A news flash is a single item of important news that is broadcast separately and often interrupts other programs. It is a good way to keep listeners informed about current events. The key to writing a news flash is to remain neutral and focus only on reporting the facts. It is not the place to express an opinion or present analysis. A news flash should be short – no more than three minutes.
The first paragraph of a news flash, known as the lead, is your first chance to grab readers’ attention and draw them into your piece. This is a good opportunity to use a narrative hook or anecdote that both captures readers’ interest and provides a hint at the weightier argument and evidence that will come later in your article.
Once you’ve grabbed your audience’s attention, follow the inverted pyramid style by presenting the most crucial facts of your story first and providing supporting information afterwards. You should also cite the source of your information and add quotes from experts or witnesses to lend credibility to your work. Finally, conclude your piece with a forward-looking element that shows how the topic you’ve covered will continue to be relevant in the future.
In this example, we’ve used a fictional news article about Denise Lace-Crawford winning the Roachford prize for her book on Victorian domestic poisoning. We begin with a compelling headline that is both accurate and enticing, and then create a strong lead paragraph that introduces the subject of the article in a compelling way. The second par, called the nut graph, expands on the facts in the lead paragraph and ties them to a bigger picture, explaining why they matter.