The World Is Not Enough !!

The plot to kill sovereignty, to end all freedom. To end the right to dream.

Noam Chomsky on Media - Media Masterclass

How to write a news article

The Art Of Writing News

News writing is a key skill for journalists, but it helps with other types of writing as well. That’s because news writing is about telling a story quickly and concisely. Anyone can learn to do this, with a bit of help. Here’s how you can write the news and get your story across. The technique also works well for writing press releases.

News Writing Structure

News writing has its own structure. It’s called the inverted pyramid. This upside down triangle serves as a guide for how you include information in the story. Using the inverted pyramid means starting with the most important information, then putting the next most important info and so on. It can also serve as a guide for writing each paragraph in the story. Start with the most important point, then the next most important and so on.

The inverted pyramid has an interesting history. Before digital printing and desktop publishing, news was laid out manually. If a late breaking story came in and the editor needed to make room, then the editor would order another story to be cut. Having the most important information at the top meant that readers always got the essential parts of the story.

Writing The Facts

Another way to think of the inverted pyramid is that you start with the facts and then add the background. So, how do you know what background to add? It’s easy. You can use the 6Ws. Strictly speaking, there aren’t six Ws, there are actually 5Ws and 1H, but the formula seems to work. That mnemonic reminds us to include the who, where, what, why, when and how of a story.

Why is this? Think about how you tell a story to your friends. You might say: ‘You’ll never believe WHO I just saw!’ Then you might go on to tell the story of where the person was, what they were doing, and why it’s scandalous. We all want to hear about people – and that’s what news is about? Look at any news story and you will see that all of this information is in the first two paragraphs. Anything after that is background to the story.

Let me give another example. If I were writing about a car crash, I would say who was involved, when and where it happened, why it happened and how it happened. Those would be the main points and my story might look something like this:

Two people sustained serious injuries in a car crash at Hill Road at 6am today. The collision happened when Mr. Smith swerved into the opposite lane to avoid a dog in the road. Ms Jones, who was in that lane, was unable to stop in time. Both Mr. Smith and Ms Jones have been taken to the local hospital.

This is not a perfect example, but you get the idea – and now you can write the news too.

How to report a news - Media Masterclass

More Than A Job--Broadcast Journalism

A look at a career in TV and radio news by the Asian American Journalists Association.

Prannoy Roy - Are News Anchors Obsolete?

A panel of media experts discuss the relevance of TV news anchors in the digital age. While some argue that news anchors create a degree of trust, others suggest that social networking sites like Twitter serve the roles that anchors once did.

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The Paley Center for Media's International Council 2009 NYC brought together the industry's top innovators from across the globe for the most talked about media event of 2009.

From newspapers to magazines to television, the traditional media business model is under siege. Can creating quality news content still be a sustainable business in the global digital economy?

This session features Tony Burman (Managing Director, Al-Jazeera English), Les Hinton (CEO, Dow Jones), Jon Klein (President, CNN/US), Christine Ockrent (Journalist and CEO, Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France), and Prannoy Roy (President and Managing Director, NDTV). David Carr (Columnist, The New York Times) moderates.

The Growth and Future of Online Journalism

Professor Rosental Alves talks about how online journalism is growing, and speculates about the future of the expanding medium of the Internet.