新闻写作由于记者写作风格不同，文体结构无定格。但大体上说新闻文体的主体结构是由标题、导语、正文三部分组成。

　　标题（headline）：浓缩概括全文的中心实质问题。

　　导语（1ead or introduction）：通常为文章的第一段。文章的第一段提供主要话题和最主要的事实。

　　正文（body）：在导语的基础上，引入更多的与主题相关的事实，使之更加详实、具体，并展开评论，进而得出结论。

　　在此我们以消息为例，详细分析一下它的基本结构。消息类新闻属于“硬新闻”，是广泛采用的的一种新闻体裁。消息报道中的导语十分重要，它位于第一段或第一、二段。通过它点出新闻的主题，这是消息这种新闻文体区别于其它文体的一个重要特征。五个W和一个H（When？Where？Who？What？Why？和How？）是构成一则完整的消息不可缺少的要素。直接的消息报道或纯消息报道一般采用“倒金字塔形式”（the Inverted Pyramid Form），其特点是按新闻报道最重要的五个W和一个H头重脚轻地安排材料，把新闻的高潮和结论放在最前面的导语里，然后以事实的重要性递减的顺序来安排（in theorder of descending importance）材料。

　　在报纸、广播、电视等新闻媒体每天刊载和播发的新闻中，百分之九十是用倒金字塔结构写成的。对于报纸来说，倒金字塔结构的新闻有自己的优势。主要是可以使读者很快得到新闻的精华部分；在生活节奏越来越快的今天，一般读者很少把一条新闻从头到尾读完，他们可能随时放下报纸，因此，报纸有必要让读者首先读到最重要的新闻内容。

　　为了帮助读者了解这种倒金字塔式结构，请见西方新闻学著作中的图表说明：

　　The Inverted Pyramid Form

　　Introduction containing most important or most interesting

　　information导语包括最重要或最吸引人的消息

　　more facts 更多的事实材料

　　supporting information or background 辅助性消息或背景材料

　　quotes or more facts of lesser importance引语或次要的事实材料

　　minor details 细节材料

　　least significant information 最不重要的消息

　　为了说明“倒金字塔结构”的新闻文体特点，现举美联社2001年11月22日的一篇报道为例：

　　NOVEMBER 22，19：43EST，2001

　　28 Killed in Colombia Landslide

　　By JUAN PABLO TORO

　　Associated Press Writer

　　FILADELFIA Colom bia（AP）—Rain-softened walls of a condemned strip mine crashed down on

　　scores of gold miners in western Colom- bia Thursday，killingat least 28 and leaving 40

　　others missing，authorities said．

　　The victims were said to be poor people who ignored government warnings that erosion had

　　made the mine unsafe．It appeared both the illegal digging and recent heavy rains were to

　　blame for the accident．

　　Survivors said two separate mudslides occurred at the site in Filadelfia，a small town

　　120 miles west of Bogotá．The second avalanche buried miners who were trying to rescue friends who had been engulfed in the first avalanche．

　　Rescuers shoveled furiously for hours in hopes of finding som- ebody alive，butonly recovered bodies．

　　As night fell Thursday，national disaster chief Eduardo Jose Gonzalez said hopes of finding anyone alive waned as crews prepared to suspend operations．The search was to resume Friday．

　　Gonzalez said 28bodies had been recovered，and at least 40 people were missing． Thirty-two miners were reported injured and taken to hospitals．

　　Hundreds of people had gathered at the scene，many of them anguished and weepingrelatives．

　　Emergency crews from the Red Cross and

　　the civil defense forces were using heavy machinery to remove the thick mud spread over

　　the site．Complicating therecovery effort，huge pools of water had seeped into the site

　　from a river running up to the hillside—used by the miners to rinse gold particles fromdirt．

　　Survivors said the earth crashed down without warning on a group of about 200 people trying to scrape gold from the well-worn hill-side．The workers were toiling with shovels

　　and picks inside a deep hole they had carved into the hill．The cavern had no structural

　　supports．

　　Many workers managed to scramble out of the way or crawl out from beneath the mud．

　　Others were not so lucky．

　　“We heard a very loud sound and the hill suddenly fell down upon us，”said 20-year-old Manuel Loaiza．“I was trapped up to my knees but some of the others dragged me out．”

　　Loaiza said he made less than ＄9a day at the crude mine．His 39-year-old uncle is still missing under the mud．

　　According to Julian Arboleda，an aide to Caldas State governor Luis Alfonso Arias，of- ficials ordered the mine closed several months ago．But residents thrown out of workby Colom bia's econom- ic downturn took the risk of working there anyway，Arboleda said．

　　Landslides triggered by rains are Colombia's most common natural disaster，killing dozens of people annually．Thursday's accident was the worst such tragedy in recent years．

　　According to the government's disaster relief agency，nearly 200 people died in a poor neighborhood in the city of Medellinwhen a 1987 landslide buried their houses．Landslides buried 150 dam workers in 1983 and a rescue team sent on their behalf．

　　首先要注意消息报道导语（第一段）里的“电头”（dateline）“FILADELFIA，Colombia（AP）”即“美联社发自哥伦比亚费拉达菲亚的

　　消息”。美联社新闻报道的时间通常置于消息的最前面（NOVEMBER 22，19：43EST），即美国的标准时11月22日19点43分。

　　第一段十分简单明了地告诉读者：星期四，哥伦比亚西部的一露天金矿由于大雨而发生坍塌，至少28人死亡，40人失踪。

　　第二段增加了新的新闻事实：金矿坍塌的遇难者是贫民，虽然政府警告说由于侵蚀使采矿危险，但他们置若罔闻；金矿的坍塌可能是由于非法的开采以及近日的大雨造成的。这一段支持并扩展了导语。

　　第三段是背景材料。利用事故的生还者的所见所闻讲述当时的情景：共发生了两次塌方，第二次的塌方将赶去救援的矿工也吞没。

　　第四、五、六、七以及第八段均是与主要新闻事实有关的次重要材料。第四、五、七、八段讲述了来自红十字、民防组织以及各方救护人员的救援进展情况。第六段也是对导语的进一步扩展：官方宣布事故中有28人死亡，至少40人失踪；有32名矿工受伤被送往医院。

　　第九、十、十一和第十二段也是背景材料，利用目击者的所见所闻进一步描述了金矿坍塌时的情景。

　　第十三、十四和第十五段均是与新闻事实有关的次重要的材料：这个金矿几个月以前就关闭了，但由于经济衰退人们又重操旧业；山体滑坡是哥伦比亚最常见的自然灾害。

　　通过分析我们可以看出这篇新闻报道是典型的“倒金字塔”结构，导语是一段简单清楚的叙述。随后的数段对导语进行了解释、补充和扩展，有利地支撑了导语。在导语中基本将“五个W，一个H”交代清楚。它所回答的问题分列如下：

　　Who—gold miners

　　What—were killed

　　When—Thursday（Nov．22）

　　Where—in western Colombia

　　Why—the walls of mine were softened by rain

　　How—（were killed）by crash

　　应该说明，记者即使采用“倒金字塔结构”，也不一定在导语中全部都包括五个W和一个H，或许只有三个或四个W，另外一个或两个W出现在下面的段落里，这也是常见的。