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How do you write a news story with data?
The same as any other story.
Universal fundamentals
How to find information
How to evaluate and analyze it
How to communicate it in a way that will pierce the babble of information overload and reach the people who need and want it
Quality of story depends on quality of sources
Who can answer my questions and how?
How do I convince them to open up?
Can they help me get in touch with others who could expand the story?
Is what they're saying accurate?
Organizing notes
Organize interview and research notes so they make sense to you
Categorize the info in your notes into the five W's and H or other topics
Prioritize facts that are most important and the quotes that are most interesting
Write a statement that explains your story.
Universal questions
What’s the news?
A fire destroyed two houses in the mountains east of the city, but no one was injured and the city business district was spared.
What’s the story?
Two families are homeless but grateful to be alive.
What’s the image?
Family members hug each other near the smoking ruins of their house.
How can I tell it in six words?
Fire destroys homes but not spirits.
So what?
Property damage from a dangerous fire was limited.
Universal questions
What’s the news?
What’s the story?
What’s the image?
How can I tell it in six words?
So what?
Structures of news stories
The Classic
The Tick Tock
The Narrative
The Classic
Shape: Inverted Pyramid
This is the lead, which summarizes the most important facts
This paragraph adds more details or background
This paragraph adds even more details
This adds more detail
More detail
The Tick Tock
Shape: Hour Glass
Begin with a few paragraphs of the inverted pyramid, summarizing story's most important facts
and then shift to a
chronological order
of the story.
and then...
At the end of the story,
close with a "kicker," a strong ending or quote.
The Narrative
Shape: Shish Kabob
Starts with an anecdote about a situation.
This leads to the nut graph, which explains the link between the anecdote in the lead and the broader story at hand.
The story can then go into a general discussion of a topic.
Can use storytelling tools such as scenes, dialogue, anecdotes, and foreshadowing.
At the end, the anecdote introduced at the beginning is brought back but thanks to the context of the story, has a deeper meaning.
Structures of news stories
The Classic
The Tick Tock
The Narrative
Additional tips
Readers won't tolerate a confusing story
They want a story that reads clearly and naturally
Focus on people, not the event
Explain to readers why they should care in the nut graph
"To be sure" - acknowledge that there are two or more sides to a story
Include transition words or phrases to properly lead readers from one idea to the next
The Universal
The element that draws people into the story by making them relate to the situation or main characters
The Universal
The element that draws people into the story by making them relate to the situation or main characters
The Problem We All Live With
One day, I was like, "Hey, guys, why don't you come to my house and we can go to the pool on my side of town?"
And all my white friends were like, "Yeah, we're going to do it." And then that morning, one by one, they called and said they couldn't come. And to this day, that devastates me. I'll never forget how that felt. Because I knew why. I knew why they did that.
The Universal
The element that draws people into the story by making them relate to the situation or main characters
The Problem We All Live With
We're still dealing with that today. We're still dealing with that today. I kept telling myself, as if I was talking to those parents who were not embracing this decision, my child may be the doctor that saves your life one day. My child may be the lawyer that defends your child one day. How dare you.
The Universal
The element that draws people into the story by making them relate to the situation or main characters
The Most Amazing Bowling Story Ever
“Looking back,” Fong says, “I guess bowling just always filled whatever emptiness I had.”
The Universal
The element that draws people into the story by making them relate to the situation or main characters
A senior year mostly lost for a Normandy honor student
Drummer said he likely won’t be returning in the fall. He expressed frustration with his students, who have “gone off on me a couple of times.” He also said he understands where they’re coming from.
“They’ve missed out on a quality education,” he said. “And it’s not their fault.”