News is any information that has a meaning for a set of readers. It covers anything that concerns the school, its students, the teachers, and the parents.
School news include:
- worthwhile or extraordinary acts of students
- stories of success, conflicts or suspense
- anything that informs, entertains, or sets students, teachers or administrators thinking about reforms and improvements
- school convocations and other programs
- interviews of visiting personages
Sources of news:
- Beats
- tips for teachers and students
- printed material
- publicity and press releases
Parts of the news story:
The Lead - the beginning of a newspaper story
Classifications of a lead:
a. who-when-where-why-how
b. grammatical-beginning leads
c. unorthodox leads
The grammatical lead
a. subject noun (e.g., A car accident happened at Espana has shocked the UST students)
b. causal clause (e.g., Since the Sanguniang Bayan failed to ask aid from the national government, construction of the roads nearby the church will be stopped.)
c. conditional clause (e.g., Since Congress agreed on private landholdings, the present government will mandate the limits in connection with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.)
d. conditional change (e.g., Since Congress agreed on private landholdings, the present government will mandate the limits in connection with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
e. concessive clause (e.g., Although the outreached program will start next year, the teachers have already planned the solicitation program with the director and principal.)
f. temporal clause (e.g., While the school board searched for outstanding teacher, the teachers felt nervous as time goes by.)
f. temporal clause (e.g., While the school board searched for outstanding teacher, the teachers felt nervous as time goes by.)
g. infinitive phrase lead (e.g., To meet the quota, the students has presented number of applicants as member.)
h. noun clause lead (e.g., Whether the "Faculty Club" will contribute in preparing the school program will be known at the student meeting with the principal.
i. gerund (e.g., Raising the salaries of the government employees was the main topic in the agenda of the presidential meeting last Monday.)
The Body of the Story - the body only has to retell the story in details by: (1) explaining or elaborating the feature or features in the lead; (2) by adding minor features not summarized in the lead.
Steps in writing the news story:
1. write a summary
2. list the facts according to their descending importance
3. dig out the lead facts; put the best "W" forward
4. write several ideas for leads
5. review for clarity, coherence, accuracy, thoroughness
6. be prompt in submitting copy
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