1. Timeliness. Based on the idea that news is something you didn’t know before which is significant or interesting to a group of readers, news items are basically timely or immediate. In other words, items are fresh and new as usually indicated in the news by the use of words “today”...

1. News Feature. This is some kind of a news event but the story goes deeper than a news item as more background information and related details are presented and expounded on. 2. Character Sketch or Profile. This article features a person, popular or not, rich or poor, but has done something worth...

Frequently Asked Questions in News Writing Source: Secondary Schools Handbook in Campus Journalism By: Dr. Lourdes D. Servito 1. What is a straight news? Answer: A straight news story as its name implies, is an article that reports about an event, incident or happening in a straight-forward manner,...

(World Teachers’ Day, October 5, 2005) Happy World Teachers’ Day to everyone! Amidst the turbulent waters of educational crisis, Poverty and the trying times, we can still choose to be happy; Paragons of righteousness and proper values we ought to be, Yearning for a better life, and wholesome...

Upon overhearing my sister Dolour say “rent-a-friend,” my ever-curious mind was instantly triggered. I can’t get my head off of the thought. It even haunted me during bedtime. My fingers were itching to write. I know houses are for rent, cars too, gowns, and just recently, bags and accessories...

Flood water level came up one inch every 60 seconds as dams released 100 cubic meters of rain water per second; overflowed rivers ran 20-30 miles per hour; helpless people stuck waiting on their roofs, even the rich and the famous weren’t spared; some perilously clang on to trees or held tight...

Tips in Feature Writing 1. Avoid Wordiness. If you can express your thoughts in one or a few words or phrases the better. This would make your feature story more profound and would avoid the “elementary” and running-round-the-bush effect. Prefer words or phrases that are featurized and concise....

The design of the 1st rice field art in Thailand One Friday night as I was watching the news over GMA 7, I came across a headline about Thailand’s rice field art — an art of strategically planting different colors of rice  showing amazing patterns as the rice plants grow months later. Aside...

It was my niece Thea Louralei’s 2nd birthday. After church at 4 p.m. everyone was busy in the kitchen. Her mommy Dolour prepared some spaghetti, macaroni salad, and home-made ice cream. Her Auntie April cooked special fried chicken – a recipe of her own, while her Grandma and Grandpa had birthday...

Source: Secondary Schools Handbook in Campus Journalism By: Dr. Lourdes D. Servito 1. Headlines are telegraphic or short cut, basically because space on newspapers is highly considered. So some words can be substituted by punctuation marks. Example 1: 800 mentors and students participated in the writing...