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News Writing: Getting Started
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News Writing:
Getting Started
Purpose
Purpose
Why are you writing this?
Audience
Who is this story intended to reach?
Audience
The Five Ws & an H
Who, What, When, Where, Why & How
The Five Ws
Who
Who?
Who is involved?
is involved?
Literally, who are the players in the story? Who did what and to whom?
Who is affected?
Who will feel the impact of what happened?
is affected?
Who should care?
This is your audience. The answer will determine:
should care?
Word Choice
You will use different language to reach different audiences.
Word choice
Details
Details
Are you writing for an audience of experts? For local readers? Sports fans? What do they know and what do you need to tell them?
Focus and Structure
How you organize a story may depend on the identity of the audience.
Focus and structure
Purpose
Purpose
All of these questions come back to the same two ideas: Audience and Purpose.
What
What?
What happened?
happened?
Literally, the narrative.
What is the impact?
is the impact?
What is the impact on the players?
This literally asks what happened to the people involved in the story.
on the players?
on the reader?
can/should the reader do?
Where
Where?
did it happen?
Location, location, location
Location, location, location
This is key, and it is where you have to be reader focused. Where the impact is felt will be what most of your readers need to know.
will the impact be felt?
When?
When
When did it happen?
did it happen?
Literally, the time or time frame for the event, crime, meeting, etc.
will the impact be felt?
When will the impact be felt?
When does the law go into effect? When is the deadline? When is the meeting?
Why are you writing this story?
If you can't answer, you shouldn't be writing this story.
Why
How did it happen or how can the reader respond?
How
Let's get started
You've done the main reporting and now have to write your story. How should you proceed?
Writing the story
Just as you started: By answering the five Ws. You will organize your story based on the identity of your audience and your reason for writing.
Start with the information in this press release.
The notes.
The story.
The story.
Five Ws
- Who: Espositos. Pizza customers. Residents of Lawrence.
- What: Drugs, weapons, arrests.
- Where: Nino's Trattoria, Lawrence Township.
- When: Date it happened, time frame of investigation.
- Why: A tip.
The Lede
Most important questions are: Who is the reader and why should the reader care?
Nut graph
Nutgraphs
Try to summarize the most important elements in a single short paragraph. This will anchor the story for the reader.
Pizza Owners Charged in Drug Sting
The final version
LAWRENCE, NJ -- The owners of Nino’s Trattoria & Pizzeria were charged with selling cocaine from their restaurant, after a multi-location raid Friday led to the seizure of 28 grams of cocaine, nearly $20,000 in cash and several weapons, law enforcement officials said.
Brothers Angelo and David Esposito were both charged with possession of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute, and weapons offenses, after police raided the pizzeria on Lawrence Road and the brothers’ two homes, according to a press release from Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchino Jr. and Lawrence Police Chief Daniel A. Poslusxny.
The raids were the culmination of a three-month investigation that had been triggered by complaints from customers that drugs were being sold at the pizzeria, law enforcement officials said.