- Give the most important information at the beggining, in the very first sentence. Although it may be tempting to save the best for last, this is not news style.
- Try to include the who, what, where, when, why, and how in your opening sentence (lead).
- Keep sentences short and to the point.
- Don't give your opinions. This is appropriate in opinion essays, but it is considered unprofessional in news-writing.
- Avoid making conclusions. While necessary to an essay, journalists present the facts and leave their readers to draw their own conclusions.
Read this example (from Reuters):
A meteorite streaked across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, raining fireballs over a vast area and causing a shock wave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured 1,200 people.
People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt the shock wave, according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow.
The fireball, travelling at a speed of 30 km (19 miles) per second according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, had blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail that could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away.
Car alarms went off, thousands of windows shattered and mobile phone networks were disrupted. The Interior Ministry said the meteorite explosion, a very rare spectacle, also unleashed a sonic boom.
"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it were day," said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.
"I felt like I was blinded by headlights."
Write a piece of news following these guidelines and send it to the blog.
