Difference between revisions 1529624 and 1529628 on enwikinews

{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{#if:{{#titleparts:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|-1}}|{{#titleparts:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|-1}}/|{{NAMESPACE}}:}}Pillars of ''Wikinews'' writing}}
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(contracted; show full)

* Each article is '''newsworthy'''.

:: A newsworthy story focuses on a news event or phenomenon that is specific, relevant, and fresh.  An earthquake is a specific event; continental drift is not (though the release of a 
''report'' on continental drift might be).  Relevance should be to more than a few hundred people, which doesn't preclude local news.  Freshness usually means &mdash;for a synthesis article&mdash; it happened within the past day or two.

* Each article is '''presented in the writer's own words'''.

:: Although all the information is from the sources, its presentation must be original.  Choose your own ordering of the facts you choose to include, based on your understanding of the story.  Avoid imitating phrase or sentence structure, or distinctive turns of phrase or word choices.  At the most detailed level, you shouldn't have more than three consecutive words exactly as in an outside source (with obvious exceptions, like titles).  Direct quotes are reserved for newsmakers; you may directly quote, say, David Cameron based on what the BBC directly quoted him as saying, but don't quote the BBC unless they become part of the news story.

* Each article is '''presented in news style'''.

:: The [[WN:headline|headline]] tells the most important and unique thing about the focus of the article.  Then the [[WN:lede|lede]] captures the essence of the article by succinctly answering as many as reasonably possible of the [[WN:basic questions|basic questions]] about the focus.  The lede should show the focus is newsworthy.  After the lede, later paragraphs proceed expand on the focus using [[WN:inverted pyramid|inverted pyramid]] style.  The inverted pyramid arrangement of the later paragraphs, especially, has lots of room for variation.

:: The headline, lede, and body of the article should all have the same focus.

* Each article is '''written for an international audience'''.

:: Our global readership might not recognize the name of the person, or city, or sports team, or the organization acronym you refer to.  So you need to explain (succinctly, if it's in the lede, yet more in the headline) things like what profession the person is in, what sport the teams plays, what country the city is in or team or person is from.  Don't assume the reader is already familiar with, say, a sensational criminal case, either; they can look up details later (hopefully, on ''Wikinews''&nbsp;:-), but tell them enough that they won't be confused now.

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