How to write a news story

Parts of a News Article

Headline or Title
Lead
The Story
The Ending

Story Structure

Headline or Title
The title of your news article should be catchy and
to the point.
The first word is capitalized, but words after the first
word are typically not. Of course, you will capitalize
proper nouns. Numbers are not spelled out.
It is always in the present tense
Examples:
CHD1 trains 14 midwives in counseling
LuzonHealth wins Novel Peace Prize
USAID awards additional $20 million to RTI
Paolo Varias wins LuzonHealths bikini open

Culture contributes to low

facility-based deliveries but
high use of family planning

Lead
The lead is the first paragraph, but it is written
to provide a detailed preview of the entire story.
It summarizes the story and includes all of the
basic facts. Present the most significant facts
first to engage the reader, clearly outlining the
who, what, when, where, why and how of the
topic.
The lead will help readers decide if they want to
read the rest of the story, or if they are satisfied
knowing these details.
Stated in the past tense.

The Igorots, a group of indigenous mountain people from

Benguet, Luzon Philippines, have a traditional birthing ritual

that is rich in ancient tribal practices. If a mother is
experiencing hard labour in delivering a baby, a small pig is
offered and butchered by the mambunong (medicine man) to
free the woman from pain. When the child is born, upon the
removal of umbilical cord, the mambunong securely places the
cord between two cogon sticks and immerses it at a water
source. This ritual is believed to stop the continuous bleeding of
the mother and to stop the vagina from swelling. A chicken is
also slaughtered, its entrails read for omens, and cooked into a
broth. The mother drinks the broth to improve lactation and the
husband, mother-in-law, mambunong and other relatives who
attended the birthing, feast on the chicken and pig.

Many indigenous women still practice this birthing tradition

which is discouraged by DOH. The government promotes
birthing by skilled birth attendants, either by midwives or
doctors, in facilities with proper delivery and recovery rooms.
The DOH enacted its policy against home births that are
unsupervised by skilled health professionals in an effort to curb
the maternal mortality ratio in the country which remains high

However, when Florentino Santiagos fourth child was

born, she was attended neither by a mambunong nor a
midwife. Florentino, was farming his small cabbage patch
when he received an SMS message from his wife Lily that
she was going into labour. By the time Florentino reached
his small thatch roofed house, the infants head was
already coming out. He had no choice but to deliver the
baby girl himself. It was only later on that he was able to
contact Felina Bayas, the rural health midwife, to do the
finishing touches.
This rather unnerving incident strengthened Florentinos
and Lilys resolve to practice family planning. Felina
counselled them on the different methods that they could
use and the couple decided on a permanent method,
BTL . For the couple, four children were more than

The Story
A well-written story contains facts from your
research and quotes from people youve
interviewed. The article should not contain your
opinions.
Detail any events in chronological order. Use
active voiceavoid passive voice when possible.
In a news article, you would typically put the
most critical information in the early paragraphs
and follow with supporting information,
background information, and related information.
Stated in the past tense.

Felina informed Florentino and Lily that a medical mission

was organized last December 12, 2012 at the Abatan
Emergency Hospital in Buguias, some three hours away from
their village of Baculongan Sur. The medical mission which
was organized by the CHD-CAR, PHO and the Baguio
General Hospital provided free BTL. The price for a ligation
at a private hospital in Buguias costs about Php10,000 to
Php 15,000 ($375) and Philhealth (medicare) covers only
Php 4,000 .
A number of other couples joined Florentino and Lily in
making the long arduous journey to Abatan. They pitched in
to be able to rent a rickety jeepney from a neighbour. At the
hospital, the itinerant team re-assessed the women for
possible contraindications like pregnancy, stomach
operation, hypertension, reproductive tract infections and
heart problems to determine whether they were qualified to
undergo BTL through minilaparotomy under local
anaesthesia. So as not to miss any opportunity for
counselling, the municipal health officer Dr. Hilda Kimakim

Florentino, upon learning that NSV was, contrary to popular

belief, not castration and was a much easier procedure than BTL,
opted to have the NSV to spare his wife from being operated on.
Florentino reasoned out, My wife already gave birth to our four
children. Its my turn to make the sacrifice.
Florentinos story is one success story that needs emulating to
continue the success of the family planning program in Benguet.
This time, cultural realities are supportive of public health goals.
The province has the second highest CPR in the country, with a
CPR of 50.4% against the national CPR of 36.9%. BTL use is also
highest in Benguet at 21.7% against the national rate of 8.6%.
The annual population growth rate of Benguet is 1.09% which is
much lower than the national average of 2.43%.
Long acting (IUD and injectables) and permanent (BTL) methods
are the favoured methods among women in Benguet. On the
extreme side, pill use in Benguet is one of the lowest in the
country at 17.0% against the national rate of 19.8%. Long acting
and permanent methods are preferred primarily because of the
convenience in using them. Agustina Garreno used pills for 12
years but decided to get ligated when it was offered for free. She

The provincial health officer, Dr. Norma Pacalso, credits this

accomplishment in BTL use to the medical missions organized by
the public midwives, the Interlocal Health Zones (ILHZ), BGH and
the CHD.
The midwives and village health workers from the different
municipalities do the outreach work and once there are at least 20
acceptors in the ILHZ, a medical mission is organized. The CHD
and PHO organize the mission with BGH. The medical mission is
also promoted thru the local radio and house visits. During
medical missions, an average of 22 women gets BTL.
It also helps that the BTL missions are free. We do not give
incentives to prospective clients. In fact, they are encouraged to
donate. Donations from the acceptors are used to feed volunteers
as the money from the ILHZ of about P10,000 ($250) is barely
enough to cover three days board and lodging for the itinerant
team, explains Dr. Pacalso.

Standard Ending
LuzonHealth is a USAID-funded project
implemented by RTI International which
aims to improve the health of Filipino
families in targeted provinces, cities, and
municipalities by expanding their access
to high quality Maternal, Neonatal and
Child Health and Nutrition and Family
Planning services.

To help achieve the provinces health development goals, the

USAID has funded RTI International to implement a comprehensive
program called LuzonHealth, otherwise known as the Integrated
Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition/Family Planning
Regional Project in Luzon. LuzonHealth is a five-year (2013-2018)
project that supports the DOH-lead scale-up of high-impact
services and client-centered information to reduce unmet need for
modern family planning methods and to improve maternal,
neonatal, child health and nutrition outcomes especially among
the poorest of the poor.
LuzonHealth is currently providing technical assistance to the
province of Benguet to strengthen and make more sustainable the
provision of family planning, maternal and child health and
nutrition services. More local service providers will be trained in
providing BTL and post-partum IUD insertions. Rural health
midwives will be trained in better identifying men and women with
unmet needs. Birthing facilities will be trained in the DOH Essential
Intrapartum and Newborn Care protocol. Quality data check

Writing Guidelines
Talk to relevant people who can contribute to your
story. Before you conduct an interview, prepare your
questions regarding the subject at hand.
Credit your news sources. When including a direct
quote, make sure you correctly cite the person who
said it.
Gather as much information as you can. When you
write a news story incorporate only what is needed to
give the reader a full accounting of the newsworthy
subject matter.
Proofread and edit your article. Typographical and
grammatical errors are distracting to a reader, so
correct all errors before submitting your story. Use
spellcheck!

Keep it short and simple!

Sentences: These should be under 25 words and contain
one idea. Dont use many commas and use the subjectverb-object structure.
Voice: Use anactive voice. This helps the writing be
strong and easy to understand.
Words: Dont use complicated words. Reduce them to a
simpler word. Also, use precise words so you will need
fewer words.
Numbers: Dont include more than three numbers in a
sentence.
Phrases: Dont put more than three prepositional phrases
in one sentence. Avoid dangling modifiers.
Tenses in a sentence should agree; unless you are stating
a universal fact. (Ex. She said that there is a God.)

Mind your commas