Wednesday, April 29, 2020

How to write a news story 2


How to Write a Basic News Article
By Teronica Gaiter, eHow Contributor 

Telling someone the news is one thing, but actually writing it and accurately reporting is is the key to success in journalistic writing. By learning the basics of writing a simple news article, you will be on a great pathway to a promising journalism career.

    • 1
Interview at least three key, trustworthy sources of information.
    • 2
Determine the five W's that are important in any news story: who, what, when, where and why.
    • 3
Write the lead. The lead is the first one or two sentences that tell the reader what the news article is about. It is used to grab the reader's attention and keep him reading. In any news article, the most important parts of the story, such as a death, gain or loss of money or community prominence should be written or made known to the reader in the first sentence.
    • 4
Write the nut graf. A nut graf is paragraph that explains the newsworthiness of the story; it tells why the story is important. The nut graf is usually in the fourth or fifth paragraph of a news article. Remember, in news writing, paragraphs are usually short (about one to four sentences long).
    • 5
Use the inverted pyramid to write the news article. An inverted pyramid is a method used in journalistic writing where the broad and important information comes first in the story, and the more narrow facts follow. For example: If you are writing a story about a house fire where someone died in and their pet was injured, you would mention the death first, and then mention the injured pet later in the story.
    • 6
Include direct quotes from your sources. Always attribute the quote as well. Other techniques are to use paraphrasing and attribute the thoughts to your source.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2062284_write-news-report.html

How to write a news story 1


How to Write a News Report
By Paul M. J. Suchecki

By its definition news is immediate. Facts unfold as you gather them. You want to be accurate rather than sensational, telling the truth not opinion, no matter how strong your beliefs are. I've written for newspapers and television, both very different animals. Here are some pointers:


    • 1
First collect your facts. Ask the classic questions: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How. As a story progresses you might have to run with information before every scrap of news is in, but your audience or readers have come to expect that you acknowledge these points even if what you know now is deficient. If after a bad accident you don't know the cause include that information.
    • 2
Start with a strong lead. Hook your viewers or readers with the most intriguing aspect of a story up front, otherwise they won't bother reading the rest of it. I recently wrote and produced an Earth Day television package on solar power. Since sun power itself, is no longer news, I reminded viewers that it was Earth Day, then asked if they would be interested in free electricity. It was a good hook in days of rising energy costs.
Newspaper articles usually employ the classic inverted pyramid style where all of the five W's and H that I mentioned earlier are handled in a single paragraph long sentence. In contrast, television news is more conversational. There the lead is usually delivered on camera prior to going to video, which is a major part of the story.

    • 3
Shun the passive voice. Use simple declarative sentences with a lot of vivid action verbs. Eschew words like "eschew." Don't try to impress people with how intelligent you are. Write simply and actively as if you're trying to reach a best friend and tell her the latest that happened today. Don't write, "Paris Hilton was taken into custody." Write "Sheriff deputies took a sobbing Paris Hilton back to jail." Remember to eliminate needless words.
    • 4
Find the telling detail. In the example above, it was the word "sobbing."
    • 5
Be conversational without being ungrammatical. Makes sure that you write in sentences and not in phrases with gerunds that go nowhere. Don't get lazy. Use adverbs when appropriate. "Whom" is a perfectly good word. It's the objective, not the pretentious form of the pronoun "who." Know what the subjunctive is and use it. It's right to write "If I were a rich man..." not "If I was homeward bound." Please check to make sure that your subjects and verbs agree. Dependent clauses can easily throw this match off. It's "A group of people protests for better wages," because "group" not "people" is the subject. If we in the media don't use good grammar, who will?
    • 6
Study good examples. Here are a few of my own favorite leads:
"A horrific bombing in Baghdad has renewed fears of a civil war in Iraq."
"Hurricane Katrina has strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico and is now packing winds of 160 miles per hour."
"Our eye on the universe has gone blind," is how I opened a story on the Hubble Space Telescope.
When you watch news or read it in the newspaper, note which stories grab you and emulate their style.
Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2062284_write-news-report.html

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Writing for Mass Media (MAC 103)


NEWS WRITING
The first thing to understand as you approach news writing is that news stories do not exist as such, therefore writing a news story depends on stories as they happen in time. It is good to know that a story is an event or an idea and as such it must happen in reality and not at your keyboard or your mind. Do not ever forget this, stories happen live! While your imagination and creativity are important in writing news stories, the staple of news is events, ideas and people as we encounter them in real life.
Stories are often based on the events, ideas or emotions of people or the aftermaths of real experiences in the hearts and minds of people telling you their stories. As a writer you are merely a composer of realities in written words or in visuals. You are a reporter. You are a story teller.
Roy Peter Clark (as cited by Itule and Anderson, 2008), arguably one of the best known writing coaches in the USA, had identified fourteen qualities often shared by good news writers:
1.      Good news writers see the world as a storehouse of stories. They search for and find stories more or less everywhere even in places many do not bother to search.
2.      Good news writers prefer to discover and develop their own stories live. They search and discover offbeat stories rather beyond the conventional.
3.      Good news writers are voracious collectors of information. They are reporters first, then writers. They look for quality information, record accurately and comprehensively rather than just write with style.
4.      Good news writers spend time in crafting their leads until they sound and read interesting and luring.
5.      Good news writers immerse themselves in their stories. They live, breathe, and dream their stories, always looking for new directions and fresh information.
6.      Good news writers aspire to write well every time even when they are under the pressure of deadlines. They tend to think and write most effectively due to high standards that often requires doing several drafts until they achieve clear, concise and forceful stories.
7.      Good news writers understand the drudgery involved in writing well and they discipline themselves accordingly. They often develop idiosyncrasies that help them build momentum during the writing process.
8.      Good news writers rewrite as often as possible and are rarely satisfied with their final stories, often burdened with a sense of imperfection, they will not hesitate to get someone to read and edit their stories.
9.      Good news writers tend to trust their ears and their feelings more than their eyes. They often write as if they are under some spell or inner promptings.
10.  Good news writers love reporting stories, well. They are constantly searching for the human angle and for stories they believe will resonate with their readers. They use a lot of anecdotes, sceneries, and narratives as long as these enliven their writings.
11.  Good news writers understand that their write-ups are a transaction between writers and readers, as they aspire to reach exacting standards for themselves and at the same time want to treasure the reader, taking responsibility for what the reader learns from their stories.
12.  Good news writers love the unconventional approach to a story and aspire to produce unique, original and creative news stories.
13.  Good news writers are lifelong readers; they love movies; they love life and tend to collect stories in various forms and genres. They love words and clear thinking that goes along with forceful, creative news stories.
14.  Good news writers do not hesitate to write and write, using transitions and endings to keep their readers going. They aspire to write seamless stories up till the endings such that readers are lured to read on and read every word. 
It is good for news reporters to imbibe these traits over a period of their journalistic careers. Every journalist wants to report and write effective news stories; breaking news, offbeat stories, fair and accurate tidbits, someday an award-winning story.
Sissons (2006) explains that good journalism requires good writing and where stories are badly written the journalist may fail to inform the reader adequately. Good writing makes the reader understand clearly what has been written by using the right words or phrases to accurately describe events, people or ideas. Good writing uses short and simple sentences in short paragraphs so as not to overwhelm the reader and to encourage the reader to stay with the story. In order to write clearly the reporter has to think clearly to know what the story is and in what succinct way to put the story across and in an appropriate language that will be understandable to the reader. The writing of a news story begins when the reporter collects information from sources – people, documents, databases, or participant or non-participant observations. 

Subsequently, the reporter identifies the central point of the story and then rehearses more or less what to write and how to write it. Most stories are written in the reporter’s mind long before any word is put on paper or typed on the screen. Such rehearsal helps to stimulate creativity that would be needed in developing the story idea further until actual writing begins. Instead of writing out an outline for the news story, most reporters rehearse in their minds what the story would look like and how it would be organized and then they begin writing and let what they have started writing down suggest what comes next to write, being guided by the notes that that have already taken at the scene of events or from interviews or from other sources. 
While some reporters are reputed to be able to write without notes, most begin their writing with notes, choosing what to use or highlight from their notes or listing the facts in the order they think would best tell the story with good flow until what they are writing begins to take shape and structure in a meaningful way. Themes and facts are connected and the story takes shape logically and is nearly complete following a structures already determined such as inverted pyramid, modified chronology, trend piece, multiple element story, the hour glass or the nut graf, etc. In addition, the intro or lead is almost always well thought out right from before any writing is done, and so is the story ending.(Harper, 1998) 
News writing requires that the reporter decides what form the story would take, what facts would be discarded and what would be included, and in which style would the story be written. Style includes decision pertaining to how the story is written such as whether it is terse, verbose, detailed or sparse.

 The lead or intro also requires deciding how to put words together to make a compelling first paragraph. Denis and Ismach (1981) surmised that news writing is controlled, purposeful communication between the writer and the audience that is shaped and molded by the writer such that each writer exemplifies a voice in writing that is peculiar to no one else.

 In spite of such individual differences in style, effective news writing ought to answer two questions as to whether the story has adequately informed the reader and whether the story has presented the subject in understandable written form. In writing a news story every reporter goes through these stages:
1.      Choosing the subject which involves getting a story idea which the reporter believes is news worthy and deciding to gather the necessary facts as thoroughly as possible using methods that would yield the most valuable information.
2.      Planning here involves taking inventory of possible sources both direct and indirect that might provide sufficient facts to make the story comprehensive and complete.
3.      News Gathering which means collecting adequate information to write a detailed and complete story. The vital step in the process is gathering. Good writing begins with good reporting. The reporter must find the details and the facts to make the story and decide whether enough information had been collected to cover a comprehensive and complete story, and when to begin writing bearing in mind the deadline for submission of a complete story. Sometimes a story might extend further and evolve into one or more follow up stories until the issue or event is exhaustively covered.
4.      Prewriting often takes place in the head of the reporter though in some cases it may involve the reviewing of notes already taken, writing out an outline for the story, deciding what the central point of the story is, and the length, form and style of the planned story. Once the facts have been gathered there would be an urge to decide on a focus or central point of the story. Every news story should have one dominant idea. That is the focus or reason for writing the story. Without a focus, facts meander or become disjointed and confuse the reader. To find the focus the reporter must find the central point.  One way to do this is to find that one sentence which tells the meaning of the story.
5.      Writing involves putting together the elements of the story starting with the lead or intro. It involves deciding which of the facts are most important and placing them in a logical order most often through the inverted pyramid news structure or through a chronological sequence as if the story is being narrated naturally. It also involves discarding all facts that do not help establish the central point. This stage is a word for word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph work that involves pace, tone, form and style. Once the main hurdle has been cleared writing the lead or intro, the reporter now makes effort to get the rest of the story written making sure that the second, third and following paragraphs live up to the promise of the intro, leading the reader through the story so that the facts are absorbed easily from the information that had been gathered. The amount of detail which to include in a news story is different for print and broadcasting. Writing for a newspaper or magazine requires as much relevant detail as possible but for radio or television much less detail might be needed.
6.      Rewriting starts once the story had been written and it requires a process of editing and revising making sure that what had been written is actually what is intended. It starts with checking the story for mistakes of typography, grammar or omissions of relevant details. The reporter works on the manner of expression, moving sentences or paragraphs around to have a logical sequence and enhance the flow of the story and clarity. Revision involves the adding, rearranging, removing, and replacing of the elements of the story.  The editing stage is distinct from revision, and needs to be done after revising. Editing involves the close-up view of individual sentences and words. When editing, the reporter goes through the write-up line by line, and make sure that each sentence, phrase and word is as strong as possible. Some things to check for are:
a.       Have you used the same word too many times in one sentence or paragraph? Use a thesaurus to find alternatives.
b.      Are any of your sentences hard to understand? Rewrite them to make your thoughts clear.
c.       Which words could you cut to make a sentence stronger? Words like “just” “quite”, “very”, “really” and “generally” can often be removed.
d.      Are your sentences grammatically correct? Keep a careful look out for problems like subject-verb agreement and staying consistent in your use of the past, present or future tense.
e.       Is everything spelt correctly? Proofread as many times as necessary.
f.       Have you used punctuation marks correctly? (www.dailywritingtips.com, www.thenewsmanual.net , www.courses.vcu.edu)
7.      Getting Feedback is a way to find out how effective the story is. Such feedback may come from the news editor to the reporter or from the readers or from the news organization the reporter is working for. The outcome of feedback may require a retraction in the case of error in the news story or it may lead to another follow up story which develops other aspects of the first story yet reported.
It is pertinent to note that news writing requires decisions from the reporter at every of the seven stages and such decisions help shape what the full story eventually looks like. Also, some decisions are made by the reporter, some by news sources, some by news editors or the news organization the reporter is working for. There are three concepts that are crucial to learning news writing: form, another term for story type or story structure, content, is what is contained in the news story in words, sentences and paragraphs, and style, the way reporters use words, organize sentences and put their writer’s voice upon the story. 
News writing story types or forms serve as one or more of informational, interpretive, opinion or editorial and entertainment functions. Broadly, these functions are under either news or feature types. News story types include spot news, straight news, and backgrounders. Spot news report breaking news stories, straight news are coverage of routine, anticipated stories and backgrounders provide historical context and backgrounds and may be chronological rather than the inverted pyramid most often used for the news story types. The feature story types include interpretive stories, news analysis, news features, profiles, interview-question and answer stories, how-to-do-it stories and the enterprise or serial stories. Feature stories are generally longer, more detailed and interpretive or narrative. 
The other types of interpretive stories are the opinion-editorial types or the columns. Editorials are the collective opinions written in one piece on behalf of the newspaper or magazine. Columns are individual opinion on a public issue, idea or event and could be written by a staff writer or a guest writer. The story type or form usually fit the content and convey diverse information for the reader. Style denotes the way the stories are written. Style is the distinctive aspects of written expression, the manner of organization of content, the actual and peculiar execution of words, sentences and paragraphs unique to the individual reporter or writer in terms of tone, voice, or literary devices used. Different reporters write differently and have individual styles within the context of the story forms of inverted pyramid, chronological or other story types.  A good style is fluent, conversational, visual and distinctive in a way that reads naturally coherently, devoid of fancy words or expressions. Good news writing involves accuracy, clarity, conciseness, coherence, conventionality and originality.
News writing is a transaction between the reporter and the reader, therefore the audience comes before the style and the reporter, having the reader in mind, should then decide in what tone of voice to address them. It is only when the reporter has arrived at a consistently identifiable writer’s voice which the reader can recognize and understand that it can be said that the reporter has a style.  Furthermore, the inverted pyramid structure is invaluable for most stories especially of the spot news or straight news types and it also enhances the pace of most news stories. (Denis and Ismach, 1981; Bagnall, 1993; Stewart, 1998;Harper, 1998)
Writing news stories require several different efforts that can be subsumed under four stages: crafting the intro or lead, developing the subsequent amplifying second, third or more paragraphs, blocking out the rest of the story and fashioning the story ending.
The first stage is writing the intro or lead. This requires finding the central or key point which summarizes the story and at the same time the most compelling or interesting fact of the story. A useful technique is to try to determine which of the seven questions – who, what, where, why, when, how, and so what, gives the most compelling point of the story and use this in one or more sentences to write the lead, making sure not to clutter unnecessarily. An effective intro or lead has two essential functions: summarize the story and highlight a central or key point or issue of fact, as well as intrigue the readers enough, luring them so that they will continue to read. There are many types of leads but the most common include:
1.      Summary Lead which makes a succinct statement that generalizes the central points that is then amplified later in the story.
2.      Narrative Lead which tells a story in some descriptive detail in a chronological but interesting manner to hook the reader.
3.      Quotation Lead uses an apt or dramatic quote that may be attributed or notbut interesting enough to intrigue the reader. Quotation leads usually require considerable amplification in subsequent paragraphs.
4.      Question Lead is sentence in the form of a compelling question that gives a glimpse of key aspects of the story in such a way as to encourage the reader to continue reading.
5.      Indirect or delayed Lead delays saying what the story is about and teases the reader with perhaps an anecdote or short interesting story.
There is no single correct way to write a lead, what is important is that it is  conveying as much interesting information as possible in as few words as possible. A good lead grabs the reader and also helps the reporter see what else needs to be written.
Though experienced reporters instinctively know what should be included in a lead, one of the real problems student journalists have when learning to write a lead is what to put in, and what to leave out. Robert Unger, cited in Christopher Harper (1998) provides some guiding thoughts that can be useful:
1.      Ask what the story is about, what does the reader need to know from the story, what surprised you most in the story and what would you tell first?
2.      Look for the drama, tension or conflict in the story?
3.      Meetings and government stories can be interesting if the lead tells how the story will affect the reader.
4.      Ask how can you summarize the story in one succinct sentence?
5.      Use action verbs in the active voice and include the key point and save the other details for subsequent paragraphs.
Developing the subsequent paragraphs involves expanding on any general points made in the lead. The second paragraph of the news story or the third is written to get nonessential details saved from the lead in a way that connects the main body of the story with the lead. Subsequent paragraphs fill out some more of the story as it gets more and more detailed. The first three paragraphs including the lead function jointly to lead-in the reader to continue reading possibly till the ending. 
The next stage is blocking out the rest of the story. As the story proceeds it gets to a point when introductory details cease and some other elements of the story are added – more details, contrasting views, historical and factual backgrounds, etc. This is where the reporter decides further which more details will go where in the story paragraphs – the blocking out of the rest of the story. Blocking out organizes the story further into a cohesive report.
Fashioning the story ending requires as much creative effort as, perhaps, the intro or lead. In the inverted pyramid story structure, the ending may be the least important fact, or a recap of the lead or a general summary of the whole story. 

Some other story types require much more creative effort such as a punch line or a revelation or an anecdote. A story is complete when the reporter has told every interesting detail the reader ought to know.Other forms of news writing apart from the spot news or the straight news story are generally referred to as feature writing. In feature writing the reporter has considerably more flexibility and creativity as in non-fiction writing. Feature writers, like reporters doing straight news stories, must present a complete report which must appeal to the reader. 

There are generally three models for writing beyond the straight news story type: descriptive, analytical and consequential story types. 
Story types
Characteristics:
Uses
Questions
Answered
Examples
Descriptive
Story
A straightforward description of the of the basicfacts  of a situation or event – terse, to-the-point,
just to cover the nature and scope of event or issue to make sense to the reader.
Who
What
Where
When
News-feature stories, events coverage e.g. natural disaster election demonstration,  Profiles, Q&A stories, How-to-do-it stories, Travelogues, etc.
Analytical
Story
A story focusing on the explanations and interpretation of events, issues and ideas; how and why the situation or event occurred.
How
Why
Backgrounders explaining behind the events or issues; News Analysis; Advocacy, Opinion/Editorials, etc.
Consequential
Story
A story of what events, issues or ideas mean now and in the long term. Speculative and interpretative stories using sources who are experts to give likely consequences for individuals or communities.
So What
Interpretive stories, trend pieces, Process stories, Enterprise stories etc.
Source: Denis and Ismach, 1981, pg.171.
When writing the news story, the reporter often have to decide on the most suitable story form by guts or in consultation with an editor. Whatever the case may be the most suitable story form is required, for example, the reporter dealing with a breaking news would most probably decide to use the straight news story format; nothing does this better than the inverted pyramid story structure. 

The reporter here has the responsibility of describing and explaining what happened, where, when and who is involved. The reader needs to know the facts told in a straight forward, and timely manner. It gets to the point immediately and gives the reader facts in the order of importance such that the reader may decide to stop somewhere in the story after the lead and still get a good grasp of what happened.
The inverted pyramid’s strength is that it lets the reader know immediately what is important. It wastes no time in catching the reader’s interest through a succinct lead that tells central or key point of the story. Once the lead has lured the reader the next one or two paragraphs gives enough facts to establish the story without lending itself to much drama in the storytelling. This just doesn’t convey any emotion of the event to the reader, just the facts, nothing but the facts.

However when the story involves a number of complex factors, when there are multiple sources or story elements and differing interpretations, or when the tone or mood of the situation must be conveyed to the reader, another story form apart from the inverted pyramid may be better. 

Similarly, when the story moves beyond an inventory of facts into the realm of analysis or consequences, another story form may be required.
 Feature forms are especially useful in the analysis-consequence stories that appear several days after the breaking news. The feature forms allow the reporter to continue to stimulate reader interest long after the breaking news. A feature is an opportunity to take more than a superficial look at a newsworthy situation after the straight news treatment has be used by the reporter. It is an opportunity to explore the background to an issue, or the character of the person behind a news event. It is an opportunity to offer the reader a better understanding of the news which has been reported already.  Feature stories are not defined so much by subject matter as they are by the style in which they are written, which is often beyond the inverted pyramid style.
Like news, features are built from facts. Nothing in them is made up or embellished. But in features, these facts are embedded in or interwoven with scenes and small stories that show rather than simply tell the information that is conveyed. Features are grounded in time, in place and in characters who inhabit both. Often features are framed by the specific experiences of those who drive the news or those who are affected by it. They are no less precise than news. But they are less formal and dispassionate in their structure and delivery. Features are structured so that readers engage in and experience a story — with a beginning, middle and ending — even as they absorb new information.

Feature define itself by the way it has been written. In many newspapers or news magazine today, the leader story is normally treated in one of the many feature forms to provide a fullness of background and depth that are beyond the structure and length of the inverted pyramid, utilizing description, explanation, analysis and interpretation to give the story drama, tension and emotion resulting in a story of human interest that resonates with the reader. These other feature forms tells a story about events, ideas, issues or people that the reader already knows about from previous straight news elsewhere in the publication or already published in a previous edition. Some news stories, even major front page stories, are written in the form of a feature. 

Features can be news backgrounders, fulfilling the explanatory role when there is not room for that in the main news story. Increasingly, newspapers run packages, where news and background features - explanation, implications, and case studies - are placed together in the newspaper.  Features can also be written about subjects away from the news: talking points, social trends, fads, fashions, arts and entertainment. They can explain issues and add the human dimension to stories about statistics, opinion polls, focus group discussion and medical conditions.
They cover all the specialist areas, such as fashion, health and medicine, lifestyle, sport, education, environment, music, technology and travel. They deal with what is simply interesting, remarkable or amusing in all of human life.Feature stories are journalistic, researched, descriptive, colorful, thoughtful, reflective, thorough writing about original ideas. Feature stories cover topics in depth, going further than mere hard news coverage by amplifying and explaining the most interesting and important elements of a situation or occurrence. Features forms, especially the news feature type, tend to take a more narrative approach using settings, characters, complications or plots as narrative hooks instead of the delivery of the most important facts.  
The best reporters want to write their stories in the most effective manner possible, and often that means much thinking about what story forms or structure will best do the job. Most major feature story forms are called names like interpretive analysis, consequence stories, personality profiles, backgrounders, depth reporting, humanistic journalism, and precision journalism. In essence, the feature story fills out the space between the lines of the standard straight news story. It adds colour and flesh, considers human factors, reports meaning, emotions and motivations. The result for the reader is a different level of understanding – richer, more refined look at the complexity of the story. The feature story form comes in so many varieties and often adapts techniques hitherto utilized by fiction writers to non-fiction as long as there is human interest focus, theme, style and authenticity, helping the reporter to do a better job for reader.  

There are lots of different kinds of features. Here are some of the main types. 
The Profile A profile is an article about an individual, a place or an institution and the profile article is one of the staples of feature writing. Profiles can be done on just about any place or any institution and anyone who is interesting and newsworthy. For instance, the idea of thepersonality profile is to give readers a behind-the-scenes look at what a person is really like, warts and all, away from their public persona. Profile articles generally provide background on the profile subject - their age, where they grew up and were educated, where they live now, are they married, do they have kids, etc. Beyond such factual basics, profiles look at who and what influenced the person, their ideas, and their choice of vocation or profession. 
The News Feature The news feature is just what it sounds like - a feature article that focuses on a topic of interest in the news. News features often cover the same subjects as deadline hard-news stories, but do so in greater depth and detail. And since feature articles are "people stories," news features tend to focus on individuals more than deadline news stories, which often focus more on numbers and statistics. For instance, let's say you're writing about the increase in heart disease. A deadline story on the topic might focus on statistics showing how heart disease is on the rise, and include quotes from experts on the topic. A news feature, on the other hand, would likely begin by telling the story of one person suffering from heart disease. By describing he struggles of an individual, news feature can tackle big, newsy topics while still telling very human stories. 
The Spot Feature Spot features are feature stories produced on deadline that focus on a breaking news event. Often news features are used as sidebars to the main deadline news story about an event. Let's say a tornado hits your town. Your straight newsstory will focus on the five W's and the H of the story - the number of casualties, the extent of the damage, the rescue efforts involved, and so on. But with this main story you could have any number of sidebars focusing on certain aspects of the event. One story might describe the scene at an emergency shelter where displaced residents are housed. Another might reflect on past tornadoes in your town. Yet another might examine the weather conditions that led to the destructive storm. Literally dozens of different sidebars could be done in this case, and more often than not they would be written in a feature style. 
The Live-In The live-in is an in-depth, often magazine-length article that paints a picture of a particular place and the people who work or live there. Live-ins have been done on homeless shelters, emergency rooms, battlefield encampments, cancer hospices, public schools and police precincts, among other locales. The idea is to give readers a look at a place they probably wouldn't normally encounter. Reporters doing live-ins must spend a fair bit of time in the places they're writing about (thus the name). That's how they get a real sense of the place's rhythm and atmosphere. The live-in is really the ultimate example of the reporter immersing him or herself in the story.
Historical Features These features commemorate important dates in history or turning points in our social, political and cultural development. They offer a useful juxtaposition of then and now. Historical features take the reader back to revisit an event and issues surrounding it. A variation is the, this date in history short feature, which reminds people of significant events on a particular date.


Reviews and Previews Both of these are reporter’s description and opinion of the film or play or concert or exhibition; a preview is published before it is open to the public (as a result of a special press preview) and a review is published as soon as possible after the first public performance.
Revelations A newspaper, radio or television stations own investigations may reveal something which the public ought to know. There are often injustices in any society - social, economic or political - which journalists can bring to light. Features about inadequate housing conditions for poor people in towns, child abuse or favouritism in political appointments can open a society's eyes to its own problems.
Analysis and Predictions.An informed and skilled person may be able to write features predicting future events, on the basis of analyzing present information. Care must be taken with these, however, as uninformed predictions make newspapers look very stupid. It is often a good idea to invite an academic or experienced person to write a feature of this kind, rather than to write it yourself.
Debate of Issues A controversial issue may be debated through the feature pages of a newspaper, so that your readers may be given the arguments for both sides and be able to make up their own minds. This is often best done by two people with opposing views each writing an argument to support their case. These may be published either on consecutive days or together on the same day.

The Trend Story Trend stories take the pulse of the culture at the moment, looking at what's new, fresh and exciting in the world of art, fashion, film, music, and high-technology and so on. The emphasis in trend stories is usually on light, quick, easy-to-read pieces that capture the spirit of whatever new trend is being discussed. 
How-To-Do-IT This type of article assists readers by explaining how to do something (and the writer may learn about the topic through research, experience, or interviews with experts on the topic).
The Multiple-Element Story
Most stories tend to have just one main element on which to build them, that is, single-element stories. But not every feature story is that simple. Some feature stories have more than one most important or interesting element. Thus, the reporter needs to write the multi-elements into the story’s lead and within the main body.  All the important items must be introduced in the lead and expanded in the full story. With a multi-element story, though, the story organization might look like the model below. The first step to writing the multi-element story would be to figure out what different issues have in common are and state them in one sentence each. Multi-element stories are common in newspapers with stories about multiple accidents, weather incidents, roundups, meeting stories, etc. Anything where the bigger picture is more newsworthy.

TheWall Street Journal Formula(WSJ) is the most commonly used method of writing feature stories. This method consist of four basic sections:

1.) The story opens with an anecdotal, descriptive, or narrative incident as lead,

2.) The ‘nut graf’ follows the lead and generally explains the it by providing a transition to the focus of the story,

3.) The body of the story is supporting information (quotes, facts, developments) all which cover the focus of the story in detail,

4.) The ending ties in to the lead and includes another anecdotal or description of the people/person featured in the story.


To engage readers, feature writers may apply some of these tools of analysis:

Extrapolation — looking for the “why” or principal cause of a story so as to provide backgrounders to the news development.
Synthesis — looking for common threads that can broaden a story’s impact. Blundell offers the example of a series of mishaps in the city of San Diego that made the city ripe for a feature on its dubious claim to being the American capital of civic embarrassment.
Localization — Examining big events or developments in smaller ways — either by taking a national or global event and examining its impact within the writer’s local area or by viewing a broad, thematic problem — post-traumatic stress disorder in the military, for example — through the experiences of an individual whose story represents the more universal experience.
Projection — looking beyond the news development by writing a story that considers how the news affects a person or group of people. In a story about the dangers of cell phones and driving, the reporter builds the story around one young man whose life was shaken when he ran a stop light and took a life while talking on the phone. (Blundell, 1988)

Feature writers are always on the lookout for the human aspects of the story and from those elements of the story that lend themselves to entertaining as well as informative, narrative writing. Some of this elements come in the form of anecdotes – short stories that help make the larger story more interesting for readers. Some more elements include specific and descriptive details emotive content, and sensory images – sound, smell, touch, and taste depicted in picture-words that enable readers appreciate the story more. 

Apart from the various feature forms already mentioned, there are others: first person stories, hobby or occupation stories, travel stories, and special section stories in business, science, health and medicine, sports, entertainment/celebrity features and serialized stories.

Feature writing for magazines differs from newspaper feature writing not so much in the types or forms of writing but in how reporters write them. There three main areas of difference – time, space, and voice. For magazines deadline is not as crucial as for newspapers. Magazine writers always have a lead time several days or weeks or even months longer than newspaper writers have.  Secondly, space is limited for newspapers whereas the magazine writer has a lot more space on the pages of the publication in which to work. For voice, the way the story sounds to the reader, newspapers often sound institutional but magazine writers tend to be much more individual, finding their own voice.

Opinion writing is another important aspect of media writing. The basic types of opinion writing include editorials, columns, letters to the editor and reviews (or previews). Editorials are the opinion of the newspaper, radio/television station, magazine or web site as an institution.The difference between fact and opinion, fact is a piece of information based on something real whereas opinion is a view, judgment or perspective or appraisal formed in the mind of an individual about a particular matter.  It is often said that in journalism, facts are sacred and not to be tampered with but opinions are free and must be unfettered. 
Writing editorials and columns allows the writer the ability to influence public opinion, bring a topic to the forefront of discussion, or expose something with which the writer does not agree. Opinion shows up throughout the newspaper in columns, which express personal views, and in reviews, such as those of books, movies, music, restaurants, theater and events. Good editorial writing is still reporting. An editorial presents facts, but gives more analysis and more of the writer’s opinions. Each editorial should have an ample amount of research, much like an investigative piece a reporter would write. Never should an editorial be purely based on the writer’s opinion without evidence to back up the said opinion.The topic chosen for editorials often reflects discussion of people and events going on around, issues that are important or that are trending. Generally, an editorial writer proposes a stand, which should reflect thorough research and weighing of the facts.An editorial or column writer should do research just as a reporter would.
If a newspaper or magazine is to maintain its credibility with readers, news and opinion must stay separate.The editorial should read like a conversation. In other words, when the column is read aloud, it should sound and feel perfectly normal, just as if the writer were talking to someone. A columnist should be writing for the ear, not the eye. Humor is good much of the time. It grabs the reader and feels more natural to the ear than chunks of information crammed together. A good editorial or column must make sure all sides of an argument are heard and that the argument is clearly supported with facts.  Criticism when given must have a purpose.

An editorial should be divided into four parts:
Introduction — Give information and background on your topic. Don’t assume the readers are already familiar with the argument. This part lets the reader know what is subject is being discussed and where the writer stands on the issue.
Reaction — Explain your position.  This part gives the necessary context for the reader to understand and appreciate where the writer is coming from in is argument.
Details— Provide support for your argument. More details are provided, specific back grounding is done so that the reader sees the facts. It is hard to deny there is an issue when the facts pointing to the problem are so clearly presented.
Conclusion — Provide alternatives or solutions and restate the paper’s position. There may be an anecdote here that brings the point home clearly to the reader. The writer must finish strong attempting to convince the reader that the position taken is right or at least a strong point has been made. 
Writing Reviews (or Previews) most often requires some criticism which tends to assess the good points and the bad of a particular movie, book, event, plays, restaurant, music, and the like.The critic’s analysis is the centerpiece of any review, but that is not much use to readers if writer does not provide enough background information. So if you’re reviewing a movie that means not just outlining the plot but also discussing the director and his previous films, the actors and perhaps even the screenwriter. Critiquing a restaurant? When did it open, who owns it and who’s the head chef? An art exhibit? Tell us a little about the artist, her influences and her previous works. Too many beginning reviewers are eager to write but know little or nothing about their chosen topic. If you want to write reviews that carry some authority, then you need to learn everything you can. A good reviewer may not necessary be an authority or expert on the subject but a well-informed layman, at the very least.Good reviews always contain several strengths and weaknesses and use specific examples and references. Most reviews seem to adhere to three general guidelines:
1.      Reviewers typically review something for what it is trying to be, not criticize it for not being something else. For instance, it is unfair to criticize a rap artiste for not performing jazz or a horror film for not being much of a comedy.
2.      Reviewers do not give away important elements of whatever they are reviewing, especially when the write-up is a preview.
3.      Reviewers know they are informing as much as reviewing. 
Writing for Broadcast is basically writing for the ear of the listener rather than the eye of the reader. It is also much more informal and conversational than writing for newspapers and magazines. However, identifying the news is more or less the same whether you are writing for print or broadcast media or even the web. The broadcast news writer is first and foremost a reporter whose primary duty is to convey the news. The basic principles of news reporting and writing applies here though there are some distinct differences between print and broadcast writing. For example, broadcast news leads are not expected to be packed full of facts as we have it in the summary leads of newspapers, rather the broadcast news writer must include as many details as possible within a much more limited presentation; this requires a good feel for the dramatic in the event being covered and much more condensation. 
The good broadcast journalist has learned to be a master of first impressions, getting the listener or the viewer to understand an intricate plot of a news story immediately within a matter of seconds. There is no room for any long and windy story, nor any extraneous information but only the phrases and comments that bring the desired story moving forward in the mind’s eye of the listener or viewer. In addition to good timing, the visual and aural aspects of the story must be adequately considered as well as the personality of the newscaster who would read the news on air. The broadcast news often times is more of infotainment than information, especially on radio. On television the picture is paramount and the writer is better advised not to waste the relatively few precious words in the average-length story by writing something the audience can see. Television news writer must show what is happening rather telling the viewer about it. Sometimes the radio news also does this using sound in the background to create pictures in the head of the listeners. 
Internet News writing more or less use the same skills as in writing for other media, although the internet can deliver anything that can be converted to digital form: text, photos, animation, sound, and video as well as computer applications that let their active audience interact with any of these exchanges on line. On line news though different from all other traditional media, somehow embraces them all. News on the internet combine the depth of print journalism with the immediacy, interactivenness and realism of broadcast, and goes beyond all of these using applications such as chat rooms, forums, links, etc. to provide much more than any of these media can give to the audience. (Hilliard, 2008) 
According to Bob Stepno, Online journalists:

1.             1.  offer more depth than "on air" minutes or "in print" spaces allow
  1. link to source materials, related stories and more
  2. use multimedia when words aren't enough
  3. know their audience -- even collaborate with viewers on stories through the interactivity of e-mail links, blogs and online discussions.
  4. The Web is all about hypertext linkage. News sites can link to earlier stories, documents, background source materials and public discussions, to images, documents, databases and multimedia presentations.
(http://www.stepno.com/oldblog/stories/2006/10/27/onlineNewsWriting.html)