Transcript Writing News Stories and Headlines

Writing News Stories and
Headlines
Chapter 7
Most Important Skill: Writing
 Be a reader
 Understand the fundamentals: spelling,
grammar, and punctuation
 Be comfortable with words
 Know the difference between good and bad
sentences
Building on the Lead
1. Grab interest
2. Keep interest
-
3.
Use Quotes
Use Transitions p. 154 in text
The Body of the Story
-Retell Story in next few paragraphs
-Most important to least important information
Other Organizational Patters
 Inverted pyramid

Most important to least important
 Storytelling Style


Narrative (setting, characters, etc.)
Use anecdotes
 Combination Style

Summarize 1st paragraph and the remainingtell a story
Appropriate Newspaper Style:
Do’s and Don’ts
Avoid Offensive Language p. 163
1.
-
2.
Be politically correct
Words worth considering p. 164
Choose words carefully to avoid confusion
- Edit sentences
Cont.
Use clear, simple words
3.
Write to communicate
P. 165 list
Jargon- inside language of groups
-
4.
“spike that story” = “don’t publish that story”
Write straightforward sentences
- Make easier to read
Cont.
Avoid Other Common Hazards
5.
Redundancy “2 A.M. in the morning”
Clichés- overworked, overused, trite
expressions
-
-
-
“free as a bird”
P. 168- common clichés
Fear of repetition
Passive voice (weak)
Headlines
 Job is to lure reader into the story
 Must be honest
 Lively, interesting, sparkling verbs
Headlines Cont.
Headline Styles
1.
-
2.
Centered
Flush-left/ Ragged-right
Hammerhead (big on top, small on bottom)
Other p. 171
Making Headlines
- More important the story, the larger the
headline (and often longer)
Cont.
Headline Writing Do’s and Dont’s
3.
Telegraphic Style (extra words and trimmed)
Verb Tense- usually present
Punctuation- comma, quotation marks, and
semicolon
Stylistic Consideration p. 173-74
-
-
Pun use
Little use of alliteration
Copyediting
 Prepare for publication
 Last chance to catch mistakes
The word of the copy editor
 Master of stylebook
 Rules of English
 Good memory
 Good organization
 P. 177 Spelling demons
 P. 180-81 Symbols
 Accuracy
 Watch for mistakes
 Spell check
 Editing
 Logical read
 Flow well
 Attribution
 Providing the source of
facts in a story