News item

 

Definition

The news item is a text which informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or important.

Generic Structure 

1. Main Events

The Newsworthy event paragraph contains an introduction (orientation) about who, what, where and when about the event. Newsworthy Events will briefly answer the Who, What, Where, and When of the daily events.

2. Background Events

The News Item Text paragraph that contains the Background Event will explain how an event is mentioned in the first paragraph (Newsworthy Event). This is a paragraph that contains the background of events that are used to support the writing. Background Events usually consist of several background events and are written to clarify the chronology of the Newsworthy Event. Briefly, Background Events will explain the How and Why of the event.

3. Resource of information

The last paragraph of a News Item Text contains the source of the news. The source is a statement that comes from the perpetrator or victim of the event, news witnesses, and statements from the authorities of the event.

Language Feature of News Item

1. Short, telegraphic information about the story captured in headline

2. Using adverbs: time, place and manner.

3. Uses of material processes to retell the event. (the mental process is ….)

4. Use of projecting verbal process in sources stage

Example

Soviet Nuclear Catastrophe

A Russian journalist has uncovered evidence of another Soviet nuclear catastrophe, which killed 10 sailors and contaminated an entire town. Yelena Vazrshavskya is the first journalist to speak to people who witnessed the explosion of a nuclear submarine at the naval base of Shkotovo – 22 near Vladivostock. The accident, which occurred 13 months before the Chernobyl disaster, spread radioactive fall-out over the base and nearby town, but was covered up by officials of the Soviet Union. Residents were told the explosion in the reactor of the Victor-class submarine during a refit had been a ‘thermal’ and not a nuclear explosion. And those involved in the clean up operation to remove more than 600 tones of contaminated material were sworn to secrecy. A board of investigators was later to describe it as the worst accident in the history of the Soviet Navy.

Page 9-15 

Practice 1 

Practice 2

Practice 3

Part E

PART 2 ANALYZE 

THINGS WE NEED TO KNOW FOR ANALYSIS

In a news item to analyze a text, we need 5W + 1H. That is :

• Who is involved?

• For "Who" this refers to who was involved, or who did it.

• When is it happening?

• For "When" refers to the day and date of the incident.

• Where is this happening?

• For "Where" refers to the scene.

• What's happening?

• To "What" refers to a person, event or thing.

• Why is it happening?

• For "Why" refers to the process of problem-solving, cause and effect, and reasons.

• How is this happening?

• For "How" the reference is almost the same as why.

ANALYZING PARAGRAPH

For clarity, I will include an example text for incident description

Soviet Nuclear Catastrophe

A Russian journalist has uncovered evidence of another Soviet nuclear catastrophe, which killed 10 sailors and contaminated an entire town. Yelena Vazrshavskya is the first journalist to speak to people who witnessed the explosion of a nuclear submarine at the naval base of Shkotovo – 22 near Vladivostock. The accident, which occurred 13 months before the Chernobyl disaster, spread radioactive fall-out over the base and nearby town, but was covered up by officials of the Soviet Union. Residents were told the explosion in the reactor of the Victor-class submarine during a refit had been a ‘thermal’ and not a nuclear explosion. And those involved in the clean up operation to remove more than 600 tones of contaminated material were sworn to secrecy. A board of investigators was later to describe it as the worst accident in the history of the Soviet Navy.

description of events :

Yelena Vazrshavskya is the first journalist to speak to people who witnessed the explosion of a nuclear submarine at the naval base of Shkotovo – 22 near Vladivostock. The accident, which occurred 13 months before the Chernobyl disaster, spread radioactive fall-out over the base and nearby town, but was covered up by officials of the Soviet Union. Residents were told the explosion in the reactor of the Victor-class submarine during a refit had been a ‘thermal’ and not a nuclear explosion. And those involved in the clean up operation to remove more than 600 tones of contaminated material were sworn to secrecy.