STEPSTOWRITINGLIKEAJOURNALIST


Newsorganizationsuseajournalisticstyleofwritingto structureastory.Ittypicallystartswithahierarchyof informationandfollowsasetofprinciplescommonlyused innewsarticles. Journalistsfollowaformulawhencreatingastory,which canbeappliedtodifferentwritingstyles,suchasnovels andschoolassignments.Ithelpsreadersmakesenseof theinformationthey’rereceiving.Inthisarticlearestepsto writelikeajournalist.
Beforeyoustartworkingonastory,youmust gatherthenecessaryinformation.Thiscanbe donebygoingtothelocationwherethe incidentoccurred,interviewingthepeople involved,andusingonlineresearchtools.
Anewsstoryhasavarietyofangles,whicharethemain elementsthatmakeitnewsworthy.Astoryabouthuman interestcanhaveadifferentfocusthanapoliticalone.
Usually,thefirstparagraphofanewsstoryrevealsthestory’s angle.
Agoodopeningisthebuildingblockofanygoodstoryand shouldbestrongenoughtocatchthereader’sattention.It shouldprovidethereaderwiththenecessaryinformationto makesenseofthestory.ThefiveW’sofagoodopeningare: who,what,when,why,andwhere.Thisisthebuildingblockof anytechnicalwriting,fiction,orcontentmarketingarticle.
BLAKEMCCOY.COtructureofagoodnewsstoryisaninvertedpyramid posedoftheprimaryinformationinthetopportionof ory,followedbythenextsectioncontainingsupporting s.Thestory’sbottomsectionletsthereaderfind ionalexcitingfacts.Thisisthemainreasonwhy ivewritingrequireswriterstostartwiththeWho,What, n,Where,andWhyoftheirstories.
Journalistscommonlyuseshortsentencestodeliverastory. Comparedtothepassivevoice,thetypeofsentenceusedin headlines,theactiveagentismoredirectandhasaquickertempo. Thisskillcanbeimprovedbyworkingwithacopywritingcoach.The mainobjectiveofthisdisciplineistocreateaclearandconcise message.
Thefastpaceofanewofficeisverydemandingonwriters,andtheyshould regularlychecktheirworkforclarity.Aprofessionaleditorcanhelpthem improvetheirwritingandensureeverythinglooksgoodbeforesendingitout.