Study smarter with Fiveable
Get study guides, practice questions, and cheatsheets for all your subjects. Join 500,000+ students with a 96% pass rate.
News writing isn't just about putting words on a page—it's a disciplined craft built on principles that have evolved over more than a century of professional journalism. When you're tested on these elements, you're being asked to demonstrate understanding of why journalists write the way they do: how structure serves readers, how sourcing builds credibility, and how word choice shapes public understanding. These aren't arbitrary rules; they're solutions to real problems journalists face every day.
The elements of news writing connect directly to larger course themes about journalism's democratic function, media credibility, and the tension between speed and accuracy. Don't just memorize that the inverted pyramid puts important information first—understand that this structure emerged because telegraph lines could fail mid-transmission, and newspapers needed the essential facts to arrive first. Know what principle each element serves, and you'll be ready for any FRQ that asks you to analyze journalistic practice.
These elements determine how information flows from headline to final paragraph, ensuring readers can quickly access what matters most.
Compare: Lead writing vs. headline writing—both must capture the story's essence quickly, but leads can develop context across a sentence or paragraph while headlines must accomplish this in just a few words. If an FRQ asks about reader engagement, discuss how these elements work together.
Before writing begins, journalists need systematic approaches to ensure they've captured complete, accurate information.
Compare: The Five Ws and H vs. news values—the Five Ws ensure a story is complete, while news values determine whether it's worth telling in the first place. Both are essential but operate at different stages of the journalistic process.
These elements protect journalism's most valuable asset: the audience's belief that what they're reading is true and fair.
Compare: Attribution vs. accuracy—attribution tells readers where information comes from, while accuracy ensures the information is correct. A story can be well-attributed but still contain errors if the sources themselves are wrong. Strong journalism requires both.
How journalists write—their word choices, sentence structures, and overall clarity—directly affects whether audiences understand and engage with the news.
Compare: Concise language vs. active voice—both improve clarity, but concise language focuses on word economy while active voice focuses on sentence structure. A story can use active voice but still be wordy, or be brief but passive. Master journalists deploy both.
| Concept | Best Examples |
|---|---|
| Story structure | Inverted pyramid, lead writing, headline writing |
| Information gathering | Five Ws and H, news values |
| Building credibility | Attribution, accuracy, objectivity |
| Clear communication | Concise language, active voice |
| Reader engagement | Lead writing, headline writing |
| Editorial decision-making | News values, inverted pyramid |
| Preventing misinformation | Fact-checking, attribution, accuracy |
| Democratic function | Objectivity, clear language, accessibility |
Which two elements work together to ensure readers can quickly grasp a story's most important information, and how do they differ in scope?
If an FRQ asks you to explain how journalism maintains public trust, which three elements would you discuss, and what principle connects them?
Compare and contrast the Five Ws and H with news values—at what stage of the journalistic process does each apply, and what problem does each solve?
A journalist writes: "Mistakes were made in the handling of funds." Which two elements of news writing does this sentence violate, and how would you fix it?
Why did the inverted pyramid structure become standard practice, and how does understanding its historical origins help you explain its continued relevance today?