News Writing 101 374e27

LEARNING STATION Summer Workshop on Campus Journalism

NEWS WRITING 101 NEWS Defined News is an of an event, or a fact or an opinion that interests people. It is a presentation of current events.

ABCs of News Writing Accuracy. The first and most important is accuracy -- a story can be creative and compelling, but if it contains errors, it is worthless. Always check numbers, spellings of names, who said what, and the other basic facts of any story. A reporter's job is to find out what is going on, then write a story that's interesting and informative. Accuracy always comes first. Brevity. Each word in a news story should do a job. If not, take it out. Get to the point. Say it just once. Don't be redundant. Don't say 8 a.m. in the morning. Just say 8 a.m. Or say 8 in the morning. the inverted pyramid style of writing. Put the most important fact in the lead. Hook the reader's attention. Explain the lead and then go on to the next. Clarity starts before you write. Clarity starts with complete, competent reporting. You should understand your subject so completely that your story leaves it crystal-clear in the reader's mind. Your story should leave no questions unanswered. Explain anything that wouldn't be obvious to the average person.

NEWS VALUES News usually has at least one of these elements: • Impact. Impact is determined by the number of people affected, the number of boats that sink, the number of cars wrecked, etc. The more people affected, the more boats sunk, the bigger the impact of the story. • Proximity. The closer your audience is to the event, the greater its news value. If a train hits a bus within your locality or province , it may receive a space on the front page of a newspaper. • Timeliness. "New" is a big part of news. If it happened just before deadline, it's bigger news than if it happened last week. Even "big" stories last only a week or so. News, like fish, is better fresh. • Prominence. If it happens to the mayor, it is bigger news than if it happens to an ordinary person. The public cares more about celebrities than

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they do about people they don't know. If PNoy goes jogging, dates a lady or buys a luxurious car, reporters take pictures and write news about him. • Novelty. If an event is unusual, bizarre, the first, the last, or once-in-alifetime, it is has more news value than if it is something that happens normally or regularly.

The Inverted Pyramid Style

When you write a story in inverted pyramid format, you put the most newsworthy information at the beginning of the story and the least newsworthy information at the end. The inverted pyramid helps readers scan news stories quickly and efficiently. But it helps you write news stories quickly and efficiently, too. Once you train yourself to organize facts this way, you can apply this formula to almost any breaking news event — which is why the inverted pyramid has been a cornerstone of newswriting for the past century.

THE LEAD The lead is usually the toughest part of writing a story. The lead is the first word, sentence or paragraph of the story. Whatever its length, the lead has several important jobs to do. First, it must interest the reader in the rest of the story. Imagine the reader as impatient, with lots of other things he or she could be doing instead of reading your story.

LEARNING STATION Summer Workshop on Campus Journalism

Imagine the reader saying, "Get to the POINT! Don't waste my time! Tell me the STORY!" If your reader were stranded on a desert island with nothing to read but your story, you could probably get away with a vague, rambling lead. But today's reader has a fast train to catch, the kids are fighting again and the TV never stops blaring. Your story has tough competition. Your job is to write a short, punchy, informative lead to attract readers. But then you must supply the details, the insights and the context.

What are the rules for a good lead? • Keep it short. News writing is always tight, but the lead calls for special care. Condense your story into one sentence, then one phrase, then one word. Make sure that word is near the beginning of the lead. As a general rule, no lead sentence should be longer than 25 words. • Get to the point. What is the story about? Tell the reader in the lead. • Focus on the action. Use the "active voice." Instead of saying something happened, say who did what to who. Use the action word. If nobody did anything, it may not be a news story. • Hook the reader. Put the most important, the most interesting, the most exciting thing in the lead. A novel may take 100 pages to lead up to the climax of the story; a news story puts the climax first and then explains what led up to it. HOW TO WRITE A NEWS LEAD 1. Condense story into one or two words. Put those words as close to the beginning of the first sentence as possible without destroying the flow of the lead sentence. 2. Keep leads short — 20 to 25 words can be enough. 3. The news lead should tell the reader what the story is about and be interesting enough to draw the reader into the rest of the story. 4. Find the action in the story. Put the action in the lead. 5. Always double-check names and numbers. Check spelling, style and grammar. Put everything in order. 6. Attribute opinions. Stick with the facts. 7. Write in the active voice. News writing should almost always be in the active voice because news is about action and actors. If the subject performs the action, the verb is in the active voice. If the subject is acted upon, the verb is in the ive voice. To test for the active voice, find the subject and verb in the sentence. Put the subject

LEARNING STATION Summer Workshop on Campus Journalism

before the verb so that the subject takes action: Jill hit the ball, not: The ball was hit by Jill. SUMMARY LEAD. The summary lead is the most common news-style lead seen in newspapers. The summary lead provides the most important of the five Ws and H elements. It gets the basic information up front. Examples of summary leads: Three student journalists of Paumbong South Central Elementary School (PSCES) will advance to the Regional Schools Press Conference after winning in the recently concluded 2016 Division Schools Press Conference held at Cauayan City Natonal High School, April 13. Nine engers were severely injured Friday when lightning struck their private plane, plunging them into the river behind Mudflap Airport. To educate women and children on their rights against violence and abuse, the Department of Social Welfare and Development conducted the Seminar on Violence Against Women and Children at the Laoag City Auditorium, April 11-13.

SAMPLE NEWS STORIES

DepEd Laoag holds K-12 Forum cum Caravan To explain and to reintroduce the different phases of the new curriculum and to prepare educational stakeholders for the Senior High School, the Schools Division of Laoag City conducted K-12 Forum Cum Caravan at the Laoag City Centennial Auditorium, June 29. With the theme “Tayo na para sa Edukasyon,” the event was participated in by the representatives from the Department of Education(Deped) Regional Office headed by former Director Teresita M. Velasco, City Council headed by Hon. Chevylle V. Farinas, school heads, teachers, PTA officers and representatives from non-Government Organizations (NGOs). Moreover, the event highlighted the awarding of the winners in the two different events namely: Music Video Competition wherein Ilocos Note National High School (INNHS) Einstein Group won first place, INNHS Special Program for Arts (SPA) bagged second place and Balatong Integrated school (BIS) garnered third place; Poster-Making Contest wherein Ilocos Norte College of Arts and Trades (INCAT) bagged first place, INNHS won second place and Northwestern University garnered third place.

LEARNING STATION Summer Workshop on Campus Journalism “We should study all the good sides and phases of K-12 so that we can appreciate it and gain a better outlook of its advantages,” said Velasco. DepEd Laoag City Superintendent Dr. Cecilia Pacis Aribuabo said that the holding of the caravan will strengthen partnerships in providing and quality education to every Filipino learner. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gov. Imee named as Outstanding Governorship Awardee She has chased excellence; and now, excellence has chased her. In recognition of her outstanding performance in developing Ilocos Norte in the past five years, Governor Imee R. Marcos was honored as one of the 2015 Most Outstanding Governors of the Philippines held at the City Club, Alpha Land Building, Makati City, October 28. The award was conferred by the Superbrands Marketing International (SMI) and was received by the Province’s Vice Governor Angelo Marcos Barba on behalf of the Governor Marcos. SMI cited Marcos for ensuring the rapid and inclusive development of the Province by launching the 2010 Provincial Vision -- “Pasingkedan Ti Kinatan-ok ni Ilocano: Together, We Can Make Ilocos Norte great again!”. Following the said recognition, Ilocos Norte was also cited as the recognized province by the International Standardization Organization (ISO) as the first full topto-bottom ISO-certified province in the Philippines. Moreover, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) was also cited as one of the ten Galing Pook 2015 Awardees for its flagship youth program ‘SIRIB Express’, a proof of Governor Marcos’ continuing excellence in local governance. Governor Marcos said that PGIN will remain committed in upholding the spirit of ‘timpuyog’ or unity as well as excellence in governance towards a bright and sustainable future for the Province.