Chapter 2 Basic Newswriting

CHAPTER 2 BASIC NEWSWRITING What elements make a news story and how are they used to construct a story? If you were to pose these questions to a group of reporters, it is probable that no two of them would give the same responses. However, all would most likely include in their answers a similar list of elements they consider necessary for a story to be newsworthy. This chapter will include this “list” of sorts and other essentials that will help you be successful in writing the basic news story. BASIC ELEMENTS OF A NEWS STORY LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the basic elements of a news story. For the purposes of this TRAMAN, we will use the following 10 categories as those covering the major elements of news: Immediacy Proximity Consequence Conflict Oddity S ex E m o t i o n P r o m i n e n ce S u s p e n s e P r o g r e s s If any one of these elements is present, a story has news value, but many stories contain more than one element. Remember this latter fact as you study the material that follows because even though the 10 elements are used as the framework of this discussion, several of the examples given might just as well be discussed under different elements. Remember, too, that this is just one possible classification; another textbook might have classified these elements in slightly different categories. Rather than memorizing a set of categories, your chief concern will be to develop your understanding of what constitutes an interesting news story. IMMEDIACY A story that has just happened is news; one that happened a few days ago is history. Immediacy is timeliness. Few events of major significance can stand up as news if they fail to meet the test of timeliness. There is no point in submitting a news release on a routine change of command that occurred four days ago; the event is not big enough to overcome the time lag. A newspaper looks foolish if it publishes a news story, and after reading it, a subscriber says, “I heard about that two days ago.” However, an event that occurred sometime ago may still be timely if it has just been revealed. Examples are a newly discovered diary of John Paul Jones or the disclosure of a startling scientific accomplishment that occurred months ago, but has just been declassified. In these cases, the immediacy element revolves around the fact that the news was revealed or disclosed today. An up-to-the-minute touch is provided by words such as “newly disclosed,” “revealed,” “divulged” or “announced today.” PROXIMITY Readers are interested in what happens close to them. Proximity is the nearness of an event to the readers or listeners and how closely it touches their lives. People are interested mainly in themselves, their families, their ships or stations, their friends and their home towns. If Capt. Gunn relieves Capt. Stone as commanding officer of Naval Station Annapolis, it is news in the Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington areas and in the two officers’ home towns. It is not news in Huntsville, Ala., where no one knows either captain or cares particularly who commands a naval station in Maryland. Improvement or progress stories are important in their degree of proximity. The Navy’s home town news program is based on this element. When Thomas Katt, Seaman Apprentice, USN, reports to USS Pine, it is news for his hometown 2-1