Basics of Journalism

The basics of a news story in five bullet points

Think of journalistic writing as an inverted pyramid. The top contains only one or two sentences with the most important information first; this is called the lead (pronouncedleedand sometimes spelled "lede"). Next, a little more information is given about the story, and so on, until all of the information has been given."An example of a regular pyramid story might be an old-fashioned mystery where the reader is introduced to more and more important clues as he or she reads on," says Rich Cameron, the chair of the journalism department at Cerritos College in California. "It is only after collecting all of those clues that the reader can finally begin to solve the mystery."

"With an inverted pyramid story we give away the solution (or in our case a summary) at the very beginning. The rest of the story contains less and less important information until we just stop," says Cameron.

Tone:Your job as a reporter is to report facts and the opinions of others and to leave your own opinions out of the story. The term for introducing your own opinion into a story is callededitorializing– try not to do this!
Multiple Sources:The more people you talk to, the better the article. You can use direct quotes or paraphrase what someone says, but always remember to identify who says what.
Sentence Length:Sentences should have an average of 20-28 words. This is an average, so you don’t need to spend time counting; just be aware that sentences and paragraphs are much shorter than what you’ve been taught with composition.

1. 5W1H: Why, Where,What and When (and sometimes how) — Yes, cliche or not, those are the five questions every good news story strives to answer. See inverted pyramid !
2. Lede:  The opening of a story, usually a summary of the most important information.(yes, we journos spell it that way) — The ‘topic sentence’ for you English teachers is the most important sentence of any story. It’s meant to draw the reader in (point to any number of print pubs that might be floating around in your school). There are two basic types: a feature (or soft lede) and a news (or hard) lede. Simply, a feature lede starts off with a story, and a news lede starts off with fact. They’re each important for relevant stories. Check any newspaper story, and you’ll be able to point out the difference.
3. A quote high (high=early in the story) — I always tell kids that just like how you wish you could hear a different person’s voice in biology class, in news stories we try to break the text up with interesting quotes from other people. So, as soon as it is relevant, most good news stories have a direct quotation that says something interesting and comes from someone relevant from the story. So we need our kids to interview different people (not their friends) and write down exactly what they say.
4. Nut graf — Usually the first thick graf (yes, we journos spell them that way) is an old time-y newspapering phrase. It refers to a tidy little paragraph that should appear near a story’s start. The paragraph — or graf — distills the article down to its essence. This little nut is supposed to be so clear that readers will instantly grasp your story’s basic theme. If they find the summary compelling, hopefully they’ll keep reading. Is the core of why this story is important, and what the basic details are. Usually, the Who, Why, Where,What and When in its most condensed format. (And note that it is, like most sports stories, a feature lede).

1. Check facts, check facts, check facts — How do you spell that name, what is her title, where did this story come from and more.

Read also the Poynter’s recent list of 100 things a journalist must do!

Resources; Adaptation from 'The basics of a news story in five bullet points and five minutes'  by Christopher Wink. http://www.teachervision.fen.com/journalism/resource/6042.html

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