The first difference between a news story and an article is simple — a news story MUST be balanced. All angles and parties have to be represented. That means doing your homework, getting the background and contacting interested parties. It is more work but only telling one side of a story ensures prejudicing the content and perhaps, the reader, to one interest group’s point of view.
Another difference is this is one place where what the author thinks about any element in the story is just not relevant, at all. The story should be told by the people involved with the writer only providing bridges where necessary. For example, here is an excerpt from a story on an internal dispute within a union. I have removed the names and titles of the people quoted because this story has not been published yet but notice how the quotes are used.
“The leadership sees fit to railroad this through the membership by limiting information, restricting the vote by having it a “must be present” vote… in the most remote location in the state, in the middle of the week in the middle of the day. What a sham. There are 20,000 of us shift working … and they really expects us ‘to be present’ to vote at the most important vote in the history of our union? I don’t think so.”
“That is a totally inaccurate statement and it’s unreasonable,” says XXXX, President of the Board of Directors of the union. “We have been talking about this for quite some time.”
Do all your interviews. Transcribe your notes. Let the interviewees tell the story and follow this old journalism rule — include who, what, when, where and why. It’s a simple rule but a good one. The trick is to pack as much of that information into the beginning of the story as possible then flesh these elements out and let the people you interview tell their story in their words.
If you have done your job well, neither side will be able to claim victory.
Write On Target 