NEWS STRUCTURE

details and the background are put in the

succeeding paragraphs in descending
importance.

Hard News and Soft News

News stories found in most newspapers
are basically classified into two: hard
news and soft news.
Hard news, also called straight news, is
objective, direct and factual. Soft news,
on the other hand, is featurized,
subjective, and sometimes interpretative.
Hard news usually deals with concrete
and fast-breaking events while soft news
focuses on abstract events usually
associated with human interest.
The difference in the construction of the
hard news and soft news is as follows:
HARD NEWS
Lead paragraph
important facts

primary

or

more

Succeeding paragraphs facts become

less important
Closing paragraphs least important
facts that can be deleted without ruining
the story.
SOFT NEWS
Lead paragraph least important facts
Succeeding paragraphs facts become
more interesting
Closing paragraphs primary or most
important facts
The Inverted Pyramid
All straight news is written in the inverted
pyramid structure or form. The more
important facts are placed at the opening
paragraph, which is called the lead. The

Traditionally, a straight news story should

be able to answer the five Ws and one
H. If the write-up answers these
questions, then it can be considered
straight news.
The four components of the inverted
pyramid structure are:
1. Primary or main lead this is a
single paragraph and may contain
a maximum of five lines in
typewritten form. This usually
immediately answers the four Ws
(what, who, where and when)
2. Secondary or support lead this
portion explains or compliments
the main or primary lead. Normally,
it should consist of two paragraphs,
or twice the length of the lead
paragraph.
3. Details or particulars to give flesh
to the story, all available facts are
included here, particulary those
that would answer the other W
(why) and one H (how).
4. Background relevant past events
are recounted and incorporated
here. This will give the reader an
insight into the events preceding
the one that is being reported. In
literature, this is called the
flashback. This portion can also be
deleted if the space allotted to the
story is limited. Even if deleted, the
story can still stand.
Primary/ Main Lead
Secondary/ Support Lead
Details of
Particulars

students in the
classes.

Backgroun
d

Suggested primary or main lead:

In a meeting yesterday, the dean
of the
AB
Mass
Communication
(ABMC) of Northwestern
Visayan
Colleges
appealed
for
financial
support from
both parents
and
teachers for the completion of a news
building in the
campus.
has
Ws:

You will notice that the main lead

already answered the following
Who? dean of ABMC
Where? meeting
When? yesterday

What?
support

appeal

for

financial

Suggested support lead:

The ABMC dean, Dr. Ambrosio

Villorente, made the appeal during
one-hour meeting at the schools
gymnasium attended by teachers,
students and their
parents.

Dr.
need to
it can be

Villorente talked about the

finish the AB building so that
accommodated
by
the

opening

of

Note that the succeeding two

paragraphs compliment or help
explain the main lead.

Using the inverted pyramid structure, we

should now write our story.
The facts: The dean of AB Mass
Communication (ABMC) of Northwestern
Visayan Colleges appeals for financial
support from both parents and teachers
for the completion of the AB building.
The AB building has not been completed
because of lack of funds.

next

Suggested details or particulars:

According to Dr. Villorente, there is
a
need concerted effort by the
school
authorities,
parents
and
teachers to facilitate the completion of
the building.
Dr. Villorente said that the
department
should not wait for the
school
administration to finish the
building
because the school itself is
cash- strapped.
He said that the school would
welcome
voluntary
financial
contributions from
parents
and
teachers and the money
raised
would be used to buy construction
materials.
Note that the questions Why and
How are now being answered by
this part of the news story. Why,
because the school administration
could not finish
the
building.
How, through
voluntary
contribution
from parents and
teachers.
Suggested background:
AB
2015.

Construction of the four-classroom

building started in early January

Through
a
resolution,
the
Northwestern
Visayan
Colleges
approved an outlay
of P500,000 for
the construction of the building.

After the P500,000 outlay was fully

spent, the building was only halffinished.
The school was not
able to
provide more funds. The
building has
remained unfinished
and is
deteriorating.
In the background, the reader is
being
fed with information about
the building and why its construction
has been stopped. The reader will now
have a clearer idea of why there is
an
appeal for financial support made
by
the department dean, which is
found in the opening paragraph.
Advantages of the inverted pyramid
Using the traditional inverted pyramid
structure has the following advantages:
1. It facilitates reading the reader of
a newspaper, or even a campus

publication, is generally a busy

person. He wants to know the news
at once. If the main facts are buried
deep in the story, he will lose
interest to read it.
2. It facilitates makeup makeup or
layout is the design of a page in a
newspaper or campus publication.
The
layout
artist
should
immediately
get
the
more
important facts of the story so that
it would be easy for him to make
the page design. He would also
know what portions of the story
would be stricken out if the space
is limited.
3. It facilitates headline writing just
by
reading
the
first
few
paragraphs, the editor can easily
prepare the headline of the story.