How to structure your hard news stories
1. Write a short lead that simply and
clearly tells what happened, who told you what happened and when it happened.
If you can answer more of the 5 W’s and the H than these three, do so. If not,
then make sure you’ve answered at least those three. Remember that the lead cannot be longer than
30 words, must be only one sentence, etc.
You must follow the rules for lead writing and the Checklist for your
Leads when writing this paragraph.
2. Use the second and, if necessary, the
third paragraph for additional important information. Let the reader know why this story is
important or why this event is significant.
Answer the remaining 5 W’s and H in paragraphs two and three that you
did not answer in the lead paragraph.
3. By the third or by the fourth
paragraph, use a direct quote from someone who is associated with the
article. Your best quote should go here.
From this point on, sprinkle direct quotes throughout the story. A good news story contains about 25 to 30
percent direct quotes, so try to include one every second or third paragraph
throughout the story.
4. By the fourth or by the fifth
paragraph, include any background information that would be necessary for the
reader to fully understand this article.
5. Present the news in the order of
descending importance. You must look at
your information and, using your news judgment and what you know about your
readers, decide what is most important and present it at the top of the story
with the least important information at the end. Remember to always ask yourself: What would the reader want to know? Or:
Why is this story important to my reader? Make sure that your complete story always
answers these questions.
6. Use transitions to carry the reader
smoothly from paragraph to paragraph and more idea to idea. If you do not use transitions, then the story
will not flow smoothly. If the story
fails to flow smoothly, then the reader will likely stop reading whenever he or
she finds your story too much work to understand or too much work to read. The idea with your writing is to make it as
smooth and as easy to read as possible.
If it flows smoothly from one paragraph and one idea to the next, then
the reader will hang in there and read the entire story.
7. Do not editorialize or let the reader
know that you have an opinion about the subject. You must remain neutral. This also means that you must include
attribution in every paragraph that you write.
The attribution lets the reader know who told you this information and
it lets the reader know that someone else said this, that this is not your
opinion. Remember, this is journalism. Journalism is about reporting the facts.
8. Present all sides of the story. Do not
give one side or another too much or too little weight. Seek to represent all
stories fairly and accurately in a way that reflects the reality of the
situation. Not all sides will always deserve equal weight. It is best to let
one side speak and then immediately let the other side respond. In other words, do NOT stack all of the
quotes from one side in a six or seven paragraph block and then give the other
side six or seven paragraphs in which to respond. It is best to let them go back and forth. The reason you don’t want to stack one side
and then get to the other side is that readers may not read the entire story,
so they may not get to the other side.
If you give each side alternating paragraphs within which to make their
point, then you won’t have this problem.
9. Generally, use only one new idea in
each paragraph. Don’t overload any
paragraph with too much information or too many ideas. Keep it simple. Simple writing is clear writing and clear
writing is writing that will keep the reader reading.
10. Write paragraphs that are only between 20
and 40 words in length. Keep your
sentences to 30 words or less in length.
This means, then, that you can have a paragraph of one sentence of
around 30 words OR you can have a paragraph of two sentences, as long as each
one of those sentences is around 15 to 25 words long.
11. Whenever you use direct quotes, they
START a NEW paragraph. This is how you
would use a direct quote: First, you
write a great transition that leads into the direct quote. This transition paragraph is the paragraph
directly above the direct quote. Then,
in the next paragraph, you start off this way:
“It was the most wonderful moment in my life,”
Steve Jones said.
Then, you immediately begin a new paragraph. You’ll notice that I used the person’s first
and last name (this is assuming this was the first time I mentioned the person
in my story; if it is the second time, or the second reference, then I would
have used only Jones), her title and THEN I wrote said. The said ALWAYS goes AFTER the person’s
name. Always. You would also ALWAYS write: she said, he said, etc. Think of it this way: it’s awkward to write
said she, so don’t write it and don’t write said Jones.
12. Do NOT put the words, “the end” at the
end of the story. Do not conclude the
story in any way. The news story simply
ends after you have told all of the newsworthy information and there is nothing
left to write. The best way to end a
news story is with a direct quote from one of your sources. Use your second-best quote as the last
paragraph as a sort of treat to the reader for hanging in there so long and
reading the entire story. The person
you’ve interviewed also gets the chance to have the last word. The reader also gets to hear from the source
one last time.
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