Saint Vincent de Paul Diocesan College

Andres Soriano Avenue, Mangagoy, Bislig City

College Department – Teacher Education
Second Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

LESSON 2: Stairway to News Writing:

Techniques and Principles
READ and EXPLORE
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:

1. Identify various sources of news;

2. Determine potential sources of school news;
3. Record the ways in news gathering; and
4. Apply the news elements in specific situations.

READ and EXPLORE

Sources of News
One should bear in mind that facts are the main foundations of news articles. Hence, a writer or
a journalist must have a high sense of smelling ability to newsworthy issues. This special ability is
dubbed as "nose for news" in journalism parlance. To be able to do so, a journalist must know the
avenues where he can gather data for his news articles.

1. Beat. The beat is the stable assignment of the reporter. For instance in a school setting, the
chief editor or the adviser is identifying assignments for the writers. Jane, a news writer is
assigned to gather news from the student body. Jane's beat is the student council only; thus,
what she concentrates on is only issues about the student body.

Being confined to only one assignment, the reporter achieves a sense of time
management and a chance to get through all the perspectives of the news. This will also
diminish hodgepodge ideas of the writer, especially a student journalist.

2. Written and Printed Documents. A good journalist looking for newsworthy issues. One of
his/her sets of sources includes public documents --- either electronically or physically posted.
For example, if he she is gathering data for the newly imposed rules on wearing the prescribed
uniform, he/she may look into the minutes of the meeting or the resolution where such rules
are inscribed.

3. Observation. This may be done through a keen empirical observation. It exists as a writer
bears witness using the physical senses to what is happening in the local communities. In the
context of school paper, a writer must beware of the places and goings-on in the campus.
These may be activities that are not visible to the eyes of the many

4. Tips from Co-writers, Teachers and Students

5. Gantt Chart of Schedule or Calendar of Activities

6. Interviewing Key Informants. This is the gathering of information on a person-to-person

basis, straight from the experts or any resource person as a credible source.

GILBERT J. CONDE LESSON 2: STAIRWAY TO NEWS WRITING; TECHNIQUES AND

PRINCIPLES
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 Saint Vincent de Paul Diocesan College
Andres Soriano Avenue, Mangagoy, Bislig City
College Department – Teacher Education
Second Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

More Sources of News

The internet has increased the available number of news sources. Audiences can go general
news sites covering broad topic areas.

1. Blogs. They represent another source of news, free from traditional economic, corporate,
political, or advertising considerations. There are blogs devoted to all sorts of topics. Blogs offer
alterative points of view to traditional media. Blogs provide an additional outlet for reporters to
explain why they reported a story in the way they did.

2. Citizen Journalism. In citizen journalism, ordinary citizens become amateur reporters. This
trend is facilitated by digital and cell phone video cameras and high speed Intemet access.
Traditional news media encourage citizen journalism, and many media outlets ask audience
members to submit photos and video clips. Citizen journalism is popular with the mainstream
news media in part because it is free content, but it also empowers the audience.

3. Hyperlocal News. This is a news referring to news coverage for a very small community. It
can be a single Zip Code or interest group in a defined geographic area Most hyperlocal news
appears on web sites. Publishers of hyperlocal news hope that the extremely local focus and the
coverage topics ignored by the traditional media will draw in people who generally de not
consume news. Twitter and Facebook have examples of hyperlocal new and visitors can find
news of interest to them and their close circle of friends.

Rules of Thumb in News Gathering

A writer must not only have the nose for news, but also consider the guidelines in
gathering data, Kamirez (2009) has published some of these rules of thumb in data gathering
for news waiting.

1. See for yourself. Nothing is more vivid when one sees the event right before his own
eyes. Becoming the first-hand witness, other than gathering through hershey, keeps the
spontaneity of ideas of the writer.
2. Find the person who knows. The writer should go directly to the person who is
considered as the key participant of the issue. Such a person may give the writer a sense of
confidence that what he/she will write is taken from the statements and ideas of the
persons, rather than surmising the ideas, effects and impacts of an issue. Further, this act
champions objectivity, thus diminishing bias.
3. Compare all versions. A writer must not rely solely on one version. As discussed in the
previous chapter, one should set myriads of perspectives, so as to limit the holes of biases.
Moreover, feel free to question inconsistencies and ensure the veracity of each statement or
information.
4. Be tactful and courteous, A writer is respectful of time. Hence, he should focus only on
the data needed. He should avoid spending the time of the interviewee on futile topics,
Courtesy is likewise seen in acts and words of the writer who gathers data. More often than
not, saying thank you is a good gesture to pay the interviewee the bother fee incurred.
5. Make and keep friends. Dependable informants are most valued assets, especially when
a writer is assigned in a single beat throughout the academic year When needed, give them
favorable mention in your stories. Never break the trust in the name of having a good scoop
of the news.
6. Print it. This rule of thumb reminds a writer or a journalist that unpublished wasted. The
fact that one has gathered data, the news is now considered a newsworthy item.

GILBERT J. CONDE LESSON 2: STAIRWAY TO NEWS WRITING; TECHNIQUES AND

PRINCIPLES
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 Saint Vincent de Paul Diocesan College
Andres Soriano Avenue, Mangagoy, Bislig City
College Department – Teacher Education
Second Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

Handling Interview in News Gathering

The interview is the bedrock of information gathering in news writing. It is defined as the
process of “dyadic, relational communication, with a predetermined and serious purpose designed to
interchange behavior involving the asking and answering of questions (Soriano and Henson, 1995),
Sounds brain-cracking? Simply put, the interview is purpose-driven. Its main aim is to exchange ideas
through question style. Hence, the interviewer is the person who asks questions, while the interviewee
is the person who gives the answers.

Let us study the key points in such definition to bull's eye the meaning:

1. Dradic denotes that the interview is a person-to-person interaction between two parties.
2. Relational strongly suggests an interpersonal connection between the interview parties
3. Predetermined and serious papase mains that at least one of the two parties comes to the
interview with a goal and has planned the interview to focus on specific subject matter.
4. Interchanging behavior connotes sharing of expectations, roles, feelings and information.
5. Asking and answering questions taken as a single process) is crucial to the interviewing
process, questions serve as tools to obtain information

Stages in Interview
Here are some steps in conducting an interview using the formula known as the GOSS,
developed by Rue de Guilleland.

1. Know your Goal or purpose.

2. Present Obstacle encountered
3. Offer Solutions to these obstacles.
4. Start writing the interview story

Steps in Conducting the interview

1. Define the purpose
2. Conduct a background research of the topic you are assigned to
3. Set an interview appointment.
4. Make preliminary planning by listing down possible questions. There are six questions
beginning with five W's and one H. However, be sure to * specific who, another who, one more who
and final who. For instance. you are interviewing the principal of your school regarding the Brigada
Eskwela conducted fast May. You may ask as many WHO questions as you wish like.

i. Who was the proponent of the program?

ii. Who were the benefactors?
iii. Who were the participants?
iv. Who else tended the activity?
v. Who may be benefited by the program?

This technique should be practiced by a good data gatherer for a news article so that he/she may
accumulate basketfuls of data. In such a way, he/she may diminish subjectivity; subsequently, he/she
presents many perspectives as he/she can.

5. Meet the interviewee.

6. Get down to business. Ask the first question.
7. Establish early rapport, that is, from formal to less formal.
8. Tackle the more sensitive topic with respect and tactfulness.
9. Express some recovery statements.
10. Leave a thank you note.

GILBERT J. CONDE LESSON 2: STAIRWAY TO NEWS WRITING; TECHNIQUES AND

PRINCIPLES
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 Saint Vincent de Paul Diocesan College
Andres Soriano Avenue, Mangagoy, Bislig City
College Department – Teacher Education
Second Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

Structure of News
Since this book is intended for novice writers and those who are skeptical yet whether or not to
join the publication, the structure of news discussed below is the basic news structure. For advanced
reporting, there are more types of news structure.

Newspaper articles are written using the inverted triangle format. Most journalism experts
agree to use triangle not pyramid. The inverted pyramid format is three dimensional that is referring to
special cases of developmental communication and interpretive journalism or investigative reportage.

Using the inverted triangle structure, a writer bears in mind that the most important information
is at the top (beginning of article) and the least important information is at the bottom (end of article).
With this format, the story or the news article will have the ability to undergo cutoff test (removing last
section(s) of story to quickly shorten story), without distorting its gist.

Reasons for the Inverted Triangle Structure

The inverted triangle is used in news writing because it makes reading easier and faster. It also
enables the hurried reader to get all the important facts in a very short period of time. Say, as he reads
the first three paragraphs, he knows already the gist of the news. It likewise satisfies curiosity in a
logical way, as it makes page makeup easier. Finally, it makes the work of the editor easier.

Let us try to compare the two stories.

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of

water.

-Versus-

Jack suffered a skull fracture and Jill is in

serious condition after the pair tumbled
down a hill during their ritual water-carrying
chores yesterday.

The second version tells a story packed with specific details. If you try to investigate the second
version gives ideas of WHO are involved in WHAT event, including the HOW and WHY it happened plus
the WHERE such incident happened and not to forget the WHEN it occurred. If you could spot the
details here, then you are getting the gist of the structure of the news, which follows a logical
presentation of details. Remember, too, that the structure of the news is based on logical importance.

GILBERT J. CONDE LESSON 2: STAIRWAY TO NEWS WRITING; TECHNIQUES AND

PRINCIPLES
4
 Saint Vincent de Paul Diocesan College
Andres Soriano Avenue, Mangagoy, Bislig City
College Department – Teacher Education
Second Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

ASSESS and REFLECT

TEST-I (TRUE - FALSE)
DIRECTIONS: On the space provided before each item, write TRUE if the statement is
factual and FALSE if it is erroneous.

__________ 1. Interviewing key persons gives the writer or the reporter an avenue to gather tertiary
information.
__________ 2. Written and electronic documents are good sources of primary data.

__________ 3. Citizen journalism is also a reliable news source.

__________ 4. Comparing version of stories is urged in news gathering because it diminishes the
existence of perspectives.
__________ 5. The news is structured following an inverted triangle style so that the least important
ideas and information will be highlighted.
__________ 6. Nose for news means that a writer must have a high sense to newsworthy events;
hence, stalking persons is permitted.
__________ 7. Bribing the sources of news in exchange to a scoop and mentioning them in your
stories are both unethical.
__________ 8. During the interview, impromptu questions are better suggested than written or
rehearsed questions.
__________ 9. Setting an interview appointment may be done via telephone.

__________ 10. Tackling sensitive topics during the interview is allowable as long as permission is
granted.

TEST-I (TRUE - FALSE)

DIRECTIONS: On the space provided before each item, write TRUE if the statement is
factual and FALSE if it is erroneous.

Look for five (5) news articles from different English newspapers and survey the articles
according to the matrix below:

Headline Writer Sources of News Names of Persons

Interviewed

-END of LESSON 2-

GILBERT J. CONDE LESSON 2: STAIRWAY TO NEWS WRITING; TECHNIQUES AND

PRINCIPLES
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