The Anatomy Of A News Article — With Examples
Writing news articles is easier than you think.
One of my early freelance jobs was writing news articles for a hybrid of a news and pop culture website. The website compensated writers via a revenue sharing program, which I usually steer clear of.
However, this particular publication had a high readership, and I knew how to make Google search work in my favor, so the gig was incredibly lucrative. Often, our content was syndicated to larger networks like Yahoo, which increased views and take-home pay.
Because of the website’s visibility, its editorial standards were pretty strict. There were only two types of content it published: news articles and op-eds. Every blue moon, a writer could get a listicle disguised as an op-ed published. But overall, news ruled the day.
So how did I, a girl who’d mostly written blog posts and listicles up to this point, land a two-year contract with them? Easy! I taught myself the structure of news writing — without taking a single class!
And you can do the same thing!
Don’t be fooled by elitists: you don’t have to be a journalist to get paid to write news articles. Like I’ve said, several times, with writing, skill often supersedes academic background. So, if news writing — specifically for the internet — is a skill that you’d like to learn, keep reading!
What Makes A News Article?
News writing is the most common form of journalistic writing. News articles make up the bulk of newspapers and online news organizations.
But what actually makes a news article a news article?
1. Facts Rule Over All
News articles focus only on the facts — that’s it. If a man kills an old lady, that’s obviously a heinous crime that’s deserving of a harsh punishment. But a news writer isn’t allowed to say, or imply, that.
Their jobs is to focus only on the facts of the case.
Better known as the who, what, when, where and, why. Here are two examples of the opening sentence, or lede, about the fictional situation above.
The first sentence, which only mentions the facts of the case, is the kind that you would generally see in a news article. While it may look bare bones, it’s the readers job to determine what they think about the crime.
While most people would agree that killing an old lady is, indeed, a heinous crime, it’s not the journalist’s job to insert that into the fold. That’s why the second sentence would be better suited for a blog post or an op-ed.
2. News Articles Have An Angle
Every news story has an angle, or more simply put, a topic. A story might contain multiple roads that a writer could explore, but the writer has to choose which is the most interesting or relevant, and focus on that. You’ll never find a news story that’s a cluster of multiple angles.
For example, if someone is writing a story about the arson of a bread factory, one possible angle might be the devastation caused. How much will it cost to fix? How many lives and job lost?
A second angle could explore the motivations and background of the arsonist. Did he/she have mental issues? Was it a disgruntled ex- employee?
A third might look to the multitudes of people are volunteering to help victims. How did the community come together to help?
Instead of overcrowding the article, the writer will pick one topic — or angle — for an article, and save the other two, perhaps, for later articles.
3. Structure, Structure, Structure!
According to an excerpt from the Oxford University Press, there was a time when news was presented in the traditional story format. That is, each news piece had a concrete beginning, middle, and end. But that was before the invention of the telegraph, when news’ ability to spread was sped up.
This created a demand for a more, consistent news cycle which created competition among reporters. With more content than ever to consume, readers didn’t have time to read to the bottom of every story, so a new format, which allowed them to decide which stories were worth continuing, was wneeded. Thus, the inverted pyramid was born.
The pyramid breaks up an article in to three sections.
- First is the lead, or lede, which prioritizes front-loading the article with the most interesting, relevant information. This is where the five W’s should be answered.
- The next tier is known as the body. This is where the second most relevant information is placed.
- At the end of the pyramid are the least important facts — also known as the tail — which could be cut during the editing process, if the space was needed.
4. You Don’t Have To Break A Story To Write About It
Depending on the publication you’re writing for, it’s possible that you’ll be doing original reporting.Being the person to break a story, whether on the local or global level, is always great for a writer at any level. However, many times you won’t be breaking the story. Especially if you write for an entertainment news outlet — and that’s entirely okay!
For example: let’s say a high profile celebrity got arrested for cooking meth. . A journalist that has an “in” with the police departments that celebrities frequent will probably be the one to break that story, with an angle that focuses on details of the arrest. But the reporter that posts a story that includes a direct statement from the celebrity, or manager, is the real winner. Most celebrities give their exclusives to big established publications and journalists they trust. You want to be that person!
With that said, you don’t have to be first for your story to be valuable. Especially financially. Think of any celebrity event that’s happened over the last couple of days, and Google it.You’ll probably see 100 versions of the same story posted by various outlets.
The (below) screenshot of a Hello Giggles article, written by Morgan Noll, is an excellent example of a journalist that reported on an event, but didn’t break the story. The article is about the CBS show, “All Rise,” which recently lost five of its seven writers of color due to what they allege is racial insensitivity.
While the article is beautifully written, Morgan did not break this story. The New York Times did. Yet, Morgan was still able to publish an informative, insightful piece — which made her money and probably drew a lot of clicks for Hello Giggles. How, you ask? She cited the original source!
Instead of linking to the dozens of other pubs that probably covered this topic, she rightfully linked to The Times. Easy, peasy!
So, you see, news writing isn’t hard at all. It does require an understanding of its unique set of rules, but after you learn them, it’s easy to build a quality story and, once you practice a bit, get paid!
