How to Write Like a Journalist; Thinking About Angles

To write like a journalist you must understand that a news writer’s vocabulary is generally no better or worse than your average person’s, yet these professional wordsmiths have a writing skill that separates them as journalists.

Any journalist will tell you that writing, while crucial, is merely a by-product of probably the most important aspect of news journalism – finding angles.

When learning how to write like a journalist, you are told that the angle, also known as the “news point”, “peg”, “gist” or “line” of a story, is what gives a news article its backbone.

Once you have established an angle for your article, the words gush forth. However, if your angle is flawed, you will struggle. Your angle has to be strong enough to sustain the story for at least four paragraphs, each paragraph roughly 30 to 40 words.

So, what constitutes an angle? Basically, an angle defines what it is you are going to write about. This may seem painfully obvious but you would be amazed at how often a non-journalist gets this wrong.

Sports News

One of the easiest genres in which to highlight angles is sports journalism. Ask an amateur to write a report of the Wimbledon final and you would probably get something like this (example only, fictional scenario).

“On a bright, sunny day in London, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal stepped on to the world’s most famous grass court to start their battle to be king of Wimbledon.”

Is this an angle? Compare it to what a professional journalist would probably write.

“Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal in five sets to win the 2011 Wimbledon men’s singles title.”

In reporting a game, the best angle to go on is “who won and by how much”? But angles are flexible and you can bring in other information to beef up your news point, such as what the win means to Federer is a stronger angle.

For example, “Roger Federer won his first Wimbledon title in three years when he beat Rafael Nadal in the men’s singles final.”

Expanding Angles

Often, angles would reach out and grab you and other times, you really need to think hard to find a decent peg to hang your story on. If you don’t have an angle, you don’t have a story.

Continuing on the sports theme, imagine sitting in on Federer’s post-match press conference. He talks about a many things – his forehand was working today, he did not feel any pressure, he hopes to retire in two years time, he and Nadal get along well off the court, he did not feel any effects of a knee injury.

Did you spot the angle? Of course, it is Federer’s retirement talk. So, you may write: “Roger Federer is planning to walk away from tennis in two years’ time, the world number two said soon after winning the Wimbledon men’s singles title.”

You would continue on the retirement theme for another three paragraphs, including a quote, before going on to the other things he said.

Finding angles is not always so easy. Whatever topic you write about, be it sports, crime, politics or business, the primary skill of a journalist is how he or she angles a story. The writing, no matter how good your knowledge of words, rarely saves an article that has a weak angle.

Finding angles is a skill that can only improve with practice. In further articles, we will explore how to angle different types of stories from across the newsroom.