Write a Newspaper Article

News articles are fresh, clear, accurate and objective. Since they are often read quickly or skimmed, the most important information must be presented first, followed by descriptive content that rounds out the story. Read on to learn the basics of news article writing.

Steps

Sample Articles

Doc:Newspaper Feature Article,Newspaper Article About Event,Article on High School Sports

Researching the Story

  1. Collect information. Once you've decided what you're going to write about, gather the information you'll need to write the article. Presenting a story to readers who may otherwise have no knowledge of the subject is a big responsibility, and you will want to collect as much well-researched and firsthand information as possible.
    • Read up on the story's background so that you're able to present it in the right context. For example, if you're writing a story about the passage of a new law protecting a forest from getting cut down, find out what the law stated before, why it was passed, who led the movement to get it passed, who opposed it, and so on.
    • If you're writing about an event, attend it, whether it's a senate hearing, a baseball game or a presidential campaign stop. Take thorough notes while you're there so that you remember what happened later.
  2. Conduct interviews. News stories are enhanced by accounts from firsthand witnesses and people with expert opinions. Identify the main players in the story and ask them short, specific questions so that their answers supplement the information you present in your news article.
    • Make an appointment with the person or people you want to interview. You can interview them in person or over the phone.
    • Use the interview as a way to verify facts you have collected. For example, if you're covering a tornado that caused damage in a small town and you want to know how many homes were damaged, interview the sheriff. If you want an account from someone who saw the tornado, interview a witness from the town.
    • Don't use the interviewee's words out of context. The people you interview for news articles are doing you a favor. If you're going to publish someone's words, make sure you stay true to their original meaning.
  3. Perform a fact check. When you write a news article, you have a responsibility to your readers to present completely accurate information. Getting a fact wrong may seem insignificant, but it has consequences; aside from trouble that could be caused by misinforming the public, your reliability as a journalist could come into question.
    • Check numbers and other hard data with an expert source. If you're writing a story about a heat wave, call the National Weather Service to verify the temperatures.
    • Verify information based on hearsay with more than one source.
    • Check the spellings of names and other proper nouns. Make especially certain that you have the correct spellings of the names of people you interview.

Structuring the Article

  1. Write a headline. The headline of your story should be a sentence fragment that succinctly sums up its main point. Use catchy wording to attract attention, but make sure the headline is representative of the actual content of the story. For example:
    • "Community Mourns Loss of Popular Football Coach"
    • "Powerful Earthquake Strikes Bay Area"
    • "President to Appear in Town this Weekend"
  2. Create a lead. The first sentence of a news article is called the lead (also spelled "lead") and contains the story's most essential details. Even if people don't read past the lead, they should come away from the story knowing the main gist. The lead is written in third person and answers the classic news story questions: who, what, when, where, why and how? Take these examples:
    • "An outbreak of flu in San Francisco has led to 3 elementary school closings this week, according to school officials."
    • "A missing Jefferson County girl was found Monday taking shelter in an abandoned cabin, the National Park Service said."
  3. Follow up with details. Fill out the story with details that provide context, the opinions of people you interviewed, and any other necessary facts that readers should know to completely understand what happened. Each follow-up paragraph has its own main point, and no paragraph is longer than about 50 words.
    • Write follow-up paragraphs in order of importance, rather than in chronological order. Readers should be able to skim through the first part of the article and get the necessary information first. If they're interested, they may read to the end for in-depth coverage of the subject.
    • Weave in statements you collected from your interviews, relevant statistics, and historical information to back up each point you make.
  4. End with a summary. The last paragraph brings the article full circle, summarizing the main points and concluding with information readers might need to continue following the story.

Perfecting the Language and Tone

  1. Stay objective. Objectivity has long been a fundamental requirement for newspaper journalism. While it's impossible to be completely objective - after all, everything about the story, from its topic to your vocabulary choices, is coming from you - you should try your best to present a complete picture so readers have the chance to form their own opinions.
    • Don't let your personal biases show in your story. If you're writing about two political candidates running against each other in an election, for example, present both candidates in an equal light, rather than making your preferences clear.
    • Don't use loaded words that may influence readers' opinions of your subject. Avoid stereotypes and politically incorrect terms.
    • Don't hyperbolize events, actions or other aspects of a story. Your job is to tell what actually happened, not an exaggerated version of reality.
  2. Make it readable. Write with a sentence structure and word choices that communicate information clearly, rather than causing confusion. The point of a news article is to quickly convey information, not to impress or entertain people (although you certainly don't want the article to be boring). Newspapers are read by people from all walks of life, so your writing has to appeal to a diverse readership.
    • Use active, rather than passive, language. It's easier to read, and it gets directly to the point. For example, write "Senator Thompson held a press conference Tuesday," not "A press conference will be held by Senator Thompson on Tuesday."
    • Identify your interviewees clearly. Is he or she a doctor who has done research on a scientific breakthrough? A government official? The mother of a man on trial for murder? The person's role should be clear to your readers.
    • Don't muddle your writing with unnecessary words. Using uncommon vocabulary serves only to distract and confuse your readers. Choose words that enhance your article's accuracy, rather than the biggest and most impressive words you can find.



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