Did you ever wonder how a newspaper is created? Any newspaper, printed or online, uses almost the same process in writing the stories and columns, editing, and putting it all together. You can learn that process here in Behind the Scenes.
Part 1: Introduction to Newspapers
Throughout history, people have wanted to know the news. Long before paper was invented, the news was commonly passed on by people, or "word of mouth" as some might call it. However, if someone forgets a part or misunderstands something, the news might not be entirely accurate before it gets to you.
Just the Cold, Hard Facts on Cold, Hard Rocks
Another way to report the news was with glyphs, writings or drawings in stone. Some examples of glyphs are hieroglyphs and petroglyphs. These glyphs were in a way ancient newspapers and books. Stories could be chiseled or painted onto the stones. Egyptian hieroglyphs were good examples of this. You could also communicate a form of news to the reader. When you look at petroglyphs, they might tell you about an eclipse that was seen at this site, point the way to water or shelter, tell about how someone found good hunting or fishing here, and many other things.
Then, at about A.D. 105, a guy in China named T'sai Lun invented paper. Of course, this was a major contrast to the slabs of rock that were used to write with before this time. Now you could write easier than ever. As paper became more common and widely used, the news was written down by hand.
As you might know, writing by hand can be tedious. And way back around the time paper was invented, people had to use quills and ink. Pens and pencils hadn't even been invented yet, and you had to be careful not to make a mistake, or you'd most likely have to start over.
Printing, a quick alternative to writing by hand, began in China over 1000 years ago, before Gutenburg was even born. The writing would be chiseled into wood blocks, and could be covered in ink and pressed to paper to make many copies of the same document quickly. In 1045, Pi Sheng, a chinese printer and alchemist (a very old kind of chemistry scientist), developed the first movable type. However, it was impractical for the time because that version of the Chinese language has thousands of characters, one for each word. A very hard language to learn to write and read indeed.
Then, about A.D. 1440, a breakthough! A dude named Johann Gutenberg re-invented the movable-type printing press. Of course, he didn't know about the idea by Sheng in China many years before. After this invention, the news was able to be printed more easily than ever!
Finally, the typewriter and printer were invented. Now the news could be written even faster than with the printing press. Then the printer could make many, many copies very quickley. When the television and radio were invented, those too was used to spread the news.
Eventually, the computer and internet were also invented. Newspapers today are made using a combonation of a printer and a computer. Online newspapers were invented.
News today is quickley spread and much more accurate, thanks to the inventions of the modern age. However, since the first newspaper was invented, practically the same writing process has been used.
Of course, a newspaper just isn't a newspaper without articles! They tell the reader what happened, where it happened, who was involved, why it happened, and how it happened. This is the key to an article. It is called "Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?", or "W5H" for short. You want to answer all 6 of the questions in "W5H" before you write the story.
Straight from the Horse's Mouth
In reality, a reporter would hear about an event by word of mouth, or by being there himself. He would interview people, make phone calls, and collect information. By talking to people, he would also have quotes to put in his story. Take the following example, in which a reporter interviews a firefighter regarding a house fire.
"What do you think caused the fire?"
"We've determined that someone left a candle burning when they left for work."
"Was anyone hurt in the fire?"
"Nope. The two residents were at work when the fire started."
"How bad is the damage?"
"We got to the fire just in time to put it out before it could spread. Only the living room was affected."
Besides the information the reporter gathered for the story, he could use "We've determined that someone left a candle burning when they left for work." as a direct quote. He can also indirectly quote the firefighter saying:
"We got to the fire just in time to put it out before it could spread. Only the living room was affected."
like this:
"According to one of the firefighters, the fire was put out before it could spread to other rooms."
Once the reporter has answered the 6 questions in W5H, he can begin to write the actual story. You can put the answers for each of the 6 questions anywhere in the story, but you should have them in these places as well:
The "Where" goes at the beginning of the story like this:
"Wormville-"
If you are writing for a national or a state/providence newspaper, you only have to put the town name, or in some cases, the town and the state or providence. If you are writing for a local newspaper, one that is only read in a particular city, you can be more specific, like the area of the town or the road name.
You want to put the "Who" and "What", "When", and "Where" at the beginning of your story, so the readers will know what the article is about. Explain these four in about one or two paragraphs, depending on the length of your story.
Put the "Why" and "How" next. Make sure to explain these a little more than the first four.
Indirect quotes might help in explaining any of the "W5H" questions
Add direct quotes where they fit best. Don't have too many quotes, but don't put to few in either. Two to five short quotes will do fine. Don't forget to tell your readers who the source of the quote is. In a bank robbery, the suspect wouldn't normally explain how he was caught, and the cops wouldn't be defending the suspect, though it might seem that way if the readers can't tell who said what.
Sometimes you can put in a phone number, e-mail address, or web address at the end of the article so the reader can get more information or contact someone in reltion to the article. This can also come in handy for stories where readers have been asked for information regarding a suspect, because this will tell them where to send the information to. If you are writing an imaginary story, like those in the Sunset Gazette, use 555 as the first numbers in a "phone number". If you don't, and the phone number you put down is real, you could end up in trouble if someone actually calls. For pretend web addresses and e-mails, make up an ending to the adresses. ".ais" is not found in any web adresses, therefore we can use it in all our internet contact information. We sometimes use real e-mail adresses because we own the e-mail account, and we want people to send us their feedback. We never use someone elses e-mail unless they have agreed first.
Once you have written the story, you need to come up with a catchy headline. You can do this first if you want; do whatever works best for you.
Sometimes, the editor will write the headline. The Sunset Gazette allows its reporters to write the headlines, though they may be changed later.
A headline normally consists of one or two lines of text, and must contain the "What". When you do a two lined headline, make sure the two lines appear somewhat even. It doesn't look good to have the first line with five words, and the second line to only have two. If the second line has 4 or 6 words, and both lines have approxamentally the same start and end positions, however, it is considered "even". For the story about the house fire, the reporter might come up with a headline like:
"Burning Candle Starts House Fire"
or
"Burning Candle Starts House Fire;
Residents Safe and Unharmed"
Notice how both examples tell the reader the "What". However, the first only gives the "What" and "How", and the second headline gives the "What", "How", and tells us that the residents are okay. The reporter might also indicate exactly who the residents. The less information you give, the more inclined the reader will be to read the article. If the reporter chose the second headline, the reader might just skip over the story because they know the residents are okay. On the other heand, if the reader sees the first headline, he or she might wonder things like "Are the residents okay? Is the house destoryed? Where did this happen?".
The reporter might even go with a headline like:
"House Catches Fire on the East Side"
Now the reader will know approximently where this happened, but might wonder "Who's House Burned? Are they okay? How did the fire start?" The reader will then most likely read the story to answer his or her questions.
After you've written the story, proofread it. Does the story flow? Does everything make sense? Do you have the right spellings? Is your grammar correct? Try not to use "run on sentances", sentances that are really long. On the other
hand, don't use sentances that are choppy. Don't be afraid to use one or two
commas in your sentances. In a real life story, you might want to call people back and make sure you got everything correct. Review all your information to make sure the article is accurate. If you need to, rewrite the story. Don't be afraid to go back and change things. Once everything is correct and the way you want it, send it to the editor, or in some cases, your teacher.
Once you have the story written, you might want to add a picture or a photo. In real life, a photographer will take care of this. When you write a story for the Sunset Gazette, the editor will normally make an appropriate picture.
Part Three: Writing a Weather or Sports Report
Sometimes a reader might want to know what the weather will be like, or if their favorite team won last night's game, but they don't have time to read a complete article. This is where a report comes in. This kind of report is very different from one you might do in school. It uses charts, graphs, and small bits of information that quickly tell the reader what he wants to know.
Information Gathering in a Nutshell
The first step in a report of any kind is gathering information. Most of the time, you won't need to interview people. For a weather report, a meteorologist will gather the information about the weather, just like a television weatherman would. In fact, all meteorologists gather information in the same matter. The science of weather and its effects is called meteorology.
A sports reporter would look for the scores of games. A sports photographer might attend a game and gets some pictures for the newspaper. Sometimes a reporter will write a short story for his report. The story is normally about 1/3 the size of a normal article.
Once you have the information, you can make the report. When writing the short stories, use the same system as in writing an article. For the report itself, simply gather the basic information list them in a way easy to read and understand. For example:
Cubs: 5
vs.
Diamondbacks: 8
or
Dragonlair
Highs in the upper 30s. Scattered showers expected tomorrow afternoon.
Notice how the reader can take a glance at the report, easily find what he is looking for, and get the information he needs, all in less than a minute? That's the beauty of a report.
Just the Cold, Hard Facts on Cold, Hard Rocks
Straight from the Horse's Mouth
Writing a Weather or Sports Report
