Types of News Stories

It is important to distinguish the various types of news stories

because the term “news” is very broad. In categorizing news, we have to consider news value and

standards of conduct.

News story attempts to answer all the basic questions

about any particular event in the first two or three paragraphs Who? What? When? Where? and Why? and

occasionally How? ("5 W's"). Lead and body Ends when the writer runs out of material

Inverted Pyramid

top-loading the essential and most interesting elements of a story, with supporting information following in order of lesser importance.

Developed during the civil war to insure the main facts of the story would not be lost during communication by telegraph.

Lead and body

Inverted Pyramid cont.

Hard News

Hard News includes two concepts: Seriousness: Politics, economics, crime, war, and

disasters are considered serious topics, as are certain aspects of law, science, and technology.

Timeliness: Stories that cover current events—the progress of a war, the results of a vote, the breaking out of a fire, a significant public statement, the freeing of a prisoner, an economic report of note, etc.

Soft News

soft news is sometimes referred to in a derogatory fashion as infotainment and includes two concepts: The least serious subjects: Arts and

entertainment, sports, lifestyles, "human interest", and celebrities.

Not timely: There is no precipitating event triggering the story, other than a reporter's curiosity.

Timely events happen in less serious subjects—sporting matches, celebrity misadventures, movie releases, art exhibits, and so on.

Feature Story article in a newspaper, a magazine, or a

news website that is not meant to report breaking news, but to take an in-depth look at a subject.

Less urgent, attempts to engage reader Narrative structure (beginning, middle,

end),expands on details Longer in length, includes personal

perspective Entertaining, often include pictures Hard or Soft?

Feature story cont.

Needs a neat ending that wraps up the story (conclusion)

Editorial

Short, persuasive essay which usually contains the writer’s opinion or reaction to a timely news story or event.

Influence readers to think or act a certain way Written to either inform, promote, praise, or

entertain

Column

Personal observations by the writer about a certain subject

Includes facts and states a conclusion Written on almost anything