News Writing Basics - 2 Ways To Write Hard-Hitting Articles

News stories are articles that are time sensitive and tell readers what has happened in the world colse to them that might be of significance to them.

While there are numerous categories of news stories, the two main forms that you find in news outlets are - event-based news on something that has happened or a quote story based on something that was said and who said it.

News From Malaysia

When learning how to write like a journalist, a news writer would be trained to treat each of these categories differently while adhering to the foundations of news writing principles.

Events

These types of articles can be added divided into the "diary" articles or unexpected "flash" news. Diary stories are those that are expected. The journalist would have a program of events that could be a press conference, a initiate of a product, a sporting event or other functions that were known about beforehand.

Flash news is something that is unscheduled. This could be a traffic accident, sudden seclusion of a leading politician, tragedies and other events that a news desk would not have accounted for.

While it is fair say flash news is unscheduled, it is not exactly unexpected. Any newspaper, television hub or online news portal would all the time have their staff on standby to deal with sudden events. If the flash news is a in effect big story, it could throw scheduled events off the front page.

Quotes

Quote stories are based solely on what a newsmaker says. The more leading the person, the greater the impact of the story and the more play it would get. The articles would dwell less on what has happened than on what the person says.

It is an opening to get human emotion into the story by bringing out feelings and opinions rather than descriptions of what happened.

Quite often, a quote story is intimately linked to an event. If a reporter is assigned to cover a fire that has broken out downtown, the editor might tell him to find a quote story.

In this case, the writer would yield two articles. One would be a uncomplicated news article on the fire; how it happened, the casualty count, how long it took to put it out, a handful of quotes from fire officials.

The other article could perhaps be an interview with one of the survivors and would comprise mostly of quotes that evoke feelings of desperation, sadness, joy and other emotions. The writer would try to avoid too much detail about the fire in this article because it would have been adequately covered in the main news article.

The news writing theory that the journalist would employ for all kinds of articles are based on tried and test foundations that anyone can learn. It is not only journalists who can write news.

News Writing Basics - 2 Ways To Write Hard-Hitting Articles

Tags : todays world news headlines

How to Write News Articles for Your Local Newspaper - Four Things Freelancers Must Know

Knowing how to write a news narrative is one thing. How to advantage financially from that knowledge is another.

For editors, a freelance journalist can be an irritant and a savior all at once. They can be bothersome when repeatedly proposing story ideas at busy deadline times but they can also salvage a news desk that may be short of staff on any particular day.

News From Malaysia

The key to freelance journalism is to keep plugging away with quality work so that the editor will always have time for you.

To get a foot in the door of your local newspaper, a freelancer should know four things - the news, the editors, the newsmakers and the follow-ups.

Spend some time mental about these four prominent facets and how you may write your articles before you even start to submit work to any publication.

1. Know the news - it may sound obvious, but you'd be amazed at the estimate of freelancers who have no knowledge of local issues but believe the quality of their writing gives them first right to premium column space. It doesn't matter how well you write, if your narrative is irrelevant to the publication's agenda, it has small chance of getting used. Take time to read the paper. Go through the issues and gain an comprehension of its editorial stance and what it cares about, not what you think is important.

2. The editors - these habitancy are the gatekeepers of your articles and they could drop your stories at a whim. You should know them, their names, positions in the company, demeanor and how they feel about confident issues, which can give you an idea on how to slant your articles for a good chance of getting published.

3. The newsmakers - it is crucial that you know who makes the news and who doesn't. Go through newspapers in your area and recognize which habitancy are the ones who are quoted and to what issues they are often sought out for. Once you know that, go through the phone directory and get their experience numbers. Your greatest aim is to get to know these habitancy voice-to-voice, face-to-face on a professional, and even personal, level.

4. The follow-ups - this is probably the most prominent knowledge you can have because this is what will brand you as a journalist. And, significantly, this is not something you can read up on but it is what you originate from your own head. If an issue crops up, arm yourself with the knowledge required from the first three points and then work on a possible follow-up story. Remember, the in-house reporters will probably be doing the same thing, so you should try to think of a distinct angle. This will preclude you from stepping on toes and also raise your standing in the eyes of editors.

Once you have all this in your head, call or email the editor and tell him or her your story idea. If it is topical, fresh and relevant to what the paper had in its most recent issue, and it takes the story further, there is a good chance it will be used.

If so, you have your foot in the door. This does not only apply to newspapers. There are magazines and online news outlets that can also be targeted. Succeed these four rules and kick-start your freelance journalism career.

How to Write News Articles for Your Local Newspaper - Four Things Freelancers Must Know

My Links : todays world news headlines