News Writing basics
- The first paragraph of your story answers this basic question: What is the news? What is most important?
- Background, or additional information, comes next.
- A good, strong quote should come no later than the second or third paragraph.
- Perspective and significance come next. You need a paragraph that answers the question "why should anyone read this story?" In a story about recent crime rates, this can be as simple as a paragraph explaining that the new rates represent the first time in three years that crime has dropped off.
- After you’ve done that, include the range of viewpoints. Be sure to represent all sides of a story fairly. Use quotes (or a good paraphrase) that best capture each side's position.
- Wrap it up with remaining facts can be organized in descending order of importance, and a quote or a paragraph describing what comes next.
- Check it. Make sure all names, dates, addresses and other facts are checked and double-checked. Cull jargon, bloated language, bureaucratese, imprecise language, and wordiness from your article.
A controversial proposal to raise fares by as much as 150 percent for the city’s most popular bus and train routes drew a hostile crowd of commuters to the Chicago Transit Authority meeting today.
The proposal was designed as a means of encouraging riders to seek out less convenient, but also cheaper alternatives to the city’s most consistently overcrowded routes.
“This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” Lincoln Park resident Ann Wojichoski said.
The board is scheduled to take up the topic again at its next regular meeting Dec. 6.