The Five W’s and One H of News Writing

March 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Part of the responsibility of a news writer is to make sure that the articles that you produce answer the five W’s. Whether the article is a hard news or soft news article the five W’s and one H will help readers understand the topic that you are talking about. Here is a look at what the five W’s and one H of journalistic writing are.

Who. All news articles need to focus on the who. Who is the article about? Who are the main characters? It is important that the writer let readers know all important information on all important characters in the article.

What. News articles need to answer what. What is happening? What is the topic? What happened? What activities were present? When these are answered it helps keep the article on topic.

Where. Readers want to know about the time and place of where the news story took place. This can include a building, street, state, country as long as it’s the location of the event the news story will be complete.

Why. News articles need to focus on the why. Why did an event take place? Why did something happen? Even if you do not have the answer you can try to present why things happened or people’s theories on why the events happened.

When. News articles also need to let readers know when something happened. Did it happen two days ago or three years ago? The day, date, time and year are all important in news stories.

While journalists are expected to answer the five W’s they are also required to answer one H. How. Writers need to present the how of the events. How something happened or how it came about.

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Guidelines for Writing a Hard News Article

March 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

One of the first types of news writing that a journalist or freelance news writer learns is how to create a hard news article. Hard news articles are the bulk of the news stories that people read. When there is a story on local crime, the war, the economy or anything that requires a lot of facts chances are that the journalist will write the article using the hard news approach.

Hard news articles are different from those known as soft news because they do not play on people’s emotions and usually offer just the basic information on the topic of the article. While there will always be a slight bias when writing hard news does not rely upon opinions but sticks instead to the facts.

There are some general guidelines that writers can follow when trying to write up a hard news article. Here is a look at some of the guidelines that writers should follow.

Use the Inverted Pyramid. It is important to use the inverted pyramid setup when writing a hard news piece. The inverted pyramid allows writers to present the most important pieces of information first and slowly taper off into less important pieces of information.

Use A Nut Graph. A nut graph is an important piece that many hard news writers use. The nut graph will allow readers to have background information on the topic that they are reading about. This is important so that readers can understand what is going on in the story and why the story is important.

Research all Information. It is important in a hard news article that all resources and information be factually correct. Make sure that you research all information and statistics that you plan to use in your article.

Refrain from Using Quotes to Create a Lead. A hard news article must have a compelling lead to grab the reader’s attention. However, it is a good idea to avoid using quotes as this can often appear to be a soft news piece.

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Writing Tips: How to Create a Soft News Piece

March 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Newspapers and local websites love to feature stories that appeal to the emotions of the viewers and readers. These articles are generally known as soft news articles. Soft news articles are less strict with the structure of the article and allow the writer to show a little bit of creativity with the writing style. If you are starting out in the news writing industry there are a few guidelines that you should follow when writing and creating a soft news article. Here is a look at those guidelines.

Plan An Approach. Due to the fact that there are multiple ways that you can present a soft news topic it is important that you know exactly how you are going to approach the topic. You should know how you want to showcase your topic and what information you want readers to get from your article. This will help you when you are researching and writing the article.

Importance of Research. Just because the soft news articles appeal to the human emotions it does not mean that they can be factually incorrect. If you are writing a soft news piece you need to make sure that you conduct all the research that you would with a hard news piece. Make sure that all your facts are correct and that you gather as much information as possible on your topic.

Create a Voice for the Article. One of the ways that soft news articles stand out is the voice that the article has. Try to create some human emotion behind the article without appearing to be biased. This can come across in the setting, voice or characters that you use in your article.

Answer All Questions. A soft news piece still needs to answer all the journalistic questions. It needs to answer the who, what, where, why, when and how. Make sure that your article answers all these questions when writing it out.

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News Writing Information: Various Types of Leads

February 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

When it comes to writing a news story one of the most important parts of the article is the lead. With a wonderful lead to a news story you can pull in thousands of readers and even readers who would not normally read the story. On the reserve side with a bad lead you can push readers away or not attract their attention. Here is a look at what a lead to a news story is and the different types of leads that can be used for a number of news stories.

A lead in a news story involves the first few sentences of the story. A lead can involve anything from catchy phrases, quotes from well known figures in the area or even asking the reader a question. A lead is meant to stand out and grab the reader’s attention so that they are enticed to read the rest of the article.

There are two types of leads a news writer can use. There is a soft lead and a hard lead. A soft lead is something that is fluffy and creative. Soft leads can range from having a quote from a book, movie or celebrity, a catchy phrase or even asking the reader a question. A hard lead is more concrete with what it presents the reader. Hard leads usually present important facts to the reader in one to two sentences. A reader can generally walk away from a hard lead knowing the important parts of the news story after just reading one sentence.

The type of lead that is used when writing a news story depends on the story that is being presented and where the article is going. Usually pieces that are known as interest stories or fluffy pieces use a soft lead, while those that are meant to present cold hard facts will use a hard lead.

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Steps to Creating News Stories for Local Newspapers

February 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Many people assume that writing a news story takes hours of research. While there are stories out there that take research time and the ability to conduct interviews, there are also local news stories that are just perfect for your local newspaper. The key to developing and writing these types of news stories is knowing how to find a topic that might be of interest to not only yourself but to your readers.

Here are a few tips on how to find a news story for your local paper without having to spend hours finding a topic that might be of interest to yourself and your readers.

Create a List. Almost all writing starts with brainstorming and news writing is no different. Start by creating a list of things that you know about your local area. This can be hobbies that you engage in, organizations you volunteer for or events that your neighbors or you are hosting. Just sit down and create a list of everything that you know is going on around you in your local area.

Expand on the List. The next step is to expand on the list of ideas. Take each item on the list and try to think of areas that you can expand on. A great example of this is someone who plays softball through their local parks and recreation department. You could take that idea and expand it to talk about any new baseball fields, fundraising events, new uniforms or even hikes in fees to play the sport.

Start Your Research. After you have created expanded ideas from your list you can start your research. Try to think about local people that you can interview or ask questions as most people reading the local paper are interested in local people.

Take the Information and Write. Once you have the ideas and research you are ready to go. Just sit down and let the ideas flow. Sometimes creating a catchy headline works to inspire the story.

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How to Start Out Your News Story

February 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

News articles can take a lot of work. There is the need to come up with a story, do the research, conduct interviews and then write the story in an unbiased way that will not only inform readers but will catch their attention. Many people who write news articles have a tough time figuring out how to go about writing their news article. These people generally have the topic and research but do not know how to go about getting the words on the paper. If you are one of those people here are some tips that will help you write a great news article.

Do Extensive Research. You cannot write a great news article without researching the piece first. The problem many writers run into is that they did not research the article enough and therefore do not hold enough knowledge to create an article that is informative and important to the readers. Make sure that you get as much information as possible on all aspects of the topic that you are writing about. This will help you when it comes time to write the story. Remember you can never have too much research.

Create an Approach to the Topic. Many writers have a hard time writing a news article because they do not know how to tackle the topic that they are covering. It is important that you take a few minutes to figure out how you are going to approach the topic. Make sure that you determine how you want to present information, what you want readers to get out of the article and how you want the article to flow. All of this will help you once you go to write the article.

Write Eye-Catching Leads. Readers like to read stories that have great leads this is why a great eye-catching lead is so important. Many writers spend most of their time creating great leads that will grab the reader. It is always a good idea to write several leads to a news story so that you can create a great news story.

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