News Reporting &
Writing
Week 4: News Sources & Story
Structure
Kevin Voigt

Sources
Human
Officials, politicians, analysts, eyewitnesses
Physical
Documents you obtain
Digital
Information online or in electronic format

Dealing with human sources
Be nice, and respectful, to everyone!
Especially secretaries, janitors, the second- and third-in-command
Some people lie, but not everyone
All people have faulty memory
All people speak from self-interest

Finding sources
Government officials, police, politicians
Experts
NGOs, universities, corporations, consultants
PR professionals (for a start)
The guy on the street ( vox pop )

Finding them online
Facebook
LinkedIn
Gorkana
Gerson Lehrman Group

Review: Hard News
Lede Writing Exercise

Lede writing exercise 1
SUBJECT
VERB The wife of a retired Hong Kong civil servant yesterday sought the help of the city ’ s Security
Bureau in a bid to locate her husband who went missing from the couple ’ s Dongguan home on
December 12.
OBJECT

Lede writing exercise 1
WHO WHEN
WHAT The wife of a retired Hong Kong civil servant yesterday sought the help of the city ’ s Security
Bureau in a bid to locate her husband who went missing from the couple ’ s Dongguan home on
December 12.
WHY
WHERE WHEN

Lede writing exercise 2
BASIC FACTS
Mainland authorities arrested a 45-year-old farmer yesterday for allegedly hurling hand grenades at relatives and police in Guangxi
Province.
FACTS PLUS
COLOR
A manhunt involving 5,000 personnel came to an end in Guangxi
Province yesterday when a 45-year-old farmer, accused of hurling explosives at his relatives and police, was arrested with a grenade in his hand.

Lede writing exercise 2
A 45-year-old farmer raised concerns over the availability of firearms and explosives across mainland China after he allegedly threw live hand grenades at family and police near Fangcheng city on Monday. ((EDS: two days ago))

Lede writing exercise 3
An underground gas-pipe explosion sent 15 manhole covers flying above a busy intersection in Pokfulam yesterday, but in what a bus driver called a miracle, only two people were hurt.

Story Structure

Four Steps to a Story
Conceive.
Report.
Write.
Rewrite.

The Five Steps of
Reporting
Identify the information you want.
Figure out who has it.
Go get it.
Take it down accurately.
Analyze it.

Eight Steps to Story
Construction
Identify the focus or main idea from notes.
Locate the material that supports the main idea
Prioritize the secondary material
Link the sections
SOURCE: MELVIN MENCHER ’ S NEWS REPORTING & WRITING, 7TH EDITION

Eight Steps to Story
Construction
Read the completed story for substance
Read the story for accuracy & brevity
Read the story for grammar & style
Rewrite to fix problems

Story Structure: 4
Steps
Lede
Expand the lede
Two to five paragraphs that explain, support and amplify the lede
Background
One or more paragraphs that tell the reader the significance of the story: why they should care, or what has happened before
More elaboration & amplification of news

The Inverted Pyramid
LEDE
ELABORATION
SUPPORT
BACK-
GROUND