What is the Structure of a Newspaper?

Structure of a Newspaper

Here you’ll find information about the newspaper structure which will aid your learners’
creative writing and enhance your teaching.

What are the structural features of a newspaper?

The newspaper structure can be broken down into four key sections which includes the
headline, byline, the lead, the body, and the tail.

The inverted pyramid

Below is an example of this newspaper structure in the form of an inverted pyramid.

This shape is commonly used when displaying a suggested format for a newspaper
report. It starts off with the most important information first, with each section
containing less important information as the pyramid progresses. This is not to say
that the body of the text is not important, but it could not exist without a lead, headline,
or byline.

Below you will find each element of the inverted pyramid with information about how to
write each component. You could print this out for your learners as a guide for their
own writing.

The Headline:

The headline functions to grab the reader’s attention while successfully summarising
the main point of the article.

Key features of the headline:

It needs to be short and snappy, which can sometimes mean missing out
non-essential words such as ‘the’, ‘a’, or ‘to’.

Headlines also need to be eye-catching, which can be achieved by using

humour, alliteration, or a pun.

Write in the present tense even if the event has already happened. This will
help to simplify your language choices.

It should be written in the third person.

The Byline:

The byline is the easiest part of the entire article as it does not require much creativity.
It functions to tell the reader who the article is by, what their job role is, and how to find
more of their content.

The byline structure:

Start your byline by inserting your full name after the word ‘by’.

Add your speciality, so you may be a sports reporter, education reporter, or a

food writer, for example.

Then detail how the reader can find more of your opinions or your work, so
add in a made-up social media name, such as @JoeBloggs.

An example byline:

By Joe Bloggs

Sports Reporter

Social Media: @Joe.Bloggs

The Lead:

The lead could be seen as the most essential part of the newspaper structure. It should
be one paragraph long, and by reading it, your audience should be able to understand
exactly what your article is about and what you are reporting on.

Key features of the lead paragraph:

It needs to be short and snappy so that the message is portrayed clearly.

You can achieve this by communicating your message in as little words as
possible- just make sure it makes sense.
 The lead paragraph should explain clearly what has happened, so that if
your reader stopped reading after the lead, they would understand the main
message of your report.

Stick to using the past tense.

It should be written in the third person.

The Five Ws (and H)

Another way to make sure that your reader gets the key messages on your report is to
stick to the Five Ws in your lead paragraph. These include:

Who: which people were mainly affected by the events you are reporting on?

What: what are the key events that happened?

Where: where did those events take place?

Why: is there a specific reason why these events occurred?

When: what was the time, day, month, and year (if necessary) that the
events happened?

How: this isn’t strictly a word starting with the letter ‘w’, but it is useful for
your lead paragraph. Explain the manner in which the events occurred, or
what made them able to happen.

The Body:

This is the main section of your newspaper article, so it will include lots of important
information about what happened, along with more detail about what you said in your
lead section. The body should be around 3-4 paragraphs long, depending on how much
your teacher has instructed you to write.

Key features of the body:

This is the chance for you to go into as much detail as possible about what
happened.

The most important information about the events should go first.

Each paragraph should be on a slightly different aspect of what happened.

It should be written in the third person.

Explain the background information that is relevant to the story.

Include evidence, facts, and quotes from people related to the event.

You could also include a quote from an expert on the topic you are reporting
on.

The Tail:

The tail includes the least important information from your report and functions to
sum-up the events.
Key features of the tail:

Add any extra or surrounding information about the event or related topics.

Include links for where to find extra information about the topic or other
news reports.

You could also feature a quote from an expert or witness to sum up the
story or imply what may unfold next.

The Newspaper Caption:

What is a newspaper caption?

They consist of a sentence describing the picture in the article, and how it relates to the
topic of the article.

What is a newspaper cut-line?

This can be used underneath the newspaper caption describing what is in the picture.
This is more literal and does not need to be stylised like the caption does.

Example newspaper structure

Headline:

Cat flies to the Moon

Byline:

By Joe Bloggs

Space Reporter

Twitter: @Joe.Bloggs
Lead:

At 10am on Tuesday 20th April, Molly the cat flew from Birmingham to the Moon. The
event occurred after she grew wings due to eating some gone-off cat food.

Body:

Paragraph 1 - Explain how Molly managed to get to the Moon and what she
did once she was there.

Paragraph 2 - Introduce Molly in a bit more detail and include opinions and
quotes from Molly’s owner, and from an animal expert.

Paragraph 3 - Explain how experts think the cat food resulted in Molly’s wing
growth.

Paragraph 4 - Explain how people are trying to help Molly get home to
Birmingham on planet Earth.

Tail:

Include a quote from an expert talking about how other animals may be able to fly to
the Moon in the future, and link to websites containing information about space travel.

Newspaper structure checklist

Below you will find a checklist to go through once you have finished writing your
newspaper article. Use the newspaper structure above, and then use this checklist to
double-check you have everything you need for a successful article.

1. A catchy and snappy headline.

2. Byline (name, specialism, social media contact).

3. Newspaper Name.

4. The lead paragraph containing the 5 Ws (and H).

5. The body of the text containing 3-4 paragraphs.

6. Details of the event.

7. Details about who the event affected.

8. Quotes from people involved and from experts.

9. Correct use of punctuation when introducing and closing quotes.

10. The use of third person.

11. The tail including extra information about the topic.

Curriculum links
Why is understanding the newspaper structure important for children?

Understanding the structure of a newspaper article is handy for children of many ages.
It will help them to…

include the key newspaper features;

explore the breadth of the story they’re writing about;

understand that different text genres have different features;

understand how to adapt their writing style for different genres, audiences,
and purposes;

explore the use of different vocabulary that’s suitable for the news article
genre;

more readily pick out the features of news writing when reading the news.

Why is it important for children to read the news?

By reading the news, your pupils will have the chance to…
 understand how different cultures work;

learn about communities from around the world;

learn about our systems and organisations;

expand their vocabulary;

understand that current affairs is appropriate for everyone, no matter what

their interests are;

understand that different types of texts are adapted for different audiences
and purposes;

learn the different language features of the news genre that can be used in
their own work.

What is Twinkl NewsRoom?

We know that it can be difficult to find child-friendly news stories, which is why Twinkl
NewsRoom release daily news articles. They’re written and fact-checked by a team of
experienced teachers, so you can feel safe in the knowledge that the content your
learners are receiving is age-appropriate.

We cover stories on a whole host of different topics to give you the chance to get them
interested in current affairs. Each news article released comes with a handy reading
comprehension pack. It contains the news article, SATs-based reading comprehension
questions, answers, extension tasks, and an educator’s guidance document to help you
on your way.

Simply explore a news article each day with your learners to help them see the value in
reading the news. We explore lots of different topics, so that each of your pupils can
find something that interests them. Below is a list of some of our most popular stories
for you to explore with your pupils…

Viking Longship Dug Up After 1000 Years.

Mars Ingenuity Takes Flight.

Wisdom Teeth Evolution.

Twinkl Resources to Help Children with News Writing

Along with this handy Twinkl wiki page to help your learners with following the
newspaper structure, we have lots of other resources to help with their news writing. To
further support your teaching of journalistic writing, check out this handy wiki page.

Check out this newspaper headlines PowerPoint that will help you to define
what a newspaper headline is, how they function, and what to include.

Go through the newspaper structure with this PowerPoint before getting

your class to write their own articles.

Give out this newspaper outline sheet which your learners can use to piece
their work together.

If you’re feeling adventurous, make your own newspaper with your class to
help them develop their writing, cooperation, and teamwork skills.
Or, get your learners interested in journalism and news writing by getting
them familiar with the genre’s rules and style.

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