How to Write Newsworthy Articles

News is information about current events, obtained through words of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting or electronic communication. The course teaches students to identify the key elements of a story, gather and evaluate evidence, understand how to present the facts in an objective manner and develop a professional journalistic style.

Getting the facts right is crucial to writing a good news article, but deciding what to focus on can be challenging. In order to decide what to include in a news article it is important to know who the audience is. This can help dictate the voice and tone of the piece and determine how much detail is included. It is also necessary to understand how the reader will access the story; for example a newspaper may be read above the fold or it might be read online. If a news article is written to be read above the fold it needs to have the most important information in the first paragraphs. This is known as the inverted pyramid technique.

Crime: Almost any crime can be newsworthy, but more serious crimes make more of a impact. Money: The big stories usually revolve around money, such as fortunes made and lost, school fees, taxes, the Budget, food prices, wage rises or compensation claims.

A story can be deemed to be newsworthy if it is new, unusual, interesting, significant or about people. However, even if the same event happens twice it can have different news value depending on how it is presented.