Before writing a newspaper article, one must have an understanding of the
different types of articles contained in a newspaper. Most news articles are news
stories and focus only on the facts but editorials and columns are not considered
real news stories and usually reflect the opinion of their writer. There are several
types of news articles*:
A local news article focuses on what's going on in your neighbourhood. An
example of a local news story would be an article on a city council
meeting.
A national news article focuses on what's happening in the country. An
example of a national news article would be an article on the Canadian
government passing a new bill.
An international news article focuses on news that's happening outside the
country. A story on an influenza outbreak in China would be considered an
international news story.
A feature article is an article that is about "softer" news. A feature may be
a profile of a person who does a lot of volunteer work in the community or
a movie preview. Feature articles are not considered news stories.
An editorial is an article that contains the writer's opinion. Editorials are
usually run all together on a specific page of the paper and focus on
current events. Editorials are not considered news stories.
A column is an article written by the same person on a regular basis. A
columnist (the writer of the column) writes about subjects of interest to
him/her, current events or community happenings. Columns are not
considered news stories (-No author).
There are certain aspects that characterize a newspaper article. These
distinguishing features need to be considered before writing about a topic in
order to have a well structured article.
Headline and Byline
All newspaper articles should be set off with a headline. The headline shouldn’t
be a summarization of the article; instead it should serve the purpose of getting
the reader’s attention. The byline should usually follow the headline. This states
the author’s full name. In some cases the byline can occur and the end of the
article. Remember to not use the first person point of view in your article (-Mass).
Lead Paragraph
The lead paragraph is the first one in a news story. Usually, the lead is one
sentence long and summarizes the facts of the news story in order of most
newsworthy to least news-worthy (-Knox). The lead paragraph should not tease