News story is an exact account of an event or situation. It is an account of what is happening and going to happen. There’s no need for the journalist to bring his opinion to board. You have to report news exactly as it is and not what you think. News gathering begins with an invitation. An invitation is sent to media houses to cover events. The invitation is entered into an assignment diary by the assignment editor. Date, time, venue about the event is indicated in the assignment diary.
Sources of news are the people, places or documents a journalist refers to to write his news. News can come from press releases, budgets, the presidency, ministries, ministers, victims, eye witnesses and friends. Every information has a source. The source can be hidden or obvious. A journalist should always have a credible and reliable source. When carrying out your news story, you do not have to be partisan, bias or take sides. Identify the sources in your community, have the mandate or contacts of institutions in your community, do not ask for money from your sources and always be interested in the motive of your source.
Processing is editing news. It must answer the questions who, what, why, when, where and how. Who is involved in the story, affected by it, who is the best person to tell the story, what happened, what can people do about it, where did it happen, where else should I go to get the full story, why is this happening?, why are people behaving the way they are and why does the story matter.
Categories of news reporting are the various forms a journalist uses to present his story. There is the inverted pyramid structure, equal facts structure, suspended interest structure and chronological structure.
Every news must have a headline or title, neck or bridge, a body and background.
The headline is the title of a story printed in a newspaper or which appears on tv. It is written in block capitals and are usually four or five words( note that your title should not exceed 7 words at most). It should be catchy and attract the interest of the audience and should also explain to the audience what to expect in the story.
The lead is the first two sentences of a story. It is the opening paragraph of the story and introduces the subject matter. It summarizes the most important and interesting aspects of a news story. It should be short, simple and straight to the point and must get the attention of the reader.
The neck is the second paragraph which contains the rest of the 5w’s( what, where, when, why and who) that could not go into the lead. It provides information about the occasion of the story and important facts which helps to put the reader or listener fully into the picture.
The why and how goes into the body. After catching the interest of the audience in the lead, the body is supposed to sustain that interest. It has to give the audience more detailed information. Each paragraph of the body is supposed to contain one idea. The ideas have to relate to one another to look like one piece.
The background is where stories end to put the story in a perspective. That is the event that lead to the story.
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