write as a news story 7 little words

• 7 Little Words
• June 16th, 2017

wrote, as a news story crossword clue

Je duke luajtur 7 Little Words dhe ke ngecur tek wrote, as a news story . Well, you have come to the right place to find the answer to this clue.

While some crosswords are much simpler than others, most require that players have a vast knowledge of the language and possibly even various topics. So while crossword puzzles are seen as a more intelligent game, they can be very frustrating for players to complete and even experienced crossword players need some help occasionally.

When finding the answers to the clues becomes too difficult, there's no shame in looking for them online.

Now you have the answer to your clue. Its time to move on to the next clue. You can browse through the list with all the answers to the 7 Little Words crossword of June 16th, 2017 . Or you can use the search form below to find the answer (no matter if its 7 Little Words Crossword or any other crossword).

We offer support and help with a wide range of crosswords and are guaranteed to make sure you complete everything; the site is also updated regularly to make sure that all of our answers are correct and to add more crosswords to the ever growing list.

If there is any problem with the answer, please contact us! We will fix the problem.

Search Clues

Latest clues, random answers.

Wrote, as a news story 7 letters – 7 Little Words

Welcome to the page with the answer to the clue Wrote, as a news story .

This is just one of the 7 puzzles found on this level. You can make another search to find the answers to the other puzzles, or just go to the homepage of 7 Little Words daily puzzles and then select the date and the puzzle in which you are blocked on.

Wrote, as a news story

Answer: Bylined

Now it’s time to pass on to the other puzzles.

This puzzle was found on Daily pack . Click to go to the page with all the answers to 7 little words June 16 2017 .

There are other daily puzzles for June 16 2017 – 7 Little Words :

• Wrote as a news story 7 Little Words
• Oily food fish 7 Little Words
• Jump with surprise 7 Little Words
• Slowed down 7 Little Words
• Plump quality 7 Little Words
• What you make if you turn up 7 Little Words
• Remove finish 7 Little Words

Or you may find it easier to make another search for another clue.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

7 little words

• Footstool or Turkish dynasty
• Kermit the Frog’s nephew
• Pendant with photo storage
• Welsh seaport 7 Little Words
• Actor’s audition photo
• Winona of “Mr Deeds”
• Shedding feathers 7 Little Words
• 7 Little Words Mini puzzles
• Download 7 little words
• Codycross antwoorden
• Wordle unlimited
• Wordiply answers

7 little words bonus 1

• Sacked 7 Little Words
• In an unusual way
• Suppressed 7 Little Words
• Previously mentioned 7 Little Words
• Quilts and duvets 7 Little Words
• Long-distance runner 7 Little Words
• Rounded protuberance 7 Little Words

7 little words bonus 2

• Legally Blonde star Reese
• Infants 7 Little Words
• Soldiers lodging 7 Little Words
• All even 7 Little Words
• Not picked up on
• Engine cover 7 Little Words
• Shirt accessories 7 Little Words

7 little words bonus 3

• Breed of terrier 7 Little Words
• Initials 7 Little Words
• Wet precipitation 7 Little Words
• Buddy Holly’s genre
• Unveil 7 Little Words
• Father figure 7 Little Words
• Turned aside 7 Little Words

7 Little Words Bonus 4

• Eye-related 7 Little Words
• Two sizes too small say
• Captain Hook’s fear
• Intuitively understand 7 Little Words
• Roman author of the “Aeneid”
• Wild brat 7 Little Words
• Cross 7 Little Words
• Of poor quality 7 Little Words

• Writing Style
• How to write …
• Analysis of Speech
• Storytelling
• Career Development

How to Write a News Story: Definition, Structure, Types of the News Story

• by Anastasiya Yakubovska
• 21.06.2022 04.05.2024
• How to write ...

The news story refers to the journalistic writing style that is used in the mass media: television, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, and radio.

Table of Contents

• What Is a News Story 

Features of the News Story

Main functions of news.

• The Inverted Pyramid Structure 
• News Story Structure 

According to the method of writing, news stories are:

• According to the scope, there are the following types of news:
• According to the sequence:

According to the source ofinformation news stories are:

• According to the content:
• Minor forms of news stories:

What Is a News Story

News stories are widely used by the media to inform the audience about current, significant, and interesting events.

A news story is a journalistic presentation of a new event or fact.

Most often this is a short message. 

The news function is to answer the questions: what, where, and when happened.

Create stunning publications, photo collages, infographics, postcards, posters, business cards, or documents in the visual editor Canva . Sign up to Canva Pro and get a free 30-day trial – that’s 1 month free!

The features of the news stories are:

• reliability of information;
• minimal details;
• news stories must be clear and easy to read;
• attractive to all classes;
• widely known terms ( exchange, broker, exchange rate, transaction, market );
• the use of words and figures of speech that are typical for business writing style ( have activities, during the reporting period, take into consideration );
• noun predominance;
• sentences are usually complex. 

Example of News Story

News story “March For Our Lives: Tens of thousands rally for stricter US gun laws” (excerpt) :

Thousands of protesters are gathering across the US to call for stricter gun laws in the wake of last month’s mass shooting in Texas . Gun safety group March For Our Lives – founded by survivors of the 2018 Parkland school shooting – said some 450 rallies were planned for Saturday. It said it would not let politicians “sit back” as people continue to die. US President Joe Biden backed the protests, calling on Congress to “pass common sense gun safety legislation”. Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the 24 May shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. That attack, and another days earlier in Buffalo, New York, in which 10 people were killed, has led to renewed calls for action on gun control in the US. bbc.com

The major function of the news stories , just like other texts related to journalism, is to provide information about some socially significant event. In addition, the news may contain assumptions, hypotheses, forecasts, recommendations, and regulatory and evaluation information.

The purpose of a news story is not only a detailed analysis of an event. The most important thing is to inform the mass addressee about an event that has happened or will only happen in the future. 

If the news needs to be covered in more detail, then the journalist can indicate the sources of information, add quotes and provide statistics.

How to Write A New Story: The Structure and Method of Writing

The inverted pyramid structure.

To write a news story, journalists use the traditional structure that is typical for the journalistic writing style: information is presented in descending order, that is, its value and importance decrease from the beginning of the text to its end. This way of writing news is called the inverted pyramid .

A news story written using the inverted pyramid structure consists of 4 parts:

• Headline . The headlines of new stories in the media are most often quite informative – within 10 words. The heading itself usually illustrates the main idea of the news. 

For example:

“ Global markets fall after rough week on Wall Street; yen hits two-decade-low” 

2. Lead . The lead is the first or leading paragraph of the news story, the chapeau or abstract of the article, which outlines the main idea of the text, only the most valuable information.

“ Hong Kong/London (CNN Business)Global markets and US stock futures fell early Monday, indicating a downbeat start to the trading week after a broad sell-off on Wall Street following surprisingly strong US inflation data.”

3. The body of the text . It is a description of the event, details, evidence, photographs, quotes, etc.:

“ The Dow (INDU) plunged 880 points, or 2.5%, on Friday. The S&P 500 (SPX) shed 2.7% and the Nasdaq (NDX) dropped about 3%. The US consumer price index rose by 8.6% in May, raising fears that the Federal Reserve will have to act even more aggressively to try to tame price rises. The shockwaves were felt most acutely in Asia on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei (N225) closed down 3%, and the yen weakened to the lowest level in more than 20 years. The Japanese currency has declined rapidly in recent months because of a strong greenback and ultra-loose Japanese monetary policy. The Japanese central bank and government warned in a rare joint statement on Friday that they are concerned about the sharp falls, suggesting a potential intervention by Tokyo to stem the decline. The yen wasn’t the only Asian currency seeing a steep fall. The Indian rupee fell to an all-time low of 78.2 against the US dollar in early trade. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (HSI) fell 3.4% on Monday. Korea’s Kospi fell 3.5%. China’s Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) was down 0.9%. In Europe, France’s CAC 40 (CAC40) dropped 2.47% in early trade, while Germany’s DAX 30 (DAX) was down 2.3%. The FTSE 100 (UKX) slipped 1.8%, while the pound slipped to $1.22 after new data showed the UK economy contracting for a second consecutive month in April. In the US, Dow futures were down 1.9% at 5.20 am ET. S&P 500 futures were down around 2.3%, while Nasdaq futures were down about 2.9%.

4. Ending . The final part of the news story is additional information, similar, interesting materials, and journalistic assessment. This part is optional. 

“The hangover from Friday’s US CPI data isn’t helped by concern about China walking back some of its economic reopening, or more dire economic data in the UK,” Societe Generale strategist Kit Juckes said in a research note. A number of neighborhoods in Shanghai faced another temporary lockdown at the weekend, as authorities launched mass testing just days after Covid restrictions were eased for most of its 25 million residents. Authorities in Beijing’s largest Chaoyang district announced Thursday the closure of all entertainment venues, just days after allowing their reopening. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/12/investing/global-stocks/index.html

News Story Structure

Usually, the journalist tells the reader:

• About the event – what happened?
• About time – when?
• About the place – where?
• About participants – who?
• About the circumstances – how?
• About the source of information – how is it known?
• About the predicted development of the event – what happens next?

Which of these questions the journalist will answer in the text of the news story and the number of these questions will depend on the amount of information that he has and on the purpose of the news. These questions can be arranged in the most varied order, at the author’s discretion.

Another thing to keep in mind regarding whether the new event needs to be related to others that have already happened before and are widely known to the audience. In this case, the structure of the news story will be more complex, because it is necessary not only to talk about the event but also to connect this fact with the information already available.

How to Write a News Story: Types of News

Before you start writing, you need to decide in which genre you need to write, and what type of news story is suitable specifically for this news event.

So that you can quickly navigate and make the right choice, further in the article we will consider the types of news stories. 

There are two general types of news stories according to structure :

• Informative or straight news. The aim is to give the facts of the news. 
• Feature or human interest news story. The aim is to take material of little or no news value and make it interesting for the audience. 
• Descriptive.
• Expository.
• Combination of these types. 

According to the scope , there are the following types of news:

• Local: news story takes place within the immediate locality. 
• National: news takes place within a country. 
• Foreign: the event takes place out of the country. 
• Dateline: news preceded by date and place of origin or the place when it was written. 

According to the sequence :

• Anticipated news or announcement. An announcement is a message about upcoming events (for example, about the construction of new buildings).

Such news stories attract the public to visit various cultural events.

The main purpose of the announcement is to give brief but objective information about the time and aspects of the planned event, about its most important prerequisites and stages.

• Spot news. News that gathered and reported on the spot. The journalist is the eyewitness to the event. Such type of news is reported immediately. 
• Coverage news. News has been written from the given beat. 
• Follow-up news. A sequel to the previous news story.
• Interview story. 
• Speech story. 
• Quote story. Information is presented primarily through quotes. These news stories are based almost entirely on an interview or a speech. 
• Fact story. 
• Action story. A description of an event that involved a lot of motion. For example, war reports, competitions, and sports games reports. 

According to the content :

• Science news. 
• Police reports. 
• Developmental news. 
• Sports stories. 
• Routine stories: celebrations, graduations, election stories reported year in and year out. 

Minor forms of news stories :

• News brief. It is a short news broadcast. News briefs are a good way to describe events that do not need in-depth treatment. 
• News bulletin. It aims to give the gist of the news. 
• Flash news. Flash news is a bulletin that conveys the first word of the event. 
• News-featurette. It is a short news feature usually used as filler. 

Used sources of information:

• Types of News Writing. Willard Grosvenor Bleyer.
• Campus Journalism and School Paper Advising Fourth Edition 1997. Ceciliano J. Cruz.
• Style Palette. Textbook on Russian language style for foreigners. Authors: Nina Afanasyeva, Tatyana Popova .
• Literary editing strategies. Authors: Zueva T. A., Ivanova E. N.
• Russian language and speech culture. Authors: Tatyana Balykhina, Mikhail Rybakov, Marina Lysyakova.
• Image: freepik.com

P. S.: Did you like this post? Share it with your friends, thank you!

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 3.9 / 5. Vote count: 8

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons

Margin Size

• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

6: Checklist for writing a news story

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 196641

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\)

\( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\)

\( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\)

\( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}}      % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}}      % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}} \)

1. Reporting

You won’t always need to fill out this checklist for your reporting, but it’s a useful way to understand the process of reporting a story and making sure you’re working efficiently.

Gather - What information do you already have about the topic, before you begin reporting? What questions do you have? (It’s OK if they are very basic.) How do you KNOW that this story will be useful to people?

Search - What information is available with a simple search? Where can you find it? How do you know that’s a good source?

Seek gaps - What information is not available through internet, library or archival searches, but is needed? Who can you contact to help you find that information?

Interview - Who can help you add information? (Remember your central journalism ethics, here: Your sources should not be people with whom you have a personal or financial relationship. If a story starts with that kind of source, they should be interviewed for background information that you subsequently verify through other sources, and as a starting point for your research, not as a primary source for your reporting.)

Sort - What do you have, and how does it go together? Do you have new questions? Have you answered those? (If not, go back a few steps.)

2. Organizing your thoughts

This is a place to jot down ideas and be messy before you begin to formally write your story. Use this worksheet to sketch out your ideas.

Impact: What is the most important information? Be ferocious about this: Why would people care about this story? (This is usually the answer to the question of “how will this affect people’s lives?”) Who gains? Who loses? Is there anything people can do to shift events? We are ONLY interested in stories that serve our audiences, not stuff that “should” matter. If you can’t concisely explain why it does matter, it’s probably not a story yet. (Sometimes what matters is: “People asked.”)

News element/news hook: What is changing/might change/has changed?

Context: What does this relate to? What else do people need to understand or know in order to appreciate this information? Is this happening anywhere else? Is this a single event or part of a larger sequence of events?

Human dimension: Who is affected by this? Can I talk to those people? (If you haven’t, go back and try.) What do they think and feel about this information?

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

In one sentence, how would you explain this story out loud, to a friend in one sentence or 30 seconds?

Who will care about this story? Why?

What else might people need to know?

3. Consult your editor/pitch

For classroom purposes, your “editor” might be your instructor, a classmate, or a friend. Make sure that person knows that their job is to stand in for your readers, and to make sure your story is interesting and useful to them.

Succinctly tell your editor what the story says -- this is your pitch!

Ask your editor to challenge your thinking. What have you missed?

Be prepared to defend your story AND to go back and do additional work to improve it.

4. Writing (finally!)

You’ve got a lede; now order a sequence in telling: organize.

Try telling the story out loud and make a note of the order in which you reveal information. Is that the best order, or would the story be more effective or engaging if you made some changes? Should you hold some info back to create a different mood, or to add a twist or some tension?)

Write quickly, staying on track – you can and should PLAN to go back and rewrite. Most good "writing" is actually thoughtful revision. First drafts are not the standard for professional work.

As you write, periodically ask yourself: Who cares?

As you write, periodically frighten yourself: The audience is leaving. How would you reorganize or cut in order to keep their interest?

When you finish, go back and ruthlessly revise: Does the story make sense? Is it worth reading? Does it flow in a logical way that the reader can understand?

Then revise it again, even more ruthlessly: Cut words and sentences.

Read your work out loud. Is it conversational? Are you writing in the way that you would tell the story over a dinner table? Are you using simple but precise words (e.g. “strolled (or dashed) over” vs. “went over”)?

Credit: This guide was adapted by Betsy O’Donovan from API’s Journalism Essentials section. Len Reed, environment and science team leader at The Oregonian, developed a system to help reporters handle unruly information. This checklist/worksheet adapts some of those ideas.

• Research by Subject
• All Databases (A-Z)
• Course Reserves
• Journals by Title
• A book on the shelf
• Digital Collections
• Interlibrary Loan
• Make Appointment with Librarian
• Schedule a Class (faculty)
• Poster Production / Media
• Online / Distance Services
• Book a Study Room
• Special Collections
• Study Rooms
• All Policies
• Support the Library
• BuleyWise Blog
• Buley Bulletin
• Floor Plans
• Library Directory
• Library Hours
• The Director's Page
• Library Impact Dashboard

How to Write a News Story

Newspaper article outline, how to write a news story in 15 steps.

• Fact Checking
• Streaming Video & DVDs
• Public Records
• Journalism Websites

The Purdue Owl : Journalism and Journalistic Writing: Introduction

From Scholastic: Writing a newspaper article

Article outline

I. Lead sentence

Grab and hook your reader right away.

II. Introduction

Which facts and figures will ground your story? You have to tell your readers where and when this story is happening.

III. Opening quotation 

What will give the reader a sense of the people involved and what they are thinking?

IV. Main body

What is at the heart of your story?

V. Closing quotation

Find something that sums the article up in a few words.

VI. Conclusion  (optional—the closing quote may do the job)

The following is an excerpt from The Elements of News Writing by James W. Kershner (Pearson, 2009).  This book is available for checkout at Buley Library (Call number PN 4775 .K37 2009, on the 3rd floor)

1.       Select a newsworthy story. Your goal is to give a timely account of a recent, interesting, and significant event or development.

2.       Think about your goals and objectives in writing the story. What will the readers want and need to know about the subject? How can you best tell the story?

3.       Find out who can provide the most accurate information about the subject and how to contact that person. Find out what other sources you can use to obtain relevant information.

4.       Do your homework. Do research so that you have a basic understanding of the situation before interviewing anyone about it. Check clips of stories already written on the subject.

5.       Prepare a list of questions to ask about the story.

6.       Arrange to get the needed information. This may mean scheduling an interview or locating the appropriate people to interview.

7.       Interview the source and take notes. Ask your prepared questions, plus other questions that come up in the course of the conversation. Ask the source to suggest other sources. Ask if you may call the source back for further questions later.

8.       Interview second and third sources, ask follow-up questions, and do further research until you have a understanding of the story.

9.       Ask yourself, “What’s the story?” and “What’s the point?” Be sure you have a clear focus in your mind before you start writing. Rough out a lead in your head.

10.   Make a written outline or plan of your story.

11.   Write your first draft following your plan, but changing it as necessary.

12.   Read through your first draft looking for content problems, holes, or weak spots, and revise it as necessary. Delete extra words, sentences, and paragraphs. Make every word count.

13.   Read your second draft aloud, listening for problems in logic or syntax.

14.   Copyedit your story, checking carefully for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and style problems.

15.   Deliver your finished story to the editor before deadline.

Kershner, J.W. (2009). The Elements of News Writing. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

• << Previous: Home
• Next: Fact Checking >>
• Last Updated: Feb 28, 2024 3:16 PM
• URL: https://libguides.southernct.edu/journalism

15 News Writing Rules for Beginning Journalism Students

The goal is to provide information clearly in common language

• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• M.S., Journalism, Columbia University
• B.A., Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Gathering information for a news article is vitally important, of course, but so is writing the story. The best information, put together in an overly intricate construction using SAT words and dense writing, can be difficult to digest for readers looking for a quick news fix.

There are rules for news writing that result in a clear, direct presentation, providing information efficiently and accessibly to a variety of readers. Some of these rules conflict with what you might have learned in English Lit.

Here's a list of 15 rules for beginning news writers, based on the problems that crop most frequently:

Tips for News Writing

• Generally speaking, the lede , or introduction to the story, should be a single sentence of 35 to 45 words that summarizes the main points of the story, not a seven-sentence monstrosity that looks like it's out of a Jane Austen novel.
• The lede should summarize the story from start to finish. So if you're writing about a fire that destroyed a building and left 18 people homeless, that must be in the lede. Writing something like "A fire started in a building last night" doesn't have enough vital information.
• Paragraphs in news stories should generally be no more than one or two sentences each, not the seven or eight sentences you probably wrote for freshman English. Short paragraphs are easier to cut when editors are working on a tight deadline, and they look less imposing on the page.
• Sentences should be kept relatively short, and whenever possible use the subject-verb-object formula. Backward constructions are harder to read.
• Always cut unnecessary words. For example, "Firefighters arrived at the blaze and were able to put it out within about 30 minutes" can be shortened to "Firefighters doused the blaze in 30 minutes."
• Don't use complicated-sounding words when simpler ones will do. A laceration is a cut; a contusion is a bruise; an abrasion is a scrape. A news story should be understandable to everyone.
• Don't use the first-person "I" in news stories. 
• In Associated Press style, punctuation almost always goes inside quotation marks. Example: "We arrested the suspect," Detective John Jones said. (Note the placement of the comma.)
• News stories are generally written in the past tense.
• Avoid the use of too many adjectives. There's no need to write "the white-hot blaze" or "the brutal murder." We know fire is hot and that killing someone is generally pretty brutal. Those adjectives are unnecessary.
• Don't use phrases such as "thankfully, everyone escaped the fire unhurt." Obviously, it's good that people weren't hurt. Your readers can figure that out for themselves.
• Never inject your opinions into a hard-news story. Save your thoughts for a review or editorial.
• When you first refer to someone in a story, use the full name and job title if applicable. On all subsequent references, use just the last name. So it would be "Lt. Jane Jones" when you first mention her in your story, but after that, it would simply be "Jones." The only exception is if two people with the same last name are in your story, in which case you could use their full names. Reporters generally don't use honorifics such as "Mr." or "Mrs." in AP style. (A notable exception is The New York Times .)
• Don't repeat information.
• Don't summarize the story at the end by repeating what's already been said. Try to find information for the conclusion that advances the story. 
• Avoid the Common Mistakes That Beginning Reporters Make
• Constructing News Stories with the Inverted Pyramid
• 10 News Writing Exercises for Journalism Students
• Learn to Write News Stories
• Six Tips for Writing News Stories That Will Grab a Reader
• Writing News Stories for the Web
• 5 Key Ingredients for Great Feature Stories
• How to Avoid Burying the Lede of Your News Story
• 10 Important Steps for Producing a Quality News Story
• How Feature Writers Use Delayed Ledes
• The Secret to Writing Great Headlines for Your News Stories
• Learning to Edit News Stories Quickly
• Sportswriter Resources: Writing the Short Game Story
• How to Write Feature Stories
• Writing a Compelling, Informative News Lede

How To Write News Stories For Children (They’re Going To Hear Them Anyway)

June 20, 2023 (Updated June 21, 2023 )

“In my opinion, children should be seen and not heard. I’m an adult, so it follows that I should be heard and not seen. That’s why I work exclusively over the intercom,” says Lemony Snicket, narrating  The Hostile Hospital — the eighth instalment of Daniel Handler’s A Series of Unfortunate Events .

This notion that children should be silent and disengaged from adult concerns and world affairs was particularly prominent in the Victorian era and much of the 1900s. While we’ve come a long way from this view, there are still many questions about how and what we talk to children about.

It might seem like a question for parents and carers alone to grapple with, but in a world where news is more accessible than ever, journalists also need to explore how they can tell stories responsibly and promote a healthy news diet.

When Do Children Start To Notice The News?

From the BBC’s  Children Talking   in the ‘70s to modern-day shows like Channel 4’s  The Secret Life of Four-Year-Olds , we laugh and marvel at children’s world views — but do we adequately consider their minds when it comes to news provision?

Dr Alison McClymont is a chartered psychologist with over a decade‘s experience working with children, teenagers, and adults. She tells Journo Resources that while there’s no set time or age for when children start to notice the news — partly because families’ news habits vary so greatly — by age eight, we might expect children to acknowledge the world with more of a “moral standpoint” .

Before this, McClymont says: “Children are much less likely to see nuance in news stories due to the moral developmental differences between children and adults.”

Both Dr Alison McClymont (L) and Jodie Jackson (R) agree that negative news can affect children, and it is up to adults to provide context.

Jodie Jackson, author and campaigner in positive psychology and expert on the psychological impact of negative news, says one issue with the news is its omnipresence. “Something I am very aware of as a parent and also as a news literacy practitioner and advocate is the radio bulletins. They are the things that really get me because I think of them as little nuggets of negativity.”

Jackson continues: “They will replay on the hour. They will pick three, four, maybe five news stories that are terrible in terms of what they are talking about. It is always negative — there is no context because it is such a short period of time. And kids hear these things.”

While media like films and music have age ratings, Jackson points out these bulletins play through speakers at after-school activities, car radios, and waiting room TVs. “The news has not quite reached that level of what is appropriate and what is not in spaces that are communal,” Jackson says. “Kids have access, and they don’t have to be literate. You don’t have to be able to read the news, you just have to be able to hear and listen and understand words and stories.”

During the pandemic, Jackson says she realised how difficult it was to be a mediator between her children and information, which made her think for the first time that it was something children needed to be able to manage for themselves.

It’s something that Flora, now 11, has experienced first-hand. She’s the daughter of journalist Donna Ferguson and was definitely engaged with developments during the pandemic, such as putting an eye mask over her doll’s mouth. Flora herself recalls: “I remember feeling annoyed that there was something about Covid every single day […] but when we went into lockdown, I think it was important for me to know the news about Covid, even if it wasn’t very good.”

Flora’s class also sometimes watched Newsround . “When the reports about the parties came out, everyone was like, ‘We hate Boris Johnson’,” she exclaims.

Giving Children An Active Role In The News

To help children manage difficult topics like the pandemic, McClymont says: “It is helpful to tell children what ‘role’ they play.” When discussing climate change, for example, adults can “explain what they can do rather than simply [highlight] the catastrophic events of the situation.”

McClymont also highlights the importance of discussing broader cultural aspects about why news might mean different things to different people. “I think it’s vital children are encouraged to see nuance, tone, and bias in news reporting as it will help them build cultural sensitivity, empathy, and compassion,” she explains.

Rosalie Minnitt, who creates educational content on children’s TV about topics like bullying and internet safety, agrees. “I think the most important thing is to give children back their sense of control and let them lead the discussion. It is most important to create an open, honest, and safe space to talk about the things that worry them, and work from there.”

While these might both seem like advice for parents and carers at first glance, they’re also themes journalists should try to weave within their storytelling. Even if you’re not writing for children, it’s likely to be consumed by them.

Inspire An Active Role : Don’t just talk about catastrophic events — include stories of hope and tell young people what they can do.

Encourage Nuance And Impacts : Inspire children to ask questions about what news means to different people.

Don’t Underestimate Ability: Children have a huge capacity to understand world events — don’t talk down to or patronise readers.

Make Stories Feel Closer To Home : Global events can feel very distant — try to think about communities close to home also involved in the story.

Sign Post To Support: If readers feel upset about a story, signpost resources they can use.

“[Stories] are how we relate to each other and the world around us,” says Leigh-Ann Hewer, a children’s writer. “I think they’re instrumental in introducing and exploring difficult emotions and experiences as a child. Without them, it’s all too nebulous and overwhelming.”

While every child is different and might be ready to learn about complex issues at varying stages, Hewer says generally, children are much more emotionally tuned in than people may realise.

“It’s less about what the topic is and more about how it’s delivered,” she continues. “I always think it comes back to hope. You can tackle some serious stuff if you bring it back to hope, and that hope can come in many forms.”

Repackaging News For Children

The Week Junior  is an award-winning weekly current affairs magazine for children aged eight to 14. The publication’s popularity soared during the pandemic and it has remained incredibly successful since.

Editor Anna Bassi explains of their work: “We don’t underestimate children’s curiosity or capacity to understand world events. We create pages that are easy to navigate and won’t put off younger or less confident readers.”

Rahul Verma, the magazine’s deputy editor, adds while the magazine focuses on solutions journalism, it doesn’t avoid difficult truths. “Often, we look for a softer way into the story. For example, [with] the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, our way into that was the rescue efforts, rather than having a headline [saying] ‘50,000 people die in earthquakes’.

The Week Junior and CBBC Newsround are some great options for introducing children to world news.

Bassi says the first challenge is often deciding whether or not to actually cover an event, before assessing how best to communicate it without upsetting young readers. “We usually adopt a question-and-answer format and do our best to anticipate what children might ask about it. We stick to the facts, minimise details that would cause distress and focus on the positives,” she explains.

If a topic is particularly sensitive,  TWJ will sometimes ask parents and teachers on social media what they think children need to know. The publication also has an advice page for readers if they have been upset by the news.

Relatability is also key in allowing children to process world events. Verma says that TWJ  also makes a real effort to report on how world events are felt closer to home. In the case of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, “we brought that back to two Turkish and Syrian communities in the UK who were organising on Facebook donations to be taken — really playing up how people were helping each other.”

‘In The Media There’s So Much Assumed Knowledge’

Verma feels  TWJ ’s commitment to explanation and never assuming knowledge is key to its success with younger readers. “In mainstream adult media, there is just so much assumed knowledge, whereas we have to explain pretty much everything,” he explains.

“It used to be the case that news was mostly something for adults only, to be watched or listened to when children were in bed,” says Bassi. “These days, rolling news, the internet, and social media mean that it can be hard to avoid exposing children to world events.”

The problem is that most current affairs content was not created with children in mind. “What they do see and hear is very often very negative and can cause anxiety and overwhelm,” she states. “We provide context and perspective, both of which help children understand what’s going on.”

While Verma receives lots of emails from teachers using the magazine in the classroom, he admits there doesn’t really appear to be a large amount of child-tailored news content that exists outside of a digital context. Good digital platforms like  Newsround  exist, but perhaps against a backdrop of fake news and misinformation, children would benefit from more opportunities to discuss world events away from screens.

While schools can play a powerful role in helping children learn news skills, they can’t be the only people working in the area. “They have a role to play, but I don’t they can do that solely on their own,” says Jackson. She’d like to see government legislation that supports news literacy within the national curriculum — but as journalists, we can also play our part by crafting stories inclusively.

It’s important to remember that the global pandemic exacerbated many pre-existing inequalities, manifesting in children with access to more resources returning to school at heightened levels of progress compared to their less privileged peers. Minnitt says: “Teachers have worked hard to bring everyone up to speed, but there are still big gaps in some children’s education, and the widespread impact on wellbeing is still felt three years on.”

Bassi advises: “Don’t avoid answering children’s questions. Start by finding out what they know already, then explain what you can without going into too much detail about anything upsetting.”

She also suggests explaining that it is normal to be upset by bad news and to remain calm, concise, and factual, and to try and end on the positives. Equally, “it’s also okay to admit you don’t have all the answers,” Bassi says.

Although most current affairs content isn’t designed for children, it doesn’t mean they won’t be exposed to it — this is important to acknowledge, and why it is vital that young audiences feel seen and heard. After all, like Flora says, “As children, you are just as much a part of this country as the grown-ups are.”

Hannah is a recent graduate from Loughborough University, where she studied a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis. Alongside her studies, Hannah was on the editorial teams of several student magazines, and was awarded ‘Best Student Journalist, Midlands’ by the SPA in 2018.

She was a BBC Sport Kick-Off Reporter in 2019 and had co-founded and edited a one-off 40-page print and digital magazine in celebration of International Women’s Day 2021. Along with her work for Journo Resources, she is currently studying for the NCTJ diploma at News Associates and writing freelance.

Header image courtesy of Keren Fedida via Unsplash

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications

How to Write a News Article

Last Updated: April 28, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,403,101 times.

Writing a news article is different from writing other articles or informative pieces because news articles present information in a specific way. It's important to be able to convey all the relevant information in a limited word count and give the facts to your target audience concisely. Knowing how to write a news article can help a career in journalism , develop your writing skills and help you convey information clearly and concisely.

Things You Should Know

• Outline your article with all the facts and interview quotes you’ve gathered. Decide what your point of view on the topic is before you start writing.
• Your first sentence is the most important one—craft an attention-getter that clearly states the most important information.
• Proofread for accurate information, consistent style and tone, and proper formatting.

Sample Articles

Planning Your Article

• If you’ve ever written a research paper you understand the work that goes into learning about your topic. The first phase of writing a news article or editorial is pretty similar.
• Who - who was involved?
• What - what happened?
• Where - where did it happen?
• Why - why did it happen?
• When - when did it happen?
• How - how did it happen?

• 1) those that need to be included in the article.
• 2) those that are interesting but not vital.
• 3) those that are related but not important to the purpose of the article.
• This fact list will help prevent you from leaving out any relevant information about the topic or story, and will also help you write a clean, succinct article.
• Be as specific as possible when writing down all of these facts. You can always trim down unnecessary information later, but it’s easier to cut down than it is to have to beef up an article.
• It’s okay at this point to have holes in your information – if you don’t have a pertinent fact, write down the question and highlight it so you won’t forget to find it out
• Now that you have your facts, if your editor has not already assigned the type of article, decide what kind of article you’re writing. Ask yourself whether this is an opinion article, an unbiased and straightforward relaying of information, or something in between. [2] X Research source

• If you’ve ever heard the term “burying the lead”, that is in reference to the structure of your article. [4] X Research source The “lead” is the first sentence of the article – the one you “lead” with. Not "burying the lead" simply means that you should not make your readers read several paragraphs before they get to the point of your article.
• Whatever forum you’re writing for, be it print or for the web, a lot of readers don’t make it to the end of the article. When writing a news article, you should focus on giving your readers what they want as soon as possible.
• Write above the fold. The fold comes from newspapers where there’s a crease because the page gets folded in half. If you look at a newspaper all the top stories are placed above the fold. The same goes for writing online. The virtual fold is the bottom of your screen before you have to scroll down. Put the best information at the top to engage your readers and encourage them to keep reading.

• Ask yourself the “5 W's” again, but this time in relation to your audience.
• Questions like what is the average age you are writing for, where is this audience, local or national, why is this audience reading your article, and what does your audience want out of your article will inform you on how to write.
• Once you know who you are writing for you can format an outline that will get the best information to the right audience as quickly as possible.

• Even if you are covering a popular story or topic that others are writing about, look for an angle that will make this one yours.
• Do you have a personal experience that relates to your topic? Maybe you know someone who is an expert that you can interview .

• People usually like to talk about personal experiences, especially if it will be featured somewhere, like your news article. Reach out through a phone call, email, or even social media and ask someone if you can interview them.
• When you do interview people you need to follow a few rules: identify yourself as a reporter. Keep an open mind . Stay objective. While you are encouraged to ask questions and listen to anecdotes, you are not there to judge.
• Record and write down important information from the interview, and be transparent with what you are doing and why you are doing this interview.

Writing Your News Article

• Your lead should be one sentence and should simply, but completely, state the topic of the article.
• Remember when you had to write essays for school? Your lead is like your thesis statement.
• Let your readers know what your news article is about, why it’s important, and what the rest of the article will contain.

• These details are important, because they are the focal point of the article that fully informs the reader.
• If you are writing an opinion piece , this is where you will state what your opinion is as well.

• This additional information helps round out the article and can help you transition to new points as you move along.
• If you have an opinion, this is where you will identify the opposing views and the people who hold them.
• A good news article will outline facts and information. A great news article will allow readers to engage on an emotional level.
• To engage your readers, you should provide enough information that anyone reading your news article can make an informed opinion, even if it contrasts with yours.
• This also applies to a news article where you the author don’t state your opinion but present it as an unbiased piece of information. Your readers should still be able to learn enough about your topic to form an opinion.

• Make sure your news article is complete and finished by giving it a good concluding sentence. This is often a restatement of the leading statement (thesis) or a statement indicating potential future developments relating to the article topic.
• Read other news articles for ideas on how to best accomplish this. Or, watch news stations or shows. See how a news anchor will wrap up a story and sign off, then try to emulate that.

Proofing Your Article

• Be sure to double check all the facts in your news article before you submit it, including names, dates, and contact information or addresses. Writing accurately is one of the best ways to establish yourself as a competent news article writer.

• If your news article is meant to convey direct facts, not the opinions of its writer, ensure you’ve kept your writing unbiased and objective. Avoid any language that is overly positive or negative or statements that could be construed as support or criticism.
• If your article is meant to be more in the style of interpretive journalism then check to make sure that you have given deep enough explanations of the larger story and offered multiple viewpoints throughout.

• When quoting someone, write down exactly what was said inside quotations and immediately cite the reference with the person’s proper title. Formal titles should be capitalized and appear before a person’s name. Ex: “Mayor John Smith”.
• Always write out numbers one through nine, but use numerals for numbers 10 and up.
• When writing a news article, be sure to only include one space after a period, not two. [12] X Research source

• You shouldn’t submit any news article for publication without first letting someone take a look at it. An extra pair of eyes can double check your facts and the information to ensure that what you have written is accurate.
• If you are writing a news article for school or your own personal website, then have a friend take a look at it and give you notes. Sometimes you may get notes that you want to defend or don’t agree with it. But these should be listened to. Remember, with so many news articles getting published every minute you need to ensure that your widest possible audience can easily digest the information you have provided.

Expert Q&A

• Start with research and ask the “5. Asking these questions will help you create an outline and a narrative to your article. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Interview people, and remember to be polite and honest about what you are writing. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Put the most important information at the beginning of your article. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about writing an article, check out our in-depth interview with Gerald Posner .

• ↑ https://libguides.mit.edu/select-topic
• ↑ https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/writing-resources/different-genres/news-writing-fundamentals
• ↑ https://libguides.southernct.edu/journalism/howtowrite
• ↑ https://spcollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=254319&p=1695313
• ↑ https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/cm360
• ↑ https://mediahelpingmedia.org/basics/how-to-find-and-develop-important-news-angles/
• ↑ https://www.northwestern.edu/brand/editorial-guidelines/newswriting-guidelines/
• ↑ https://tacomacc.libguides.com/c.php?g=599051&p=4147190
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/ap_style.html
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/punctuation/space-after-period
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

To write a news article, open with a strong leading sentence that states what the article is about and why it’s important. Try to answer the questions who, what, where, when, and why as early in the article as possible. Once you’ve given the reader the most important facts, you can include any additional information to help round out the article, such as opposing views or contact information. Finish with a strong concluding sentence, such as an invitation to learn more or a statement indicating future developments. For tips on researching your article, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Did this article help you?

Oct 21, 2017

Yusufu Musku

Aug 12, 2019

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Level up your tech skills and stay ahead of the curve

• About English Wizard Online
• Parts of Speech, Phrases, Sentences
• Spelling/ Vocabulary
• Research/ Thesis Writing
• Lesson Plans
• Worksheets, eBooks, Workbooks, Printables
• Poems (Text and Video)
• Speech/ Pronunciation Lessons
• Classroom Ideas/ Materials
• Teacher's Comments
• Creative and Technical Writing
• Teaching Articles/ Teaching Strategies
• Essays/ Book and Movie Reviews
• Yearbook/ Student Publication/ Magazine/ Newsletter

How to Write Hard News Stories

No comments:

Post a comment.

• July 25 2023

Below you will find the solution for: News 7 Little Words Bonus which contains 7 Letters.

News 7 Little Words Bonus

Since you already solved the clue News which had the answer TIDINGS, you can simply go back at the main post to check the other daily crossword clues. You can do so by clicking the link here 7 Little Words Bonus July 25 2023

Related Clues

Latest Clues

Latest bonus answers, 7 little words answers in your inbox.

Get the daily 7 Little Words Answers straight into your inbox absolutely FREE!

• Ethics & Leadership
• Fact-Checking
• Media Literacy
• The Craig Newmark Center
• Reporting & Editing
• Ethics & Trust
• Tech & Tools
• Business & Work
• Educators & Students
• Training Catalog
• Custom Teaching
• For ACES Members
• All Categories
• Broadcast & Visual Journalism
• Fact-Checking & Media Literacy
• In-newsroom
• Memphis, Tenn.
• Minneapolis, Minn.
• St. Petersburg, Fla.
• Washington, D.C.
• Poynter ACES Introductory Certificate in Editing
• Poynter ACES Intermediate Certificate in Editing
• Ethics & Trust Articles
• Get Ethics Advice
• Fact-Checking Articles
• International Fact-Checking Day
• Teen Fact-Checking Network
• International
• Media Literacy Training
• MediaWise Resources
• Ambassadors
• MediaWise in the News

Support responsible news and fact-based information today!

How to write a good story in 800 words or less

As a new award is named for roy peter clark, we revisit the writing coach's tips on writing short.

Originally published:  October 6, 2003

Editor’s note: Poynter announced that the newly renamed 2024 Poynter Journalism Prizes will feature a category honoring longtime writing coach Roy Peter Clark and recognizing compelling short writing under 800 words. It seems fitting then to revisit an essay Clark wrote 20 years ago about powerful short-form writing.

Most of the good stories we tell can be told in 800 words or less. Let me try one. It involves my father, Ted Clark, who used to have the annoying habit of sucking on ice cubes, which he was doing one day, sitting in his recliner in front of the television set. My mother was in the basement doing the laundry, when she heard a great thump above her. She rushed upstairs and found my father unconscious on the bathroom floor. She called 911 and the paramedics arrived, but not before my father had recovered, seemingly unharmed. It turned out that an ice cube had lodged in his windpipe, cutting off his air supply, knocking him out as he staggered toward the bathroom. Fortunately, his body heat melted the ice cube, restoring the flow of oxygen, and saving his life. He’s never sucked on an ice cube again.

It took me 128 words to tell that story. If I measure the story another way, by Approximate Reading Time (ART), I can say that the story is about 42 seconds long. I think any discussion of story length should measure a story not just by the number of words, but how long it takes the average person to read it.

I found this gem in a collection of radio reports from the great Edward R. Murrow of CBS News. The date is April 12, 1951. It involves two controversial American icons and a bit of technological trivia. Here’s the whole report:

“Western Union has delivered about 60,000 telegrams to Congress and the White House, most of them in favor of General MacArthur. Republican Senator McCarthy, of Wisconsin, says, ‘It was a victory for Communism and shows the midnight power of bourbon and Benedictine.’ In Los Angeles, a man smashed a radio over his wife’s head in the course of an argument about MacArthur’s removal. Reports say it was a table model.”

A table model, rather than a console! In other words, the man was kind enough not to strike his wife with a big piece of furniture. This report of 71 words can be read aloud in about 25 seconds. My rough calculations reveal that it takes the average person about 33 seconds to read 100 words.

Let’s round that off to 200 words per minute. That means that my new serial narrative, which is about 15,000 words long, would take a reader about 75 minutes to read. That ART is good to know as I consider with my editors whether to publish it as a special section, in four daily parts, or over a greater number of days. Maybe each of my chapters can be very short, say 800 words or less, requiring only four minutes of my reader’s time.

If you want to write shorter, or if your editor wants you to, I’ve got some tips that I’ve gathered from the best wordsmiths in the business. You can write short without sacrificing your news values or your literary sensibilities. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you can’t do it alone. Well, maybe that’s also good news.

• Find models of short writing from every genre and medium. Let the writers of those works become your teachers.

Start off with three story collections – all published by Norton. The first is called “Radios: Short Takes on Life and Culture,” by the late writing professor of Florida State University, Jerome Stern. These are printed versions of public radio commentaries. A typical one is about 350 words. Then check out “In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction,” edited by Judith Kitchen & Mary Paumier Jones. For some real fun, enjoy Jerome Stern’s edition of “Micro Fiction.” Among the shortest stories is this 53-word nugget by Amy Hempel:

“She swallowed Gore Vidal. Then she swallowed Donald Trump. She took a blue capsule and a gold spansule — a B-complex and an E — and put them on the tablecloth a few inches apart. She pointed the one at the other. ‘Martha Stewart,” she said, ‘meet Oprah Winfrey.’ She swallowed them both without water.”

• Know from the beginning whether you’re writing a sonnet or an epic.

One of my favorite sonnets begins Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet :

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

That’s 14 lines, 106 words. Never was there a summary of complex news more carefully crafted or more beautifully expressed. Perhaps a reporter for the London Globe would have written it this way:

“A pair of teenaged lovers died Thursday, the result of a failed plot to bring their warring families together. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, both of Verona, were pronounced dead from what appeared to be self-inflicted dagger wounds. ‘This is the most woeful story I’ve ever heard,’ said Escalus, Prince of Verona and chief law enforcement officer. ‘I hope the families learn from this terrible tragedy.’ “

In his sonnet lead, Shakespeare includes the basic elements of news telling, usually referred to as the Five W’s and H. We know the Who: a pair of unlucky lovers; the What: they took their lives; the Where: in fair Verona; the When: right now; the Why: an ancient feud. Of course, the How is about to be experienced: the “two hours’ traffic of our stage,” the narrative of the play.

Shakespeare wrote short poems and long plays. Like other writers, he was guided by knowing from the beginning the technical limits of his genre. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the 5 W’s or the form of writing called the inverted pyramid. Just remember to keep it short.

• Thaw out the 5 W’s and H.

This advice comes from editor Rick Zahler of The Seattle Times . The traditional version of the 5W’s freezes those story elements into informational ice cubes. If you thaw them out, the narrative begins to flow. Who becomes Character. What becomes Action. Where becomes Setting. When becomes Chronology. Why becomes Motive. How becomes Narrative.

One of the great reporters of his day was Meyer Berger of The New York Times . He won a Pulitzer in the late 1940s for his narrative reconstruction of a multiple shooting. He wrote it on deadline and at great length. But he also was the master of the short human interest feature. Just before his death in 1959, he wrote a story, about 1,200 words on an old, poor, blind man who was once a classical musician. Then he wrote a sequel:

“Eight violins were offered the other day to Laurence Stroetz, the 82-year-old, cataract-blinded violinist who was taken to St. Clare’s Hospital in East Seventy-first Street from a Bowery flophouse. The offers came from men and women who had read that though he had once played with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he had been without a violin for more than 30 years.

The first instrument to reach the hospital was a gift from the Lighthouse, the institution for the sightless. It was delivered by a blind man. A nun took it to the octogenarian.

He played it a while, tenderly and softly, then gave it back. He said: ‘This is a fine old violin. Tell the owner to take good care of it.’ The white-clad nun said: ‘It is your violin, Mr. Stroetz. It is a gift.’ The old man bent his head over it. He wept.”

In 145 words, Berger turns a traditional Who (“the 82-year-old, cataract blinded violinist”) into a real character, brimming with human emotions.

• Remember the basics of storytelling.

Tom Wolfe argued that the tools of fiction writing could be adapted for nonfiction, as long as the reporting was deep and careful. Those tools include setting scenes, using dialogue, drawing details that define character, and revealing the world through various points of view. Although we associate these tools with long forms of journalism, such as the narrative reconstruction of events, they can work in short forms as well. Notice the miniature scene created by Meyer Berger above. A nun enters the room with the violin. He plays. She engages in dialogue with the blind man. He weeps.

• Turn the pyramid right side up. Or use the hourglass.

We think of the inverted pyramid as one of the Great Wonders of the newspaper writing world, and it is; but alternative forms of news narrative have always co-existed with it. George C. Bastian wrote this in a 1923 textbook on editing:

“Two Important Types of Narratives — Most news stories, and indeed most news paragraphs, begin with their climax, or most important and most newsy feature, and then proceed to detail and amplify. Some, however, notably those resembling the short story form of writing, begin with details and reserve their climax until the last. These two types of stories may be compared to two triangles, one resting on its base and the other on a point.”

Professor Bastian might have added a third form in which the two triangles are joined at their points, forming a structure that looks like an hourglass. Many stories lend themselves to an informational beginning, with the key facts stacked in the order of importance. But the story can then take a turn (“Police and witnesses gave the following account of what happened.”) with the bottom of the story rendering a chronological version of events.

• Experiment with the forms of short writing that already exist: the headline, the tease, the photo caption, the brief, the “brite,” the notes column.

There is no more underdeveloped writing form in American journalism than the photo caption or cutline. Here Jeffrey Page of The Record in New Jersey shows the storytelling potential of the form. Frank Sinatra has just died, so imagine a one-column photo of him. It shows Sinatra from the waist up. He’s wearing a tux with a black bow tie. He’s got a mike in his hand. He’s obviously singing. Caption:

“If you saw a man in a tux and black bow tie swagger on stage like an elegant pirate, and if you had been told he would spend an hour singing Cole Porter, Gershwin, and Rodgers and Hart, and if when he opened his mouth you heard a little of your life in his voice, and if you saw his body arch back on the high notes (the ones he insisted you hear and feel and live with him), and if his swing numbers made you want to bounce and be happy and be young and be carefree, and if when he sang ‘Try a Little Tenderness’ and got to the line about a woman’s wearing the same shabby dress it made you profoundly sad, and if years later you felt that his death made you a little less alive, you must have been watching this man who started as a saloon singer in Hoboken and went on to become the very definition of American popular music.”

How can you write a 198-word caption without using the dead man’s name? Jeffrey Page explains: “I know, I know, it violates every damned rule. Screw it. They keep telling us to take chances, right? So I did. … If you’re a U.S. paper, and especially if you happen to be in New Jersey, you don’t have to tell people that they’re looking at a picture of Sinatra and not Mother Teresa.”

• Think of chapters, segments, vignettes, slices of life.

Even a very long work, such as the Bible, can be divided into books, chapters, and verses. Sometimes little drips of writing can turn into puddles, into streams, into rivers. But the process can work the other way around. Consider this paragraph from an essay titled “Proofs,” by Richard Rodriguez:

“You stand around. You smoke. You spit. You are wearing your two shirts, two pants, two underpants. Jesus says, if they chase you throw that bag down. Your plastic bag is your mama, all you have left; the yellow cheese she wrapped has formed a translucent rind; the laminated scapular of the Sacred Heart nestles flame in its cleft. Put it in your pocket. The last hour of Mexico is twilight, the shuffling of feet. A fog is beginning to cover the ground. Jesus says they are able to see in the dark. They have X-rays and helicopters and searchlights. Jesus says wait, just wait, till he says. You can feel the hand of Jesus clamp your shoulder, fingers cold as ice. Venga, corre. You run. All the rest happens without words. Your feet are tearing dry grass, your heart is lashed like a mare. You trip, you fall. You are now in the United States of America. You are a boy from a Mexican village. You have come into the country on your knees with your head down. You are a man.”

Although this is only one of 11 such vignettes in the piece, it can stand on its own as a brilliant 150-word essay on the tensions between freedom, opportunity, and servitude.

• Focus, focus, focus.

This is the central act of the writing craft. Ultimately, we focus all other parts of the process. We focus the idea or assignment. We focus the reporting. We focus the lead. We select to support the focus. The focus is the cornerstone for building a structure. We revise to eliminate that which fails to support the focus.

Good questions helps us find the focus and keep the story short. What is this story about? What do I want my reader to learn? What’s the heart or nut of the story? What is the news? What is the point? What is the theme? What’s the most important question answered by the story? Can I describe story in a single paragraph? A sentence? Six words? Three words?

A humorous radio commentary by the late Jerome Stern makes fun of the way famous athletes and celebrities talk about themselves in the third person: “Meryl Streep,’ says Meryl Streep, “resents her loss of privacy.” After a wicked inventory of such atrocities, Stern suggests that common folks should take up the habit: “We owe this to ourselves. We’re as good, we’re as complicated, we’re as important. These celebrities, they have fame, fortune – should they have all the proper nouns, too? / In naming ourselves we create ourselves, we are the stars of our own sweet universe.”

All 350 words of his essay lead to that one, final exquisite point.

• Turn lumps of coal into little diamonds. Accept the challenge of transforming a routine assignment into something special: an obit, a spelling bee, a high school graduation, daylight savings time, the new phone book.

Famous for his long narratives, Ken Fuson was assigned to do a quick hit on the first day of spring. This piece appeared the next morning on the front page of The Des Moines Register :

“Here’s how Iowa celebrates a 70-degree day in the middle of March: By washing the car and scooping the loop and taking a walk; by daydreaming in school and playing hooky at work and shutting off the furnace at home; by skate-boarding and flying kites and digging through closets for baseball gloves; by riding that new bike you got for Christmas and drawing hopscotch boxes in chalk on the sidewalk and not caring if the kids lost their mittens again; by looking for robins and noticing swimsuits on department store mannequins and shooting hoops in the park; by sticking the ice scraper in the trunk and the antifreeze in the garage and leaving the car parked outside overnight; by cleaning the barbecue and stuffing the parka in storage and just standing outside and letting that friendly sun kiss your face; by wondering where you’re going to go on summer vacation and getting reacquainted with neighbors on the front porch and telling the boys that yes! yes! they can run outside and play without a jacket; by holding hands with a lover and jogging in shorts and picking up the extra branches in the yard; by eating an ice cream cone outside and (if you’re a farmer or gardener) feeling that first twinge that says it’s time to plant and (if you’re a high school senior) feeling that first twinge that says it’s time to leave; by wondering if in all of history there has ever been a day so glorious and concluding that there hasn’t and being afraid to even stop and take a breath (or begin a new paragraph) for fear that winter would return, leaving Wednesday in our memory as nothing more than a sweet and too-short dream.”

So, it turned out, Ken Fuson could write a short story. Now about that sentence: a single, glorious, 280-word catalog of vernal ecstasy.

Smart editors who crave short writing must find places where such stories can flourish. Writers need and deserve praise – and good play – to encourage them to turn their epic hands to an occasional sonnet, and maybe, on one glorious day, a haiku.

This essay on short writing is about 3,000 words long. The Approximate Reading Time is 15 minutes.

Opinion | Behind the scenes of CBS News’ interview with Pope Francis

The pope gave Norah O’Donnell a historic, hourlong interview from the Vatican. No topic was off-limits.

How a Supreme Court case most people likely have never heard of is reshaping LGBTQ+ rights

A 2020 Supreme Court case called Bostock v. Clayton County has led to a number of policy and legal shifts

CNN mourns the loss of commentator Alice Stewart

Stewart, a veteran political adviser who worked on several Republican presidential campaigns, was 58.

The best Pulitzer leads (or ledes) in 2024

Longtime writing coach Roy Peter Clark gives this year’s award to a gripping narrative about two octogenarians who died in a hurricane

Benny Johnson’s claim that Joe Biden set up Donald Trump with classified documents is false

The conservative podcaster claimed the Biden administration framed former President Donald Trump by shipping boxes of classified documents to his home

Start your day informed and inspired.

Get the Poynter newsletter that's right for you.