The paragraph immediately following the lead should build on the

story’s focus. In the example above, the focus was on the eighteen-year-
old victim. Thus, the second paragraph was devoted to identifying who
she was.

Paragraphs should only contain one major idea. Thus WHY and the
HOW were separated from the other W’s to give the story greater
clarity. The paragraph that adds drama was also separated from
straightforward facts of the previous paragraphs.

Every paragraph of a news story’s should give readers additional

information and specific details. Unlike essays, news stories do not
contain topic sentences. For instance:

Essay: The eyewitness managed to get a description of the

gunman’s car.
News: The eyewitness said she saw the gunman escape in a white
Honda Civic driven by a woman.

We always say that the paragraphs and sentence should be brief as

possible. But we should not end up with the extreme – that is, sentences
and paragraphs becoming too choppy or repetitive. For instance:

✗. He stood on a street corner. The wind was blowing. He peered

into the darkness. He was a stranger. He realized that he had no place to
go.
✓. Standing on a windy street corner and peering into the
darkness, the stranger realized that he had no place to go.

As much as possible, journalistic writing is always in the active

voice. Active voice means the sentence is structured in such a way that
shows that “someone did something.” This is opposed to the passive
voice, which articulates that “something was done by someone.” For
example:

✗. The games were enjoyed by the participants of the two-day

conference.
✓. The participants enjoyed the games during the two-day
conference.
In choosing which voice to use, however, be guided by whether you want
to emphasize the doer or the receiver of the action. The passive voice is
the better option when the subject is not known or when the receiver of
the action is more important the actor.

Examples:
The cigarette vendor was attacked and badly beaten while jogging
through Rizal Park yesterday.

The new Congress building will be completed in July.