The Famous 4 W's
The first sentence or paragraph of most news stories tell who,
what, where, and when.
For example:
"A fire broke out today on the top floor of a hotel forcing the
evacuation of 521 guests." Officials said, "One minor injury was
reported."
The fire broke out about 7 AM on the top floor of the twelve story
Holiday Inn about a mile from Los Angeles International Airport, and was
declared controlled about a half hour later. "The fire, which issued dense black
smoke, was confined to the room where it started," Fire Department spokesman,
Steve Venture, said.
This type of writing is called the inverted pyramid style. This
means that the most important news comes first, the next most important, second;
and so on until there is nothing essential left to say. The second paragraph
should expand on the lead, and perhaps the third should expand on the second.
Vocabulary
lead--The first part of a story--the first few sentences or
paragraphs is the lead.
attribution--This tells the reader where the information came
from.
libel--Libel is a defamatory statement that is published. The
victim is identified and injury caused by the story, Basically, if in doubt
of whether something is appropriate, it is better to leave it out.
We do not want to hurt anyone's feelings or embarrass
anyone.
feature story--is an entertaining or analytical story,
generally written in a narrative style.
byline--the name above a story identifying its writer or
writers
deadline--time when your articles are due
editorial--an essay of comment or opinion
For a hotlist on information about school newspapers, go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Innovative-Teaching/message/360
