News articles follow their own style. This style is not the same as the style used in essays, feature articles, how-to articles, memoirs, or in fiction. When writing news articles, consider this guide to news article writing.
Style of a News Article: 1. Inverted Pyramid Style
Inverted pyramid style is the basis for all news stories. Picture a pyramid, and turn it upside down. What is now the top of the news story is where all of the meat is in the story.
The practical and historical reason for this stems from print news. Articles were written in column inches. Sometimes, due to space constrictions, editors had to cut parts of news stories. Literally, they had to parts of the article out to make room for other articles, advertising, or because the copy ran too long due to spacing in the column.
Because the bottom couple of paragraphs could be cut at any time, it was essential to include the most important facts right up front.
With the Internet, news articles getting cut from the bottom up is not an issue anymore. But readers still expect to get the news up front. They don’t want a big build up have to read three pages before getting to the facts.
News writing is not like fiction. Forget the suspense building techniques and foreshadowing of fiction. Give the readers the facts right up front. Don’t save the good stuff for the middle or the end of the story. Approach the news story as if the average reader will only be reading the first three or four paragraphs of any news story.
On the other hand, one literary technique is applied to news writing. Similar to well-written, fiction, a news article may start “in medias res,” or “in the middle of things.” News stories are not always expressed in a linear fashion. News articles do not begin with “President Smith was born in 1945.”
Style of a News Article: 3. Keep Your Opinion to Yourself
When writing a news article, be as objective as possible. If you find yourself including your opinion,consider if you should instead write an Op/Ed piece about the event.
Sometimes writing an Op/Ed piece is the only way you will write about an event. After the Op/Ed piece is finished, the writer may be done with the news event. Or, once the op/ed is out of your system, you may be ready to sit down and right the facts.
Beginning news writers who have their choice of stories, may want to practice writing news stories by starting with events that interest them but have not emotional impact on them. By removing the emotional aspect up front, the writer will be less likely to include opinions in their articles.
As the beginning writer gains skill with news writing, approaching more emotional and visceral subjects will be easier to cover while still maintaining objectivity.
