# How to write a news report, from the lead to the headline

**How do I write a news report?** To write a news report, put the most important facts first in a lead of about 25 words or fewer that says who did what, when, where and why, then add detail in falling order of importance. Attribute every claim that is not established fact, usually with "said", check each name and number, keep your own opinion out, and correct mistakes openly.

Published 2026-09-23 by EdCitation. https://edcitation.com/newsletter/how-to-write-a-news-report

To write a news report, put the news in the first sentence and the rest below it in falling order of importance, name the source of anything you did not witness, and check every name and number before anyone reads it.

EdCitation publishes this guide, built from the standards of Reuters, the Associated Press (AP), the BBC and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), a university handout and two school resources, read on 23 and 24 September 2026. The old address of Reuters' Handbook of Journalism, once free online, now leads to a shorter Standards and Values page, so its writing and sourcing pages were read in archived copies from 2019 and 2020, and the SPJ's code, whose site blocked our tools, in an archived copy of 17 September 2026. The AP Stylebook is sold, not free to read, so we claim none of its rules.

A news report names its sources in its sentences, not in a reference list. EdCitation helps with the research underneath: [Find sources](https://edcitation.com/) turns up the published study a quoted claim rests on, [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references) checks that the study exists, and [Check your paper](https://edcitation.com/check) lists what a teacher's brief demands, all at no cost.

## What is the inverted pyramid in a news report?

The inverted pyramid puts the most important information first and the rest in falling order of importance, not in the order things happened, as Boston University College of Communication Writing Center (2019) explains it. Its handout adds that a news report needs no conclusion: stop when the information runs out, or end on a quotation or a look ahead. Reuters wanted most basic news stories kept to about 400 words (Reuters, n.d.-d).

### The nut graph

Reuters called the paragraph after the lead the nut graph: it answers "so what?", giving a new reader the context and why the event matters. If that has no answer, the handbook suggests, there may be no story.

## How do you write the lead of a news report?

Write one sentence that says what happened, with the news near its start. BBC Bitesize (n.d.) asks primary pupils for all five Ws in the first paragraph; Boston University's handout wants the lead to tell readers something new.

Reuters gave two tests (Reuters, n.d.-d). Count the words before the one you could not cut, usually the news itself: more than three or four, and rewrite. Then count the sentence: beyond 25 words it may start to strain the reader, so split it. The handbook's own example moved "hostage" from the 14th word of a 42-word lead to the fifth.

### A worked example, on an invented story

This practice story, written for this guide, is invented: the school, its people, numbers, quotations and events. Only the research in the fourth paragraph is real.

A first try buries the news: *At a meeting in the school library on Monday evening, attended by governors, staff and around 60 parents, Hillview School's governing body discussed the timing of the school day and voted on a proposal.* The rewrite reaches the news at the fourth word, in 22 words:

> Hillview School will start 40 minutes later from January after governors voted on Monday to move the first lesson to 9.10 am.
>
> The change, approved by 9 votes to 2, follows a survey in which most pupils reported arriving tired, the head teacher, Sam Carter, said.
>
> "Our pupils told us they were falling asleep in first period, and we listened," Carter said.
>
> A 2016 review of six studies, published in *Sleep Medicine Reviews*, found that where schools delayed their start by 25 to 60 minutes, students slept 25 to 77 minutes more a weeknight. Its authors called for more rigorous randomised trials.
>
> Some parents at the meeting said the later finish, at 3.50 pm, would clash with work. The chair of the parents' association, Jo Patel, said the group would ask for a breakfast club.
>
> The new timetable starts on 5 January.

| Paragraph | Its job | The rule behind it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lead | The news, in 22 words | Under 25 words, key word early (Reuters) |
| Second | Why, and who says so | Sourced high; full name and title first, surname after (Reuters; Boston University) |
| Quotation | A reaction that moves the story on | No quote that repeats the paragraph before (Reuters; Boston University) |
| Research | The finding and its limits | Named in the sentence; found with [Find sources](https://edcitation.com/), confirmed with [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references) |
| Parents | The other side | Talk to all sides (Reuters) |

## How does attribution work in a news report?

Attribution means saying who told you, in the sentence, whenever a fact is neither common knowledge nor something you saw. Reuters told reporters to source every statement that is not established fact or clearly public, to source a story within its first two paragraphs, to repeat the source each time a contentious statement appears, and to put the source first for an allegation (Reuters, n.d.-b). AP attributes anything that could reasonably be disputed, with the source's full name and why they are credible (Associated Press, 2026).

### Why "said", and the words to avoid

"Said" is neutral; most substitutes are not. The BBC's style guide says "claim", used of a fact, suggests disbelief (BBC News, n.d.-b). Reuters (n.d.-c) warned that "claimed" and "according to" can signal doubt, "fears" and "hopes" take sides, and "refute" and "failed to" pass judgement.

The guides differ at the edges. Boston University's handout counts "stated" and "added" as neutral; the BBC keeps "added" for the last of a set of quotes (BBC News, n.d.-a). AP never corrects grammar inside quotation marks, paraphrasing instead (Associated Press, 2026), while Reuters (n.d.-e) says fixing a grammatical slip may be valid but rewording a phrase is not. Where no house style is named, "said" and quotations exactly as spoken are safe.

### Named and anonymous sources

Every outlet read prefers a named source and treats an unnamed one as an exception to be justified.

| Outlet | When an unnamed source may be used | What the report must do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reuters | Information of public or market interest not available on the record; a single anonymous source only exceptionally, with special authorisation | Describe the source precisely; "a source" or "informed sources" alone is unacceptable |
| AP | Vital information, not opinion, available no other way, from a reliable source with direct knowledge; a manager approves | Say why the source asked for anonymity; usually more than one source |
| BBC | One unnamed source for a serious allegation goes to its editorial policy director and legal advisers first | Make clear the allegation comes from an anonymous source, not the BBC |
| SPJ Code | Sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, with information unavailable elsewhere | Explain why anonymity was granted |

The table draws on Reuters (n.d.-b, n.d.-e), Associated Press (2026), BBC (n.d.-b) and Society of Professional Journalists (2014). In a class assignment your teacher stands where a newsroom's senior editor would: ask before you promise anyone anonymity.

## How do you check the facts before a news report is published?

Check every fact against where it came from, then check names and numbers again. Reuters' writing guide gave reporters this list before filing (Reuters, n.d.-d):

1. Double-check facts, figures, names, dates and spellings; spell each name the same way throughout.
2. Match the day of the week to the date.
3. Make the numbers add up: parts to the total, percentages to 100, never millions for billions.
4. Tell readers how and when the information was obtained.
5. Ask a colleague to read it for weak sourcing, errors and unfairness.

The BBC adds first-hand sources where possible, statistics checked with their caveats, and reluctance to rely on a single source (BBC, n.d.-b).

### Checking the research behind a claim

When someone in your story cites research, find it. For the practice story, EdCitation's free [Find sources](https://edcitation.com/) was given the topic "later school start times and adolescent sleep" on 23 September 2026, and the review by Minges and Redeker (2016) came 11th by best match. Its abstract, read on PubMed, reports six studies and asks for more rigorous trials, so the report gives the finding with its limits, not "research proves". From the DOI, [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite) set out the APA 7 reference using the Crossref record and found no retraction notice, and Verify references called it verified, since the DOI resolved to that paper and the titles agreed. For a source that comes back less cleanly, see [how to check a reference is real](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/how-to-check-a-reference-is-real).

### When a report is wrong

Correct it openly. AP labels every correction as a correction, never with softer words such as "clarifies" (Associated Press, 2026), and the UK Editors' Code requires a significant inaccuracy to be corrected promptly and with due prominence (Editors' Code of Practice Committee, 2025).

## How do you keep a news report neutral?

Report what happened and what people said, and leave your own view out. Reuters kept factual news apart from clearly labelled opinion; in a news story, an opinion appears only when quoted from a named, authoritative source (Reuters, n.d.-c). The SPJ Code asks journalists to label advocacy and commentary, and the Editors' Code requires comment, conjecture and fact to be kept clearly apart.

Some words carry a verdict. Reuters' examples are a "flood" of immigrants that is really a small number of people, and a "surge" in a share price that is a modest rise (Reuters, n.d.-e). The BBC warns that bias can hide in phrasing such as 'the burden of taxation' (BBC, n.d.-a). Boston University's test: a reader should not be able to guess where the writer stands.

## How do you write a headline and a caption?

A headline is the news in a few plain words, and the story must bear it out. Reuters asked for short words, an active verb and one idea, and its editing system flagged headlines over 64 characters (Reuters, n.d.-d). The BBC keeps story headlines to about 55 characters and avoids cryptic ones (BBC News, n.d.-c); the Editors' Code counts a headline the text does not support as an inaccuracy. For the practice story: *Hillview School to start 40 minutes later*, 41 characters.

A caption answers the five Ws for the picture. Reuters' photo guide writes captions in the present tense, usually as one sentence, never guesses what someone pictured is thinking, and says when a subject has posed (Reuters, n.d.-a): *Pupils queue for the 8.05 am bus outside Hillview School, which will start its day at 9.10 am from January.*

## How is a school news report different from a newspaper's?

Mostly in who sets the rules: the teacher's brief, not a newsroom's handbook. BBC Bitesize's page for pupils in Years 3 and 4 asks for the five Ws first, formal language in the third person, facts rather than the writer's own opinions, and the writer's name. Some of it differs from newsroom practice.

| Point | School guidance read | Newsroom guidance read |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ending | Bitesize: a closing paragraph can say what might happen next | Boston University: no conclusion needed |
| Tense | Bitesize: the main report in the past tense | Reuters: captions in the present tense |
| Headline | Bitesize: eye-catching, often alliterative | Reuters and BBC: short and plain |
| Sources | A source list, if the brief asks; [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite) formats each entry | Named in the sentence, with no list |

### Check which kind of article the task wants

A "newspaper article" in an English exam may be an opinion piece. AQA's sample paper for GCSE English Language Paper 2 asks for an article for a broadsheet newspaper giving the writer's point of view on homework (AQA, 2014). A report with no view of its own would not answer it.

### Read the brief into a checklist

We wrote a practice brief of the kind a teacher might set, and EdCitation's free [Check your paper](https://edcitation.com/check) turned it into six rules, each shown with its sentence: 350 to 450 words, 12-point Arial, double spacing, 2.5 cm margins (shown in inches, 0.98) and APA 7. It listed six sentences as ones it could not check, among them the ten-word headline limit, putting the key facts first and "at least one published study". Those are yours to check, line by line against the brief. [How to read an assignment brief and rubric](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/how-to-read-an-assignment-brief-and-rubric) goes further.

## Where does EdCitation fit when you write a news report?

In the research, not the report. A news report credits its sources in its own sentences, and no newsroom guide read here asks for a reference list, though a class may. Nothing in the report is written by EdCitation.

One question in a report has a right answer: does the study behind a claim exist? For that, Verify references is in our view the best tool there is, because it searches the publisher's record for each reference rather than composing one, something no chatbot can promise. It needs no account and costs nothing. Every entry comes back marked verified, "check this" or not found; retractions are flagged; and one it could not check says so, never "not found". The practice story's review passed.

[Find sources](https://edcitation.com/) looks across about 300 million published works, taking a topic or the sentence you need to support. [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite) sets references out in APA 7, MLA 9, Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver and Chicago's 18th-edition author-date form, checking each source for retraction. Check your paper reads the brief for free; judging a finished report against it is Theoretics QA, in the Max plan at $24 a month, which quotes the piece and never rewrites it. [Pricing](https://edcitation.com/pricing) compares Free, Pro ($8 a month) and Max; [getting a short piece into the New York Times](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/getting-a-short-piece-into-the-new-york-times) covers writing for an editor.

## Quick questions

### How long should the lead of a news report be?

One sentence, usually no more than about 25 words: beyond that, Reuters' handbook said, a first sentence may get hard to follow.

### Can a news report use anonymous sources?

Only as an exception. Reuters, AP, the BBC and the SPJ Code all prefer named sources and allow an unnamed one only under conditions, such as information unavailable any other way.

### Does a news report need a reference list?

Not in a newspaper, where sources are named in the text. If a class asks for one, EdCitation's free [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite) builds each entry in APA 7 or five other styles.

### What is the difference between a news report and an opinion piece?

A news report says what happened and who said so, without the writer's view; an opinion piece argues a view and is labelled as opinion.

## References

- AQA. (2014). *GCSE English language (8700) paper 2: Writers' viewpoints and perspectives, sample set 1* [Question paper]. [https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-87002-SQP.PDF](https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-87002-SQP.PDF)
- Associated Press. (2026). *The Associated Press statement of news values and principles* [PDF]. [https://www.ap.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/THE-ASSOCIATED-PRESS-STATEMENT-OF-NEWS-VALUES-AND-PRINCIPLES-1.pdf](https://www.ap.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/THE-ASSOCIATED-PRESS-STATEMENT-OF-NEWS-VALUES-AND-PRINCIPLES-1.pdf)
- BBC. (n.d.-a). *Section 2: Impartiality: Guidelines*. BBC Editorial Guidelines. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/impartiality/guidelines](https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/impartiality/guidelines)
- BBC. (n.d.-b). *Section 3: Accuracy: Guidelines*. BBC Editorial Guidelines. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/accuracy/guidelines](https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/accuracy/guidelines)
- BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). *Newspaper features and writing a newspaper*. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z2yycdm/articles/z2gk9qt](https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z2yycdm/articles/z2gk9qt)
- BBC News. (n.d.-a). *News style guide: A*. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/a](https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/a)
- BBC News. (n.d.-b). *News style guide: C*. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/c](https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/c)
- BBC News. (n.d.-c). *News style guide: H*. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/h](https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/h)
- Boston University College of Communication Writing Center. (2019). *News story* [Handout]. [https://www.bu.edu/com/files/2021/04/WCnewsstory.pdf](https://www.bu.edu/com/files/2021/04/WCnewsstory.pdf)
- Editors' Code of Practice Committee. (2025). *The Editors' Code of Practice*. [https://editorscode.org.uk/the-code/](https://editorscode.org.uk/the-code/)
- Minges, K. E., & Redeker, N. S. (2016). Delayed school start times and adolescent sleep: A systematic review of the experimental evidence. *Sleep Medicine Reviews*, *28*, 86–95. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2015.06.002](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2015.06.002)
- Reuters. (n.d.-a). *A brief guide to standards, Photoshop and captions*. Handbook of Journalism. Archived October 31, 2020, at [http://web.archive.org/web/20201031103733/http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=A_Brief_Guide_to_Standards%2C_Photoshop_and_Captions](http://web.archive.org/web/20201031103733/http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=A_Brief_Guide_to_Standards%2C_Photoshop_and_Captions)
- Reuters. (n.d.-b). *The essentials of Reuters sourcing*. Handbook of Journalism. Archived December 21, 2020, at [http://web.archive.org/web/20201221151949/https://handbook.reuters.com/?title=The_Essentials_of_Reuters_sourcing](http://web.archive.org/web/20201221151949/https://handbook.reuters.com/?title=The_Essentials_of_Reuters_sourcing)
- Reuters. (n.d.-c). *Freedom from bias*. Handbook of Journalism. Archived December 15, 2019, at [http://web.archive.org/web/20191215215952/http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=Freedom_from_bias](http://web.archive.org/web/20191215215952/http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=Freedom_from_bias)
- Reuters. (n.d.-d). *Reporting and writing basics*. Handbook of Journalism. Archived November 27, 2020, at [http://web.archive.org/web/20201127012551/http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=Reporting_and_Writing_Basics](http://web.archive.org/web/20201127012551/http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=Reporting_and_Writing_Basics)
- Reuters. (n.d.-e). *Standards and values*. Reuters News Agency. [https://reutersagency.com/about/standards-values/](https://reutersagency.com/about/standards-values/)
- Society of Professional Journalists. (2014). *SPJ code of ethics*. Archived September 17, 2026, at [http://web.archive.org/web/20260917181518/https://www.spj.org/spj-code-of-ethics/](http://web.archive.org/web/20260917181518/https://www.spj.org/spj-code-of-ethics/)