Many news stories are about action, which journalists need to capture in their writing to grab the attention of the audience. Here we look at how to use the active voice.
This workshop is presented in two formats, both using the same source material from Media Helping Media. The first is a two-hour workshop designed for those who are already familiar with the topic but who would like to deepen their understanding. The second is a four-hour, half-day workshop for those who are new to the topic.
Trainers are invited to select and adapt the format that best meets the needs of those they are training. For the activity sections of the workshop trainers should source locally relevant material when examples of the topic being covered are needed.
The source material for this workshop is the active and passive voices in news. We suggest trainers circulate the source to participants material BEFORE the workshop giving them enough time to read and digests the concepts discussed. The assignments are the same for both workshops.
Workshop outline 1: Two-hour session
09:00 – 10:00: Session 1 – The power of the active voice
- Aims: To reinforce the benefits of the active voice in news and identify its grammatical structure.
- Presentation: Explain that the active voice follows a subject-verb-object structure. This is the doer performing the action. It is the preferred style in journalism because it is direct, uses fewer words, and establishes accountability.
- Activity:
- Scenario: A local government official has just signed a new law that restricts street vending. A draft headline reads: “A new law was signed by the mayor”.
- Student requirements: Trainees must deconstruct the grammar of the provided sentence to identify why it feels slow or indirect.
- Task methodology: Students should circle the doer and underline the action. They must then move the doer to the front of the sentence and remove unnecessary words such as ‘was’ and ‘by’.
- What to look for: Identify the doer (the mayor) and the action (signed).
- The result: After following the rules of the exercise, the text should look like this: “Mayor signs new law restricting street vendors”.
- Discussion: Why is it important to name the mayor first in a news story about a controversial law?
10:00 – 10:15: Break
10:15 – 11:15: Session 2 – Strategic use of the passive voice
- Aims: To identify when the passive voice is a better editorial choice.
- Presentation: Explain that the passive voice (object-verb-subject) is useful when the actor is unknown, the victim is more important, or the journalist wants to be tactful.
- Activity:
- Scenario: A historic bridge has been destroyed by a flood. The flood is a natural event, but the news is the loss of the bridge. A draft says: “The flood destroyed the historic bridge”.
- Student requirements: Trainees are required to evaluate the news value of the subjects. They must decide which element the audience cares about more: the water or the landmark.
- Task methodology: Students must rewrite the sentence to place the landmark at the start. They should then check if the sentence remains clear even if the cause (the flood) is moved to the end or removed entirely.
- What to look for: Determine if the bridge or the water is the more important element for the community.
- The result: The chosen text should look like this: “Historic bridge destroyed by flooding”.
- Discussion: In what situations might a journalist use the passive voice to protect a source or avoid unfair blame?
11:15 – 12:00: Final discussion and assignment
Participants are given the following three scenarios. They are required to take the work away and write two sentences for each scenario using both the active and the passive voices and then compare which works best.
- Example 1: An emergency rescue
- Scenario: A local fisherman saves a child from the fast-flowing River Mersey.
- Active voice: “A local fisherman rescued a young boy from the River Mersey yesterday afternoon”.
- Passive voice: “A young boy was rescued from the River Mersey by a local fisherman yesterday afternoon”.
- Analysis: The active version is punchier and highlights the actor (the person doing the deed). The passive version might be used if the condition of the boy is the more important part of the story.
- Scenario: A local fisherman saves a child from the fast-flowing River Mersey.
- Example 2: A corporate scandal
- Scenario: A fictional tech company, ‘Glow-Tech’, accidentally leaked the private passwords of its users.
- Active voice: “Glow-Tech leaked the private passwords of 50,000 customers during a server update”.
- Passive voice: “Private passwords of 50,000 customers were leaked by Glow-Tech during a server update”.
- Analysis: The active voice holds the company directly accountable. The passive voice makes the leak sound like something that simply happened, slightly softening the responsibility for a fault or wrong.
- Scenario: A fictional tech company, ‘Glow-Tech’, accidentally leaked the private passwords of its users.
- Example 3: A political decision
- Scenario: The Highland Department of Transport decides to cancel a new railway project due to high costs.
- Active voice: “The Highland Department of Transport cancelled the North-Line railway project today, citing rising costs”.
- Passive voice: “The North-Line railway project was cancelled today after costs were found to be rising”.
- Analysis: The active voice identifies the decision-maker. The passive version – “costs were found to be rising” – is a classic way of hiding responsibility.
- Scenario: The Highland Department of Transport decides to cancel a new railway project due to high costs.
Assessment: The trainer will review the rewritten sentences from the assignment. Success is measured by the participant’s ability to correctly identify the subject and object and their ability to justify their choice of voice based on editorial importance and clarity.
Workshop outline 2: Four-hour session
09:00 – 10:00: Session 1: Fundamentals of active writing
- Aims: To learn the basic grammar of active vs passive and why active voice suits the fast-paced news environment.
- Presentation: Define subject (the person or thing doing the work) and object (the person or thing affected). Active voice is the foundation of crisp writing and brings clarity.
- Activity:
- Scenario: A journalist writes: “The football match was won by the local team”.
- Student requirements: Trainees must work out why this sentence is in the passive voice. They must identify the verb and the preposition (a small word such as – in, on, at, by, with – that links a noun, pronoun, or phrase to another word in a sentence).
- Task methodology: Students should use a strike-through to remove the words ‘was’ and ‘by’. They must then reorder the sentence into a subject-verb-object (active) format.
- The result: The chosen text should look like this: “Local team wins football match”.
- Discussion: Which version feels more like breaking news?
10:00 – 10:15: Break
10:15 – 11:15 – Session 2: Accountability and the doer
- Aims: To understand how the active voice prevents obscuring responsibility in political or sensitive reporting.
- Presentation: Discuss how phrases such as “mistakes were made” are used to hide who actually made the mistake.
- Activity:
- Scenario: A police report states: “The protest was dispersed using tear gas”.
- Student requirements: Trainees must act as investigators to find the missing doer in the sentence.
- Task methodology: Students should ask the question: Who performed this action? They must then rewrite the sentence to include the specific agency responsible, ensuring that the agency is the first word of the sentence.
- What to look for: Identifying that the doer (in this case the police) is missing from the original sentence.
- The result: The chosen text should look like this: “Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters”.
- Discussion: How does the active voice help the public hold officials accountable?
11:15 – 11:30: Break
11:30 – 12:30: Session 3: Mastering the passive voice exception
- Aims: To practice using the passive voice for impact and sensitivity.
- Presentation: Explain that when the receiver of the action is a celebrity or a person of high interest, the passive voice is often better.
- Activity:
- Scenario: A famous singer is hit by a car. The driver is a random member of the public.
- Student requirements: Trainees are required to compare the impact of two different headlines: one focusing on the driver and one on the singer.
- Task methodology: Students will write both versions and then choose the one that would better serve as a front-page lead. They must explain why the passive choice is more news-oriented in this context.
- What to look for: Deciding if the singer or the driver is the big name in the story.
- The result: The chosen text should look like this: “Famous singer injured in car accident”.
- Discussion: Why is the singer more newsworthy than the driver in this headline?
12:30 – 13:00: Final discussion and assignment
Participants are given the following three scenarios. They are required to take the work away and write two sentences for each scenario using both the active and the passive voices and then compare which works best.
- Example 1: An emergency rescue
- Scenario: A local fisherman saves a child from the fast-flowing River Mersey.
- Active voice: “A local fisherman rescued a young boy from the River Mersey yesterday afternoon”.
- Passive voice: “A young boy was rescued from the River Mersey by a local fisherman yesterday afternoon”.
- Analysis: The active version is punchier and highlights the actor (the person doing the deed). The passive version might be used if the condition of the boy is the more important part of the story.
- Scenario: A local fisherman saves a child from the fast-flowing River Mersey.
- Example 2: A corporate scandal
- Scenario: A fictional tech company, ‘Glow-Tech’, accidentally leaked the private passwords of its users.
- Active voice: “Glow-Tech leaked the private passwords of 50,000 customers during a server update”.
- Passive voice: “Private passwords of 50,000 customers were leaked by Glow-Tech during a server update”.
- Analysis: The active voice holds the company directly accountable. The passive voice makes the leak sound like something that simply happened, slightly softening the responsibility for a fault or wrong.
- Scenario: A fictional tech company, ‘Glow-Tech’, accidentally leaked the private passwords of its users.
- Example 3: A political decision
- Scenario: The Highland Department of Transport decides to cancel a new railway project due to high costs.
- Active voice: “The Highland Department of Transport cancelled the North-Line railway project today, citing rising costs”.
- Passive voice: “The North-Line railway project was cancelled today after costs were found to be rising”.
- Analysis: The active voice identifies the decision-maker. The passive version – “costs were found to be rising” – is a classic way of hiding responsibility.
- Scenario: The Highland Department of Transport decides to cancel a new railway project due to high costs.
Assessment: The trainer will review the rewritten sentences from the assignment. Success is measured by the participant’s ability to correctly identify the subject and object and their ability to justify their choice of voice based on editorial importance and clarity.
Materials needed for the workshop
- Printed copies or shared links of the MHM source article.
- A selection of local newspapers or print-outs of local news websites.
- Coloured markers (red for verbs, blue for subjects).
- Notebooks and pens.
- Whiteboard or flipchart for sentence structure demonstrations.
Conclusion
This workshop explores the vital role that sentence structure plays in news. While the active voice is the gold standard for clarity and accountability, the passive voice remains a useful tool for highlighting victims or managing unknown actors.
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