Title: What is a Story Angle?
Headings: What Is a Story Angle?
What Is a Story Angle?
Whether local or national, sniff out the good story angle
Types of Story Angles
Local or National
Follow-Up Stories
Good News Judgment

Content: The national angle is taken by national media for major stories, trend pieces, and stories about issues that affect the country as a whole: those are the kinds of stories that fill the front pages of major metropolitan dailies. An example would be the passage of President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its effect on Americans of different socioeconomic groups on a national scale. Another might be a weather event that strikes a large swath of the country and affects millions of people. The local angle comes when a reporter localizes those stories and focuses on the local or regional impact of those events, making them immediately relevant to the local readers. For example, in the case of a hurricane ravaging shorelines along the East Coast, a news outlet in Florida would focus specifically on the area where its readers or viewers are located. In the case of a law, the paper would assess local impact and reaction. Occasionally the reverse happens—local stories go national—when, for example, an event in a small town is so impactful as to prompt a national look at an issue or the passage of a national bill; or when a case from a lower court in a small town goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, or a soldier from your town testifies before the U.S. Congress. Those events can shine a light on a small locale (and often a local reporter) quite fittingly.