The body of a newspaper story; for EFL ESL learners and teachers (NiE)

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The news body

The headline and the lead tell you the main ideas of the news story, but they do so in a very shortened form. They give you enough information, however, to allow you to make an important decision. They allow you to decide whether you want to read the story or to skip it and move on to another more interesting story.

If you decide to continue reading

The body of the story is where you find detailed information. Basically, the body will give you three kinds of information: details, comments from people involved in the story, and background information to help you understand the story more deeply. The following short story has all of these elements.

Headline	Earthquake jolts Japan capital
Dateline	Tokyo, Reuters
Lead	A SLIGHT earthquake jolted the Japanese capital last night but authorities said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Statement	A spokesman for the Japan meteorological agency said: “An earth tremor was registered in Tokyo but there are nor reports of casualties or damage.”
Details	The earth tremor struck shortly after midnight Tokyo time—just after midnight Bangkok midnight Bangkok time.
Background	Residents of central Tokyo said the tremor was the strongest for several months in the capital.

Answering your questions

The headline and lead usually raise more questions than they answer. You generally find out what happened and one or two prominent details, but if you are interested in the subject you will want to know much more, questions such as: when? where? why? how? what effects? what significance? That is the function of the body of the story.

If you have completed each of the three main sections of the news story, you might want to go to the next section: Taking full advantage of the news style.

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