News is information about events that have occurred or are about to occur. It is usually reported in an objective and concise manner. It is often accompanied by comments or opinions from experts in the field. News articles are geared toward a specific audience, whether it be a mass-appeal newspaper or a local website.
The first step in writing a news article is to decide on the topic of the story. A good news story will be interesting, significant and relevant to current events. The next step is to gather the facts and determine the underlying issues that are involved. The writer should then organize these into a pyramid-like structure, with the most important points at the top. This is known as the “nut graph.”
Once the nut graph has been established, the writer should then begin to add details and clarify the information. The writer should try to include the answers to the questions “who, what, when, where and why.”
Finally, the writer should begin writing the news story itself. In some instances, he or she may be able to interview people who are directly involved in the story. These are referred to as primary sources. For example, a reporter might interview a firefighter who saved a cat from a burning building. In other cases, the writer might use secondary sources, which are pieces of information collected from other sources. For example, the writer might quote a person who was quoted in an earlier news article on the same subject.
In order to make an article interesting, the writer should also focus on his or her audience. A good way to do this is to consider what kind of audience will read the article and then tailor it accordingly. For instance, a story about a fire in a neighborhood might be more interested to people living within that neighborhood than it would be to residents of the city as a whole.
Another factor to take into account is the level of interest in the event by different societies. For example, while a farm wall collapsing and killing a cow and a pig will be of interest to most people, it will likely not be as exciting to readers in a country where the cow is more of an economic asset than it is in the United States.
It is also important for the writer to remember that although his or her opinion is valuable, it should be kept out of the news story unless it is directly related to one of the above elements. In general, it is better to let the people who are affected by a story talk for themselves. This will give the article a more personal feel. In addition, it is generally preferable to use a person’s full first name rather than just their initials. This avoids jarring readers. In some cases, it is also helpful to keep the article written in the third person, unless there is an obvious reason to write otherwise.