HOW TO GENERATE STORIES

1. REACTION STORY
Usually based on an interview with a

news source.
The interviewee may or may not be

directly involved in the previous news story, his views are perceived to have news value

3 KINDS OF RECTION STORY

REACTION TO A MEDIA REPORT REACTION TO A PROPOSAL REACTION TO AN EVENT

2. FOLLOW- UP STORY

A story which continues to

be published by the papers due to sustained public interest.

3. CALENDAR STORY
A story of predictable

event or occurrence

4. JAZZED- UP STORY
In local journalism lingo, this is

called as salsal or just plain ss

This is writing about an old topic

which is given a new slant or angle to make it look fresh.

5. AN ADVANCER
A story written in advance by an enterprising

journalist or someone who has access to sources.

But the reporter must always watch out for

unexpected developments.
He should not assume that all things will turn out

the way he wants them.

A report of an expected event

It aims to arouse in an event

A publicity series is made up of

advance stories on the same event published in successive issues. Reporter uses both the straight news and feature style.

MUST OBSERVE THE FOLLOWING:

Maintain a complete and up-to-date future

book. At the earliest possible moment, plan a series of advance stories to cover from all possible angles any important coming activity. Begin the series early but in small items- as the activity nears, stories should grow in size and importance

Each story should present a fresh

approach. Reserve enough material or a new angle fro the climax of the series. The publicity series is better adapted to the weekly or fortnightly paper, than to the monthly or quarterly

COVERAGE STORY
It is an article reporting an event

which is taking place or has already taken place

A series of coverage stories make

up a running story.

 ROUTINE STORY

- a story that is anticipated , such as regular meetings, etc..

SPOT STORY

- a story that breaks out unexpectedly.

FOLLOW-UP STORY

- a report of more decent developments of a story already published.

SPECIAL TYPES OF NEWS STORIES

 NEWS BRIEF

- it is a news item, usually no more than 2 paragraphs. It may be grouped into a news round-up. BULLETIN - It is an important but last- minute news in a running story. It is printed on the first page in boldface type and may be boxed. FLASH - It presents the basic facts of a fresh story that comes in too late to be run as a full blown news item.

 THE MEETING STORY

- includes purpose, time and place, name of organization, participants, background, information about speakers, kind of meeting, feature angle, what happened (for the coverage story) SPEECH STORY - It includes the speaker and his background, theme of the speech, occasion, time and place, quotations, description of audience, including unusual reaction.

BOX STORY
It is a news enclosed in a box (printed in black 1.

2.
3. 4.

5.

lies usually rectangular) Common types of copy: Short, important news item Summaries of large news items Lists of related or similar events in connection with news story Short feature stories, often connected with a news article Special announcements

6. Game schedules or records of previous contests 7. Reports on fund- raising

- Box story is used for emphasis as well as

variety and attractiveness in make-up. - It must present a strong, single idea in clear, simple language.

6. CANNED STORY
A press release or a handout, usually self

serving given by an agency.

A journalist worth his salt is not supposed

to reproduce the press release and present it as his own story.

THE NEWS STRUCTURE

HARD NEWS
Also called as straight news is the standard

fare of most newspapers all over the world.

It is objective, direct and factual Deals with concrete and fast breaking

events

HARD NEWS
LEAD PARAGRAPH - primary or more important facts
SUCCEEDING PARAGRAPH - facts become less important ENDING PARAGRAPH - least important facts that can be stricken out

SOFT NEWS
Featurized and subjective Abstract developments usually associated with

human interest. LEAD PARAGRAPH - lest important facts SUCCEEDING PARAGRAPH - facts become more interesting ENDING PARAGRAPH - Primary or most interesting facts

 Frank Luther Mott (The news in America, 1592)

hard news is interesting to human beings whereas soft news is interesting because it deals with the life of human beings.

Gay Tuchman (Making News: A Study in Construction and Reality, 1978) hard news concerns important matters and soft news, interesting matters.

THE INVERTED PYRAMID

 All straight news are written in the inverted

pyramid form The traditional form of news writing The important facts are placed at the beginning. The details and the back ground are woven into the succeeding paragraphs, in descending importance.

COMPONENTS:

A. PRIMARY OR MAIN LEAD a single paragraph - It contains the four Ws (what, who, where, and when) - This may take from three to five lines
- Usually

B. SECONDARY OR SUPPORT LEAD

Explains or complements the

main lead
Its length is twice the main lead

C. DETAILS OR PARTICULARS
To give flesh to the story, all

available facts are included here specially those that would answer the other W (why) and one H (how).

E. BACKGROUND
Relevant past events are recounted

and incorporated in this portion of the story

This portion may be deleted if

space in the newspaper will not allow, but still the story can stand.

F. ILLUSTRATION

The incorporation of all the

details in the story

Advantages of the Inverted Pyramid

1. It facilitates reading readers wants to know the

facts or news at once.

2. It facilitates makeup- editors may shorten the story

for lack of space

3. It facilitates headline writing- by just reading the

lead paragraphs, a busy editor can prepare the headline of a story.

OTHER TYPES OF NEWS STORIES

HUMAN INTEREST STORY

News that appeals to the

emotion ad attempts to gain a response from the reader.

Interpretive/ Interpretative News

News that helps the reader understand the

significance of the facts of the story. It includes: A. Why the incident occurred B. Background C. Personalities of principal persons involved D. Significance

NEWS FEATURE
Called as news article An informative discussion of news events or

technical subjects in expository form Like the news story, it I based entirely on facts. Unlike the news story which is based on current events obtained mostly from personal sources, the news feature is based on facts of general interest obtained partly from printed sources. Like the editorial, the news article is expository in form.

SIDE- BAR STORY

A brief news item on some

lighter aspects of an event run side by side a significant news item.

THE LEAD

 The lead or firs paragraph tells the most

important facts of the news story.

Sometimes called as slant or angle.
It should attract the readers attention and

sustain his interest to read on.

It is like a miniskirt : it must be short

enough to be interesting and long enough to cover the essentials

TIPS IN WRITING A GOOD LEAD

Use short, simple declarative sentences

instead of complex and compound- complex ones. Dont try to say everything in one sentence. Break up long sentences Never use twice or unusual word twice in the same sentence Avoid repetition of phrases, clause and similar grammatical constructions

TYPES OF LEADS

CARTRIDGE LEAD
Short, abrupt, and definite.
It tells the gist of news with the use of the

fewest words possible

President Marcos, who ruled the country

for two decades, is dead.

PUNCH LEAD
Somewhat similar to cartridge lead but it

surprises and intrigues the reader.

All private cars will now have to be

grounded on Sundays.

PICTURE LEAD
This device attempts a pictorial account of

the event.
Clutching her baby girl, Mrs. Lourdes

Arquiza could not control her tears when she heard that her husband, Capt. Oscar Arquiza, was sentenced yesterday to die by lethal injection.

Contrast Lead
This emphasizes the contrast.

Four years ago, she was just a plain

housewife. Today, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino is the President of the Republic, the most powerful woman in the land.

Question Lead
This raise the query in the hope of inducing

the reader to read on.

Will former President Estrada be acquitted

of plunder?

FREAK LEAD
This lead throws caution to the air by trying

to be different.
For sale: a baby

Mrs. Carol Conag, a Tondo resident, said yesterday that since she could no longer feed her baby, she might as well sell it. There were no immediate takers.

SEQUENCE LEAD
A series of paragraphs, usually arranged

chronologically but with a single effect. By five in the morning, she had already dressed her two daughters, Cynthia 4, Miriam 2, for a Sunday mass. At seven, the three of them were seen attending the mass in the chapel. At nine,when they returned to their shanty at Dagat- Dagatan, Maria Dorado, 46, despondent after having been abandoned by her husband, strangled her two daughters. She herself committed suicide.

SUSPENDED INTEREST LEAD

With this lead, the writer strings along

the reader to the very end before giving him the news peg on which the story is based.
Jaime Cardinal Sin refused to be

interviewed yesterday, but I still got the story.

STACCATO LEAD
This emphasizes the time element , and usually

consists of a series of phrases, punctuated by commas or dashes. Twenty years ago- back in the seventies- he was marching in the streets shouting anti- American slogans. After seven years of incarceration and four years in the hills fighting for his cause. Julius Neptuna is now a changed man; today he is a staunch defender of democracy and a strong opponent of communism.

FIGURATIVE LEAD
Triteness is the main danger of this kind of

lead. Common sense should dictate when to use it.

The fox is finally at home at 66.

(This was about the death of the basketball star Lauro Mumar)

EPIGRAM LEAD
The tone of the moral of the story is

stressed.
Crime does not pay. But Romy Corrales

learned this only after he had been collared by the police for being a fake immigration agent.

QUOTATION LEAD
When a popular quotation is used to

emphasize the gist of the story.

What are we in power for? This question

must be on the minds of some officials of the Ramos government when they tried to corner big government contracts.

SUMMARY LEAD
It gives a summary of the whole story.
The Manila Accord, that embodies the new

trade relations among members of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), was signed yesterday by the heads of the state of the 18 APEC members.

WHO- WHAT- WHEN- WHEREWHY- HOW LEADS

 This classification of leads is the oldest known to

journalists, and has come to be known as the 5 Ws and an H. Emphasizing their importance, Kipling once wrote: I have six honest serving men They thought me all I know Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who

WHO LEAD ( NAME FEATURE)

Names make news, especially prominent ones. A

person may be featured because he is famous or because the facts of the story distinguish him.
The who may be one person, several persons, or

an organization.
The lead should avoid featuring more than three

personal names.

 President Benigno Aquino III signed on

Wednesday a sweeping and controversial land reform program aimed at redistributing large tracts of farm acreage to millions of landless peasants.

WHAT LEAD (EVENT FEATURE)

Most straight- news leads play up what the

story is about.
A naval convoy of three U.S. warships and

two reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers steamed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and entered the war- plagued Persian Gulf without interference from Iran.

WHY LEAD
To provide land to millions of landless

peasants, President Benigno Aquino III signed sweeping and controversial land reform program.

HOW LEAD
Often used for unusual happenings and

action stories.
Staging at 48- hour walkout beginning

today, nearly 1000 South Korean journalists at a government- controlled television station demanded that government stop dictating how they cover the news.

WHEN LEAD
Used if an event takes place at an

unconventional hour, or in making an announcement where the time is important to the reader.
Tomorrow, March 15, is the last day of

filing individual tax returns.

WHERE LEAD
Used if an event takes place at an unusual

location
Convalescent homes in Solano have been

the sites for beauty contests to choose representatives to the fifth annual My Fair Lady Pageant. Contestants are mostly in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

RULES ON PARAGRAPH CONSTRUCTION

A paragraph should not exceed 75 words.
Put important ideas at the beginning of the

paragraph Avoid using similar words or phrases at the beginning of successive paragraphs. Do not use direct quotations and summary in the same paragraph

 The one- paragraph sentence is preferred by

many editors but if it is expanded, dont go beyond three sentences in a paragraph.

Arrange paragraphs in the order of

descending importance so that the makeup editor can strike out the last ones without impairing the substance of the story.