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How to Write a News Article

Last Updated: January 13, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,341,476 times.

Writing a news article is different from writing other articles or informative pieces because news articles present information in a specific way. It's important to be able to convey all the relevant information in a limited word count and give the facts to your target audience concisely. Knowing how to write a news article can help a career in journalism , develop your writing skills and help you convey information clearly and concisely.

Things You Should Know

  • Outline your article with all the facts and interview quotes you’ve gathered. Decide what your point of view on the topic is before you start writing.
  • Your first sentence is the most important one—craft an attention-getter that clearly states the most important information.
  • Proofread for accurate information, consistent style and tone, and proper formatting.

Sample Articles

how to write a news report on web media explain

Planning Your Article

Step 1 Research your topic.

  • If you’ve ever written a research paper you understand the work that goes into learning about your topic. The first phase of writing a news article or editorial is pretty similar.
  • Who - who was involved?
  • What - what happened?
  • Where - where did it happen?
  • Why - why did it happen?
  • When - when did it happen?
  • How - how did it happen?

Step 2 Compile all your facts.

  • 1) those that need to be included in the article.
  • 2) those that are interesting but not vital.
  • 3) those that are related but not important to the purpose of the article.
  • This fact list will help prevent you from leaving out any relevant information about the topic or story, and will also help you write a clean, succinct article.
  • Be as specific as possible when writing down all of these facts. You can always trim down unnecessary information later, but it’s easier to cut down than it is to have to beef up an article.
  • It’s okay at this point to have holes in your information – if you don’t have a pertinent fact, write down the question and highlight it so you won’t forget to find it out
  • Now that you have your facts, if your editor has not already assigned the type of article, decide what kind of article you’re writing. Ask yourself whether this is an opinion article, an unbiased and straightforward relaying of information, or something in between. [2] X Research source

Step 3 Create an article outline.

  • If you’ve ever heard the term “burying the lead”, that is in reference to the structure of your article. [4] X Research source The “lead” is the first sentence of the article – the one you “lead” with. Not "burying the lead" simply means that you should not make your readers read several paragraphs before they get to the point of your article.
  • Whatever forum you’re writing for, be it print or for the web, a lot of readers don’t make it to the end of the article. When writing a news article, you should focus on giving your readers what they want as soon as possible.
  • Write above the fold. The fold comes from newspapers where there’s a crease because the page gets folded in half. If you look at a newspaper all the top stories are placed above the fold. The same goes for writing online. The virtual fold is the bottom of your screen before you have to scroll down. Put the best information at the top to engage your readers and encourage them to keep reading.

Step 4 Know your audience.

  • Ask yourself the “5 W's” again, but this time in relation to your audience.
  • Questions like what is the average age you are writing for, where is this audience, local or national, why is this audience reading your article, and what does your audience want out of your article will inform you on how to write.
  • Once you know who you are writing for you can format an outline that will get the best information to the right audience as quickly as possible.

Step 5 Find an angle.

  • Even if you are covering a popular story or topic that others are writing about, look for an angle that will make this one yours.
  • Do you have a personal experience that relates to your topic? Maybe you know someone who is an expert that you can interview .

Step 6 Interview people.

  • People usually like to talk about personal experiences, especially if it will be featured somewhere, like your news article. Reach out through a phone call, email, or even social media and ask someone if you can interview them.
  • When you do interview people you need to follow a few rules: identify yourself as a reporter. Keep an open mind . Stay objective. While you are encouraged to ask questions and listen to anecdotes, you are not there to judge.
  • Record and write down important information from the interview, and be transparent with what you are doing and why you are doing this interview.

Writing Your News Article

Step 1 Start with the lead.

  • Your lead should be one sentence and should simply, but completely, state the topic of the article.
  • Remember when you had to write essays for school? Your lead is like your thesis statement.
  • Let your readers know what your news article is about, why it’s important, and what the rest of the article will contain.

Step 2 Give all the important details.

  • These details are important, because they are the focal point of the article that fully informs the reader.
  • If you are writing an opinion piece , this is where you will state what your opinion is as well.

Step 3 Follow up main facts with additional information.

  • This additional information helps round out the article and can help you transition to new points as you move along.
  • If you have an opinion, this is where you will identify the opposing views and the people who hold them.
  • A good news article will outline facts and information. A great news article will allow readers to engage on an emotional level.
  • To engage your readers, you should provide enough information that anyone reading your news article can make an informed opinion, even if it contrasts with yours.
  • This also applies to a news article where you the author don’t state your opinion but present it as an unbiased piece of information. Your readers should still be able to learn enough about your topic to form an opinion.

Step 4 Conclude your article.

  • Make sure your news article is complete and finished by giving it a good concluding sentence. This is often a restatement of the leading statement (thesis) or a statement indicating potential future developments relating to the article topic.
  • Read other news articles for ideas on how to best accomplish this. Or, watch news stations or shows. See how a news anchor will wrap up a story and sign off, then try to emulate that.

Proofing Your Article

Step 1 Check facts before publishing.

  • Be sure to double check all the facts in your news article before you submit it, including names, dates, and contact information or addresses. Writing accurately is one of the best ways to establish yourself as a competent news article writer.

Step 2 Ensure you have followed your outline and have been consistent with style.

  • If your news article is meant to convey direct facts, not the opinions of its writer, ensure you’ve kept your writing unbiased and objective. Avoid any language that is overly positive or negative or statements that could be construed as support or criticism.
  • If your article is meant to be more in the style of interpretive journalism then check to make sure that you have given deep enough explanations of the larger story and offered multiple viewpoints throughout.

Step 3 Follow the AP Style for formatting and citing sources.

  • When quoting someone, write down exactly what was said inside quotations and immediately cite the reference with the person’s proper title. Formal titles should be capitalized and appear before a person’s name. Ex: “Mayor John Smith”.
  • Always write out numbers one through nine, but use numerals for numbers 10 and up.
  • When writing a news article, be sure to only include one space after a period, not two. [12] X Research source

Step 4 Have your editor read your article.

  • You shouldn’t submit any news article for publication without first letting someone take a look at it. An extra pair of eyes can double check your facts and the information to ensure that what you have written is accurate.
  • If you are writing a news article for school or your own personal website, then have a friend take a look at it and give you notes. Sometimes you may get notes that you want to defend or don’t agree with it. But these should be listened to. Remember, with so many news articles getting published every minute you need to ensure that your widest possible audience can easily digest the information you have provided.

Expert Q&A

Gerald Posner

  • Start with research and ask the “5. Asking these questions will help you create an outline and a narrative to your article. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Interview people, and remember to be polite and honest about what you are writing. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Put the most important information at the beginning of your article. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

how to write a news report on web media explain

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Write a Newspaper Column

Expert Interview

how to write a news report on web media explain

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about writing an article, check out our in-depth interview with Gerald Posner .

  • ↑ https://libguides.mit.edu/select-topic
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/writing-resources/different-genres/news-writing-fundamentals
  • ↑ https://libguides.southernct.edu/journalism/howtowrite
  • ↑ https://spcollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=254319&p=1695313
  • ↑ https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/cm360
  • ↑ https://mediahelpingmedia.org/basics/how-to-find-and-develop-important-news-angles/
  • ↑ https://www.northwestern.edu/brand/editorial-guidelines/newswriting-guidelines/
  • ↑ https://tacomacc.libguides.com/c.php?g=599051&p=4147190
  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/ap_style.html
  • ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/punctuation/space-after-period
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

Gerald Posner

To write a news article, open with a strong leading sentence that states what the article is about and why it’s important. Try to answer the questions who, what, where, when, and why as early in the article as possible. Once you’ve given the reader the most important facts, you can include any additional information to help round out the article, such as opposing views or contact information. Finish with a strong concluding sentence, such as an invitation to learn more or a statement indicating future developments. For tips on researching your article, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How To Write a News Article (+4 Tools, Examples & Template)

how to write a news report on web media explain

By Dmytro Spilka

Nov 6, 2019

How To Write a News Article

By the late 1400s, the printing press had been perfected, and Germany began publishing pamphlets containing news content. Realising the power of printed news, several papers in London became popularised in the years following 1621.

Almost 400 years later, the transition from print to online has had a profound impact on the way we consume news and subsequently, how we create it. You’ve probably already noticed that the morning paper covers the news that was instantaneously delivered to your mobile device the night before.

The nature of online news reporting allows journalists to simultaneously watch an event unfold and update their readers in real-time. Both print and online news articles aim to discuss current or recent news in local happenings, politics, business, trade, technology and entertainment.

Typically, a news article on any topic and at any level will contain 5 vital components for success . This is what separates news-article writing from other forms of writing.

1. Headline

These 5-12 words should deliver the gist of the whole news. In most cases, it’s important not to play with words or to be too cryptic. A news article headline should be clear and succinct and tell the reader what the article is about. Should they find the topic interesting, they will probably read the article.

Headline

Whilst headlines should be clear and matter-of-fact, they should also be attention-grabbing and compelling. According to some sources, eight out of ten people will read headline copy and only two will continue to read the rest of the article (Campaign). So, if 80% of people are unlikely to ever make it past the headline, there is plenty of room to spend extra time in crafting the perfect headline for your news article.

This BBC headline definitely makes people give it a second look. At first glance, you probably noticed the words “Goat” and “Ronald Reagan” and wondered what on earth has brought this farm animal and 80s U.S. president to exist within the same sentence- let alone the same headline . Closer inspection lets the reader know that the article is about goats’ helping to save the Presidential library in the California fires. Most would want to know how, so they read on.

Byline

Put simply, this string of words tells people who wrote the article and is usually prefaced by the word ‘by’. This component really depends on the company you write for. Whilst most magazines and newspapers use bylines to identify journalists, some don’t. The Economist, for example, maintains a historical tradition where bylines are omitted and journalists remain anonymous. In such cases, the news article reflects the publication as a whole.

3. Lead paragraph

This is the section to get straight down to the facts and there is no time for introductions. A lead paragraph must be constructed to attract attention and maintain it. To do this, the basic news points and facts should be relayed without digressing into detail or explanation. Those are forthcoming in the next section of the article.

Included in the lead are what journalists refer to as the 5 Ws: Who, what, when, where and why. To some extent, by simply stating each W, some form of lead is automatically formed. For example; “ An off duty nurse and paramedic used a makeshift tourniquet to save the life of British tourist whose foot was bitten off by a shark in Australia on Tuesday”.

  • Who – an off duty nurse and paramedic and a British tourist
  • What – built a makeshift tourniquet
  • When – Tuesday 29th October 2019 (article published Wednesday 30th October 2019)
  • Where – Australia
  • Why – to save the life of the British tourist

This should conclude your lead paragraph and have your readers engaged and interested to learn more about the news. Resist the temptation to include additional details about the event as they have no place here. Structure is everything and you wouldn’t want to mess up the flow of the overall piece.

4. Explanation/discussion

A good place to start when writing the paragraph that follows your lead is to jump into the shoes of your readers and think about what they might want to know next. What are the factors that seem obscure, or most fascinating and is there scope to delve into more explanatory detail to put it into the wider context?

To do this well, the writer must have access to the answers to these questions.

Expanding on the details of your 5 Ws is all about providing in-depth coverage on all the important aspects of your news. Here, you should reflect on your first-hand information. Add relevant background information that explores the wider context. In other words, consider whether this story has implications on anything else.

Quote

Include supporting evidence in this section. This can take the form of quotations from people involved or opinions of industry experts. Referring to credible sources in your news article will add value to the information you publish and help to validate your news.

Ensure that the use of your quotations add value and are informative. There is little use in providing a quote that doesn’t shed light on new information. If the point has been made clear in your lead paragraph – there is no need to repeat it here.

For example, “An off duty nurse saved the life of a British tourist’, said Police Chief John Adams.” This quote tells the reader what they already know as this is the information stated in the lead.

Rather, “It was a long way back to shore and if he continued to bleed that much all the way back I’m not sure he’d have made it” – said Emma Andersson, off duty nurse.’ The inclusion of this quote gives a deeper insight into the severity of the incident and adds value to the article.

5. Additional information

This space is reserved for information of less relevance. For example, if the news article is too long, get the main points down in the preceding paragraphs and then make a note of the trivial details. This part can also include information about similar events or facts that somewhat relate to the news story.

What makes a news article so powerful

The ultimate aim of a news article is to relay information in a specific way that is entertaining, informative, easily digestible and factual . For a news article to be effective, it should incorporate a range of writing strategies to help it along. It should be:

Active not passive

Writing in the active tense creates a more personal link between the copy and the reader. It’s more conversational and has been found to engage the audience more. It also requires fewer words, so shorter and snappier sentences can be formed.

For example “A British tourist’s life was saved by an off duty nurse” is longer and less colloquial than “An off duty nurse saved a British tourists’ life”. The latter is easily understood, more conversational and reads well.

Positive, not negative

Whilst it is true that certain publications might use language to swing the sentiment of their copy, news should give the reader the information they need to inform their own opinion . The best way to do this is to avoid being both negative or positive. A neutral tone reads well and draws attention to key issues.

It’s often more effective if your news article describes something that is actually happening rather than something that’s not. For example, rather than stating that “the government has decided not to introduce the planned tuition funding for university students this academic year” a more palatable account of the event would be “the government has abandoned plans to fund university tuition this academic year”.

Quote accurately

We now know that the use of quotations belongs in your explanatory paragraph. They validate what you’ve said and inject emotion and sentiment to your copy. But what makes a good quote? And how and when are they useful?

Writers should be able to differentiate between effective and ineffective quotes. They should also appreciate that a poorly selected quote placed in an inappropriate paragraph has the power to kill the article.

Consider who you are quoting. Is their opinion of interest to your readers? Quotes that are too long can grind on your reader’s attention. Especially if they are from bureaucrats, local politicians or generally just boring people with nothing significant to say. Rather, the shorter and snappier the quote, the better. Bald facts, personal experiences or professional opinions can add character and depth to the facts you’ve already laid out.

Direct quotes provide actuality. And Actuality provides your article with validation. Speeches and reports are a great source of quotes by people that matter to your story. Often such reports and transcripts can be long and tiresome documents. Great journalistic skill is to be able to find a usable quote and shorten it to make it more comprehensible. Second to this skill is to know precisely when the actual words used by a person should be quoted in full.

Remember, people ‘say’ things when they speak. They don’t “exclaim, interject, assert or opine”. Therefore, always use the word “said” when attributing a quote. For example, “three arrests were made on the scene” said PC Plum.

Sound use of adjectives

The golden rule here is that adjectives should not raise questions in the reader’s mind, rather they should answer them. Naturally, an adjective raises further questions. For example:

  • ‘Tall’ – how tall?
  • ‘Delightful’ – according to whom?
  • ‘Massive’ – relative to what?

Unless followed by further information, adjectives can be subjective. However, this isn’t always bad. If they contribute to the relevance of the story, keep them. Just be sure to ponder each one as to whether they raise more questions in the reader’s mind.

Lastly, it’s always better to approach news-style writing directly and specifically. Use words like ‘gold, glitter, silver,’ instead of ‘bright and sparkly’. Being specific isn’t dull or boring. It allows readers’ to follow the article with a more accurate understanding of the news. Vagueness does not.

No Jargon or abbreviations

Those working in an organisation or specific industry will often take for granted the fact they’re surrounded by jargon. It’s a convenient and efficient way to communicate with those who also understand it. These terms become somewhat of a secret language that acts to exclude those on the outside. This must be assumed at all times when writing news. There’s no telling whether an article on a new medical breakthrough will be read solely by medical practitioners and scientists. In fact, it almost certainly won’t be.

If readers feel lost in your article or have to look elsewhere for explanations and definitions of acronyms and abbreviations, it’s unlikely they’ll return. The rule here is to avoid them or explain them.

Be cautious with puns and cliches

Over and over you hear them and rarely do they evoke any positive response; cliches have no place in your news article. Yet, as for puns, lots of headline writers find these neat little linguistic phrases irresistible.

The problem is, they can be just as exclusive as unrecognisable jargon. References to the past that are well received by readers over 55 years old, means risking a large portion of readers being left out.

Is there a tasteful and refined way to use puns, cliches or metaphors ? Yes, but one always bears the risk of some readers not understanding and abandoning the article altogether. Take the following example:

The Sun’s headline “Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious” echoing Liverpool’s earlier “Super Cally goes ballistic, QPR atrocious”.

In all fairness, both are great puns and will have had most readers humming the Mary Poppins anthem all afternoon. But to fully appreciate this play on words, it helps to know that ‘Cally’  is the former footballer, Ian Callaghan and ‘Caley’ is the team Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Those with no interest or knowledge of football would have been immediately excluded from this article. However, given the fact that the article was clearly aimed at football enthusiasts or at least, fans, the aim was never to produce an all-inclusive article in the first place.

Write in plain English (make it easily digestible)

Articles written in plain English are easy to digest. This is especially important what discussing complex or technological news. Most readers won’t have the time to decipher cryptic or overly elaborate writing styles whilst keeping up with the news story being told.

Clear and unambiguous language, without technical or complex terms, should be used throughout. As the amount of news we consume each day has increased with the internet, mobile devices and push notifications, it is important to keep things simple. We now have the pleasure and task of retaining more news than ever before. This is easier to do when the news we consume is clear, succinct and written in plain English.

Be timely and up to date

News gets old fast. Today’s news is tomorrow’s history. So, timeliness in the news industry is imperative to its success. Similarly to freshly baked goods – news should be served fresh. Once it’s old and stale, nobody’s interested in it. Don’t, however, take the risk of serving it before it’s ready.

There is great skill attached to being a timely journalist. Capabilities must range from gathering research in good time, to writing content at speed and editing accurately under pressure. There are a few things you can do to help stay on top of the latest affairs and find time to write.

First, a conscious effort to stay up to date with news on all levels is necessary. That is international affairs, governmental, regional and local levels. You should have a solid awareness of ongoing issues and debates across all mediums. For example, If there’ve been developments on ongoing peace treaties, you should be able to pick up the news story as it is – without the need to revise the entire story.

It’s likely that you’ll be under the pressure of several tight deadlines. Don’t just keep them in mind, write them down. Keeping a content calendar is an effective way to organise your time and make sure you’re hitting all deadlines accordingly. Whether it’s your phone calendar or an actual deadline diary, a visual representation of time can help you distribute tasks and stick to a schedule.

Always be available when a press release comes your way. If you’re not there to cover the story, someone else will. Organise a backup just in case you’re unavailable to make sure all necessary information reaches you in emergency situations. Having such a plan in place can save time when it comes to researching and writing news articles. The writing process becomes easier when all the material is at hand.

Make it entertaining

A good news article will entertain its readers. To do so, the article should contain some human interest. In general, it’s been found that people are interested in the lives of other people. An article that appeals to the voyeuristic part of human nature is immediately entertaining.

For example, a flood in an empty building doesn’t have nearly as much human interest as a flood in a building full of people and belongings. Sad, but true. Simply because we identify with each other, we are interested in reading about each other too.

If your story has an interesting or relatable person at the heart of it, it should fuel your article . Tug at the emotional strings of your readers and make a connection between them and your story. Look hard enough, and you’ll find human interest everywhere. Writing a business article about a new project manager with a passion for bringing tropical fruit flavours to toothpaste? There’s human interest here. We all use toothpaste – whilst some will be onboard with this idea, others will scoff and remain faithful to their dependable mint flavoured paste.

Prepare to tap into your inner literary comic. If the story you’re working on is funny, don’t hold back. Just as most journalists enjoy working on a story that hits their ‘quirky button’, most readers will be more inclined to read a story that plays on their humour strings.

Fact check everything

‘Fake news’ has become a familiar term, especially for journalists. Unverified facts and misleading claims have blurred the line between journalism and other content creation. It’s now more important than ever to fact check everything .

A good PR tip is to avoid a reputation disaster rather than repair one. You do not want to fall into the category of fake news. This might drive away potential returning readers and significantly reduce readership.

Using statistics, figures and facts are a great way to add validity and actuality to your article. They lend themselves to originality and make your article more credible when used correctly. Without checking the authenticity of these facts, you risk delivering an article that is grounded in fiction.

News article writing tools

To hit the nail on the head and deliver a news article that is well researched, well written and well-received; take advantage of some online writing tools to help you along the way.

1. Grammarly

Grammarly

This free and comprehensive writing tool is practically everything you need to craft grammatically correct and error-free copy. Not only does it check your spelling and grammar, but punctuation too. Grammarly uses context-specific algorithms that work across different platforms to help make your content flow seamlessly throughout.

2. Headline Analyzer

CoSchedule

Analyse your headlines for free and determine the Emotional Marketing Value score (EMV score).  Headline analyzer analyses and scores your headlines based on the total number of EMV words it has. Headline Analyzer also tells you which emotion your headline most impacts, so you know whether you’re on the right track from the get-go. So, along with your score, you’ll find out which emotion your headline piques at, be it intellectual, empathetic or spiritual.

Writing for the web requires a distinctive set of skills than those required for print. The way readers use the online space and in particular, the search engines have changed the way they consume news. Ultimately, out of the millions of web pages, readers should be able to find yours.

Be mindful of the words you use in your article. Search engines assume that content that contains words or phrases that have or are likely to be searched by researchers, is more relevant content. As such, it bumps it up to higher-ranking positions.

You can easily find out which precise words have been in popular searches and which phrases you should incorporate into your article. Use Ahrefs Keywords Explorer tool to explore seed keywords, industry keywords, and generate keyword ideas.

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

You can also use Ahrefs Content Explorer to search for any keyword and get popular content that drives traffic.

Content Explorer

4. Discussion forums

Moz Q&A

Online communities and discussion forums are a great source for journalists to broaden their network and keep up-to-date with the latest media news. Find useful tips and the latest news in the following groups:

  • Journalists on Facebook, contains more than 1.3 million fans and over 9,000 journalists. It’s one of the most established journalism communities online. You’ll find inspiration and a place to find and discuss breaking news.
  • LinkedIn for Journalists is a highly active community featuring a section dedicated to advice and discussion points for journalists. Take advantage of monthly free webinars that cover how to generate story leads, build sources and engage audiences.
  • /r/journalism on Reddit, opens the door to nearly 10,000 members, posting questions, advice, interesting news stories and professional opinions on recent and breaking news. Not only is it a source of news stories, but also a place to find an extremely diverse mix of opinions and story angles.

A structural combination of the essential components of a news article , as noted in the first section of this post, will put you in the right direction. Once you have your framework – made up of a working headline, lead, preliminary explanation and additional notes – you can begin to pack it with all the elements that bring a news article to life.

Turn to Ahrefs and online communities for inspiration and make use of writing and editing tools like Grammarly for the entire process. This will save you time editing (crucial in the news media world) and improve the quality of your article to get it to the top of those SERPs.

Remember, there’s always a human interest, you just have to find it. It’s this element that will determine the level of engagement your article stimulates. Just keep in mind, most people are either interested in how a news story will affect their own lives or how another person’s life is being affected.

By the end of the process, you should have a news article that is in good shape and ready to entertain, educate, inspire or inform your readers. The last thing to do but certainly no less crucial is to fact check everything. A sub-editor can be handy when it comes to catching typos and picking up grammatical errors, but fact-checking is primarily down to the writer.

News Article FAQ

[sc_fs_multi_faq headline-0=”h3″ question-0=”How long should a news article headline be?” answer-0=”Headlines that are between 5-12 words (up to 65 characters) are generally more effective.” image-0=”” headline-1=”h3″ question-1=”How long should a news article be?” answer-1=”The word count is unlimited. It all depends on the nature of your news article. However, as a general rule, Google needs at least 300 words of content to grasp the context of the page.” image-1=”” headline-2=”h3″ question-2=”How to cite a news article?” answer-2=”Generally, you would need to add the name of the source, the name of the author and a hyperlink to the original source.” image-2=”” headline-3=”h3″ question-3=”How to fact check a claim, statement or statistics?” answer-3=”The claim, statement or statistics must be verifiable by a credible source. Context plays a massive role in fact-checking, hence, simply taking citing figures may not qualify as proper fact-checking.” image-3=”” count=”4″ html=”true” css_class=””]

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How to Write Online News Articles

By NBCU Academy

Learn story-writing tips from the NBC News Digital team.

How do you write great online news articles? Learn about writing style and the elements of a news article from Julie Shapiro, assistant managing editor for NBC News Digital Enterprise. 

Journalistic writing should clearly inform the reader about a noteworthy event or development. Reporters should write online news stories in a way that’s engaging enough to keep the reader’s attention while also delivering the important facts. The following are the essential elements.

Right Arrow

The story should begin in an interesting way that is directly tied to the main point. This is usually referred to as a “lede” or “lead.” Readers have a lot of competition for their attention, so the story needs to grab them immediately. Use a dramatic anecdote, a surprising fact or an important breaking news update. 

Lede example

The nut graph     

The nut graph is the heart of the story. It explains what the news is about, why it’s timely and why readers should care. The nut graph can be one sentence or several paragraphs and should include the answers to who, what, when, where and why. It often places the new developments in context by describing the bigger picture. 

Nut Graph example

The body       

After the lede and nut graph, the rest of the story should start to fall into place. Rely on expert voices, analysis and key details.  

Quotes       

Quotes can be powerful, but use them sparingly so that they stand out. In general, a writer can paraphrase a point better than a character can. A good quote does more than just convey information — it can add color, drama and depth. 

Quote example

Selective details   

The rest of the story expands on the points made in the nut graph. Informative details could include examples, scenes and background information or sensory descriptions of the news scene. But choose wisely — too much detail can make the reader lose interest.

Selective Details example

Clear writing       

Write without jargon, and keep sentences clear and direct. If a sentence needs to be read more than once to understand its meaning, trim it down or take it out. Don’t include words or phrases that would be unfamiliar to most readers. 

The kicker  

End with something memorable. A short breaking news story may not need a formal ending, or kicker, but most stories should end with something memorable. A punchy quote is a good option. Other options include a forward-looking line on what’s next for an issue or character, or one last memorable takeaway for the reader. 

Kicker example

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Behind the story: covering afghanistan and american vets, the truth about name bias, copy editors are the unsung heroes of the newsroom, behind the story: four decades of aids in the u.s., take our free fundamentals of journalism course.

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how to write a news report on web media explain

  • Programmes NewsWise Behind the Headlines Hugo Young Award Scott Trust Bursary Media Makers Incubator for Independent Media Podcasting Guardian News & Media Archive Past Programmes
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Writing news reports

Newswise values.

This lesson focuses on  all  of the  NewsWise values .

Learning objective

To inform and engage an audience (first draft).

Learning outcomes

Write a first draft of a news report, using the structural and language features of news reports.

Explain how a news report meets the four NewsWise values.

Evaluate a peer’s news report, providing feedback on the language and structural features used.

Starter/baseline assessment

Pupils spend five minutes reviewing their pyramid plan, to remind themselves of the order of information in their reports, while also referring to their original news report plans for detailed information.

As a class, recap the structural and language features of news reporting. How will you begin your news report? Which information will you include in the middle section? How many quotes will you include? How will you end your report? What do you need to remember about using paragraphs in news reports?

Learning activity

Pupils write the first draft of their news reports, using the planning sheets which they created in previous lessons.

Give pupils deadlines throughout the session to replicate the newsroom experience. You may wish to split the sections of the report into separate tasks with a deadline for each one, eg: 5W introduction; quotes and reported speech from interviews; additional research on the topic; final paragraph.

Refer back to the class News report toolkit, as well as the Model news reports and News reporting language word banks from lesson 11 to support pupils to write in an authentic news report style and structure.

See Creating a newsroom for further ideas on how to create a newsroom in your classroom.

Note: pupils do not need to add ‘page furniture’ at this point - this happens in  lesson 15 .

Pupils share their news reports with a partner, providing feedback to each other based upon the following questions: which language features have they included in their news report? Have they begun their news report with a 5 W introduction? Have they included  interesting  information? Have they started a new paragraph for every new point? Is the news report  balanced ? Do you think it is a  truthful  and  fair  report? Why?

Questions for assessment

What is the purpose of your news report? 

Who is your audience? 

What do you need to include in your news report? 

How will you make sure that your news report is truthful, fair, balanced and interesting?

Core knowledge and skills

In this lesson, pupils write the first draft of their news reports (without the ‘page furniture’). 

Conduct the lesson as a writing lesson, in line with your usual practice. Remind pupils of the structural and language features of news reporting by referring to your class’s ‘news report toolkit’.

Use success criteria to remind pupils of the key features of a news report, including: inverted pyramid structure - beginning with the most important information, moving on to additional interesting details and quotes, finishing with what might happen next/similar stories that have happened before/a really good quote that sums up the story; 5 Ws introduction, starting with Who or What, not When; short paragraphs; concise, formal language; written in the third person and past tense; reported and direct speech; relative clauses.

Lesson plan pdf

Creating a newsroom in your classroom

News report toolkit

Inverted pyramid structure

5 W introductions

Model news reports

News reporting language

Curriculum links

Selecting appropriate form, grammar, vocabulary and punctuation; using paragraphs to structure ideas; building cohesion     

Reviewing and editing writing

Peer-editing   

Finished NewsWise?

Next lesson

Lesson 14: Subediting news reports

Previous lesson

Lesson 12: Recognising news report language

All lessons

All the NewsWise lesson plans

  • How to Write a News Report

How to Write a News Report? - Tips and Points to Remember

Writing a news report would be an easy task if you are interested in the news and are constantly updated with the latest events. A report is a brief story of an event that is happening or has already happened. Being a report writer, you must aim to write the report in an understandable way and ensure the message is conveyed to the readers. It must, therefore, be written in simple language. The subject of the news report has to be presented clearly, and the style of writing must be precise.

Read through the article to learn how to write a news report in English.

Table of Contents

How to write a news report, visiting the site, interviewing witnesses, transcribing the interviews, introduction of the report, body of the report, answering the 5ws and the h, writing in short sentences, attribution, factual check, concluding the news report, catchy headline, frequently asked questions on how to write a news report.

We all have the practice of reading the newspaper. At times, we just read the headlines. We decide to read the full news article only if the headline is interesting. The body also has to sound interesting or must be engaging enough; otherwise, we skip the news. Writing a news report is very different from writing a general article. A news report is an informative report, not an opinionated article. Take a look at the following section to understand how you can structure your news report.

Structure of a News Report

A news report should include the following,

  • Headline: It tells what the story is about.
  • Byline: It tells about the writer of the story.
  • Lead: Covers the most important facts.
  • Body: Includes a detailed account of the event/occurrence.
  • Ending: Talks about the solution or something to think about.

To get a better understanding of how to write a news report in English, we have provided a few tips for your reference.

Collection of Information

Collecting the right information is the primary thing before writing a news report. The main purpose of writing a report is to help the readers get true information about an event. To provide true information to the readers, you will have to provide proper evidence supporting it. Therefore, it is essential to collect as much information as possible to prove your point. There are multiple ways to collect and present information, some of which are mentioned below.

Site visiting is an interesting way of collecting and gathering all the information related to the event. It will help you find the exact data regarding the event. You can note everything you see and capture images to showcase as evidence.

While surveying, you can find a lot of people around you so that information can be collected from the witnesses. Their accounts may sound a little exaggerated at times; be smart enough to separate facts from fabricated information. To ensure you do not miss out on any information, you can record all your interviews.

After you have collected all the interviews, you can transcribe them to make them understandable to the readers.

Writing the Report – Steps to Follow

For a news report, the most important information comes from the headline and the first line of the report. The style of writing a news report must be like an inverted pyramid where the important information must be written in the first paragraph. The body of the report covers other information and supporting details related to the event. And the less important information must be added in the concluding paragraph.

While writing the report, make sure to start with the introductory paragraph, which must include the main story. The people involved, place and date have to be mentioned in this paragraph. This can be followed by a detailed account of the event/occurrence.

The body of the report must include other relevant information about the event. You can describe whatever you noted during the site visit and add the interviews you took. Make sure that the report is written in the third person point of view and in a neutral voice. It must be written in a way that sounds more informative rather than opinionated. There is not much place for personal emotions in a news report; it has to be objective.

While writing a news report, make sure you answer all the WH questions

  • What was the event?
  • Where did it take place?
  • When did it take place? (Date and Time)
  • Who was involved in the event?
  • Why did it happen?
  • How did the event happen?

After you have collected all these answers, you can begin writing the news report.

While writing a report, keep in mind that the sentences must be clear and concise. Do not write complex sentences. This will also help in using the apt vocabulary and in reducing grammatical errors.

Always acknowledge where you acquired the information unless it is common knowledge. Not giving credit to someone can get you in trouble.

A news report is different from an opinion piece in that only factual information is provided in a news report. Therefore, while writing a news report, make sure to collect all the facts and evidence and present them well in your report.

In the concluding paragraph, you can summarise your findings and also provide information related to a possible follow-up.

The headline plays a very crucial role in news report writing as it attracts the readers. A proper headline can be framed for a news report only after the writing is completed.

What is a news report?

A news report is a factual account of an event or an occurrence written with the intention of spreading information about what is happening in and around the world.

How do I write a news report?

Always follow the inverted pyramid style to write a news report. The important information is written at the beginning while leaving the less important parts until the end of the report. Write a catchy headline and keep the language simple and direct. Stick to facts and attribute facts to the source from which you acquired the information.

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Writing News Stories for the Web

Learn how to write for online news

Sam Edwards/Caiaimage/Getty Images

  • Writing Essays
  • Writing Research Papers
  • English Grammar
  • M.S., Journalism, Columbia University
  • B.A., Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Journalism’s future is clearly online, so it’s important for any aspiring journalist to learn the basics of writing for the web. Newswriting and web writing are similar in many ways, so if you’ve done news stories, learning to write for the web shouldn’t be hard.

Here are some tips to help you learn how to get started writing for online news.

Keep It Short

People generally read slower from a computer or phone screen than on paper. So if newspaper stories need to be short, online stories need to be even shorter. A general rule of thumb: Web content should have about half as many words as its printed equivalent.

So keep your sentences short and limit yourself to one main idea per paragraph. Short paragraphs look less imposing on a web page.

Break It Up

If you do have an article that’s on the long side, don’t try to cram it onto one web page. Break it up into several pages, using a clearly visible “continued on next page” link at the bottom.

Focus on SEO

Unlike newswriting, writing for the web has to take into consideration search engine optimization (SEO). You put in the work to write a great article, and you want people to see it online—this means following SEO best practices.

Research and apply Google’s content and technical guidelines for inclusion on the Google News page to ensure that your site’s articles pop up with other reputable publications. Incorporate relevant keywords and link to other articles within your site as well.

Write in the Active Voice

Remember the subject-verb-object model from newswriting? Use it for web writing as well. S-V-O sentences written in the active voice tend to be short, to the point, and clear.

Use the Inverted Pyramid

Summarize the main point of your article right at the start, just as you would in the lede of a news story . Put the most important information in the top half of your article, the less important details in the bottom half.

Highlight Key Words

Use boldface text to highlight especially important words and phrases. But use this sparingly; if you highlight too much text, nothing will stand out.

Use Bulleted and Numbered Lists

This is another way of highlighting important information and breaking up chunks of text that may be getting too long. Bulleted and numbered lists can help you organize details in a story in a way that is easily digestible for readers.

Use Subheads

This is key to the standard online journalism format. Subheads are another way to highlight points and break up text into user-friendly sections. Keep your subheads clear and informative so a reader can navigate the story or skim the page.

Use Hyperlinks Wisely

Use hyperlinks to bring readers extra, contextual information to your story. Keep in mind that it's best to hyperlink internally (to another page within your own site), and that if you can summarize the information succinctly without linking elsewhere, do so.

  • Six Tips for Writing News Stories That Will Grab a Reader
  • Avoid the Common Mistakes That Beginning Reporters Make
  • Learn to Write News Stories
  • 10 Important Steps for Producing a Quality News Story
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  • What Is Geotagging?

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How to Write a News Article: Video

  • What Is News?
  • How to Interview
  • The Intro or Lede
  • Article Format/Narrative
  • How To Write A Review
  • Writing News Style
  • Naming Sources
  • Revising/Proofreading
  • Photos/Graphics
  • The Future of News?

Adding Action and Sound

Video news is widely used, thanks to TV. The advantages of video is being able to show action with impact. Where print is a better tool for explanation, seeing a natural disaster in another part of the world will resonate with viewers who might overlook a story not in their area.

See a comparison of the live TV coverage from Sept. 11 - http://www.businessinsider.com/tv-covers-911-2011-9#

Preparing the story:

  • Do not just go out and start filming. Even a reporter covering breaking news is figuring out what is known and what needs to be researched on the way to the story.
  • Pick and choose the story that takes advantage of video. A report in front of a parking lot is just a backdrop for the report who’s limited to an abbreviated story.
  • Keep notes on everything cut or uncut for reference, particularly date and time.
  • Choose sound bites for subjective information: opinion, reaction, experience, emotion.
  • Don’t interview just anybody and especially be careful not to only interview the person in charge.

Constructing the story:

Broadcast news needs dramatic unity . Show the climax of the story - the fire, the shooting, the protest, or whatever event brought attention to the story. Then explain the cause and follow up with the effect.

  • Use short sentences, active verbs, and conversational style.
  • the lead-in or introduction read by the anchor
  • the package or story delivered by the reporter
  • the tag or end delivered by either.
  • Name your source 1st so the viewer doesn’t think you’re reporting your opinion.
  • Nothing in a script should be difficult to read. Leave out details such as addresses. Cut out unnecessary words.
  • The visual is more powerful than the audio so any voiceover should be only necessary explanation.

Unlike print, an open-ended question can lead to too much information. Keep your questions focused, but not leading. The subject still needs to tell their view.

Shooting the story:

  • The camera picks up every gesture and expression. Always be professional.
  • Remember the story is not about you. Focus on your subject and you’ll appear natural and interested.
  • Wear solid colors and keep makeup, hair styles, and jewelry subtle.
  • Fill the frame when shooting. You want the focus on the subject, not any background action.
  • Film 10 seconds before the interview and 10 after so you don’t miss any speech.

Always provide a written script for listeners with disabilities. The Sandbox's preferred method is to upload videos to YouTube, which automatically provides captioning. Check with your editor 1st.

To learn more about how video, try a Digital Media class.

Preparing Video

  • 10 questions journalists should ask themselves before going live on Facebook
  • Bad Writing Plagues Broadcast News
  • Interview Basics
  • Library of American Broadcasting
  • National Association of Broadcasters
  • Script-writing tips and real examples
  • Writing for Broadcast

Shooting Video

  • 5 Principles of Editing
  • 8 Ways to Shoot Video Like a Pro
  • How to shoot pro-quality video on a budget
  • How to Shoot Video Outdoors
  • How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck
  • Video Techniques
  • Video Tutorials
  • YouTube's Video Editor
  • What a group of USC students learned shooting VR video
  • << Previous: Photos/Graphics
  • Next: The Future of News? >>
  • Last Updated: Oct 23, 2023 11:28 AM
  • URL: https://spcollege.libguides.com/news

How to write a good online news story

Good advice about the text, images, links and format of news on the University's website.

Main content

1. headline.

  • The headline of a story will turn up in many places online, often alone. It should therefore explain what the story is about.
  • A poor headline: "A great guy!" A good headline: "Rector awarded Royal order".
  • The best headlines are often sentences with a subject, verb and object. This will also make the story more searchable in Google.

2. Introductory paragraph

  • One or two short sentences that expand on the title.
  • As a rule of thumb, the introductory paragraph should contain no more than 25 words.
  • A story should be around 300 words or 2,500-3,000 characters with spaces.
  • An informative story answers the questions what, where, when, who, why and how.
  • Start with the most important points.
  • Use short paragraphs.
  • Use bullet points where this is helpful.
  • Use subsidiary headings unless the story is not very short. Use two or more (never just one) subsidiary headings, and make sure to not start the body of the article with a subsidiary heading

4. Formatting

  • Subsidiary heading: highlight the text of the subsidiary heading using "Heading 3".
  • Fact boxes: highlight the text that is to be the heading of the fact box using "Heading 3".
  • Double line break before the subsidiary heading.
  • Fill in the "title" when you put in links.

5. Using quotes in the text

  • In the news context, "quote" means a statement from a person.
  • - Use quotation marks to signal that something is a quote, says the Communication division.
  • Quotes are best used to comment on the body of the text or to express opinions, not to communicate general information.
  • Quotes should be brief and edited.

6. Images and captions

  • The image must be relevant and illustrate the story.
  • Avoid using photo montages with text, as this makes it difficult to use the story in other areas of uib.no.
  • Find images on Fotoweb or Colourbox. Read more here: http://bit.ly/profiluib
  • Captions are often read in online news stories, and these should be one or two sentences
  • Captions name the persons in the picture, and may explain the situation depicted.
  • Credit the photographer and copyright holder.

7. Using links in the text

  • Link to the employee page of the main person in the story the first time she is mentioned in the text.
  • Use common sense to determine which links should be included.

8. Fact box

  • The fact box contains background information for the story.
  • By putting denser information there, you can make the story easier to read.
  • A fact box may for instance be used if it is necessary to mention all participants in a project.
  • Use bullet points.

For help and advising, contact the Communication division .

Ikon for god nyhetssak

How to Write a Media Report

by Monika Weise

Published on 26 Sep 2017

Media reports get your ideas and products in front of customers, which increases your brand recognition and drives sales, but they only work if you can catch the reader's interest early. Convincing your reader to keep reading is your primary goal when writing a media report. By applying the proper techniques, you can grab your readers from the headline and retain their interest.

Compose the media report headline. The headline is your "hook" to catch your reader -- use vivid language and verbs. Convey the basic idea of the story in one line; use two lines only if absolutely necessary. You may find writing the headline easier after you have finished your media report.

Lead the first paragraph with answers to the questions who, what, when, where and why. Be brief and give the most relevant details. Numbers should not merely be listed, but woven into the text in a readable manner. Give facts in an accurate but entertaining manner.

Follow the "inverted pyramid" style in the remaining paragraphs of your media report. The inverted pyramid style gives details in descending order of importance. Start with the most important and newest information. Continue with remaining details, ending with the oldest and least important. Include as much information as needed but no more.

Proofread your copy. Follow the style guide used by your media outlet. Check for spelling and grammar errors even if your word processing program has a built in error-checker. One helpful technique in proofreading is reading your media report backwards. This technique makes errors stand out. Verify dates, times, addresses and the spelling of names.

time around the world image by Nicemonkey from Fotolia.com

Check with your media outlet about deadline times and meet your deadline. Ensure your report is published or broadcast in a timely manner, so your reader can follow up on details in the story, such as attending an event.

Keep your focus on the main point of your media report as you write. All details should add to or clarify that point. Action words generate excitement -- use them to get and hold your reader's interest. Keep your writing concise. Avoid cliches, slang and jargon. Your goal is to be understood.

As with any form of writing, do not plagiarize another writer's work. Make your media report original to avoid legal problems. Keep in mind the legal implications of your media report. Familiarize yourself with laws on libel.

Mentionlytics

How to Create a Media Monitoring Analysis Report? [+Template]

Here’s the problem with media monitoring and analysis: it can become a slow-moving giant. Let us explain.

In PR, there are hundreds of data from media monitoring platforms (media coverage, social mentions, news items, etc.) on your campaigns and clients that must be reported. However, making media reports manually and generating charts in Excel is a long process and takes too much of your time  — and effort!

Don’t worry though, we have a simpler way of creating complete media monitoring and analytics reports.

Scroll down, we’ll show you how!

Table of Contents

What is a media monitoring report.

  • Why Media Monitoring Reports are Important
  • What You Should Include in a Media Monitoring Report
  • Media monitoring templates by Mentionlytics

A media monitoring report is basically a comprehensive document that includes performance data, key statistics, news, and other important information on your brand’s offline and online presence.

In a few words, in such a report you can gather all intelligence and results of your brand’s media monitoring and analytics. Although, it’s not just a social media report .

There are many different, but equally important, aspects of media monitoring. Some examples are monitoring of traditional media (like TV), web mentions, broadcasts, and more.

Simply put, it’s a complete overview of your media mentions that helps protect your brand.

Why Media Monitoring Reports Are Important

Media monitoring analysis reports are a must in the PR and Communications world.

Interestingly, 45% of the PR professionals like you focus on media measurement and reporting.

With these reports, you can keep track of your PR KPIs to evaluate your strategy. Also, you can demonstrate your campaigns’ performance, prevent social media crisis escalation, and even stay on top of your competitors.

Let’s see some examples of how you can use media and monitoring analysis in your PR reports.

1- To Report Your PR Campaigns

Campaign reports are the greatest example of media monitoring analysis. It can showcase the performance of your digital PR strategies and campaigns but also provide some of the best PR examples efforts.

Such reports mostly contain media coverage, sentiment analysis , and positive and negative results. Also, you can include suggestions for improvements in similar upcoming campaigns.

2- To Keep Track of New Opportunities

Media monitoring analytics can help you be continuously aware of all new PR opportunities for your brand. For instance, you can track new and promising influencers on social media and reach out to them before your competitors . Moreover, you can spot any new trends, or even marketing and sales leads for your business development colleagues.

3- To Report any Ongoing Crisis

Unfortunately, as a PR professional, you have to deal with small or big brand reputation crises. A media monitoring and analysis report can play a key role in these circumstances. It explains how and why the crisis occurred and highlights the damage control tactics you followed. Furthermore, it gives insights into your previous PR efforts and what could have been done better.

4- To Report Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis reports are very important to closely monitor your competition and keep up-to-date with their activities. So, media monitoring services are fundamental for conducting competitive analysis and seeing what they’re up to. These reports may also be handy for staying on top of industry news and business trends. Especially, if you include your indirect competition in the monitoring process.

Before jumping to how you can create a media monitoring report, we should first take a look at what data and information it should include. Keep reading!

What you should Include in a Media Monitoring Report

First of all, you should always have in mind the purpose of the report. Is it to monitor the effectiveness of a campaign or to analyze a crisis?

In any case, we have noted down some key data insights that can’t be missing from your media monitoring reports.

Total Mentions

To set the scene, you should definitely include an overall analysis of your web and social media mentions at the very beginning of your report. That way, you’ll paint a general picture in your audience’s mind.

Mentionlytics Media Monitoring Report Builder Overview

Sentiment Analysis

Do people like and support your brand? Or do they complain about it?

A sentiment analysis of the overall online mentions can help the report’s recipients understand the people’s feelings toward your brand and PR efforts .

Mentionlytics Media Monitoring Report Builder Sentiment Analysis

Try Mentionlytics for FREE

Media Share

Media share is crucial for PR reporting. It helps in identifying where all your mentions are coming from and what channels are performing better.

Mentionlytics Media Monitoring Report Builder Media Share

This is necessary, especially if you’re working for a well-known and international brand.

Knowing the geographical distribution of your mentions can help you boost your PR efforts in certain countries, or even determine where you need to invest more in localization.

Mentionlytics Media Monitoring Report Builder Geographies

Pro tip: In Mentionlytics, you can also see a world map with the exact number of mentions per country for a detail-oriented approach in your report.

Mentionlytics Media Monitoring Report Builder World Map

Top Mentions

Surely, in an analysis report, you don’t have to include every social or web mention of your brand. PR clipping is not the case here.

However, you should highlight the ones that come from top mentioners , like highly-ranked websites or prestigious influencers.

Mentionlytics Media Monitoring Report Builder Twitter Top Mentions

Our advice: Include a small number of top mentions per channel. You’ll make your point, without info overload! Also, consider adding some kind of analysis of your top mentioners to be extra thorough.

Mentionlytics Media Monitoring Report Builder Top Mentioners Twitter

That’s all the data insights we recommend you include in every media monitoring analysis report.

You can customize them to fit every report’s objective and they’re comprehensive, even for people outside the Communications world, e.g. senior executives.

How You Can Create a Media Monitoring Report

Here’s the juicy part. You can use online tools to generate the analyses and statistics we mentioned above. As a PR professional, you’re surely familiar with many social media monitoring tools .

After all, almost 50% of PR pros agree that “sourcing more coverage and producing measurable results are the top ways to increase value inside their organization”

So, what should you do?

First, find a media monitoring and social listening tool you can trust, like Mentionlytics . Then, sign up for a free trial and create customized reports or use ready-to-use templates on the platform.

Media monitoring report templates by Mentionlytics

Mentionlytics offers ready-to-use media monitoring reports for various uses:

  • Top mentions report
  • Influencer report
  • Share of voice report

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An Explosive Hearing in Trump’s Georgia Election Case

Fani t. willis, the district attorney, defended her personal conduct as defense lawyers sought to disqualify her from the prosecution..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Our relationship wasn’t a secret. It was just private. So —

It is an inaccurate way to state the question —

Then I will certainly restate it so it is very accurate.

OK. And please do not yell at me.

An explosive and emotional court hearing on Thursday in Georgia has revealed that what once seemed like a long shot legal challenge to an election interference case against Donald Trump and his allies is now a serious threat that could derail the entire case.

No, no, no, no. This is the truth.

And it is a lie. It is a lie.

My colleague, Richard Fausset, walks us through the dramatic opening day of testimony.

It’s Friday, February 16th.

Richard, this was one of the most remarkable court hearings I’ve ever seen, and I watch a lot of court hearings. It was cinematic. It was suspenseful. It was angry. I mean, at one point, the judge stopped the proceedings to ask everyone to calm down. And it was extraordinarily high stakes.

That’s exactly my reaction. There was no idea when the hearing started this morning where it was going to go. Lawyers were making on the fly arguments based on stuff they had just learned. A star witness we thought was going to change the whole shape of the day and perhaps the week didn’t end up being the star witness. It ended up being somebody else. And then, of course, we just had this absolute white hot torrent of emotion from Fani Willis, the prosecutor, in this election interference case.

And the whole time, you’re thinking about the stakes, which is that this tremendous criminal case that has a former president in its crosshairs is potentially under threat.

Right. Well, I think we have to rewind the clock just a few weeks to establish why this hearing happens and why it is so important and why the drama of this day matters. And this all starts — and I want you to explain this — with a defendant that most of us had never really heard of in this Georgia racketeering case against Donald Trump and his alleged co-conspirators who are accused of allegedly criminally attempting to overturn the Georgia election. So tell us the story of that defendant and how he brings us to this hearing.

Sure. So this criminal prosecution started out with an indictment of 19 people, including some serious high profile names. Among them, of course, Donald Trump. Rudy Giuliani, who was a defendant. Mark Meadows, who served as Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff toward the end of his term. But there are also this array of much more obscure and fascinating individuals.

And one of them was a guy named Michael Roman, and that’s the guy you’re talking about. He was a top official in Trump’s 2020 campaign. He was Trump’s director of election day operations. And he was involved with a number of other lawyers and aides to Donald Trump in creating this idea that there should be these fake electors who could somehow serve as the actual electors to turn the election that Mr. Trump lost in his favor and keep him in the White House.

But he definitely was not like —

A brand name defendant.

Exactly, thank you. So this case was really rocking along, and it really was a case where the prosecution seemed to have the upper hand. It was pretty airtight in a lot of ways. And four of the 19 original defendants had taken guilty pleas. But what happened is there was one of these many pretrial deadlines on January 8th. And out of the blue, Michael Roman’s lawyer drops this absolute bomb of emotion in which she makes some allegations that sent the entire case down this course of a telenovela melodrama that nobody saw coming.

Well just describe this telenovela-esque motion that Michael Roman and his lawyer filed.

So the motion that sent everything into this very different direction alleged that Fani Willis, the district attorney who is heading up the prosecution, was engaged in an affair with the man she hired to manage the case, a man named Nathan Wade. And that he had been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the DA’s office. And he’d used some of this money to take Fani Willis on a number of exotic vacations to places like Aruba and Napa Valley.

And as a result of all these things, the lawyer argues both Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis and Ms. Willis’ entire office, which happens to be the largest prosecutor’s office in the state of Georgia, should all be disqualified from the case.

And the idea of disqualifying these prosecutors doesn’t just threaten the case against Michael Roman, it threatens the entire case against all the 15 remaining defendants, including Donald Trump. It really creates a scenario by which the case could just go poof. It could just go away.

OK, so putting aside for just a moment the accuracy of this allegation and the motion, can you just explain the legal questions that it raises? Why would a relationship between these two lawyers potentially disqualify them from the case and end up having the whole case potentially thrown out?

So Michael Roman’s motion makes the case. Essentially that the motives of the district attorney may be less than pure. That what motivates her every day when she wakes up and prosecutes this huge case is not just seeing through a prosecution in the interest of justice, but also the sense that there’s another motive that’s working in concert with it, which is to enrich herself, because her one time boyfriend was making all this money that her office is paying him, and that she’s using it to go on these vacations. And that somehow, her judgment is clouded. And as a result, the very process of justice is clouded.

Got it. So the allegation is that by hiring her boyfriend to work on the case, Fani Willis’s interest becomes not necessarily in properly prosecuting this case, but basically in keeping it going at all costs because it benefits her.

That’s right. So one of Michael Roman’s motions says that the more work that’s done on the case, regardless of what justice calls for, the more Fani Willis and Nathan Wade get paid. The more they fight his motions, the more they get paid. The more they refuse to dismiss defendants who should not be indicted, the more money they make. And that all of this amounted to a conflict of interest.

And of course, the more money the special prosecutor makes, Roman’s lawyer wrote, the more the district attorney gets to reap the financial benefits. So you get the idea, that there’s something there that is motivating her beyond just this pure quest to see that justice is done.

And what this motion seems to claim is that if this alleged relationship and the benefit that it brings to Fani Willis can be proven, then this entire case should therefore be thrown out.

That’s right. Although it’s worth keeping in mind that a number of legal scholars have argued that even if all of these allegations were true, there’s really no basis for this being construed as a conflict of interest. And that these prosecutors should stay on the case, and it should be steady as she goes from here on out. That this is all a big distraction that has no legal merit.

So what you’re saying is that no one’s quite sure that, legally speaking, there’s a real argument here to be made by Michael Roman. And if I’m remembering correctly, the feeling that a lot of people had when this motion was filed was that it was kind of a Hail Mary, right? And there was not much evidence that it was necessarily even true.

Yeah. Well, I mean, it was a Hail Mary in the sense that Michael Roman’s lawyer didn’t include any evidence to back up her claim, this very salacious claim. So there was a moment there when nobody knew really what to make of it. It was a very uncomfortable moment, given the nature of the allegations and given the seriousness of this case. And a few days after the initial filing by Michael Roman —

Good morning.

[CLAMORING]

Fani Willis gave a speech at an African American church in Atlanta.

First thing they say, oh, she going to play the race card now. But no God, isn’t it them who’s playing the race card when they only question one? Isn’t it them —

In which she portrayed this whole thing as a big witch hunt. She also insinuated that race was a motivation for this scrutiny of her and for Nathan Wade, both of whom are African American.

God, wasn’t it them that attacked this lawyer of impeccable credentials? The Black man I chose has been a judge more than 10 years. Is it that some will never see a Black man as qualified no matter his achievements? What more can one achieve? The other two have never been —

But then, a few days later, it looked like there was indeed some there there. It came out that there were some credit card statements that showed that Nathan Wade had bought tickets to vacation destinations for himself and for Fani Willis. So it started to look like this is more than just a figment of someone’s imagination. But Fani Willis and her office were convinced that there is really no legal basis for an affair to result in her being disqualified.

She files a motion that essentially acknowledges the affair. It included a sworn affidavit from Nathan Wade in which he said yes, there was an affair. It started in 2022 after I’d started working for the DA’s office in November 2021. But the argument was yes, there is some there there. However, Judge, there’s no need for an evidentiary hearing. Just looking at the law, there is no reason why this relationship between two consenting adults in their 50s should have any bearing on an election interference case involving a former president of the United States.

But another dramatic moment comes when the judge basically says, look, we’ve got to determine the contours of this thing. Because if these allegations were true, there is a possibility that this did constitute a conflict of interest or an appearance of a conflict of interest, which might be enough for him to disqualify these prosecutors. So he went ahead and he set the evidentiary hearing.

And the judge’s decision was a tremendous loss for Fani Willis and her office. And not only because she felt like this was an absolutely untoward and offensive intrusion into her personal life. But it also meant that this question was live. This question of whether or not there was some basis to disqualify her and her office and send what without question is the biggest case she’ll ever have to a place where we’re really not sure whether it’ll end up in a trial at all.

We’ll be right back.

So Richard, headed into Thursday’s evidentiary hearing, this highly anticipated legal session, what are the biggest questions that everyone’s looking for answers to?

Well, some of the biggest questions were laid out by the judge himself. And they all had to do with his interest in the extent to which there was some kind of financial benefit to these prosecutors as a result of this criminal case. The first question has to do with timing. Fani Willis and Nathan Wade have said their relationship started after November 2021, which is this key date when he begins working as a contractor for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

Michael Roman’s lawyer, a lawyer named Ashleigh Merchant, had asserted that she was going to be able to prove that the affair started beforehand. And all this we think is of interest to the judge because it just looks different when you’re thinking about the question of self-dealing.

Did you hire a guy and this guy is someone you, after long hours at the office or whatever, you fell for and things progressed from there? Or was it somebody who was really already established as a boyfriend? And what you’re really doing is hooking up your boyfriend with a plum job. And so that was one key piece and one key question everyone had going in.

The second had to do more with the money as it pertains to the trips that Fani Willis and Nathan Wade took together. To Aruba, to California wine country. The prosecutors had claimed that they roughly split the costs of these trips. They didn’t provide a huge amount of evidence. They provided a little bit of evidence that seemed to hint at this idea. But the judge obviously wanted to see a lot more. And in fact, during the hearing, both of these issues were indeed quite big.

OK, so walk us through the most important moments of testimony, especially as they relate to these two key questions.

Thank you all. Please be seated. All right, we are on the record with 23 —

Well, the first issue, the timing issue, when did the affair start, was something that we thought was going to be answered, because Michael Roman’s lawyer said it was going to be answered, by a man named Terrence Bradley, who received a subpoena to testify.

Good morning, Mr. Bradley. How are you?

Not happy to be here, I’m assuming.

OK. I understand. Thank you for being here.

Wasn’t by choice.

Mr. Bradley is a former law partner of Nathan Wade’s. He also served for a time as Nathan Wade’s divorce lawyer.

When did Mr. Wade come to you to file the divorce action in Cobb County?

Your Honor, that’s privileged information.

But when Terrence Bradley took the stand, almost immediately he was met with a barrage of concerns from defense lawyers. And they threw up all these objections.

Are you aware of when their romantic relationship began?

Your Honor, I’m going to object. That relates to privilege. She says that he began —

Some of them on some technical legal grounds, some of them on this very specific technical legal ground that there was an attorney-client privilege that should prevent him from discussing anything having to do essentially with the affair.

And I have consulted with the bar. I cannot reveal anything that I saw or learned.

Mr. Bradley is sitting on the stand saying, look, I talked to the Bar Association. There’s really very little for me to do here. If I want to keep my law license, I need to just keep it zipped.

So Mr. Bradley, you may be excused for now. Thank you. We will call Mr. Yuri.

So as all this is unfolding and there’s a little bit of chaos in the courtroom and you can see that some people’s hackles are being raised, Michael Roman’s lawyer says, OK, well, I’m just going to call another person that I’ve served a subpoena.

Would you please state and spell your full name for the court?

Robin Beatrice Yeartie.

This is a woman named Robin Yeartie.

Can you tell the judge when you first met Ms. Willis?

In college.

Who is a former friend of Fani Willis.

And do you understand it that their relationship began in 2019 and continued until the last time you spoke with her?

And you were essentially her best friend during this time, right?

Not best friend, good friend.

Good friend. OK, close friend.

And she asserted that she knew Fanni quite well. And that Fanni Willis’s affair with Nathan Wade started before his start date of November 2021.

A pretty key piece of testimony that directly contradicts what Wade and Willis claim to be the starting point of their relationship.

Yes, she was very emphatic about this point.

You have no doubt that their romantic relationship was in effect from 2019 until the last time you spoke with her.

So it was obviously a very dramatic moment. And it of course, raises the question of whether or not someone is lying.

Another thing that Ms. Yeartie’s testimony did was it gave the defense attorneys the ability to call their next witness to the stand.

Please state and spell your name for the court.

My name’s Nathan Wade.

Who was none other than Nathan Wade himself.

When did your romantic relationship with Ms. Willis begin?

When in 2022?

Early 2022.

So Nathan Wade takes the stand and he continues to insist that the romantic relationship between him and Fani Willis began in 2022 after he’d been hired by her to do. The Trump case. But a lot of his testimony centered around questions about whether or not she had paid him for roughly half of all of these trips.

What I allege is that our travel was split roughly evenly. So where you see I have booked a flight or I’ve paid for a flight with my credit card, what you don’t see is that she covered her own flight reimbursement to me.

So this roughly sharing travel, you’re saying she reimbursed you.

And where did you deposit the money she reimbursed you?

That was cash. She didn’t give me any checks. So she paid you cash for her share of all these vacations.

Mr. Schaefer, you’ll step out if you do that.

He claims that Fani Willis repaid him for a number of these travel related vacation expenses in cash. In fact, everything got repaid in cash.

2023 December, you said you didn’t have any receipts.

I do not have any receipts, I did not have any receipts.

But you did travel with Ms. Willis.

He also said at one point that he didn’t have any deposit slips that showed that he’d received the cash and then deposited it. That she was somebody who was an independent woman. It was very important for her to make sure that they more or less went Dutch on stuff. And that the way she did it was not through an app. It wasn’t by writing a check. It wasn’t Venmo. It was with physical American currency.

So Wade is saying this was all on the up and up. Fani Willis, his girlfriend at the time, was paying for half of everything. But he can’t prove it because she’s paying him back in cash. And he doesn’t have any records of depositing that cash.

Yeah, that’s right. And as you can imagine, this was received with something like extreme incredulity from the defense lawyers.

And she paid you cash for both of your portions or just hers?

OK. So that trip Belize — just Belize — she paid you for everything on Belize.

The entire trip.

OK. So the —

And of course, to the defense lawyers, all this felt a little bit too convenient. The fact that these cash payments of course, would have no record to preserve that they actually happen.

Right. So at this point — and Richard, I was watching some of this testimony. Things are not going super well for Fani Willis or Nathan Wade. We’ve got this witness saying, the relationship between the two of them started earlier than either has acknowledged. We have no records that Fani Willis reimbursed Wade. It’s rough sledding.

That’s right. And —

All right. Ms. Merchant, any other witnesses.

Yes. We would call Fani Willis to the stand.

In the middle of all this steps, Fani Willis.

We would ask the court that the court allow Ms. Willis to be called and interrogated on these matters.

And I would too, Your Honor.

Who walked unaccompanied through the front door of the courtroom.

I’m ready to go.

And she said something to the effect of, let’s do this. And she said at a time when her lawyer was trying to argue to the judge that there was no reason why her testimony should even be necessary. But she really made this dramatic decision to go ahead and put herself on the stand.

Ms. Willis, when — how did you know to come into the courtroom right then?

There were people that was pacing in my office.

And I heard someone yell, his testimony is done. It only made sense to me that I would be your next witness. And I’ve been very anxious to have this conversation with you today. So I ran to the courtroom.

So as soon as —

It was very much in keeping with Fani Willis and her personality, which is extremely big. So she is confronted by Ashleigh Merchant, the lawyer for Michael Roman. And these two women have this very intense faceoff.

Let’s start back in 2019. So you and Mr. Wade met in October of 2019 at a conference.

That is correct. And I think in one of your motions, you tried to implicate I slept with him at that conference, which I find to be extremely offensive. I stayed —

And from the get-go, it’s obvious that Fani Willis is extremely angry.

And keep the answers confined to the questions as best you can I think you’ll have more than enough ample opportunity on — when the state — was it able to highly offensive when someone lies on you, and it’s highly offensive when they try to implicate that you slept with somebody the first day you met with them. And I take exception, too.

All right. Well —

And it was just a searing a series of moments.

No, no, no, no, this is the truth.

Ms. Willis, Mr. Mr. Santana, thank you. We’re going to take five minutes.

And the judge, Judge McAfee, basically shut the proceedings down for about five minutes, which was very judge McAfee thing to do. He’s a very even-keeled judge. And you could tell he needed to just put a damper on things and give everybody a chance to to, including, Fani Willis, to just cool down.

And what do we end up learning from Fani Willis dramatic testimony here about some of the key questions. Well, we have been talking about. Well, one of the most important things we learned from Fani Willis testimony was that she is going to stick to her story and Nathan Wade’s story.

And you all start. When did you start dating? When I started dating, Mr. Wade it was right around then.

April 2020 — 2? 22, yes.

2022. That their romantic relationship really only blossomed in 2022.

It’s not like when you’re in grade school and you send a little letter and it says will you be my girlfriend and you check it. I don’t know if day that we started seeing each other, but it was early ‘22 is my recollection.

After, she hired him to work on the Trump case.

I would say we had a tough conversation in August.

She also told us that they stopped dating sometime around the summer of 2023 before the Trump indictment was handed up.

So let’s just back up and talk about the first time that you went to Florida with Mr. Wade. That was the time that you said you stayed in Miami at the hotel —

And there was also this really interesting conversation about the fact that it was Nathan Wade who had put so many of these travel related charges on his own credit card.

So yes, he is the original one that does it. Mr. Wade is a world traveler. I’m not as versed as him. He’s been to six of the seven continents. And so he has both a personal travel agent. And he also has a cruise traveler.

She said that he’s a world traveler, that he’s really — in that relationship, he was the guy who was more experienced and in setting up travel plans and paying for them.

I know he initially paid for it.

Did you pay him back?

For the cruise and for Aruba, yeah, I gave him his money before we ever went on that trip. You gave him cash before you ever went on the trip?

OK. And so when you got cash to pay him back on these strips, would you go to the ATM? No, lady. You would not go to the ATM. No. And then there was also a really interesting conversation about why she relied so much on cash to reimburse him for some of these travel expenses. So the cash that you would pay him wouldn’t get it out of the bank

I have money in my house.

You have money in your house. So it was just money that was there.

When you meet my father, he’s going to tell you as a woman, you should always have — which I don’t have, so let’s don’t tell him that. You should have at least six months in cash at your house at all time. Now I don’t know why this old Black man feels like that. But he does. When we was growing up —

Her argument, was it? It was really based in a lot of things that her father who she’s very close to and who really played a very big role in raising her passed on to her. Which is that you need to have a certain amount of cash around on you. If you’re a woman and you go on a date with a man, you better have $200 in your pocket. So if that man acts up, you can go where you want to go.

There is an empowering element of this that he taught her.

It’s interesting that we’re here about this money. Mr. Wade is used to women that — as he told me one time, the only thing a woman can do for him is make him a sandwich. We would have brutal arguments about the fact that I am your equal. I don’t need anything —

Ms. Willis also made it clear that in this romantic relationship, there was no question that she wanted to be treated as an equal. And she, in fact, called out Mr. Wade for some sexist ideas that he had.

Which is why I always give him his money back. I don’t need anybody to foot my bills. The only man who’s ever foot my bills completely is my daddy.

And when you heard this coming from her or at least when I heard it coming from her, you had this coherent idea of why somebody like Fani Willis would be so reliant on cash. And it also served in a way to buttress what Nathan Wade had just said. The fact that she was a person who paid him back in this way. And listening to it, I went from a sense of, OK, well this sounds bizarre that you would just show up at your boyfriend’s house with an Adidas bag stuffed with bills. To something that’s more like, well, OK, this is plausible. This is something that’s been passed down.

And it’s something that you could maybe — I can’t verify it, but it just seems like something that would be plausible in this moment when cash is on the way out for some people. But for some other people, it really feels like an empowering tool.

Right. And in the end, she doesn’t give an inch on these questions of when the relationship started and whether she benefited from it.

That’s right, she stuck to her guns. And she also had a really dramatic moment where she tried to remind everyone who was following along that she was not on trial.

So your office objected to us getting Delta records for flights that you may have taken when Mr. Wade —

Well, no, no, no. I object to you getting records. You’ve been intrusive into people’s personal lives. You’re confused. You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I’m not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.

So my question —

She said it was the people who tried to overturn the election who were on trial. And that was one of the moments that really sent a real shock through the courtroom. You have this melodrama, this footnote that’s now ballooned into its own story. And it was a very interesting moment of redirecting the flow of the conversation back to very fundamental questions about democracy and efforts to subvert it.

You can sit down. You’re done for the day.

You want me to leave the courtroom.

Or you can sit at the counsel table. We don’t need you in the witness box.

Richard, by the end of this testimony. Yortie, Wade, Willis — a pretty complicated portrait has emerged of this relationship that’s now at the center of these questions of whether this case involving democracy moves forward. I mean, this one witness says the relationship starts before Willis hired Wade. But it’s just her word. There’s no hard evidence. And Wade and Willis under oath disagree.

It becomes clear that we did pay for a lot of travel for Willis. And yet, Willis says she reimbursed him, but there’s no evidence that either of them can produce to verify that. So there aren’t really smoking guns in either direction.

Yeah, I think that’s right. I mean, what we do know is that we’re going to have a lot more testimony we’re going to have more witnesses who will probably be called but I do think that this has given Donald Trump and his allies the ability to create a kind of plume of suspicion that there were bad intentions behind this case. And I think we should think about what the real practical ramifications of that issue are. And by an issue, I mean a public relations loss for the district attorney’s office.

It has a real potential material effect because the jury that sits to decide whether or not Donald Trump broke the law in Georgia will come from Fulton County. And if they continue to read headlines that say that something is fishy about that Fani Willis and her boyfriend or ex-boyfriend and their travel, you could potentially see a greater possibility that at the very least, one of those 12 future jurors decides that something is too fishy for them to vote guilty.

And in that way, this entire drama is extremely relevant no matter what the judge rules in the coming days.

In other words, no matter what the judge decides, whether he keeps them on the case or disqualifies Willis and Wade, something about this case in its fundamental mission has been altered here. And maybe weakened.

I think that’s possible. And one of the things I find so remarkable is that we’ve all thought of the Georgia case as one that really couldn’t be touched by Donald Trump if he were to be re-elected. He couldn’t pardon himself. He couldn’t direct his future attorney general to dismiss the case.

And yet, here we are with this threat to the Georgia case that’s coming from a very different place.

That’s coming from what some people would argue would be a lapse in judgment. It’s almost unfathomable to imagine that a history could be bent by something like that. But here we are.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Well, Richard, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Thank you, Michael.

The hearing is scheduled to resume this morning, with Fani Willis expected to return to the stand. A ruling on whether she and Nathan Wade should be removed from the case is expected in the next few weeks.

Here’s what else you need to know today. A judge in New York has officially scheduled the first criminal trial against Donald Trump to begin on March 25th, ensuring that the former President will face at least one jury before election day. That trial, led by the Manhattan district attorney, will focus on allegations that Trump falsified business records during his 2016 presidential campaign in order to hide a sexual relationship with an adult film star.

And police in Kansas City said they believed that a dispute between teenagers was the cause of a mass shooting at a Super Bowl victory celebration that injured nearly two dozen people and killed a 43-year-old woman. Police identified that woman as Elizabeth Galvin, a local DJ whose son was also shot in the leg during the gunfire.

Today’s episode was produced by Rob Zipco, Sydney Harper, and Alex Stern. With help from Rachelle Bonja. It was edited by Devin Taylor, contains original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to John Ketchum.

That’s it for The Daily. I’m Michael Barbaro. See you on Monday.

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Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Richard Fausset

Produced by Rob Szypko ,  Sydney Harper and Alex Stern

With Rachelle Bonja

Edited by Devon Taylor

Original music by Marion Lozano and Dan Powell

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

In tense proceedings in Georgia, a judge will decide whether Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and her office should be disqualified from their prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump.

Richard Fausset, a national reporter for The Times, talks through the dramatic opening day of testimony, in which a trip to Belize, a tattoo parlor and Grey Goose vodka all featured.

On today’s episode

how to write a news report on web media explain

Richard Fausset , a national reporter for The New York Times.

Fani Willis is pictured from the side sitting behind a witness stand. She wears a pink dress.

Background reading

With everything on the line, Ms. Willis delivered raw testimony .

What happens if Fani Willis is disqualified from the Trump case?

Read takeaways from the hearing .

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Richard Fausset , based in Atlanta, writes about the American South, focusing on politics, culture, race, poverty and criminal justice. More about Richard Fausset

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IMAGES

  1. 3 Clear and Easy Ways to Write a News Report

    how to write a news report on web media explain

  2. How to write News Report

    how to write a news report on web media explain

  3. How to Write a News Report

    how to write a news report on web media explain

  4. News Report Writing

    how to write a news report on web media explain

  5. How to write News Report

    how to write a news report on web media explain

  6. 💋 How to do a news report. How to Write a News Report. 2022-10-17

    how to write a news report on web media explain

VIDEO

  1. Write a news report using the given facts

  2. News Reading Training @fxmediainstitution

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  4. HOW TO WRITE NEWS IN PRINT MEDIA (IN HINDI LANGUAGE)

  5. How To Write A News Report? || English Creative Writing Discourses || English Learning Assistant

  6. Report Writing ll English ll +2 2nd Year ll how to write News report in +2 exam llEnglish live class

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write a News Article

    Product Company How to Write a News Article Jennifer Calonia Updated on August 29, 2022 Writing Tips News articles report on current events that are relevant to the readership of a publication. These current events might take place locally, nationally, or internationally.

  2. 3 Clear and Easy Ways to Write a News Report

    1 Figure out what to write about. News reports are about something that is happening now or that just recently happened. Current issues, events, crimes, and investigations are good subjects for news reports. Other styles of journalism are better for things like profiles, advice articles, and opinion pieces.

  3. How to Write a News Report?

    1. Visit ArticleGPT and click the "Start for Free" button. This will navigate you to the ArticleGPT's dashboard. 2. Find the "News Article" category and choose one of the two modes available.

  4. News Writing: Tips and Examples for Better Reporting

    1. Stay consistent with news values. The first thing you should do before starting a piece of news writing is consider how the topic fits in with the 6 key news values. These values help journalists determine how newsworthy a story is, as well as which information should be included in the lede and article as a whole.

  5. 10 Easy Steps: How to Write a News Report Example

    Marketing Writing By Asim Akhtar (CEO) 10 Easy Steps: How to Write a News Report Example Step 1: Understand the Purpose of a News Report A news report is a factual account of an event or incident that has recently occurred. Its purpose is to inform the readers or viewers about the event in a clear and concise manner.

  6. Lesson 11: Structuring news reports

    Plan the order of a news report including paragraphing. Important note: ahead of this lesson, pupils must have completed their news report plans, with key facts and quotes from their research and interviews. Starter/baseline assessment

  7. How to Write a News Article: 14 Steps (with Pictures)

    1 Research your topic. To begin writing a news article, you need to research the topic you will be writing about extensively. In order to have a credible, well written, well-structured article, you have to know the topic well. If you've ever written a research paper you understand the work that goes into learning about your topic.

  8. PDF News writing

    The 5Ws of journalism The opening paragraph of a news report is the most important. It contains the key information and most recent facts about the story. The opening should answer the following questions, known as the 5Ws of journalism: • Who is the story about? • What happened? • Where did the story happen? • When did the story take place?

  9. How To Write a News Article (+4 Tools, Examples & Template)

    This is what separates news-article writing from other forms of writing. 1. Headline. These 5-12 words should deliver the gist of the whole news. In most cases, it's important not to play with words or to be too cryptic. A news article headline should be clear and succinct and tell the reader what the article is about.

  10. How to Write an Online News Article

    The nut graph. The nut graph is the heart of the story. It explains what the news is about, why it's timely and why readers should care. The nut graph can be one sentence or several paragraphs and should include the answers to who, what, when, where and why. It often places the new developments in context by describing the bigger picture.

  11. Lesson 13: Writing news reports

    To inform and engage an audience (first draft). Learning outcomes Write a first draft of a news report, using the structural and language features of news reports. Explain how a news report meets the four NewsWise values. Evaluate a peer's news report, providing feedback on the language and structural features used. Starter/baseline assessment

  12. A Reporter Explains His Approach to Writing News and Features

    1 Shreya Gupta By Sarah Bahr March 24, 2022 Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. Brooks Barnes's head is...

  13. PDF BASIC NEWS WRITING

    BASIC NEWS WRITING The ABCs of news writing are Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity. The first and most important is accuracy -- a story can be creative and compelling, but if it contains errors, it is worthless. Actually, it is worse than worthless; a false news story undercuts the public trust necessary for the survival of a free press.

  14. How to Write a News Report?

    A news report should include the following, Headline: It tells what the story is about. Byline: It tells about the writer of the story. Lead: Covers the most important facts. Body: Includes a detailed account of the event/occurrence. Ending: Talks about the solution or something to think about. To get a better understanding of how to write a ...

  15. Writing News Stories for the Web

    By Tony Rogers Updated on October 09, 2019 Journalism's future is clearly online, so it's important for any aspiring journalist to learn the basics of writing for the web. Newswriting and web writing are similar in many ways, so if you've done news stories, learning to write for the web shouldn't be hard.

  16. AEC529/WC191: News Writing for Print

    This publication about news writing for print is the second of a five-part series on news media writing. This series also covers an introduction to news media writing, grammar and punctuation, news writing for television and radio, and interviews for news stories. Minor revision by Ricky Telg and Lisa Lundy. Published by the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication. 5pp.

  17. Live reporting: a guide on how to cover news real-time

    Real-time reporting will increase your engagement rate. The reason is simple: a sense of urgency and exclusivity. In the past, live reporting was a practice restricted to large television and radio channels. Today, when the anchorman announces the entry of a live reporter on TV, we continue watching in the hope of hearing breaking news.

  18. LibGuides: How to Write a News Article: Video

    Broadcast news needs dramatic unity. Show the climax of the story - the fire, the shooting, the protest, or whatever event brought attention to the story. Then explain the cause and follow up with the effect. Use short sentences, active verbs, and conversational style. Use a 3-part format: the lead-in or introduction read by the anchor

  19. How to write a good online news story

    Captions are often read in online news stories, and these should be one or two sentences; Captions name the persons in the picture, and may explain the situation depicted. Credit the photographer and copyright holder. 7. Using links in the text. Link to the employee page of the main person in the story the first time she is mentioned in the text.

  20. BBC

    Students could watch a news report and record vox pops of responses to the news story that show both sides of the argument. Students could draw a flowchart showing the process of writing a news ...

  21. How to Write a Media Report

    Convey the basic idea of the story in one line; use two lines only if absolutely necessary. You may find writing the headline easier after you have finished your media report. Lead the first paragraph with answers to the questions who, what, when, where and why. Be brief and give the most relevant details.

  22. English Language / Media Studies KS3: How to write a radio news report

    Reel. BBC Radio journalist, Tina Daheley, talks through the process of writing a radio news report using the story of Donald Trump's inauguration concert as an example. Suitable for teaching ...

  23. How to Create a Media Monitoring Report? [+Template]

    1- To Report Your PR Campaigns. Campaign reports are the greatest example of media monitoring analysis. It can showcase the performance of your digital PR strategies and campaigns but also provide some of the best PR examples efforts. Such reports mostly contain media coverage, sentiment analysis, and positive and negative results.

  24. An Explosive Hearing in Trump's Georgia Election Case

    In tense proceedings in Georgia, a judge will decide whether Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and her office should be disqualified from their prosecution of former President ...