HOW TO WRITE A NEWS STORY STEP ONE: The intro Write a short sentence to grab the attention of your reader. Summarise what happened. Ask yourself: what’s exciting, interesting or unusual about this story? So you would write: Fighting broke out between councillors last night. Punches were thrown when the mayor announced a council tax increase. You start: wouldn’t At a meeting of Clapham council on Thursday April 1. STEP TWO: The detail Make sure your readers have basic information: Who? What? Why? Where? When? STEP THREE: The quote Focus on people when you tell your story. Quotes will bring it to life! Use them to express strong feelings or opinion to [Doris said: [Brian said: “I was so scared my knees turned jelly”} this “The person who did should be sacked.”] STEP FOUR: Narrative and action Make sure events in your story happen in the right order and finish off with information your readers might need [For tickets, phone 010 12345.] OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER SOURCES Where did you get your information? Readers will know your information is reliable if you say where it came from [According to a report published by the Principal of Lambeth College this week...] BE OBJECTIVE Avoid giving your opinion no-one cares what journalists think! If you want to show – strong feelings or views, use quotes so they can speak for themselves. people’s KEEP IT SIMPLE We all know people who are easy to talk to in real life, but when they answer the phone they suddenly start talking like a robot: who is speaking?. And [“May I ask what is your call regarding?] like this! Use simple language and short, clear sentences. Keep the Don’t write paragraphs short, too. DON’T STEAL Journalists get sacked when they copy other stories (or when they make people’s stuff up). Get your own information. If say so [According it’s second hand, to today’s New not York Times, Donald Trump intends to bomb Bristol Donald Trump said: “I intend to…”] KEEP IT SHORT When your story carefully and run it through Spellcheck. Ask you’ve finished, read yourself: have I repeated anything? Have I put in stuff or pointless? that’s dull Make sure your story is packed with interest and sticks to one of the competition’s four big themes to read the brief!). (don’t forget GOOD LUCK ENJOY YOUR STORY! – RM
HOW TO WRITE A NEWS STORY STEP ONE: The intro Write a short sentence to grab the attention of your reader. Summarise what happened. Ask yourself: what’s exciting, interesting or unusual about this story? So you would write: Fighting broke out between councillors last night. Punches were thrown when the mayor announced a council tax increase. You wouldn’t start: At a meeting of Clapham council on Thursday April 1. STEP TWO: The detail Make sure your readers have basic information: Who? What? Why? Where? When? STEP THREE: The quote Focus on people when you tell your story. Quotes will bring it to life! Use them to express strong feelings [Brian said: “I was so scared my knees turned to jelly”} or opinion [Doris said: “The person who did this should be sacked.”] STEP FOUR: Narrative and action Make sure events in your story happen in the right order and finish off with information your readers might need [For tickets, phone 010 12345.] OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER SOURCES Where did you get your information? Readers will know your information is reliable if you say where it came from [According to a report published by the Principal of Lambeth College this week...] BE OBJECTIVE Avoid giving your opinion – no-one cares what journalists think! If you want to show people’s strong feelings or views, use quotes so they can speak for themselves. KEEP IT SIMPLE We all know people who are easy to talk to in real life, but when they answer the phone they suddenly start talking like a robot: [“May I ask who is speaking?. And what is your call regarding?] Don’t write like this! Use simple language and short, clear sentences. Keep the paragraphs short, too. DON’T STEAL Journalists get sacked when they copy other people’s stories (or when they make stuff up). Get your own information. If it’s second hand, say so [According to today’s New York Times, Donald Trump intends to bomb Bristol not Donald Trump said: “I intend to…”] KEEP IT SHORT When you’ve finished, read your story carefully and run it through Spellcheck. Ask yourself: have I repeated anything? Have I put in stuff that’s dull or pointless? Make sure your story is packed with interest and sticks to one of the competition’s four big themes (don’t forget to read the brief!). GOOD LUCK – ENJOY YOUR STORY! RM