1. WRITING NEWS ARTICLES

2. This is NOT your typical English class  We don’t write 5 paragraph essays  We don’t start our writing with silly questions or hypothetical statements.  What is journey?  Imagine a world without conflict.  We don’t wait to give our facts until you read further. We throw them at our readers in our first sentence!

3. The of a news article: 5Ws and 1H  Who: people involved in event  What: events that happened  Where: location of event  When: time & date of event  Why: reasons why event occurred  How: important details of event

4. Lead  First sentence (or two) of a news article.  Stands as its own paragraph.  Contains as many of the 5Ws and 1H as necessary to give important information to your readers.  Developed because of the telegraph (needed to get information across quickly).  This is your chance to grab readers’ attention!

5. Sample Leads  Source: BBC  Article: Deadly landslide hits town in Southern MexicoDeadly landslide hits town in Southern Mexico  URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america- 11429439  Lead: A landslide triggered by heavy rain has hit a town in southern Mexico, killing at least four people and engulfing a number of houses, officials say.  Reason it's a good lead: This lead does a good job of capturing what, how, where, and who. It is clear, concise, and gets to the point right away. It also grabs the readers attention.

6. Inverted pyramid format  Shows the “shape” of a news article.  Starts with broad statements in the lead (in general terms, what happened?)  As you read further, more specific details are given. Thus, the writer narrows his/her focus  The bottom of the article contains the least important information (just in case your layout editor needs to cut down the article- you don’t want to lose important info!)

7. Stick to the facts  News articles are free from bias and opinion  Present the facts- educate your reader about your topic- and let your reader make up his/her own opinion

8. Writing a Lead  Condense each of these leads to no more than two typed lines, or about 20 words.  Roger Datolli, 67, of 845 Conway Road, a retired attorney and husband of Mayor Sabrina Datolli, who is serving her fourth term as mayor, was injured in a three- vehicle accident Thursday afternoon around 3:20 p.m. at the intersection of Warren and Davidson avenues, suffering a broken leg and several broken ribs when the car he was driving was struck broadside by a pickup truck driven by Jerry R. Harris, 31, of 2245 Broadway Ave., and then was pushed into the path of another vehicle.

9. Writing a Lead Continued  The city Planning and Zoning Commission met Thursday for its regularly scheduled meeting and voted 3-2 to approve a joint plan by the citys Council of Government and the local Chamber of Commerce to renovate the core downtown business district by building a convention center and sports arena complex that will serve as a site for business meetings and conferences as well as possibly host a minor league hockey team on the Olympic-size ice rink planned for the site.

10. Assignment  Choose a news article of your choice.  CREDIBLE news source (look at the Weebly)  Read the article completely.  Fill out the inverted pyramid worksheet using the 5 Ws and 1 H model.