The presentation provides a simple overview on news writing.

1. NNEEWWSS WWRRIITTIINNGG

2. WWHHAATT IISS NNEEWWSS??
NORTH
EAST
WEST
SOUTH

3. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
News
Events
With
Significance

4. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
If a DOG BITES a MAN
- NOT NEWS
If a MAN BITES a DOG!
- NEWS

5. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
• Newsworthiness
new, strange, interesting, significant
• Emphasis
Is it important? Is it interesting?
• W’s and H
What, Who, When, Where, Why, How
• Source of info
Identify / imply source

6. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
• basically an event, idea or reaction that
is presented factually and simply in a
written form to give the reader an idea
of what is currently happening around
him or her, particularly on matters of
interest to the community

7. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
WWhhaatt iiss nneewwss iinn OONNEE PPLLAACCEE mmaayy nnoott bbee nneewwss iinn AANNOOTTHHEERR

8. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
What is news TODAY may not be news TOMORROW

9. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
What is news for one person may not be news for
another person

10. WWHHAATT iiss NNEEWWSS??
What is news to a MAN
may not be news to a WOMAN

11. WWHHAATT RREEAADDEERRSS WWAANNTT
• YYoouu mmiigghhtt wwrriittee tteerrrriiffiicc ssttoorriieess,, bbuutt tthheeyy’’rree
wwoorrtthhlleessss iiff nnoobbooddyy rreeaaddss tthheemm

12. CCHHAARRAACCTTEERRIISSTTIICCSS ooff NNEEWWSS
1. TIMELINESS
2. FACTUALITY
3. PROXIMITY
4. PROMINENCE
5. SIGNIFICANCE
6. ODDITY

13. SSOOUURRCCEESS ooff NNEEWWSS
• NATIONAL SCENE
- public officials, other government offices
- private groups, financial institutions
- cause-oriented groups / NGOs
• COMMUNITY
- activities of the local government officials
• SCHOOL CAMPUS
- views of university officials on certain
issues, student activities, programs,
seminars, new policies, etc.

14. BBAASSIICCSS ooff NNEEWWSS GGAATTHHEERRIINNGG
1. Actual coverage of the event
2. Interview
3. Writing from documents

15. TThhee NNEEWWSS SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE
News stories found in most newspapers are
basically classified into two:
– HARD NEWS
– SOFT NEWS

17. TThhee NNEEWWSS SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE
HARD NEWS
• Called straight news
• Objective
• Direct and Factual
• Timely
☞ important to a large
number of people
e.g. gov’t events, foreign
affairs, politics, education,
labor, religion, courts, etc.
SOFT NEWS
• Featurized
• Subjective
• Interpretative
• Less Timely
☞ focuses on abstract
events usually
associated with
human interest

18. TThhee NNEEWWSS SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE
HARD NEWS
• Lead Paragraph
- primary or more
important facts
• Succeeding
Paragraphs
- facts become less
important
• Closing Paragraph
- least important
SOFT NEWS
• Lead Paragraph
- least important
• Succeeding
Paragraphs
- facts become more
interesting
• Closing Paragraph
- primary or most
important facts

19. TThhee NNEEWWSS SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE
HARD NEWS or STRAIGHT NEWS
pprriimmaarryy oorr mmoorree
iimmppoorrttaanntt ffaaccttss
sseeccoonnddaarryy
lleeaadd
ddeettaaiillss

20. HHAARRDD NNEEWWSS SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE
W’s and H
• What: Anti-smoke belching campaign
• When: last week
• Who: NSTP students
• Where: main gate
• How: by boycotting smoke belchers
☞NSTP students held an anti-smoke belching
campaign at the main gate last week by
boycotting smoke belching vehicles.

21. TThhee LLEEAADD
“The beginning is the most important part of
the work. “ - Plato
“Everyone remembers great beginnings.”

22. TThhee LLEEAADD
• the beginning of a newspaper story
• the most important paragraph
• also called the slant or angle (for hard
news lead)
• should attract the reader’s attention and
sustain its readers to read on

23. TThhee LLEEAADD
☞ The lead is like a miniskirt
“It should be SHORT enough
to be INTERESTING
and
LONG enough
to COVER the ESSENTIALS.”

24. TThhee BBOODDYY ooff tthhee SSTTOORRYY
☞If the LEAD “tells the story in a nutshell,”
the BODY retells the story in detail by:
– explaining or elaborating the feature / s in
the lead
– adding minor features not summarized in
the lead

25. TThhee EENNDDIINNGG ooff aa SSTTOORRYY
• Finish strong
- Endings should leave the readers
satisfied, giving a sense of completion
• A number of techniques to open your story
may be used to close them
- mood setting, description, quotation, etc.