WRITING A NEWSPAPER REPORT

Components of a Newspaper Report 1. Headline News reports must have a headline. Choose the punchiest (attention-grabbing) headline for the story to attract your readers’ attention

Components of a Newspaper Report 1. Headline Example: Bob Beamon leaps into history!

Components of a Newspaper Report 2. Introductory Paragraph The introductory paragraph usually states the most important facts first, which summarises briefly what happened, who, where and when the event took place.

Components of a Newspaper Report 2. Introductory Paragraph Example: American athlete, Bob Beamon, produced an extraordinary, record-breaking feat, yesterday at the Olympic Games in Mexico City. He struck gold in the men’s long jump final and broke the previous record by a staggering 55cm. Who WhenWhatWhere What

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body The body of the report usually consists of several paragraphs.

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body (A) It should contain detailed information like the background scenario, the name of the people involved, the way the event happened or the events that took place before the event reported in the headlines and introductory paragraph.

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: Earlier this week, the lanky 22 year-old struggled in the qualifying rounds. He missed two jumps and made two foul jumps. He managed to qualify for the final with a jump of only 8.19m. What happened before it

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: But yesterday, Beamon hit his best form. He thundered down the runway, hit the take-off board with his right foot and soared into the air. He produced a monumental leap of 8.90m.

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body (B) Whenever possible, include comments and quotes from audience or witnesses to give credibility to your report. Such spoken accounts may be directly quoted using quotation marks or direct speech.

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: Afterwards, Olympic legend Jesse Owens, who was watching Beamon from the stands, said, “As soon as he went up in the air, I knew he had a world record.” Quotes

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: In an interview later, Beamon said, “I had hoped I could exceed 8.50m, but to jump over 8.90m was just mind-blowing.” Quotes

Components of a Newspaper Report 4. Photographs ‘A picture paints a thousand words.’ Include photographs to give your readers a clearer picture of the event and an interesting caption to describe the picture.

Components of a Newspaper Report 4. Photograph Example: Caption

Components of a Newspaper Report 5. Conclusion It is good to end your report with a short concluding line or paragraph to finish up the story. A good way to do so is to comment on the events reported or to point to the future on what is expected to happen next.

Components of a Newspaper Report 5. Conclusion Example: The Mexican Games will long be remembered for this one event, in which Bob Beamon created track and field history. Comments of the event

Name of newspaper Date

Let us look at another example of a newspaper report of a sports event.

Components of a Newspaper Report 1. Headline Example: STARTING THEM YOUNG

Components of a Newspaper Report 2. Introductory Paragraph Example: On Friday, nearly 400 students from 32 primary schools took part in the H-TWO-O Under-10 Football Fiesta 2008’s five-a-side football tournament. WhoWhen What

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: The Football Association of Singapore organised the event, which ran from 7.30am – 5.30pm and was held at Jurong West’s Fico Sports Hub, which boasts Asia’s largest futsal football arena. Where Details

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: In the final, Kranji Primary School narrowly edged out St Stephen’s School 1-0. Yangzheng Primary placed third while Loyang Primary came in fourth. Details

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: The guest-of-honour at the event, FAS head of grassroots, Jita Singh, handed out the prizes to the winners. Details

Components of a Newspaper Report 3. Body Example: Watching from the sidelines was FAS technical director, Slobodan Pavkovic. “I’m happy to see children in Singapore start playing competitively from such a young age.” Quote

Components of a Newspaper Report 4. Photograph Example: Caption

Components of a Newspaper Report 4. Photograph Example: Caption

Components of a Newspaper Report 5. Conclusion Example: “We share the same belief that it is never too young to start developing a passion for football. In fact, we will be working with the youngsters in another event in July,” said Jita Singh, the former Singapore coach. Future

Write a newspaper article depicting a fictional current event. It is your job to write a one page (two pages double spaced) newspaper article which reports on an event or topic that is fictional, but written as if it is a real, story that will be published in the “CIC Times”. Assignment

Mark Breakdown Headline and Picture (5 marks)  Your headline and photograph should catch the eye of the reader while being concise and informative. Introductory Paragraph (15 marks)  Your introduction should be a brief small paragraph about the topic you will be discussing in the body paragraph(s). Body (25 marks)  Should be very clear and informative with lots of ‘references’ or sources where you retrieved your information from. Conclusion (15 marks)  Briefly summarizing what your article is about. It should also answer ‘so what is next?’ or ‘what happens now?’ if it fits in with your story. There should be no new information within your conclusion. Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation (40 marks)  Does your article make sense? Does it have multiple spelling and grammatical mistakes throughout? Regular newspapers have editors whose job is to make sure zero mistakes are made. You need to make sure your article flows and makes sense.