A news flash is a short piece of breaking news that keeps radio or television audiences up to date on issues that affect them, whether it’s local, national or international. It can include a mix of hard and soft news stories. A good news flash starts with a compelling headline that accurately and enticingly conveys what the story is about. It should follow the inverted pyramid style, with important details coming first, followed by more support information, citing sources where necessary. A nut graph should be included to tie the main points of the news flash into a bigger picture and show their significance and direction.
Usually limited to 6-10 news items, it’s essential for a newsflash to deliver facts in an engaging and compelling manner. It’s not the place to bring opinion, just the latest developments on a particular topic. It’s a challenge to do this in such a short amount of time, but it’s often done by using the narrative form of writing (show, don’t tell) or by describing the topic through a scene-setting lede, for example, “eight California high schoolers who share the same name pull off a witty stunt.”
The lead is also an opportunity to use a descriptive anecdote that captures the audience’s attention and entices them to listen or read on. Like the headline, it should also be a direct quote from a source to give added credibility and legitimacy to the article.
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