by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: September 22, 2010   Last Updated: November 17, 2010

First make sure it is news, not old stories made to look new. Learning how to write news story is done by observation, as well as by academic learning. In Journalism the basics of writing a news story is taught, and students learn by practice. All that is good, is as it should be, but what about citizen journalism? For instance, how can a busy housewife that has been writing in her free time since first entering the first grade in school, or the busy father who is a night watchman at a nearby plant and a doting father during the day, taking his children to school, picking them up afterward, while his wife teaches, learn the art of the news story? 

The easiest way is to read the local newspaper, and observe carefully the way the front page stories are written. Aside that, of course, you can read what other writers, Helium in particular, have to say about journalism writing, take an evening class, go to school long distance, but why not take the most affordable means, and learn by reading the newspaper. Note here, you don't write an article by copying anything they have written, you don't even begin to write a story with their copy in front of you, it is a learning tool only. 

How to begin? Dissect that first long paragraph. Learn who is doing what, when it was done, where it is being done, how it is being done, and why it is being done. These generally are long sentences that are written with only a few breathing lulls - commas. Accomplished journalists paint a picture of an entire scene just that easily. Busy folk can read this first long sentence to know the whole story, and if they are pressed for time, and the story is not exactly earth shaking, they may move on scanning the whole paper by this method of headline reading and by only reading the first paragraph. 

The rest of the story will fill in details of the story, why it possibly happened, as told by first hand observers -  journalist only reports the news, and remains unbiased and keeps opinions to themselves. The citizen journalist who  is learning the trade will do likewise if they ever expect to be taken seriously. Get to know the story from many different viewpoints. Online, search out breaking news stories and read different versions from different papers. No two writers, and journalists are no exception,  are alike and reading various writing methods will give you a broad picture of journalism. To get various views of news writing, check out How to write news stories. 

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