Writing for the Media Creating Newspaper Articles

THE HEADLINE Short, snappy phrases Puns or play on words Humor An element of intrigue

Look for these in examples What technique writer uses to grab your attention What the article is about (subject)

Example #1 Tsunami Heir Lift Subject? What technique used? Subject: Prince William and Harry helping with aid to Asia after Tsunami Technique: Pun heir/air

Example #2: We Wept for Wave Orphans Subject: Technique: Subject: Royal family expresses their distress over devastation of tsunami Technique: alliteration of “w”

Example #3: Downloads Go Up Loads Subject: Technique: Subject: Music sales from internet downloads rising past CD sales Technique: Up/Down creates humor

Inverted Pyramid Style Headline: Winning Lottery Ticket Sold at Supermarket Lead: A local grocery store sold the winning $56,000 ticket for the Wisconsin Lottery’s Badger 5 game Wednesday. The Festival Foods at 2348 Lineville Road sold the ticket that matched all five winning numbers—2,13,20,23,and 27—and the ticket-holder has 180 days to claim the prize money by visiting the Lottery’s Madison or Milwaukee offices or mailing in the ticket and claim form.

Badger 5 is a $1 daily lottery game with jackpots that start at $10,000 and grow at least $1,000 per day until they are won For more information visit the Wisconsin Lottery website at

News Article Organization Lead ◦1-2 sentences ◦Opening paragraph ◦Not to exceed 35 words ◦Most important of the 5W’s and H ◦Usually NOT all ◦Begins with fact that will attract more readers in that particular circulation area

Lead Example: Straight News Story “A second-half adjustment on defense and precision shooting proved to be successful for Wausaukee Thursday. “ Beginning detail? What question does it answer? What other questions does the lead answer? Why begin with this? See second paragraph…

The Lady Rangers (11-2, 9-1 Conference) had their best shooting night of the season en route to a home thrashing over Crivitz. Now decide why they began the lead with “A second-half adjustment and a precision shooting…”

Other types of leads: Feature Impact Lead-What effect this news event will have on the reader Quote Lead-A compelling quote that sums up its main point Question Lead-Begins with a question the feature story will answer. Rare. Soft/indirect lead-more like a story article, draws reader into the story— sets the scene,

Inverted Pyramid Style Lead-most important details Less important details Least important details Purpose: ◦Hurried readers ◦Specific model for beginners ◦Helps headline writers ◦Helps Page layout editor

Activity #1 Dissecting a Straight News Story Find a straight news story of at least 6 paragraphs Separate the title and explain what techniques are used in the title. Discuss the effectiveness of the techniques. Separate the lead. Label Who?What?Where?When?Why? How? Explain why the writer chose the detail to begin the story

Separate each paragraph and label each detail with a who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Draw an inverted pyramid around every piece of the article except the title