C h a p t e r 3 0
News Article
N
ews articles provide current information to newspaper and magazine readers.
Most follow a specific plan to ensure brevity. [Compare the news article with
Chapter 25, Feature Article. A news article reports straight news, while a feature arti-
cle focuses on human interest.] Because most news-article writing appears in daily
or weekly newspapers, either in print or online, this section focuses on newspaper,
rather than magazine, articles.
Most who have occasion to write a news article do so because of a responsibility as
a publicity person for a club or organization or perhaps because of work in a public
relations department for a business. In either case, unlike journalists who earn their
livings writing news articles full time, these writers need to-the-purpose guidelines
by which to prepare the article.
cHaracteristics
News articles follow an inverted-pyramid plan. They are written to “rest” on an open-
ing statement the way a pyramid, turned upside down, rests on its point. Sentences
coming after the first statement (or lead) expand and broaden the topic, but the
points made in them are ever less important. This structure is used because editors
often shorten articles to fit the space available. Editors can cut the end of a news
story written as an inverted pyramid without losing its shape or meaning.
In general, then, the news article should
-^ report news, not advertise,
-^ begin with the essentials: who, what, why, when, where, and how,
-^ add details in order of importance, most important first,
-^ include relevant details which may help answer anticipated questions [see
detail in the Glossary],
-^ avoid the sensational just for the sake of sensation,
-^ maintain the integrity of the writer and/or company, business, or organization
as well as that of the publication,
-^ report information objectively, free from all opinion, judgment, and
assumption,
-^ limit details to the facts, thus maintaining brevity,