STEPSTOWRITINGLIKEAJOURNALIST
BLAKEMCCOY.CO
B L A K E M C C O Y
WRITINGFORTHE NEWS
Newsorganizationsuseajournalisticstyleofwritingto structureastory.Ittypicallystartswithahierarchyof informationandfollowsasetofprinciplescommonlyused innewsarticles. Journalistsfollowaformulawhencreatingastory,which canbeappliedtodifferentwritingstyles,suchasnovels andschoolassignments.Ithelpsreadersmakesenseof theinformationthey’rereceiving.Inthisarticlearestepsto writelikeajournalist.
BLAKEMCCOY.CO
STEPONE: RESEARCHAND INFORMATION
Beforeyoustartworkingonastory,youmust gatherthenecessaryinformation.Thiscanbe donebygoingtothelocationwherethe incidentoccurred,interviewingthepeople involved,andusingonlineresearchtools.
BLAKEMCCOY.CO
STEPTWO: FINDYOURFOCUS
Anewsstoryhasavarietyofangles,whicharethemain elementsthatmakeitnewsworthy.Astoryabouthuman interestcanhaveadifferentfocusthanapoliticalone.
Usually,thefirstparagraphofanewsstoryrevealsthestory’s angle.
STEPTHREE: STRONGOPENING
Agoodopeningisthebuildingblockofanygoodstoryand shouldbestrongenoughtocatchthereader’sattention.It shouldprovidethereaderwiththenecessaryinformationto makesenseofthestory.ThefiveW’sofagoodopeningare: who,what,when,why,andwhere.Thisisthebuildingblockof anytechnicalwriting,fiction,orcontentmarketingarticle.
BLAKEMCCOY.COTEPFOUR: TRUCTURE
tructureofagoodnewsstoryisaninvertedpyramid posedoftheprimaryinformationinthetopportionof ory,followedbythenextsectioncontainingsupporting s.Thestory’sbottomsectionletsthereaderfind ionalexcitingfacts.Thisisthemainreasonwhy ivewritingrequireswriterstostartwiththeWho,What, n,Where,andWhyoftheirstories.
BLAKEMCCOY.CO
STEPFIVE: WRITECONCISELY
Journalistscommonlyuseshortsentencestodeliverastory. Comparedtothepassivevoice,thetypeofsentenceusedin headlines,theactiveagentismoredirectandhasaquickertempo. Thisskillcanbeimprovedbyworkingwithacopywritingcoach.The mainobjectiveofthisdisciplineistocreateaclearandconcise message.
STEPSIX: EDITBEFOREPUBLISHING
Thefastpaceofanewofficeisverydemandingonwriters,andtheyshould regularlychecktheirworkforclarity.Aprofessionaleditorcanhelpthem improvetheirwritingandensureeverythinglooksgoodbeforesendingitout.
BLAKEMCCOYCO