The Basic Components of a News Story

All well-written new stories have most of the parts listed below.

Most basic news stories should have:

- A headline

- A lead (sometimes written lede)

- A backup quote

- Attribution

- Reaction

- A "nut graph"

- Background

- An ending

1. The Headline. The headline is a one or two line summary of the contents of the news story, in larger type, that tells readers what the story is about . Headlines act as an index of the contents of the newspaper, and a summary of the information in its stories.

2. The Lead. The lead is usually defined as the first sentence of a news story, sometimes as the first few sentences. The lead is the beginning of a story. The lead on a hard news story is often called a summary lead. Lead should contain the most important facts of the story - at least some of the Five Ws. Most agree that the ideal lead is short - no more than 25 or 30 words. Leads should be "tight" - that is, written with economy. A news story with a strong lead is more likely to be read.

Ironic leads, Great-quote leads, Person-centred leads, Contrast leads, Play-on-word leads, Situational leads , Nightmare leads -

3.The Backup Quote. Most news stories, except the briefest of briefs, should have a backup quote placed soon after the lead. Ideally, the backup quote - attributed to comprehensible and entertaining way.

Attribution. All news stories require attribution . Attribution is the explanation of the source of the information in the news story. Attribution allows the reader to judge for herself whether the facts set out in the story have merit. The best stories contain lots of quotes - and all quotes have attribution.  A news story without attribution is worthless.

Reaction. All news stories that contain controversial statements, should have reaction - the comments of someone who is familiar with the situation, or of someone with an alternative view of the main thesis of the story. A representative of the government should have the opportunity to respond. Fairness requires reaction.

The Nut Graph. A nut graph informs readers of the focus of the story. The lead will serve the same purpose as the nut graph.  A nut graph is essential to set out for the reader what is going on.

Background. Most stories need some background for the reader to understand what's going on.. The more complicated the story, the more pressing the need for background. Background helps explain the action.

The Ending. Sometimes writers end a story with a reference to future action that is expected.

Active Voice Versus Passive Voice

Most journalists, and most journalism textbooks, say that news stories should be written in the active voice.The active voice describes the action. The passive voice describes the recipient of the action.The active voice delivers a clear, strong statement of what happened. The passive voice can make an exciting event dull.

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Summary

- Journalists are usually encouraged to write in the active voice.

- The active voice describes the action, the passive voice describes the recipient of the action.

- A simple way to remember how to write in the active voice is to memorize the order of subject, verb and object - SVO.

- Sometimes, however, the passive voice is better because it doesn't indicate who was the author of an action.

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What is Leads?

The opening of a news story - usually the first paragraph - is termed "the lead."The lead is the most important part of any newspaper story, because the reader usually decides whether to continue reading based on the lead. As a writer, we have to persuade the reader to stick with us. As a result, newspaper writers naturally struggle with their leads.

An 18-year-old  Mariappan high school student was killed late Wednesday when his  bicycle  struck a telephone pole near  Vannarpettai Tirunelveli.

First, what are the Five Ws in this story?

Who: Mariappan.

What: Killed in a single-vehicle accident.

When: 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Where: Intersection of Highway 16 and Highway 2A.

Why: bicycle struck telephone pole.

How: bicycle went out of control.

In the suggested recast lead, the writer has chosen to name five of the six key points, but in more general fashion that allows for economy of words. How, and the remaining details, will be filled in later.

Once the writer has decided the most important information to put in the lead, presented it as a complete sentence, lead-writing guidelines in mind.

Keep it tight - use no more than about 30 words.

Avoid distractions - strive to write a coherent lead that contains no capital letters other than the first one, no numerals, no commas and no formal titles

Set the right tone - the tone of the lead should be appropriate for the event being reported on.

Don't bury the lead - don't make readers wallow through insignificant facts to get the point of the story.

Highlight differences - find the fact, that makes the story different.

Speak clearly - jargon, acronyms, foreign phrases, abstract concepts, general and vague language all make it hard to understand what a story is about. Say what you mean and say it clearly and directly.

Use active words - describe the action. Where possible use the active voice.

Be visual - help the reader "see" what's happening.

Beware double-decker leads - don't repeat the first paragraph in the second.

Avoid clichés - don't let something go terribly wrong..

Summary

- Journalists call the opening of a news story "the lead."

- The lead is the most important part of any newspaper story, because it is based on the lead that most readers decide whether to continue reading.

- The lead must accurately summarize the facts of the story.

- The lead must be interesting enough to command and keep the reader's attention.

- The modern preference is to keep leads short.

- Economical use of words will benefit any news lead.

- A telling detail that sets a story apart from the others belongs in the lead.

- Lead writers should speak clearly and use the active voice.

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Story structure-The Inverted Pyramid style /wire service style

The Inverted Pyramid News Story
The inverted pyramid is a favored form for news stories.  This type of news writing form places the main point at the top of the story with the rest of the information in descending order of importance. Inverted Pyramid stories provide a format to convey information in a quick and efficient way.

The Inverted Pyramid news story has become the basic form of

newspaper writing. It is also common in many other kinds of publication, including Web pages.. It  begins with the climax and records all additional information in order of declining importance.This is commonly known as the "Inverted Pyramid" story structure, because the order of precedence of facts can be illustrated as an upside-down pyramid. 

The Five Ws and the H, obviously, should be found in the first few paragraphs of such a story.

The style of writing is also known as the "wire service style," because it was early wire services - used for  transmitted accounts of breaking news from remote locations .

Advantages of Inverted Pyramid format

- It provided a format to convey information in a quick and efficient way.

- It served as an aid to readers who wanted to use the newspaper as an index of the day's news - that is, by scanning the lead sentence, readers could determine if

they wanted to learn more or skip to something they found more relevant.

It allowed, at least on the face of it, a format for providing a dispassionate and unbiased account of events.

- It permitted different publications that might assign differing importance to a given story to conveniently edit any story to a length that suited its priorities.

The inverted pyramid news story has certain limitations. For example, it can sometimes be more confusing than a chronological account of an event - it's the reporter's job to ensure it makes sense. In addition, it is most certainly more difficult to write a clear Inverted Pyramid story than it is to write a chronological story.

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Hard News and Soft News, The working definition for "the news,News Judgment

Hard News and Soft News

There are two kinds of news - "hard news" and "soft news."

Hard news stories are accounts of events that have just happened or are about to happen. For example, crimes, fires, meetings, court testimony, speeches, protest rallies, acts of war, traffic accidents and elections are all typical topics of hard news stories. Hard news stories that have developed overnight or on the same day are often referred to by journalists as "breaking news."

Hard news stories emphasize facts, not opinion or analysis.. Hard news is an account of what's happened (why it happened, who was affected.

Soft news, on the other hand, doesn't depend nearly as much on the time element. Soft news places less emphasis on the facts - define soft news as news that entertains as it informs, with more emphasis on human interest, novelty and colourful writing and less of facts and events that have just happened.Soft news has less immediacy than hard news. Writers of soft news often aim for the reader's emotions, not his or her intellect.

The Five Ws

The working definition for "the news," - the most basic building blocks of any news story.

These are everywhere called the Five Ws (sometimes modified to the Five Ws and the H) Really, the Five Ws are the questions any reader or listener wants answered when he or she reads or hears any story - whether it is neighbourhood gossip, a fairy tale, a play by Shakespeare or a good joke. The difference between telling a joke, say, and writing a news story is just that we instinctively identify the Five Ws in a joke, while we have to take the time to identify them in a news story.

So the starting point for writing any news story is understanding that the reader needs to know:

WHAT ... happened?
WHO ...	did it happen to, or who made it happen?
WHEN ...	did it happen?
WHERE	... did it happen?
WHY ...	did it happen?
HOW ...	did it happen?

News Judgment

News judgment is that quality of thinking that journalists use to determine the relative merits of one story over another. News judgment helps reporters sort out how where a story fits into the other

News judgment is very important because a lot of time and energy is spent in the news business filling a limited space with a virtually unlimited amount of news.

Even a large metropolitan daily newspaper can have very limited room for certain categories of news also the same in broadcasting.

Finally, the reporter needs to decide which facts are placed in a prominent position in the story, and which facts go farther down.

- News judgment is that quality of thinking that journalists use to determine the relative merits of one story over another.

- News judgment is very important because a lot of time and energy is spent in the news business filling a limited space with a virtually unlimited amount of news.

- A reporter needs to decide which facts are placed in a prominent position in the story, and which facts go farther down.

- Good "news judgment" is valued in the culture of the newsroom.

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