Story 1

Dr Michael Kai is a scientist with the Papua New Guinea Department of Primary Industry. He has been working for ten years
on a project to breed larger pigs. One of his pigs, an adult male, has been weighed at 350 kgs. This is the heaviest pig ever
to have been bred in Papua New Guinea. Mr Kai hopes to use this animal to breed other very large pigs.
Story 2
A school bus ran off City Road in Suva, narrowly missed an electricity pole and came to rest in a garden. Most of the bus
windows were smashed. There were more than 30 children on the bus. They were going to Martyr School. It was a 36-seater
bus. All the children escaped serious injury. Some of them jumped out of the bus and grazed themselves. Eye-witnesses said
the children were helped from the bus screaming and shouting and in a state of panic. This happened this morning.
Story 3
In July last year, Mr Sione Tuanuku went to work for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in
Nuku`alofa, cleaning out the dog pound and caring for the dogs. Yesterday he was sacked by the manager of the dog pound,
Mrs Anita Chan. She said that he had mistreated one of the dogs.
Mr Tuanuku said: "The dogs always barked at me and sometimes they tried to bite me. I didn't like it. Yesterday I got fed up
with one dog that tried to bite me, so I bit the dog in the leg to teach it a lesson. Now I have been dismissed from my job."
Story 4
Mr John Erikub and his wife, Laura, were driving to their home in Majuro yesterday afternoon, after shopping in Uliga. Mr and
Mrs Erikub were in the front of their Toyota pick-up. Their three children were travelling in the back - Paul, aged nine; Rachel,
aged seven; and Miriam, aged three.
Driving past the cemetery, they met a truck travelling in the opposite direction. This was a semi-trailer belonging to Pacific
Earthmoving Inc, carrying a 12-ton bulldozer. The truck was driven by Mr Lewis Kili, who comes from Jaluit Atoll. The pick-up
ran out of control and collided head-on with the semi-trailer.
Police and ambulance were sent for. Mr and Mrs Erikub and their two elder children died instantly. Miriam was taken to
hospital with serious injuries and died later. The pick-up was a write-off. The semi-trailer suffered only minor damage. Mr Kili
was also taken to hospital and treated for shock, but was later allowed home.
Police have interviewed Mr Kili. They say they are unlikely to charge him with any offence.

Answers to writing the news story exercise

Here are suggested answers for the news story writing exercise. These are not the only way news stories could
have been written from the information you were given, and your stories may be correct even if they differ from
ours in some details. Compare your stories with the following suggested answers, to see if you can improve
what you have written.
Story 1
A government scientist has produced the biggest pig ever to have been bred in Papua New Guinea.
The adult male pig weighs 350 kgs.
It is the result of a ten-year breeding project by the Department of Primary Industry.
Scientist Dr Michael Kai hopes to use the animal to breed other very large pigs.
Notice how, even though the information was about a pig, we have included people by talking about the scientist who bred
the big pig. Also, see how we have limited the story to a maximum of two concepts (ideas) per sentence.
Story 2
More than 30 children escaped serious injury when a school bus crashed in Suva today.
The 36-seater bus, which was carrying children to Veiuto School, ran off Queen Elizabeth Drive.
It narrowly missed an electricity pole and came to rest with most of its windows smashed in a garden.
Eye-witnesses said the children were helped from the bus screaming and shouting and in a state of panic.
Although none of the children was seriously hurt, some of them were grazed jumping out of the bus.
Notice how we started with the most important key point - the children. We told our audience that the children had narrowly
missed serious injury in a crash. Because a lot of people might want to know who the children were, in the second paragraph
we gave them details of the school they attended. Finally we told the story in chronological order, the order in which the
event happened.
Story 3
A cleaner at the Nuku'alofa dog pound has been sacked for biting one of the animals in his charge.
Mr Sione Tuanuku was an assistant at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals pound.
He said he had bitten one of the dogs to teach it a lesson.
"The dogs always barked at me and sometimes they tried to bite me," Mr Tuanuku said. "I didn't like it.
"I got fed up with one dog that tried to bite me, so I bit the dog in the leg to teach it a lesson."
Mr Tuanuku had worked at the RSPCA pound since last year.
Manager Mrs Anita Chan confirmed that she had sacked Mr Tuanuku for mistreating one of the dogs.
As we said in the Writing the intro exercise, this is the classic "man bites dog" story, with the added human angle of Mr
Tuanuku's sacking. Notice that we kept the title of the RSPCA out of the intro, and gave it almost a whole sentence to itself
because it is so long and complicated that it might otherwise have confused our readers or listeners. We later used the
abbreviation, for those people who only know it as the RSPCA. We used Mr Tuanuku's quotes in full because they were so
lively.
Story 4
A Majuro couple and their three children died when their pick-up collided head-on with a semi-trailer.
Mr John Erikub, his wife, Laura, and their three children were driving home yesterday afternoon after shopping in Uliga.
Their Toyota pick-up was passing the cemetery when it ran out of control and collided with the semi-trailer.
Mr and Mrs Erikub, their son Paul, aged nine, and daughter Rachel, aged seven, died instantly. Their youngest daughter,
Miriam, aged three, died later in hospital.
All three children had been riding in the back of the pick-up.
The semi-trailer, which was carrying a 12-ton bulldozer, belonged to Pacific Earthmoving Inc.
Driver Mr Lewis Kili, who comes from Jaluit Atoll, suffered only minor injuries. He was treated in hospital for shock, but later
allowed home.
Police have interviewed Mr Kili and say they are unlikely to charge him with any offence.
The semi-trailer was slightly damaged, but the pick-up was a write-off.
Notice how again we focused on the human tragedy and put the damage to the vehicles at the bottom of the story. Although
we named the family in the second paragraph, we did not give the names of all the children until the fourth paragraph, to
avoid overloading any sentences, especially those early in the story. There were lots of details, but notice how we spread
them throughout the story, again to prevent overloading.

Filipino News Writing Exercise:

Smuggling ng metal
Posted on September 10, 2012

Heres an exercise for news writing in filipino.

PANUTO: Sumulat ng isang balita, base sa mga sumusunod ng detalye ng balita.
Gawan ito ng ulo/headline.

Nagreklamo ang mga lokal ng manufacturer ng mga produktong bakal laban sa

umanoy talamak na pagpapalusot ng finished metal products

Nagtataka ang mga nagrereklamo kung paano nailusot ang mga steel rods sa
presyong mas mababa sa presyo ng scrap metals.

Ang paliwanag ng Cebu Customs sa mga nagrereklamo ay transaction value method

ang ginamit para malaman ang buwis at taripa sa mga imported products.

Sa sistema ng transaction value method tanging dokumento lang ng shipment na

nakalagay ang presyo at notaryado sa pinanggalingan ng produkto ang kailangan.
Pwedeng tanggapin na lamang ito ng customs collector kahit na may iba pang
prescribed BOC valuation methods and references para ma-double check ang
deklaradong presyo.

Kung seryoso ang BOC na sawatain ang technical smuggling, madali lang, kung
mahigpit nilang i-enforce ang Valuation Procedure o kaya dapat i-cross reference yan sa
Metal Bulletin Weekly, Steel Business Briefing of London o MySteel ng China kung saan
makikita ang tamang presyo ng bakal o metal, sabi ng tagapagsalita ng mga
nagrereklamo.

Ang reklamo ay nagmula sa Philippine Iron and Steel Institute at Galvanized Iron Wire
Manufacturing Association at ipinarating kina Department of Finance (DOF) Sec. Cesar
Purisima at Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Ruffy Biazon.

Ang Philippine Iron and Steel Institute at Galvanized Iron Wire Manufacturing
Association ay may annual sports festival kung saan nagsasama-sama ang lahat ng
mga miyembro mula sa buong bansa para makipagtagisan ng galing sa ibat ibang
isports tulad ng figure skating at gymnastics.

Ang inirereklamo ay isang kumpanya na naka-base sa Mandaue at mayroong maliit na

steel rolling plant. Ang kumpanya ay ang pangunahing nag-aangkat ng finished steel
products tulad ng smaller sized steel wire rods na nirorolyo para maging reinforcing
steel bars at ibinebenta sa mga hardware store para sa mga maliliit na construction
projects.

Ang reklamo ay nagmula sa mga local na manufacturer ng mga steel products sa

Cebu.

Ang mga finished metal products ay ibinebenta sa mas mababang halaga kaysa sa
scrap metal.