Quoted material

• Any quoted material should be accurate and should not be taken out of context