How to write a NEWSPAPER REPORT

How to write a NEWSPAPER REPORT

By Juen Li Choong

What is a Newspaper Report?

A newspaper report is a news story in newspapers and are designed to provide people with information about what is happening in the world. News is new information and is usually something that has just happened. All news reports follow a certain structure and have the same key features.

Some typical features:

Make your headline short and snappy.

In the first sentence sum up what the story is about.

Write your report in the third person and the past tense.

Split your newspaper report up into paragraphs to help the reader clearly understand the information.

Use both direct and reported speech (keep this in mind for later)

Use suitable tone and voice - objective and formal - no colloquial language.

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In newspaper reports, journalists often use passive forms of reporting verbs.

Why?

To avoid any bias

To avoid making inaccurate statements

To distance the journalist from the source of the information

Some useful formal reporting verbs

Believe, claim, expect, know, hope, report, understand

It is believe that...

It is known that...

It is understood that...

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Direct Speech ?
Reported Speech?

Direct Speech / Quotations

Mrs. Elena, the Head of English, commented: 'There are truly no words to what I witnessed.'

Mr. Jake, an English teacher, said, 'I didn't expect to see this type of behaviour.'

Reported Speech

Mrs. Elena, the Head of English, commented that it was truly distressing.

Mr. Jake, an English teacher, said that she was shocked by what she saw.

​Reported Speech	​Direct speech
​said that she was shocked by what she saw	​'I didn't expect to see this type of behaviour.'
​No quotation marks	​Quotation marks
​Sometimes paraphrases what has been said	​The exact words that the person has said
​3rd person pronouns 'she'	​1st person pronouns 'I'
​Different tense (shocked/saw - past)	​Different tense (to see - present)
​'that' to introduce reported words.	​

Headlines / Titles need to be short and catchy

• Alliteration - Students Shocked Over School Shut Down

• Powerful vocabulary - Small Town Plummets Into Darkness

• Statements/Declarative - Dust Haze Settles Over City

• Puns - Kanye Believe It?

  (When Kanye West ruined Taylor Swift's Grammy speech)

• Rhetorical Questions - When is Enough Enough?