News Writing Definitions

Anecdote A story a source tells

Beat A reporter’s permanent assignment. All stories on this topic are covered by the same reporter.

Brief A story that is not a full-length article Brief A story that is not a full-length article. Briefs are sometimes only one paragraph long.

Byline The reporter’s name at the beginning of the story. “By John Doe”

Editorializing A biased/opinionated word or comment in a factual news story. The reader assumes that the reporter is not subjective (does not show an opinion on the subject).

Five W’s & an H Basic information in a news story: Who What When Where Why How The most important is “why.”

Hard news Urgent, timely material that strongly affects readers.

Inverted pyramid story A story that begins with a brief summary, then lists other material, until the least important is at the end. In this way, the reader reads first what is most important.

Lead The first paragraph of a story Lead The first paragraph of a story. The lead must capture the reader’s attention in order to keep him/her reading.

Narrative news story A story that begins with an anecdote to let the source tell what happened. The summary of the story is given after the lead.

What readers want to read. News What readers want to read.

A factual, unbiased account of a current event. News story A factual, unbiased account of a current event.

Off the Record Information given by a source that cannot be used and/or linked back to that source.

Open Ended Question A question that cannot be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and requires a more in-depth answer.

Sidebar A small story accompanying a bigger story on the same topic. It can appear as a worded story or a informational graphic.

Transition A transition is a sentence or paragraph that connects two parts of a story that are not connected.