NEWS WRITING

By Rogelio D. Dela Cruz, SPA Cabiao District

 NEWS WRITING

I. Structure of news stories

II. The lead
III. Quotations and attributions
IV. Interview for newsgathering
V. Interviewing and News writing exercise
 Structure of news stories

 5Ws + 1H, or Who, What, When, Where, Why, and

How
 Inverted pyramid
 Inverted pyramid

 Traditional format for straight news since mid 1800s

 Beginning of story tells most important information

 Other important info or data presented in

descending order
 Journalists today flexible, but not
discard inverted pyramid

= editor can cut latter paragraphs without losing most

important info

= reader can know important info by reading first

paragraphs

= easier to layout

= easy for editor to write headline

Components of the
inverted pyramid
Lead or lede
May contain all 5Ws
and 1H
Secondary or
support lead
Explains or
complements lead
 Details or
particulars
Give flesh to story; all
available facts
included, especially
those answering why
and how
 Background
Provides relevant past
events about story;
may be deleted, if
space is limited
 The lead

Lead lures reader to other parts of story

Lead answers most significant question
based on the facts of story
Types of leads
Traditional and
alternative leads
 Traditional Leads

Who lead: U.S. President Barack Obama

yesterday said he will visit the
Philippines in November.
What lead: The oil price hike will trigger
higher food prices, economists from
the University of the Philippines said
in a symposium last Tuesday.
 Traditional leads

When lead: Ten days to go before the

National Elections.
Where lead: Luneta Park was filled with
g-string clad men last Saturday in an
effort to raise awareness for cultural
minorities.
 Traditional leads

Why lead: A broken water pipe was the

cause for the flooding along Sikatuna
Ave., Quezon City yesterday.
How lead: Using his bare hands to kill
the snake, the soldier saved a six-year-
old boy from being bitten.
 Traditional leads

Why lead: A broken water pipe was the

cause for the flooding along Sikatuna
Ave., Quezon City yesterday.
How lead: Using his bare hands to kill
the snake, the soldier saved a six-year-
old boy from being bitten.
 Alternative leads

Punch lead – A brief and witty statement. Like

a good joke, it’s a punchline that catches
readers off guard.
Watching television can be deadly.
Joselito D, Cruz, 35, was beaten to death when
he changed the television channel against
the wishes of the other patrons at the
Lopaluza Bar along Taft Avenue last night.
 Alternative leads

Picture or descriptive lead – A vivid word

picture of an event.
Clutching his five-year-old son, Pedro Sison,
32, could not control his tears to roll down
on his cheek when he heard that his wife,
Marivic, 30, and their two-year-old
daughter, were among those killed in the
Manor Hotel fire incident in Quezon City.
 Alternative leads
Contrast lead – Uses the comparison between
two extremes.
Forty years ago, he was a fish vendor in Tondo.
Today he is the ninth richest person in the
country.
---
Welcome sunlight greeted most part of Northern
and Central Luzon yesterday, but a weekend
darkened by a  tropical  depression has left a
trail of death and destruction.
 Alternative leads
Direct address lead – “Violates” news convention
of writing in the third person by using the
second person, with the aim of targeting
specific readers.
If your parents are alumni of this school, then
your family may be eligible for the annual
loyalty award.
The Aurora Elementary School Loyalty Award
will be given to a family that has been with the
school for at least two generations, Principal
Mike Matino announced during the flag
ceremony yesterday.
 Alternative leads

Question lead – Uses a question which at the

same time serves as key idea of the story.
Is a tuition increase really necessary?
A tuition increase can be avoided next year, if
the school manages to raise P500,000 from
the newspaper drive, Principal Francis B.
Ochoa said yesterday.
 Alternative leads
Quotation lead – Uses an important or bold remark of
statement from a speech or an interview.
“We will win the championships,” coach Virgilio Santos
confidently declared yesterday.
-
“All these people who are using my name. I had them
investigated – all of them.”
That was the reason, President Joseph Ejercito Estrada said
yesterday, that he ordered the Bureau of Customs to
investigate his supposed close associate Lucio Lao Co
and 13 other suspected smugglers.
 Alternative leads
Sequence lead – A series of paragraphs arranged
chronologically
“By five in the morning, she had already dressed her
two daughters, Cynthia 4, and Miriam 2, for a
Sunday mass.
At seven, the three of them were seen attending mass
in the chapel.
At nine, when they returned to their shanty at Dagat-
Dagatan, Maria Dorado, 46, despondent after having
been abandoned by her husband, strangled her two
daughters. She herself committed suicide.
 Alternative leads

Staccato lead – Series of phrases, punctuated

by commas or dashes.
Patient labor force. Calm management sector.
Quick thinking mediators. All of these
brought down the number of strike notices
in the country by 14 percent this year,
belying claims that increased labor tensions
are bound to occur as a result of the
economic crisis.
 Alternative leads

Epigram lead – It begins with a saying or a

quotation and stresses the moral of the
story.
Crime does not pay. Romy Corrales, 34,
learned this only after he had been collared
by the police for being a fake immigration
agent.
 Alternative leads
Summary lead – Attempts to give whole summary of
the story in the lead.
Sen. Franklin Drilon said yesterday Interior Secretary
Ronaldo Puno would have “a hard time” getting
past the Commission on Appointments because of a
memorandum he had issued that could impair local
autonomy.
-
A new treaty that allows the United States to maintain
its military presence in the Philippines was signed
yesterday by Manila and Washington.
 Quotations and
attributions
 If you repeat the exact words which people themselves used
you will reduce the risk of misreporting what they say.
 When we give a person's exact words our readers can see
both the ideas and the way they were presented.
 People often use lively language when they speak. Quotes
allow you to put that lively language directly into your
story.
 Types

 Direct quotation

 A quotation within another quotation

 When a quote carries over into a new paragraph

 Partial quotation

 Paraphrase
 Direct quotation

 Someone’s exact words

 Complete sentences
 Attribution is set off in different quotes (beginning,
middle, or end of quotation)
 Attribution can fall in middle of quote between two
independent clauses, or two complete sentences
 If quote three or more sentences and attribution at
the beginning, comma becomes colon
A quotation within another
quotation
 Speaker is quoting someone else or citing a
composition title; you need single quote marks.
 When a quote carries over
into a new paragraph
 Speaker expresses different idea or moves on to
another thought
 Drop the closing quotation marks at the end of the
first paragraph and pick them up again at the
beginning of the next paragraph
 Partial quotation

 Reporter didn’t catch entire sentence

 Reporter wanted to quote exactly the most

important part of sentence
 Person being quoted wasn’t speaking in complete
sentences
 Paraphrase

 For comprehensibility

 For length and available space

 For bad grammar

 For profanity
Interview for newsgathering

 Information for news report

 To make stories interesting and give it depth

 More usable quotes

 Conversation – to speak or to listen?

 Clarify if necessary: “Did you say that the project
would cost P3.5M?”
 PREPARING FOR
INTERVIEW
 Do preliminary research about the subject.
 If doing a follow-up story, check past articles.
 Speak to colleagues.

 Approach from a position of knowledge.

 Remember, “knowledge is power.”

 Have questions ready.

 Dress appropriately.
 PREPARING FOR
INTERVIEW
 Make an appointment.

 Convenient location; comfortable for subject.

 Inform subject in advance about photographer.

 Conducting interview
 Be polite and introduce yourself

 Look subject in the eye

 Often, first Q is how to spell name

 Pronounce name correctly, use it

 Start with pleasantries; breaking the ice.

 Doublecheck dates, spelling of names

 Ask open-ended questions

 Don’t ask questions with one-word answers

 Don’t ask negative questions

 Let interviewee know you know something about
him or her
 Accept all facts, data professionally

 Have a notetaking system

 Leave door open for another talk

 TAKING NOTES

 Recorder
 Records the interviews accurately.
 Not have to take notes
 Undivided attention to subject.
 Transcription takes time.
 At the mercy of tapes and batteries.

 Tips: Keep spare tapes and batteries / Practice using

recorder / Set counter to zero.
 TAKING NOTES

 Notebook
 Use shorthand to jot exact words at real time.
 Filter out unwanted information.
 Developing shorthand system takes expertise.
 Might have to ask subject to constantly repeat
themselves.

 Tips: Start with a clean tab / Make sure you have an

extra pen
 TAKING NOTES

 Combination
 Only note counter number.
 Fast-forward to selection.
 E.g. Funny quote 067, Subject gets mad 098
 TELEPHONE
INTERVIEWS
 Very impersonal.

 Same amount of research needs to be done.

 List of questions and other info as cues.

 Make sure to triple-check spellings.

E-MAIL INTERVIEWS

 Growing phenomenon

 Factual only.

 Longer wait. Good and bad.

 Less chance of misquoting.

 Interviewing and
news writing exercise
In preparation for your news article, please interview
at least two of your fellow participants and at least
one event organizer.

Once interviews are complete, please write a 400 word

article about this event.

Please use an alternative lead, at least two direct

quotations. Take note of accuracy of facts, i.e.
names, dates, places, times, figures, etc.