Writing news can be a tricky endeavour, with competing and differing training programmes, house styles and ways of communicating the same information.

This week, we’ll take you through a few tips and tricks to help make your news articles really stand out.

A quote we like that best summaries how much you have to cut/expand – especially relevant for newspapers – is:

It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.
– Jerry Seinfeld

Any successful news articles should satisfy virtually all of the 6 Ws. That is Who? What? When? Where? Why? and, especially for Reuters, hoW?

It be can difficult to pin down exactly what news journalism is, but this is a pretty good explanation:

The purpose of journalism, is not defined by technology, nor by journalists or the techniques they employ.
The principles and purpose of journalism are defined by something more basic:
The function news plays in the lives of people.

Who?
Should always be a person or group. For example:
David Cameron hit out at critics last night
Seventeen people were arrested at a protest

If your intro is not about a person or group, see if you can rearrange it:
New figures released today show that there has been a rise in gun crime.
More people are being arrested carrying guns.
This makes the angle personable and relatable, and therefore more engaging to your reader.

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What?
Usually the case of who did what?
NEVER use the phrase ‘happened’ or ‘took place’
You should always be giving ‘a picture of action’:
A water leak has rendered Bar One closed
A flood has closed Bar One

Avoid using the verb ‘to be,’ makes the article static, since it will help give the piece motion and energy – and thus hold your reader’s attention longer:
A protest took place on Devonshire Street
There has been a protest in the city centre
Protesters clashed with police over Tory cuts

Make sure the WHO is doing some active:
A Sheffield student was unhurt after being hit by a bus
A Sheffield student escaped unhurt after being struck by a bus

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When?
Timescales can be tricky, especially for a weekly/fortnightly paper.
On Thursday a local was jailed for mugging a student.
A local man was jailed for mugging a student.

Never use dates in the first paragraph of your news story – it will turn your reader off in an instant.

And when uploading content to a website, avoid ‘today’ and ‘yesterday’, since when being read in the future by procrastinating website-surfing students, those time values will have changed.

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Where?
Some stories won’t need a where:
David Cameron announced a new policy
Google buys out small start up

Most of the time, you could get away with referring to your home university as ‘The university’:
The University of Sheffield has announced…
The university has announced…

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Why?
Important for giving context.

Wouldn’t include in the introductory paragraph and it isn’t necessary in factual pieces, but would be more relevant for policy shift or an ongoing campaign/issue.

Better to lend context to the wider issues or themes of your piece, or recount other relevant news stories, towards the end of your piece. Remember the pyramid structure!

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How?
How do I know this?

Important to establish credibility for controversial or unverified stories.

For breaking news, it also establishes you have verified information and know where it is coming from. For example:

“A violent protest has broken out in the city centre over austerity, a Forge reporter at the scene said”

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And if you’re ever curious of how video packages are traditionally put together, have a watch of Charlie Brooker’s “How to report the news”, which contains strong language.