Report Release

Important Steps to Writing a News Report

Collecting information

Remember, the purpose of a news report is to help readers get a true information about the event.

Before you write your report, you should have as many facts as you can gather.

Starting the report

For a news report, the most important information comes first and each paragraph gives less and

less details. This style of writing is called ‘The Inverted Pyramid’. It refers to ‘front loading’ of a

news report article so that a reader receives the most important information first, or on top. The

report then proceeds with explanatory and supporting details in the order of most to least

important.

Lede

The lede (or lead) of a news article is the first sentence, usually written as one paragraph, that

tells the most important information of the story. When writing a lede, it is helpful to use the “tell

a friend” strategy. Imagine you had to sum up to a friend, in one sentence, what your story is

about. How would you sum up quickly what happened? A story’s lede answers the “Five W’s” in

a specific order: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

For example:

The Atlanta Police Department will hold a memorial service Wednesday at Holy Christ Church

in Buckhead for fallen officer Lt. James Montgomery.

WHO: The Atlanta Police Department

WHAT: will hold a memorial service

WHEN: Wednesday

WHERE: Holy Christ Church in Buckhead

WHY: for fallen officer Lt. James Montgomery

Other Examples:

Gwinnett County Public Schools was awarded $250,000 early Wednesday as a finalist for what’s

considered the Nobel Prize of public education.

A man beat an Army reservist in front of a Morrow Cracker Barrel, yelling racial slurs at her as

he kicked her in the head, Morrow police said.

Examples courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

From there you fill in the most important to supporting facts in the inverted pyramid style.

Make sure report answers 5Ws, 1H

You will also need to find out:

What? The specific event that took place.

Who? The people involved.

Where? Places.

When? Date and time.

Why? Reasons for the event taking place.

How? Connecting the facts.

Once you have all your facts, you can begin to write your report.

Don’t make it too long

Sentences should be short and punchy. This is a good opportunity for you to practice changing

vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning.

Check facts

A news report is characterized by its use of facts, this is what differentiates it from an opinion

piece. It is essential to use reliable sources of information and double-check your facts.

Attributing information

ALL information in a news article MUST be attributed to the source where the reporter got

his/her information. The reporter must indicate in his/her article where material was obtained

from – from an interview, court documents, the Census, a Web site, etc. Direct quotes and

paraphrasing can be used to attribute information obtained in an interview with a source.

For example:

According to a police report, the suspect threatened the cashier with a gun before running away

with the money.

In a 500-page government report, investigators reported evidence that the army had committed

crimes against humanity.

Integrating quotes

The first time a source is introduced in an article, you should use that source’s full name and

title. After this initial reference, use the last name only.

For example:

“The swine flu vaccine is an incredible advance in modern medicine,” said Health and Human

Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

When attributing a direct quote, always use the verb “said” and never any other verbs such as

“explained,” “whispered,” etc. It is also more common to use the format “XXX said” instead of

“said XXX.”

For example:

“The housing crisis is growing out of control,” Bernanke said.

Even when information from a source is not used in a direct quote and is paraphrased instead, it

still must be attributed to that source.

For example:

Bernanke said the recession is probably over.

The recession will most likely begin to recede in six to eight months, Bernanke said.

Portions of this handout were taken from https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/schools/how-to-

write-a-news-report-108029 and https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/news-writing-

fundamentals