The Five Ws

The Five Ws are the key elements of a news story that a viewer, listener or reader of news would expect to find within that story- therefore journalists tend to include all of the Five Ws in any story that they write. Often the five Ws appear towards the beginning of the news story which helps the reader determine whether they would be interested in the story to read on. Another reason for the inclusion of the 5 Ws towards the beginning of the story is that if the story needs to be cut for any reason editors can cut from the bottom up without fundamentally altering the meaning of the story. The Five Ws are;


Who is it about? 

What happened? 

When did it take place?

Where did it take place? 

Why did it happen? 

How did it happen? 

I have picked a news story at random (click on the link below to see the full story) to see if it includes the Five Ws. As you can see the story about Paul McCartney performing a gig in Covent Garden includes all five:

Who - Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney
What - Played an impromptu gig
When - At lunch time on Saturday
Where - In Covent Garden
Why - To help promote his new album

Who, what, when, where, why and how.

Throughout the rest of my research into news stories I will try to identify the Five Ws in each story and think about where they appear within the story. This will help me include these vital elements when I come to write the stories for my radio news bulletin.