The Particular

Formula used
when Writing
News
Writing a News Story
Topics to be Covered:
BUILDING THE STORY
n Definition of News
n Structure of the News
The Lead
The Summary Lead
The Novelty Lead
n Steps in Writing the News Story
Topics to be Covered:
BUILDING THE STORY
n Tips for Writing the News Story
REPORTING SCHOOL NEWS
n The Classroom Story
n The Enrolment Story
n The Meeting Story
n The Program/Party Story
Topics to be Covered:
Reporting School News
n The Awards Story
n The School Improvement Story
n The Election Story
n Out-of-School Activity
n The Special Occasion Story
n The School Club Story
n The Honor Roll Story
What is News?
News
is a record of the most interesting, important
and accurate information obtained about the
things man thinks, says, sees and describes,
plans and does.

What is news? It is information only.

-Walter Cronkite, former CBS News anchor
Structure of NEws
Inverted Pyramid Structure
of a News
The news story consists of:
n First paragraph or the LEAD:
presents the most important or
most interesting element of the
story.
o Example:
Berwynson R. Salazar, IV-Faraday, copped
the Outstanding Young Filipino Creative
Researcher title given by the World
Intellectual Property Organization during
the awarding rites at the Malacaang Palace
July 19.
n First paragraph or the LEAD:
The news story also consists of:
n One or two additional paragraphs on
the other highlights of the story.
o Example:
Salazar received this honor for his
performance in the Singapore Youth
Science Fortnight. He emerged as the
highest awardees out of eight youth
delegates from Asian nations.
And the last:
n Elaboration
o Example:
In the Singapore Youth Science
Marathon with his teammate Allan
Reyes, batch 85, ranked first in the Case
Study Competition (international level)
for their science project, Parboiling as a
Pre-Planting Process For Oryza
Sativa(IR62 Variety).
What do my readers
need to know most?
The Lead
The lead:
n opens the news story.
n answers the questions who,
what, why, when, where,
and/or how.
n provides quick identification of
persons, places, events necessary for
quick understanding of the story.
The lead:
n emphasizes the news feature
by placing it at the beginning.
n must be short and provocative;
must have only one sentence.
n must come naturally and the
rest of the story must flow
from it.

Berwynson R. Salazar, IV-Faraday,
copped the Outstanding Young
Filipino Creative Researcher title
given by the World Intellectual
Property Organization during the
awarding rites at the Malacaang
Palace July 19.
The summary lead
n answers the five Ws (what. who,
why, where, and when) and one H
(how)
Types of Summary Lead
n the what beginning
A historical marker was
n the who beginning
Miss MHS Sweetheart of 1982, Estrellita
Castillo, III-6, and the runners-up were
crowned
Types of Summary Lead
n the who beginning
Miss MHS Sweetheart of 1982, Estrellita
Castillo, III-6, and the runners-up were
crowned in colorful ceremonies which
started at 6:00 p.m at the school
quadrangle, Feb. 19.
Types of Summary Lead
n the why beginning
Because the weather forecast
warned Metro Manila against no
more than occasional rains,
n the when beginning
Today, September 30, is
the
Types of Summary Lead
n the how beginning
Trapped in their air-conditioned
bedroom
n the where beginning
Manila will be
The Novelty Lead
The novelty lead
n a good, straightforward lead,
stated in a subject-verb declarative
sentence.
Types of Novelty Lead
n Dramatic statement
Beware outsiders, and take care, students!
VHS security officer Roberto Crisostomo is
right there ready to catch outsiders who
crash in to molest students.
Types of Novelty Lead
n Narration
A twenty-four year old clerk in a Swiss
patent office was curious about the
universe and during lunch hours scribbled
mathematical results of his thinking on
bits of paper.
n Unusual circumstance
Being physically handicapped does not
deter Mario Rigos from joining school
activities.
Types of Novelty Lead
n Idea subordination
Because VHS was knee-deep in flood
water caused by Typhoon Ruping, classes
were suspended Sept. 9.
n Quotation
No amount of criticism can dislodge you
from the hearts of your people if you show
sincerity in whatever little things you do
for them, Deputy Prime Minister Jose A.
Roo told the town mayors in Tagbilaran
City, Oct. 31.
Types of Novelty Lead
n Question
Who says that temper and sports dont go
together?
n Description
Looking bright, scrubbed and eager,
thousand of children will troop today to
their schools to begin a new school year.
Types of Novelty Lead
n Suspended Interest
Once the school gymnasium is built, more
winnings by the VHS can be expected.
DCS volleyball champion- Us!
n Exclamation
Types of Novelty Lead
n Relating to a previous or current
news
A slight increase over last weeks figure was
noted when additional 40 influenza cases
were reported this week, Mrs. Sofia
Barrera school nurse, said this morning.
Steps in News
Gathering
Steps in writing the
news story:
n List all your facts.
n Arrange your facts from the most important to
the least important.
n Write the lead making sure to play up the
most interesting or important points.
Steps in writing the
news story:
n Write the next paragraph or
paragraphs presenting the other
highlights or answering questions
not yet answered.
n Add the other facts, keeping in mind their
descending order of importance.
Tips for News Gathering
Tips for writing the news
story:
n Be sure to emphasize the lead.
n Proceed from the most interesting to
the least interesting.
n Dont cover all the major components in
the lead. Dont pour facts into it, thus
making it overloaded and unwieldy.
Tips for writing the news
story:
n Avoid beginning with There
is, According to, A,
An, The.
n Give your source or authority when
necessary.
n Identify all persons.
Tips for writing
the news story:
n Remember, the time element is
an important part of your story.
n Avoid editorializing. Avoid opinions,
colored words, adjectives and verbs
unless you are quoting somebody. **
n Write one-idea, one sentence
paragraphs.
Tips for writing the
news story:
n Strive for variety in sentence
structure.
n Guard against misleading statements that
may unintentionally come into the story.
n Shorten your paragraphs.
n Determine the length of your story by its
value in reader interest.
Tips for writing the news
story:
n Study constantly the construction of news
stories in good metropolitan publications
to improve your writing style and
technique.
n Be careful with your grammar, spelling,
capitalizations, use of abbreviations, and
sentence construction.
Tips for writing the news
story:
n To assure consistency of style in
your paper. Observe the rules in
your style sheet.
Reporting the School
News
The Classroom Story
n Stories of debates, new teaching
techniques, group dynamics and
contests will surely enliven school
papers that are usually heavy with news
about promoted administrators,
teachers and personnel, and school
plans and programs.

The Classroom Story
n Actual classroom
observation and
interviews with
teachers and students
provide plenty ideas
for classroom stories.
Classroom story:
Fourth Year students are hoping they
will get higher NCEE grades this year.
Their teachers took time and effort to
review them on abstract reasoning,
mathematics, space relations, language
usage, verbal reasoning, science
proficiency, and other areas of learning.
The Enrolment Story
n enhanced by statistics,
comparison with previous
years figures, and
background information
such as causes of dropouts
or transfer to other
schools.
The Enrolment Story
MHS ENROLMENT DROPS BY FOUR
PERCENT

A total of 3780 students are enrolled this
school year at Manila High School. It is four
percent lower than 3,933, the enrolment
figure last school year.
Not all of this number, however made it
to the end of the school year. A total of 346
students, either dropped out or transferred
at the middle of the year to other divisions.

MHS DROPOUT
RATES
The Meeting Story
n Features the most important or
most interesting thing that took
place at the meeting
n Dont begin, for example, with The
Science Club held a meeting at the
library, Feb. 4
PROBLEMS DISCUSSED AT FACULTY
MEET

Causes of and solutions to common school
problems were discussed at the faculty meeting
presided over by Miss Margarita del Rosario,
principal, Feb. 13.

Problems like vandalism inside and outside the
classrooms, discipline, dropouts, and the
uniform problem were brought out for
solutions.
The Program/Party Story
n brighten up this story with
description and audience
reaction.
Program/Party
Story
A show entitled Tell the Teachers was
presented and sponsored by the vocational
department in the professional meeting of
teachers held at the conference hall, Dec. 12.
Mrs. Socorro Cacdac, assistant principal
said that the vocational department under Mr.
Isaac Isaac sponsored a very entertaining and
informative meeting.
VOC. DEPT. PRESENTS TELL THE
TEACHERS
The Honor Roll Story
n Present the highlights before giving
the list of honor students
The Honor Roll Story:
REYES, IGNACIO LEAD GRADUATING
CLASSES
Three boys and three girls lead the different years in
the third grading period, according to the list submitted
by the teachers.
Erlinda Reyes has retained her place at the top of
the fourth year college preparatory classes. Fabian
Ignacio of the vocational group has inched his way from
the third place he held in the second grading period to
first place.
The complete honor roll follows:...
The Awards Story
n Most significant facts here, of
course, are who won, what are the
contests and award all about, and
other results.
The Awards Story
VHS TEAM GETTING SET FOR
TYPE II

The VHS PMT competing team
garnered first place at the annual
PMT Platoon Drill Competition, Type
I, held t the Pamantasan Ng Lungsod
ng Maynila Jan. 11.
Cdt. Col. Rodolfo Roman was
chosen Second Best platoon Leader
School Improvement Story
n Be sure about your facts.
Attribution is valuable for this
type of story.
School Improvement
Story
So much is happening, in matters of
improvement, in VHS these days.
Come high and low water, the students
are sure to touch dry ground before they enter
VHS with the elevation of the front entrance.
Additional cement benches and flower
boxes are being built around the quadrangle
which has undergone face-lift
VHS UNDERGOES FACE-LIFT
The Election Story
n Instead of just reporting that an
organization has conducted an
election and mentioning the
officers , focus the new officers
plan of action
The Election Story:
The VHS girl scouts will launch
development projects and strengthen their
commitment to peace and order in the campus,
according to new president Flordeliza Illao.
Illao, II-4, was elected president for
1985-86 at the quadrangle, June 27, under the
supervision of the new adviser, Miss Slavez
Andez, YDT.
VHS GIRL SCOUTS PLAN
DEVELOPMENT
The School Club Story
n Focuses the unusual or
give it a light treatment
The School Club Story
ON DECK WITH
INTERACT:PRESENTATION, SALES

The VHS Interact Club will have rummage sales
and a cultural presentation for its school years
projects. These were discussed at the organizational
meeting held the first Saturday of the year.
The meeting also saw the election of the news
batch of officers headed by Ma. Luisa Francisco.
Miss Elvira Palayo and Mrs. Cristina Cabuhat
are the advisers of the Club.
Out-of-School Activity
n Action, being more newsworthy than
opinions and plans, could add life to the
news page.
Out-of-School Activity
Armed with spades and picks, VHS boy
scouts, along with scoutmaster Fernando
Paras, attacked the potholes caused by floods
in their Operation Lubak during the days
classes were suspended due to floods.
Mr. Paras got the idea when he fell into a
manhole along herran street (No bones
broken, thank God)
BOY SCOUTS LAUNCH OPERATION LUBAK
The Special Occasion Story
n Lends itself to the composite
treatment because of the unusual
number of activities.
The Special Occasion Story:
Film showing, literary musical programs, and
contests highlighted the VHS United Nations Week
celebration Oct. 18-24.
Students and teachers witnessed the film
showing of Disarmament, Decade for Women,
Development Decade, and Racism and
Discrimination in connection with this years major
and conceptual themes, Equality, Development and
Peace and The Role of Women In National
Development.
SHOWS, PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS UN CELEBRATION
IN VHS