News Report

News Report Structure

1. Headline
2. Sub-Heading (short phrase, quotation; optional)
3. Byline
4. News Event
(What? When? Where? Who?)

5. Background
(Why? previous history, lead-up to this event, causes)

6. Report of actual news event

(detailed account of what happened and what is still happening)

7. Quotations
(participants, witnesses, police, hospital etc)

8. Future
(consequences, investigations, predictions)

 
HEADLINE TENDS TO :

CONSIST OF A MAXIMUM OF SIX WORDS

CONTAIN SENSATIONAL VOCABULARY (E.G CRASH, TRAGIC)
USE SHORT WORDS (USUALLY NO LONGER THAN TWO SYLLABLES)
USE THE SHORTEST SYNONYMS (E.G. WEDS FOR MARRIES)
USE THE PRESENT TENSE FOR EVENTS IN THE RECENT PAST
LEAVE OUT DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES (I.E. ‘THE’ AND ‘A’)
 
EXAMINATION TIP:
POPULAR NEWSPAPERS LIKE TO USE THE FOLLOWING DEVICES IN THEIR HEADLINES
PUNS – US DOLLAR FOR SUCCESS
ASSONANCE- HIT LIST TWIST
ALLITERATION – FEARS OF FREE FALL
QUOTATIONS – FOR RICHER, FOR POORER
 News Reports
 Report MAIN FACTS or INFORMATION about very RECENT and SPECIFIC incidents
 Style - short paragraphs; short sentences; dramatic vocabulary
 Stacking of adjectives and descriptive phrases before the noun (e.g. ‘The Japanese-owned lightweight racing yacht Sunshine
II...’, ‘Divorced former model and mother of two, Susan Smith...’)
 Structure - contrary to normal chronological sequence, news reports begin with the very recent past (usually yesterday); go on to
fill in past background prior to the event; return to the immediate present and how things are developing; then finally speculate
about the future.
 Objective (more facts than opinions), not biased
 Headlines are: Simple and straightforward .A summary of what happened
 You know what the incident/event is by just reading the headline
 Headline – shows what the focus is (something specific, and something recent)
 News reports have the WHO, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN at the start.
 Expert or witness account in direct speech are often included to give weight to the article. E.g: “It has shown aggressive
behaviour in the past, however, nothing led us to believe it was appropriate to remove the goat from its habitat,” park
spokeswoman Barb Maynes told the Associated Press.
 Report events in sequence: what happened, what happened next Makes use of TIME connectives – first, later, finally Final
paragraph focuses on the current situation and what is happening next (predictions, future consequences, investigation etc)
 The reporter is just an observer No ‘I’ is present (unless it is in direct speech/witness/expert account)
 Most verbs to recount what happened is in the PAST TENSE except for headline and final paragraph
 Active form “I noticed the fire starting in the factory and called the police,” said John Widjaja. Passive form The start of the fire
was noticed and the police were called. In a passive form, the subject/doer is missing and makes the text sound more distant
News reporters (except for in a direct speech) makes use of passive form when they want to give the text more authority