5Ws & H

Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How

• News writing seeks to include necessary information into the fewest possible words.

• News writing does that by relying on the 5Ws & H.

• No news article is complete without the 5Ws & H.

• 5Ws & H are the essentials of every article.

• If you're missing the who, what, when, where, why, or how, then that becomes a story in itself.

Beat

• A beat is a specific area of interest assigned to a reporter.

• Some examples of common beats include the following:

• education beat

• health beat

• entertainment beat

• political beat

Byline

• indicates who wrote the story

• usually appears between the headline and the story

Caption

• explains a photo or graphic

• also called a cutline

Editor

• the staff member who has overall responsibility for content of publication

• usually each news outlet has one Editor-in-Chief

• then there are editors for each news section

• for example there might be a news editor, opinions editor, entertainment editor, sports editor, etc.

Fact

a statement that can be proven

Flag

• the name of the newspaper

• appears at the top of the page or site

• also called the masthead

Hammer

• very large, bold-print headline for big stories

• appears over the headline

• In the example to the right, "Obama's Night" is ahammer headline over the main headline.

Human Interest Story

• a type of feature story that discusses people or pets in an emotional way

• shares peoples stories in unique and interesting ways

• often allows for more creativity in the writing

• is about people and events the reader can identify with

Headline

A phrase that appears above the story, summarizing it and grabbing readers' attention.

Interview

Open-ended questions and answers between a reporter and their source.

Inverted Pyramid

• This is how journalism stories are written.

• always starts with the most important information and goes to teh least important information

Libel

written, unproven information about a person that is damaging to their reputation

News

information given for public awareness about an event as its happening or after its happened

Lead

• the start of the story

• it grabs readers' attention

Op-Ed

• expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board

• short for "opposite the editorial page" or as a backronym the "opinions and editorials page"

Editorial

• opinion piece written by senior editorial staff of the publication or members of the editorial board

• editorials reflect the opinions of the publication

Opinion

a statement which cannot be proven and is based on the writer's point of view

Quotation

• a direct statement made by a source

• since it's in quotation marks, the words are the exact words the source said; they're not a paraphrase of what the source said

• quotes add interest to your story

• quotes can also help show what a source really sounds like and what they really think

Reporter

the person who researches and writes the assigned story

Slander

spoken, unproven information about a person that can harm their reputation

Transition

statement that moves the story from one point to another

Wire Service

• a news supplying agency

• The Associated Press (non-profit)

• Reuters (public company)

• Press Association (non profit)

• Agence France-Presse (state-owned)

• United Press International

• Canadian Press (non-profit)