Intro
The Headline: Grabbing Attention
All stories start with a headline. Headlines act as the title of the story and consist of 4-8 words in a larger print to grab the reader’s attention. The key to a good headline is to write the headline after the story. Start by listing 10-15 interesting words that relate to story, then pick the best word and create an interesting phrase using rhyme, alliteration, assonance, cliché, pun, or a snowclone. Don’t worry about including specifics—that’s the job of
The Deck: Creating Clarity
Before a journalist can write a story, they need to research the story to make sure that they have the accurate and relevant facts. This means that a journalist has to first consider the stakeholders of the story. Stakeholders include people directly involved with an incident or event, those who witnessed the incident or event, those who caused the event or incident, and those who will be effected by the incident. Let's say, for example, the high school football team loses the playoffs in overtime. The stakeholders for this event would include:
A good journalist will interview several of these stakeholders to get perspective on the event (remember, journalists have to write objectively, so it's up to the quotes from stakeholders to "color" the story with subjective and interesting points of view. A great journalist will ensure that they also have a variety of different stakeholders. Even if the writer cannot get interviews with top officials or stakeholder, large enough news usually results in major stakeholders giving a press conference or press release where quotes can be found (like a coach typically gives after a big game). A journalist should also know what stakeholders may be untrustworthy or too biased to use in an article.
However, there needs to be more than just subjective quotes from people--articles also need other objective facts. These include studies, statistics, scores, records, timelines, and historical facts. For our sample, these facts could include the score, the timeline of when each team scored points, rushing years and passing yards, and the history of when the team has gotten to the playoffs. Also don't forget definitions as facts: if the article mentions topical jargon (words that are very specific to a discipline that most people wouldn't know), the audience needs some explanation. For example, if the last play was a flea flicker, the writer may want to define that for a more general audience. When choosing what facts to include, writers must only use what is most relevant: the score at the half may be relevant, but the year the team was first incorporated is not.
General facts (like the score of a game or the last year the team made the playoffs) do not need citations, while specific statistics (such as a 43% decline in ticket sales over the past season) need a source. Unlike academic papers, facts are sourced directly in the article instead of at the end with an in-text frame:
- The players (direct involvement)
- The coaches (direct involvement)
- The fans, including members of the band and cheer squad (witnesses)
- The high school admin (as sponsors, they "cause" the season)
A good journalist will interview several of these stakeholders to get perspective on the event (remember, journalists have to write objectively, so it's up to the quotes from stakeholders to "color" the story with subjective and interesting points of view. A great journalist will ensure that they also have a variety of different stakeholders. Even if the writer cannot get interviews with top officials or stakeholder, large enough news usually results in major stakeholders giving a press conference or press release where quotes can be found (like a coach typically gives after a big game). A journalist should also know what stakeholders may be untrustworthy or too biased to use in an article.
However, there needs to be more than just subjective quotes from people--articles also need other objective facts. These include studies, statistics, scores, records, timelines, and historical facts. For our sample, these facts could include the score, the timeline of when each team scored points, rushing years and passing yards, and the history of when the team has gotten to the playoffs. Also don't forget definitions as facts: if the article mentions topical jargon (words that are very specific to a discipline that most people wouldn't know), the audience needs some explanation. For example, if the last play was a flea flicker, the writer may want to define that for a more general audience. When choosing what facts to include, writers must only use what is most relevant: the score at the half may be relevant, but the year the team was first incorporated is not.
General facts (like the score of a game or the last year the team made the playoffs) do not need citations, while specific statistics (such as a 43% decline in ticket sales over the past season) need a source. Unlike academic papers, facts are sourced directly in the article instead of at the end with an in-text frame:
- According to the [source of information],...
- A recent study by the [source of information] concluded that...
- [Source of information] revealed in [time] that...
Byline and Dateline: Giving Credit
News articles almost always follow what journalist call "the inverted pyramid." The inverted pyramid refers to how most of the key information of the article is at the top while extra interesting but ultimately superfluous details. The structure also puts the most general details on top while narrowing down to the more specific and more technical facts toward the bottom.
News articles start with a summary lede, which must answer the five W's:
News articles start with a summary lede, which must answer the five W's:
- What happened? (or is going to happen?)
- Who's involved? (most important stakeholders)
- When did/will this happen?
- Where did/will this happen?
- Why did this happen? (is this happening?)