Structure of a News Report

A news report follows a particular pattern in reporting as well as editing. Every newspaper might have its own style of writing but a general format followed by all the newspapers at base levels is systematically divided into several parts. Roughly speaking a news story structure follows 1-2-3-4 steps, that is:

1. The lead. What is the most important news? How can you write it in the clearest way and make it interesting too?

2. Elaborate on the lead. Two, three, four or five paragraphs that explain support and amplify lead

3. Key background and context of event, if needed; information that helps readers understands more about the news they are reading.

4. More elaboration of the news, in descending order of importance.

The main impetus lies in the body of the report. Once the introduction has been written, there are rules that must be applied to any following paragraphs. Each following paragraph should be about 30 words long which will help to present information in shorter doses and maintain interest longer. Each paragraph should aim to be as independent of the other paragraphs as far as possible (inverted pyramid structure). The journalist must present information in descending order of importance. To get a deeper understanding, a news story or report is divided into 5 parts namely;

1. Headline – tells what the story is about
2. Byline – shows who wrote the story
3. Lead – tells the most important facts (5 W’s)
4. Body – contains more information and details
5. Ending – gives something to think about

Here is a sample article which consists of all these parts for easy understanding:

Headline – Train accident forces evacuation

Byline – By M J Saleem

Lead – The Banglore bound Muzaffarpur- Yesvantpur train derailed causing twenty deaths on Thursday leading to the resignation of the Railway Minister.

Body – Twenty persons were killed and 33 others injured when 11 bogies of Bangalore-bound Muzaffarpur- Yesvantpur Express derailed at Sitheri, about 90 km from here, early this morning.

The derailment occurred around 5.50 am, a Railway official said.

Top officials of the Southern Railway visited the spot and commenced an initial probe into the cause of the derailment.

Ending – The number of recent train accidents have become a serious concern for the government today. The government is planning some serious measures to avoid train accidents. 

Other important parts of that make a newspaper complete are:

v News story

v Editorial

v Letters to the Editor

v Political Cartoon

Political Cartoon

Political Cartoons give the reader a view of the ‘thinking of the day’. The cartoon often uses satire to make a point and usually tries to evoke a strong emotional response for one side of the issue.

Editorial

An editorial is a brief essay of opinion about a timely and important topic. An effective editorial presents an informed argument that leads to a new course of action or a possible solution to a problem. Editorials are found in almost all newspapers and magazines.

An editorial has three main sections:

1. The subject of the editorial is identified
2. A discussion of the problem follows
3. A call for action is made

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