1 / 12

Writing News Stories and Headlines

Writing News Stories and Headlines. Chapter 7. Most Important Skill: Writing. Be a reader Understand the fundamentals: spelling, grammar, and punctuation Be comfortable with words Know the difference between good and bad sentences. Building on the Lead. 1. Grab interest Keep interest

Download Presentation

Writing News Stories and Headlines

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Writing News Stories and Headlines Chapter 7

  2. Most Important Skill: Writing • Be a reader • Understand the fundamentals: spelling, grammar, and punctuation • Be comfortable with words • Know the difference between good and bad sentences

  3. Building on the Lead 1. Grab interest • Keep interest • Use Quotes • Use Transitions p. 154 in text • The Body of the Story -Retell Story in next few paragraphs -Most important to least important information

  4. Other Organizational Patters • Inverted pyramid • Most important to least important • Storytelling Style • Narrative (setting, characters, etc.) • Use anecdotes • Combination Style • Summarize 1st paragraph and the remaining- tell a story

  5. Appropriate Newspaper Style: Do’s and Don’ts • Avoid Offensive Language p. 163 • Be politically correct • Words worth considering p. 164 • Choose words carefully to avoid confusion - Edit sentences

  6. Cont. • Use clear, simple words • Write to communicate • P. 165 list • Jargon- inside language of groups • “spike that story” = “don’t publish that story” • Write straightforward sentences - Make easier to read

  7. Cont. • Avoid Other Common Hazards • Redundancy “2 A.M. in the morning” • Clichés- overworked, overused, trite expressions • “free as a bird” • P. 168- common clichés • Fear of repetition • Passive voice (weak)

  8. Headlines • Job is to lure reader into the story • Must be honest • Lively, interesting, sparkling verbs

  9. Headlines Cont. • Headline Styles • Centered • Flush-left/ Ragged-right • Hammerhead (big on top, small on bottom) • Other p. 171 • Making Headlines - More important the story, the larger the headline (and often longer)

  10. Cont. • Headline Writing Do’s and Dont’s • Telegraphic Style (extra words and trimmed) • Verb Tense- usually present • Punctuation- comma, quotation marks, and semicolon • Stylistic Consideration p. 173-74 • Pun use • Little use of alliteration

  11. Copyediting • Prepare for publication • Last chance to catch mistakes

  12. Master of stylebook Rules of English Good memory Good organization P. 177 Spelling demons P. 180-81 Symbols Accuracy Watch for mistakes Spell check Editing Logical read Flow well Attribution Providing the source of facts in a story The word of the copy editor

More Related