Story types: Examples

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it gives you a sense of what’s possible.

Traditional news: Often inverted pyramid style, often hard news lead

• N.S. declares state of emergency in response to COVID-19 ( CBC)
• Nova Scotia teachers rally against Bill 75

Text-focused feature: Often feature lead, still timely

• Living with Lymphedema
• Wanda Thomas Bernard on her first weeks as a Canadian Senator
• The Honeycrisp boom

Explainer: Often answers a key question, often not in inverted pyramid style

• MMIW: Meet the commissioners (CBC)
• US election 2020: A really simple guide (BBC)
• What to know for pothole season

Q&A: Often used when you have a single source and topic is not controversial, sometimes used as an advancer

• Meet the woman behind one of Halifax’s top Instagram accounts
• David Perlman (Poynter)

Social: When stories are based around social media posts

• Toddler has temper tantrum after not getting to see Harjit Sajjan (CBC)
• Teachers document empty classrooms (CTV)
• How social media turned United into the biggest story in the country (WP)

Photo essays: Stories based around visuals, not just a grouping of photos

• Childhood friends trade ice skates for swim trunks for charity
• From sap to syrup: the story behind a breakfast staple
• Inside America’s Aladdin’s cave of dead animals (BBC)

Video report: Combines video, sound, and voices to tell a story 

• The Video Signal Youtube Channel
• New Brunswick senior treks 21st marathon at age 86 (Global News) 

Audio Documentary: Tells a story using sound and voices 

• The Cold Ground: Behind the Halifax Poor House’s unmarked graves