Newspaper Features

News Article Key Features

Reporters, journalists, or writers, write about real current events. They use facts about the events and also opinions of interviewed people, depending on what the article is about.

Key Features of a newspaper article:

• Reports real current events.

• Begins with a headline and a byline

• Gives the most important information in the lead.

• Includes supporting sentences with facts, details, and explanations.

• Often includes text features, such as photos and captions.

Reports real current events

A news report should be about something that is happening now or recently occurred. Current issues, key events make good subjects for news reports.

Headline and a byline

This is the title of the article. A headline should be short and snappy and grab the attention of readers making them want to read more.

The lead

The lead, or opening paragraph, is the most important part of a news story.

If you are willing to write a news report, check the facts

A news report is characterized by its use of facts, this is what differentiates it from an opinion piece. Anyone can create an internet page, so it is essential to use reliable sources of information and double-check your facts. Some sources can be trusted more than others, but all facts should be checked in two different places. Which of the sources to the right do you think are the most trustworthy? Where would you place them on the scale to the right? The exercise of writing a news report should help pupils in understanding to distinguish between fact and opinion.

Make sure that the report answers the five Ws

Make sure that the report answers the five Ws and how questions

WHAT happened?

WHEN did it happen?

WHY did it happen?

WHERE did it happen?

WHO did it happen to?

HOW did it happen?

Fill in the Blanks

Multiple Choice

What is number two?

• headline

• sub headline

• byline

Multiple Choice

What is number three showing?

• captions

• headline

• image

Multiple Choice

What is number 9 showing?

• image

• facts and details

• captions

Multiple Choice

Which number shows the lead?

• 1

• 4

• 2