How to write an informative article

Website design By BotEap.com1) What to write? What’s new?

Website design By BotEap.comThe term “new” is apparently easy to define. All this is happening around us again: current affairs, time issues, new projects or initiatives. But a newspaper does not publish only the news of the day. It also publishes more analysis, opinions and human interest articles.

Website design By BotEap.comRecognizing what will be good news can be more difficult.

Website design By BotEap.comThe journalist must choose between the flow of information and events that come to him from his community and from the world. The usual criteria of him are: size, movement capacity, punctuality and interest. Please note that these factors are not necessarily all present simultaneously in every item!

Website design By BotEap.com2) “Hard news” or “soft news”? In-depth articles or reports?

Website design By BotEap.comThe “hard news” sections (approximately 600 words) are the record of events or incidents that have recently occurred. They make up the bulk of the news of a normal day.

Website design By BotEap.comThe beginning (first paragraph) summarizes the facts. What happened? Where? When? Who / By whom? Because? This summary should be very brief. The rest of the text is there to give details.

Website design By BotEap.comWriting should be clear and concise. Above all, you must give readers the information they need. If the federal government announced a new program of great importance for young people yesterday, it is good news for today.

Website design By BotEap.com“Soft news” sections (about 600 words) are a common feature of not being connected to the news right away. They can be portraits of people, profiles of organizations or programs. The primer here can be more literary.

Website design By BotEap.comDeep stories (around 1500 words) backtrack to new. They explore a question. Although they are further removed from the immediate present, they are just as important to journalism. They can be a good way to explore topics too complex for the telegraphic style of a new topic. Example: a report on homeless youth. A longer text will reflect the complexity of their individual stories.

Website design By BotEap.comDeep stories are at the heart of journalism. A good story to bring your community back to life, its struggles, its victories and its defeats. A background report chooses an angle (for example, black youth returning to church) and explores by interviewing the people involved and drawing conclusions from their statements. The author addresses the question of the important moment and tells the reader about it through the comments of the people involved.

Website design By BotEap.comRecommendation: Do not forget to “balance” your text. Present different points of view of people on an issue and let the reader choose who to believe. Your personal opinion should not appear. These are quotes from people interviewed who build the report. You are the narrator.

Website design By BotEap.comEditorial: An editorial expresses an opinion. The editorial page of a newspaper allows authors to express their own views. All editorials are personal, but they must be of interest to the reader.

Website design By BotEap.com3) How to structure your text

Website design By BotEap.comNews articles (“hard news” or “soft news”) and deep stories have the same basic structure: an introduction, then the body of the text.

Website design By BotEap.comIntroduction

Website design By BotEap.comThe first one or two paragraphs are among the essential elements of a new text. Journalists call it the beginning (or “beginning”). Its function is to summarize the content when it comes to news, to hook the reader, when it comes to general news.

Website design By BotEap.comIn “Hard News,” he summarizes the primer below and answers the top 5 questions of traditional journalism (who, what, where, when, and why). (Example: “Youth homeless expressed on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal, Wednesday afternoon, calling for emergency housing from the mayor for the winter.” Can you identify the 5 basic questions in this manual?)

Website design By BotEap.comIn “soft news,” the subject is presented in a less direct and more literary form. The author tries to capture the reader’s attention as a novelist would. (Example: “Four years ago, was Simon sleeping in the street or under the bridges?” Once the reader is hooked, the journalist answers 5 questions in the text, but not necessarily at the beginning).

Website design By BotEap.combody of text

Website design By BotEap.comHe incorporates the opinions of the interviewees, some facts and his own narration that structures the text. However, be careful, you do not have the right to “editorialization”, that is, to express your own views in any way in this type of article.

Website design By BotEap.comRemember:

Website design By BotEap.comThe role of a journalist is to discover and report the different points of view of the people involved in a given situation. His comments should represent the bulk of the text. The narrative helps weave it all into a coherent whole. Recommendation: Do not deal with one topic per article. There can be a variety of details, but they must all be related to the original idea. (Example: if you want to discuss the relationships of black youth with the police, you MUST NOT get lost in the biography of a particular youth).

Website design By BotEap.comAs journalists, you are the eyes and ears of the reader. Visual details are important to bring the text to life (for this, face-to-face interviews are always preferable to telephone interviews). You must also “feel” about yourself, that is, develop an understanding of the emotional context of the issue at hand and the opinions expressed by those involved.

Website design By BotEap.comApprove? Here are two examples that summarize each case essentially to cover.

Website design By BotEap.comYoung people come together to form an organization. You must say why they do it and what changes they are trying to promote in society. You should also specify who they are and what strategies they plan to use.

Website design By BotEap.comAn artist exhibits for the first time. Because? What do you think is art? Is your creative process rational or emotional? What works like yours?

Website design By BotEap.com4) Some other tips

Website design By BotEap.comHow to find ideas:

Website design By BotEap.com* Keep your ears and eyes open, listen to what your friends are talking about.

Website design By BotEap.com* Read everything you can think of, look for ideas in other newspapers and magazines.

Website design By BotEap.com* Discover the opinions of young people in a matter of time.

Website design By BotEap.com* Work on a topic that interests you and you would like to learn more.

Website design By BotEap.com* Talk to people involved in a particular area to see what they care about.

Website design By BotEap.comHow to search for information

Website design By BotEap.com* Find articles on the subject.

Website design By BotEap.com* Tell your friends and associates.

Website design By BotEap.com* Contact associations and organizations specialized in the matter or interested in the subject.

Website design By BotEap.com* Get a list of people to interview, cover both sides of the story by interviewing people who have different views on the issue.

Website design By BotEap.com* Find government statistics and study of old reports and press releases on the subject.

Website design By BotEap.comWhat to do and what not to do in an interview

Website design By BotEap.com* Always be courteous.

Website design By BotEap.com* Explain the basic rules of interviewing people who know how the media works. In other words, tell them that anything they say can and will be published. If they want one or more parts of their statements not to be published, they must absolutely specify so.

Website design By BotEap.com* Save the interview (for a test if questioned).

Website design By BotEap.com* Build a relationship of trust with the interviewee.

Website design By BotEap.com* Start with easy questions, save the hard ones for last.

Website design By BotEap.com* Pay attention to the interviewee’s body language, if a question is defensive, leave to come back later.

Website design By BotEap.com* Never be aggressive.

Website design By BotEap.com* Taking control of the interview does not allow the interviewee to get lost in long speeches or get off topic.

Website design By BotEap.com* No, on the other hand, your preconceived ideas about what to say color the interview. Always remember that the interviewee knows more than you on the subject.

Organization of information

Website design By BotEap.com* Bring your notes, interviews and research together in one folder.

Website design By BotEap.com* Read them.

Website design By BotEap.com* Look for the common theme that comes up.

Website design By BotEap.com* Select quotes and data of interest.

Website design By BotEap.com* Broaden the focus of your article.

Website design By BotEap.com* Summarize this axis in two or three sentences.

Website design By BotEap.comWriting and editing

Website design By BotEap.com* Remember that your role is to tell, to shape a story.

Website design By BotEap.com* Don’t be afraid to rewrite and correct.

Website design By BotEap.com* Write as clearly and concisely as possible.

Website design By BotEap.com* Adopt a direct style.

Website design By BotEap.com* Tell a good story.

Website design By BotEap.com* Give the reader what you think they want to know.

Website design By BotEap.com* Ask yourself what the specific topic of your article is.

Website design By BotEap.com* Read the article out loud, listen carefully to yourself.

Website design By BotEap.com* Look for the common theme that comes up.

Website design By BotEap.com* Select quotes and data of interest.

Website design By BotEap.com* Broaden the focus of your article.

Website design By BotEap.com* Summarize this axis in two or three sentences.

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