Example News Item Text in English
(Source: Mulyono. 2010. English Alive. Yudhistira: Jakarta.)
News item is a type of the text that has the main function or communicative purpose to inform readers of listeners or viewer about events of the day that are considered newsworthy or important. The generic structure of news item has elements as follows.
Ø Headline/ title: the main point to report in reduced clause.
Ø Summary of event: the summary of main event that is to be reported.
Ø Background of event: the explanation about what had happened (who, what, when, where).
Ø Source: someone’s about the event.
A) Example 1, News Item Text: Air Force still Investigating Cause of Plane Crash
The Air Force is still investigating the cause of last Thursday’s military plane crash on Mount Salak, Bogor, an officials say.
“I cannot reveal any preliminary suspicions on the crash because we are still waiting for result of the investigating,” Air Force spokesman Chaerudin Ray said here Sunday.
He said he was sure that human error was not the cause of the Casa 212’s crash because the Captain’s Pilot, Maj. Bendot Arjiyanto, was both an experienced pilot and an instructor.
Chaerudin said no Casa planes belonging to the Air Force, including the 1984 Casa light transport airplane, carried a black box.
“We only rely on the tape recorder and a record from the Jakarta air traffic control,” he said.
(Source: The Jakarta Post, June 30, 2008)
B) Example 2, News Item Text: Quake victims play waiting game
Nethy Dharma Somba
The Jakarta Post/ Manokwari, West Papua
Thousand of quake survivors cramped makeshift shelters in Manokwari on Monday as aftershocks continued to rock the region a day after two powerful earthquake flattened hundreds of buildings and killed four people.
“For the time being, there are 14,000 refugees,” West Papua Governor Abraham Atururi said, adding that 17 camps had been set up for displaced in the provincial capital of Manokwari.
The National Disaster Mitigation Body said the quake had killed two people, injured 35 other and damaged hundreds of buildings.
As said started to arrive Monday, hundreds of aftershocks continued to rattle the coastal city which had been hit by 7,6 and 7,5 magnitude quakes early Sunday, cutting power and prompting a brief tsunami warning.
Atururi said a 10 year old girl had been killed in the quakes.
Hundreds of government and private buildings were also damaged, as well as seven bridges, two of which collapsed, he said.
Jayapura’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) office said West Papua had been hit by 842 aftershocks over a period of 29 hours after the first quake, including 54 strong after shocks all rated at more than 5 on the Richter scale.
“It keeps on shaking,” Papua BMG spokesman, Mujahidin said.
Evacuees erected tents along the road near their homes despite the nearby refugee centers.
“We will stay in the tents until the government issues an official statement stating the condition is safe,” La Atin, 45, an evacuee from Wirsi village, told The Jakarta Post.
Atin and 10 other families from Wirsi said they preferred to continue living in tents erected along the road because they feared more aftershocks and tsunami would strike.
“During the earthquake in 1996, our home were swept away by tidal waves. The water at one point rose, prompting us to seek shelter on higher ground,” said Atin, whose house is located near a beach.
He left for shelter with his family and their belongings, including mattresses, mats, stove and rice.
“We have not received relief aid from the government but we can still eat because we brought rice from home,” said Ria, Atin ’s wife.
Following Monday’s aftershocks that rocked Manokwari city, Sorong city, and Sorong regency. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono dispatched to the region four ministers armed with cash aid and supplies. The ministers are Social Minister, Bachtiar Chamsyah, Health Minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, Public Works Minister, Djoko Kirmanto, and Transportation Minister, Jusman Syafii Djamal to West Papua.
The ministers brought with them Rp 1 billion (US$93,023) in cash, 600 tons of rice, medical supplies, an ambulance and a car to carry refugees to shelters.
Bacthiar called on victims who had not received aid to remain patient, adding there was an insufficient number of relief works in the region.
He said he would dispatch a team to West Papua to survey and rebuild damaged homes. Buildings collapsed by the quakes, including the three story Mutiara hotel, were closed off with police tape and guarded by soldiers.
(Source: The Jakarta Post, January 6, 2009)
C) Example 3, news item text: TV Station
Good evening. It is five to six pm on Monday, June 30th, 2008. I’m Putra Nababan. Here is the news headline news from Metro TV.
A maid was found dead with severe head injuries and cuts in the Bank Tabungan Negara housing complex in Tangerang municipality, Saturday morning.
Tangerang detective chief, Adj. Comr. Zulkifli, said, as quoted by Antara, that Police strongly suspected she had been killed by her close friend. They have still been investigating the case to confirm what happened.
The body of Sri Mulyanti, 18, was found by neighbor, Topan, around 300 meter form her employer’s house.
The employers, Anti and Eko, said they realized Sri Mulyanti was not sleeping in her bed in their house the night she died, but they did not suspect anything. Anti said, Sri Mulyanti, who had worked for the family for a year, was well behaved and did her jobs diligently.
4) Example 4, news item text: Gold tumbles to more than 2 month low as risk grows
Gold dropped to its lowest in more than two months as investor risk appetite increased, reducing the metal’s appeal as a heaven.
Bullion has tumbled 5,2 percent in three days on growing optimism that the world financial crisis maybe easing. Asian stocks advanced for a fourth day after Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben S. Bernance, said policy responses were helping to unfreeze credit markets. The metal has dropped 6,5 percent in the past month as the benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific Index surged 21 percent.
“ The gold price came off from US$920, $930 because the equity market has been performing better,” said Bob Takai, general manager of financial services at Sumitomo Corp. in Tokyo.
Gold for immediate delivery fell for a third day, sliding as much as 2,1 percent to $874,98 an ounce, the lowest since January 23, before trading at $878,57 an ounce at 2:09 pm in Singapore. June delivery gold dipped 1,9 percent to $880.20 an ounce on the comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“We may be through the worst, but we are not yet out of the woods,” Takai said in a Bloomberg Television Interview, Monday. “I recommend people holding gold positions at the moment to sell. Keep it just in case something happens.”
Investment in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange traded fund backed by billion, declined for the first time since March, 23. The fund held 1,127.37 tons of gold as of April 3m down from 1,127.44 tons on April 2, a level which had been unchanged for four days. Still, gold may rebound this week on concern that consumer prices may increase. Spurring demand for the precious metal as a hedge against inflation.
Twelve of 17 traders, investors, and analysts, or 71 percent surveyed by Bloomberg News, said gold would climb. Four people or 24 percent forecast lower prices and one was neutral.
Price of goods imported into the US Probably rose 0.9 percent in March, the first increase since July, according to the median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Labor Department report is set for release April 9.
“You never know if this financial crisis is going to be over, and you ever know if the equity rise is going to continue, so you need to buy the insurance,” said Takai.
Hedge fund managers and other large speculators increased their net long position in New York gold futures in the week ended March 31 by 1 percent, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
(Source: The Jakarta Post, April 7, 2009)
5) Example 5, for news item text: Rossi Sweeps to Australian GP Victory
Agency France- Presse
Phillip Island, Australia
World champion Valentino Rossi erased a 10 second time penalty to storm to victory in the Australian Moto Gp at the Phillip Island circuit on Sunday.
The 24 years old Italian Repsol Honda rider won his eight GP of the season and 58th overall to claim the 120 kilometer race by 5,2 seconds from Italy’s Ducati racer Loris Capirossi and American Honda rider Nicky Hayden.
It was Rossi’s 21st consecutive podium result and came despite incurring a ten second penalty for passing under yellow flags early in the race. Only Giacomo Agostini has had a longer run in the premier class with 22 straight podium results during the 1967-1969 seasons.
Rossi, who claimed his third consecutive world title in Malaysia last weekend, moved to 332 points, 75 points ahead of Spaniard Sete Gibernau with one race left in Valencia, Spain, in a fortnight. Marco Melandri, Hayden dan Rossi all diced for the early lead and Australian Troy Bayliss, who was also pressing, crashed out on lap four after touching a wet and slippery white line on the outside of the asphalt at the Honda hairpin.
The Ducati rider feel heavily and was knocked unconscious but medical staff said later he was suffering only bruising and slight concussion. Bayliss was to have precautionary checks in hospital later on Sunday.
On the next lap, Rossi passed Melandri at the corner where Bayliss came to grief, and not seeing the yellow flags was informed of a ten second penalty several laps later when he was leading by three seconds from Capirossi. Knowing he had to make up 10 seconds, Rossi roared off like a man possessed, taking the flag 15 seconds ahead of Capirossi, but five seconds in front on corrected time.
“I saw the board after nine or 10 laps and it said minus 10 seconds and I didn’t understand,” Rossi said.
The joust for third went down to a last lap showdown between Hayden and Gibernau, with the Spaniard pulling off an aggressive passing move on one of the fastest parts of the circuit to hold on to second by just four hundredths of second. Repsol Honda had two riders on the podium with young rookie Hayden looking like a worthy replacement for Rossi if the world champion decides to change teams for next season.
The championship, leading trio of Rossi, Gibernau, and Max Biaggi, who finished 17th and was almost lapped, cannot be displaced from their standings heading into the final race at Valencia.
(Taken from: The Jakarta Post, October 20, 2003)
