Elements that make

NEWS
UNIT IV
WHAT IS NEWS?
current events/recent events
material reported in a news paper or news periodical or
on a news cast.

News is an oral or written report of a past

,present ,future event. It should be factual
,truthful ,accurate ,unbiased, and
interesting.
 Elements of News
1. Conflict This may involve physical or mental conflict
man versus man, man vs. nature or man vs. himself.
2. Immediacy or timeliness This element emphasizes
the newest angle of the story. The more recent the
event, the more interesting it is to the reader.
3. Proximity or nearness This may refer to
geographical nearness as well as to nearness of
kinship or interest.
4. Prominence Some people are more prominent than
others by reasons of wealth, social position or
achievements.
5. Significance whatever is significant to the life of an
individual is interesting to him.
6. Names Important names make important news.
Also, the more names there are in the story, the
better.
7. Drama This adds color to the story. The more
picturesque the background and the more dramatic
the actions are , the more the story appealing.
8. Oddity or unusualness This refers to the strange
or unnatural events, objects, persons, and places.
9. Romance and adventure The romance may be
experience with other things.
10.Sex Since the dawn of history, sex has always
interested man. Stories of sex are usually related to
stories of romance, marriage, divorce.
11. Progress The onward and forward march of
civilization or the progress of a country is chronicled
step by step in the newspaper.

12. Animals Stories of animals, especially those which

talents are good reading matter because of their
human interest value.

13.Number Sweeptakes numbers, vital statistics,

election results, scores in games, casualties, fatalities,
price of goods,, and ages of women make good news.

14.Emotion All the other elements of news mentioned

above appeal to the emotion. But the term emotion
here includes the various human responses.
 TYPES OF NEWS STORIES
1. Scope or Origin

a. Local news Report of events that takes

place within the immediate locality.
b. National news News that takes place within
the country.
c. Foreign news News that takes place outside
the country.
d. Dateline news News preceded by the date
and place of origin or place where it was written or
filed : Tokyo, Jan 20 (AP)
2. Chronology or sequence

a. Advance or anticipated News published before

its occurrence, sometimes called dope or
prognostication. The reporter foretells events expected to
occur at a definite time in the future.

b. Spot news News that gathered and reported on

the spot.

c. Coverage news News written from a given beat.

d. Follow-up news It is a sequel to a previous

story. Having a new lead of its own.
3. Structure
a. Straight news News that consists of facts
given straight without embellishment. Its main aim
is to inform.
b. News feature It is also based on facts,
but it entertains more thanit informs.

* Single feature or one - incident story The

story deals with isolated events. A single fact is
featured in the lead and is explained further in the
succeeding paragraphs.
* Several feature, multiple angled, or
composite story Several facts are included in the
lead in their order of importance.
4. TREATMENT
a. Fact story this is a plain exposition setting forth
a single situation or a series of closely related facts that
inform.
b. Action story A narrative of actions involving not
mere simple facts but also of dramatic events, description
of persons and events, perhaps testimony of witnesses as
well as explanatory data.
c. Speech report a news story usually written from
a public a public address, talks, and speeches.
d. Quote story Speeches, statements, and letters,
and to some extent, interviews when reported, are
regarded as quote stories. ( its either written or spoken)
e. Interview story A news report written from an
interview.
5. Content

a. Routine story Celebrations, enorllment,

graduation, election stories reported year in and year
out.

b. Police reports accident, fire, calamity, crime

stories, kidnapping, terrorism, murder and robbery.

c. Science news (see Science writing)

d. Developmental news (see Development

communication)

e. Sports stories - (see Sportswriting)

6. Minor Forms

a. News brief a short item of news interest,

written like a brief telegraphic message, giving mainly
the result with details.

b. News bulletin It is similar to the lead of a

straight news story. Its aim is just to give the gist of the
news.

c. News featurette This is a short news

feature usually used as fillers, e.g., Quirks in the news.

d. Flash A bulletin that conveys the first word of

an event.
 UNIT V WRITING THE
LEAD
Lead this may be a single word, a phrase, a
clause, a brief sentence, an entire paragraph, or
a series of paragraphs.
KINDS OF LEAD
1. Conventional or Summary Lead
This kind of lead used in
straight news answers right away all or any of the 5
Ws and/or the H. It may be one of the following:

a.WHO lead Used when the person involved is more

prominent than what he does or what happens to him.
b. WHAT lead used when the event or what took
place is more important than the person involved in
the story.
c. WHERE lead Used when the place is unique and
no prominent erson is involved.
d. WHEN lead Rarely used as the reader presumes
the story to be timely. However, this lead is useful
when speaking of deadlines, holidays and important
dates.
e. WHY lead Used when the reason is more
prominent or unique than what happens.
f. HOW lead Used when the manner,mode,means,
or method of achieving the story is the unnatural
way.
2. Grammatical Beginning Lead
There are times when the lead is
introduced by a kind of grammatical form
which is usually a phrase or a clause used
to emphasize a feature.
Examples of grammatical beginning leads are :

a. Prepositional phrase lead the phrase is introduced

by a preposition.

b. Infinitive phrase lead It begins with the sign of the

infinitive to plus the main verb.

c. Participial phrase lead It is introduced by the

present or past participle form of the verb.
d. Gerundial phrase lead It is introduced by a
gerund (a verbal noun ending in ing).

e. Clause lead The lead begins with a clause

which may either be independent or
subordinate, or may either be a noun or an
adjectival or adverbial clause.
3. Novelty lead
They are written in such a way that
they attract attention or carry out a definite
purpose
 KINDS OF NOVELTY LEADS
a. Astonisher lead Uses an interjection or an
exclamatory sentence.
b. Contrast lead Describes two extremes or
opposites for emphasis. The sharper the contrast,
the more effective the lead will be.
c. Epigram lead Opens by quoting a common
expression, verse, or epigram, at least familiar in the
locality.
d. Picture lead Describes a person, place or an event,
at the same time, creating a mental picture of the
subject matter in the mind of the reader.
e. Background lead Similar to the picture lead,
except that it describes the setting which may be
more prominent than the characters and the events.
f. Descriptive lead used when comparatively few
descriptive words can vividly formulate an imagery.

g. Parody lead Consists of a parody of a well-known

song,poem, or lines.

h. Punch lead A short, forceful word or expression. It is

rarely used.

i. One word lead (Self explanatory)

j. Quotation lead Consists of the speakers direct words

which are very striking and which are usually quoted from
a speech, a public address, or an interview.

k. Question lead An answer to a question which is the

basis of the news story.
NEWS STRUCTURE

FICTION AND
DRAMA NEWS STORY