News Writing

Elements, Lead and Structure

What is News?
an oral or written report of a past, present
or future event.
factual, truthful, accurate, unbiased and
interesting

Elements of News
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Conflict
Timeliness
Proximity
Prominence
Significance
Names
Unusualness

Questions?

Lead
an introduction
function: to tell the story in capsule form
and to answer right away the questions
the reader would naturally ask.
answers all the important questions,
arouses the readers interest

Kinds of Lead
1. WHO Lead when the person involved
is more prominent than what he does or
what happens to him.
e.g. Dr. Orfelina Tuy addressed 2014
graduates of Ponong Integrated School last
March 30, 2014.

Kinds of Lead
2. WHAT Lead when the event or what
took place is more important than the
person involved.
e.g. Ignatiana opened the celebration of the
Ateneans of the feast day of St. Ignatius of
Loyola.

Kinds of Lead
3. WHERE Lead when the place is unique
and no prominent person is involved.
e.g. Ponong Integrated School is one of the
beneficiaries of the Ateneo College of
Education for its outreach activities.

Kinds of Lead
4. WHEN Lead rarely used but useful in
terms of deadlines, holidays and important
dates
e.g. October 2015 is the last month of
voters registration for 2016 elections says
COMELEC.

Kinds of Lead
5. WHY Lead when reason is more
prominent or unique than what happens
e.g. Because of poverty, around a hundred
students dropped out from Ponong
Integrated School says the principal.

Kinds of Lead
6. HOW Lead when the manner or
method of achieving the story is the
unnatural way.
e.g. By having a wide-ranged strike, the
teachers were able to get their request of
increase in compensation.

Questions?

News Structure
Summary Lead

Elaboration of a W
Elaboration of a W
Elaboration of a W
Further
Elaboration

Example
The Torres Goldies ripped Laurel
Greenies last week at the Torres High
School oval because of teamwork. (Lead)
The Torres team was composed of
Antonio Oropeza, captain; Rogelio Romero,
forward; Seki Santos, and Dioscoro Reyes,
guards. (Elaboration of WHO)

Example
The game was held in the evening of
September 10 in connection with the
celebration of Barangay Day. The Greenies
defeat was the first they suffered in the
current invitational games. (Elaboration of
WHEN and WHO)

Example
The Goldies played smoothly. The
cheering squads kept the players morale
high. (Elaboration of HOW)
Although the final score was 65-60, there
were times when the lead of the Goldies
was as much as 10 points. (Further
Elaboration)

Questions?

Exercise
Write a lead:
Your school paper
The champion in this years Regional
Secondary Schools Press Conference
Held in your region
October 5 - 6