News Writing technically is one of the most common categories when it comes to Campus Journalism but did you know that it is also one of the most technical? News Writing seems common but a news article is a short but full information type of an article.
1. A news article must start where we do express the topic. In other words, we need to explain the whole topic to the first/lead paragraph. Unlike feature, editorial or column, news is a neutral type of article where you can only write the information from the given video/fact sheet.
2. The evidence of a news article comes from the direct quotes of the expert. Basically, the evidence comes from the watched video or in the fact sheets, it is where we can find the interview with a certain expert. We can also use indirect quotation but must not contradict the direct quotation.
3. Stay updated to every news around our country, also to the whole world. Just like in editorial and column writing, a news writer must always watch, listen and read news not only to political events but also to every news around us. A news writer needs to be updated, he/she cannot be outdated to the current trends.
4. Fill the body of your article with direct quotes-explanation scenario. After a direct quotation, explain it to the next paragraph, one after another but if there’s not enough direct quotes, find another paragraph that will continue your article or you can use another explanation that also comes from an expert to the given news video/sheet.
5. A coherence is a must in News Writing. In writing a news article, it is very ethical to be coherent or organized, on every paragraph there needs to be different events or happenings only throughout the whole angle of your article so you must keep your way straight towards the whole piece.
6. Avoid using information that wasn’t seen to the given video or fact sheet. A news writer must know and understand that adding other information that isn’t relevant to the topic can make his/her piece very untrustworthy. Always remember that the judge will always look through the information that you got from the given piece.
7. Always look out for the words that you are using. In writing a news article, there is no need for it to be flowery and technical unlike Feature and SciTech writing. A news article is strong enough if it does have compacted information and evidence without it being too technical.
8. A news article is a simple article. Readers prefer to read news reports that are very simple, understandable, clear but very concise and the unity between paragraphs is seen.
9. If opinion is seen, then it’s not a news article. The author/writer must not put his/her suggestions or what we call call-to-action to every part of a news article, we can only put the given solution or suggestion of an expert from the given video/fact sheet to the last paragraph or the conclusion.
10. News is simple, simple for the readers, but not for the writers. From the looks of it, news is quite simple because every paragraph was only one short sentence that explains something, but for a news writer it was like solving derivatives, you can easily determine, but cannot easily solve. Without the mastery of the writer, the news article will be complicated for him/her.
In general, news writing does not allow any opinionated information coming from the writer and every information needs to be relevant and trusted that comes from a reliable source or expert. Life is very technical, so the news article.
About the Author
Cahrl Jayson Reyes is a 7-year feature writer who has passion to inspire co-journalists. Currently a feature writer and a publisher of a school publication. [Among Charl’s accolades as of writing is him becoming a Regional Schools Press Conference (RSPC) Qualifier in ScieTech Writing, and Division Schools Press Conference (DSPC) qualifier in Feature Writing.]
