How to write a news article? Five common structures are easy to fix! reprint

Besides the inverted pyramid structure, what other common structures are there in news manuscript writing?

What is the structure of hard news and soft news?

This paper sorts out five common news manuscript structures to help you master news writing skills quickly.

Inverted pyramid structure is the most common structure in news reports, especially hard news. According to the statistics of American scholars, the news written in inverted pyramid structure accounts for about 80% of the total news in the United States. The so-called inverted pyramid structure means putting the most important content in the front, the more important content in the second paragraph and the least important content in the last paragraph, just like an inverted pyramid, the importance of the content of the article gradually decreases with the development of the article.

The inverted pyramid structure can be divided into four parts: introduction, explanation, expansion and ending. In the era of thick newspaper, readers live in media bombardment. Cable TV, SMS, online news and dozens of newspapers have made readers impetuous, and no one will patiently read a whole newspaper from beginning to end. Once the lead is not attractive, the whole news will slip away from the readers. So the inverted pyramid structure is to put the climax of the story, the most important and newsworthy content or plot at the beginning of the manuscript, and then supplement and expand the details in the following paragraphs.

The beginning of the press release is very important. Journalists should get down to business and be concise, instead of reciting poems and presenting literary talents. The length of the lead should be controlled within 150 words. In addition, one way to test the quality of hard news lead is to see whether it can be used as a news newsletter that can be written independently.

Followed by the introduction, the story enters the explanation part, stating the main facts of the article, the individuals and organizations involved in the incident, and controversial issues. The opening part further expounds the main points, reveals more details, adds depth and color to the article, and adds some quotations from the participants. The last part summarizes the article, combining with multiple contexts of the article, or directly quoting the words of the event participants. But the ending should not contain new information or put forward important themes and conclusions. In general, the ending should be brushed aside.

The pyramid structure of the works also causes difficulties in news writing, that is, the writing of news articles does not follow the general logic. Manuscripts sometimes start with a thunder, but end with a mosquito-like buzz. Because the inverted pyramid lacks logic, many close-up reporters think that this structure is not completely suitable for telling stories. Then came three other structures: the pyramid structure, the hourglass structure and the Wall Street Journal.

Similar to the structure of short stories, it starts with details and puts the climax of the story at the end. This structure is especially suitable for guiding readers' emotions and letting readers get emotional sublimation at the end of reading.

It is a combination structure of inverted pyramid and positive pyramid: the key facts in news are stacked at the beginning of the manuscript according to their importance, and the following paragraphs are combined according to the sequence of events. The advantage of hourglass structure is that it not only has the attractive beginning of inverted pyramid structure, but also strengthens the dramatization of the stories told in chronological order later.

The style of the Wall Street Journal follows a fixed pattern: from concrete to general. The article begins with a short story or a description, which may be someone or something. This story bears the theme of the article. Then the reporter will point out that this story is not a special case, but one of thousands of similar stories.

Here, the reporter will use a paragraph called "core paragraph" to clarify the purpose of the report and why this story is important. The following contents provide various evidences for the theme of the article. At the end of the article, the reporter will use a direct quotation or a short story to trace back to the beginning of the article, aiming to arouse readers' thinking.

The style of the Wall Street Journal is not unique to the Wall Street Journal. Many reporters use this method to report stories. It was named because the Wall Street Journal invented the concept of "core segment" and actively advocated its reporters to use this style because it is suitable for reporting current news.

standard

What is the criterion for judging the value of news?

Media usually use two standards:

(1) seriously disturbs the normal order;

(2) The greater the loss caused by abnormal events, the more prominent the news value.

However, storytelling news is not about writing these extreme events, but the process of writing news. Excellent news works tell good stories. Storytelling news is to capture the audience with the stories in the news.

Storytelling news is a writing style that highlights the art of description, emphasizing the stimulation of text description to the senses, requiring journalists to report news with sensory and visual words like masters of language art and explore the significance of this story to readers' lives.