Course title: News reporting and writing Topic: News writing techniques Submitted to: Miss.

saima kausar Submitted by: Ayesha Fatima(565) Sana saleem(561) Maryam sajjad(584) Date: 22.2.2013 BS(hons)Mass communication Semester v

Contents:
Writing story structure What is the lead? What goes in the lead? The five Ws Who What Where Why When How Types of lead Basics for lead Inverted pyramid style The chronological story The inverted pyramid story Most important facts

News writing techniques

News style is the prose style used for news reporting in media such as newspapers, radio and television. News style encompasses not only vocabulary and sentence, but also the way in which stories present the information in terms of relative importance, tone, and intended audience. News writing attempts to answer all the basic questions about any particular event - who, what, when, where and why (the Five Ws) and also often how - at the opening of the article. This form of structure is sometimes called the "inverted pyramid", to refer to the decreasing importance of information in subsequent paragraphs. News stories also contain at least one of the following important characteristics relative to the intended audience: proximity, prominence, timeliness, human interest, oddity, or consequence.

Writing story structure

You have several options when it comes to the structure of your story. You can choose a chronological order, where you present the key events in your story as they occurred. It is more likely, though, that you will use one of the three traditional news forms: the inverted pyramid, the narrative or the hourglass. 1. The most popular structure for news stories is the inverted pyramid. In the inverted pyramid, the information is arranged in descending order of importance. The most important material is placed at the beginning of the story, and less important material follows. Succeeding paragraphs explain and support the lead. 2. The inverted pyramid is popular because it still serves readers well. It tells them quickly what they want to know. It also serves the reporter by forcing her to sharpen her news judgment, to identify and rank the most important elements of the story. 3. But the inverted pyramid has big disadvantages. Although it delivers the most important news first, it does not encourage good writing. Many times stories do not have an ending crafted by the writer; they simply end. There is no suspense. Reporters tend to lose interest, time and energy. Writing in the second half of the story is casual at best, and poor at worst. 4. One alternative to the inverted pyramid is narration or story telling. Narration uses scenes, anecdotes and dialogue to build to a climax. People are prominent in the story, and they are responsible for the action. The story has a beginning, middle and end. Quotations sound like real speech. The words and actions of the characters reveal motives. 5. A third story structure, the hourglass, combines some of the best elements of both the inverted pyramid and the narrative. It consists of three parts: a top, which tells the news quickly; the turn, a nimble transition; and the narrative, a chronological retelling of events. The hourglass works

well with police stories, courtroom dramas and other incidents that lend themselves to chronological narration. The hourglass has several advantages: Readers get the news high in the story; the writer gets to use storytelling techniques; and it encourages a real ending.

What Is the Lead?

The lede (thats how journalists spell it) is the first paragraph of any news story. Its also the most important. The lede must accomplish several things:

give readers the main points of the story get readers interested in reading the story accomplish both a and b in as few words as possible Typically editors want ledes to be no longer than 35-40 words. Why so short? Readers want their news delivered quickly. A short lede does just that.

What Goes in the Lead?

Journalists use the five Ws and the H Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Who who is the story about? What what is the story about? Where where did the event youre writing about occur? When when did it occur? Why why did this happen? How how did this happen?

Example:
Lets say youre writing a story about a man who was injured when he fell off a ladder. Here are your five Ws and H: Who the man What he fell off a ladder while painting Where at his house When yesterday Why the ladder was rickety How the rickety ladder broke So your lede might go something like this: A man was injured yesterday when he fell off a rickety ladder that collapsed while he was painting his house.

The five Ws
And your success as a journalist depends upon your ability to keep your facts straight. In the early 1900s,cards were posted in the newsroom of Joseph Pulitzers New York World that shouted: ACCURACY! ACCURACY! ACCURACY! WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? HOW? THE FACTS THE COLOR THE FACTS! Now, you can argue about the number of Ws here.(Are there four? Or five? Does how count as a W?) But you cant argue that good journalism combines facts and color, as Pulitzer observed. By color, he meant description and flavor. But in the example at right, well take color even more literally: EXAMPLES OF THE FIVE Ws in a typical story, with facts color-coded to match the words in the headline at left: Swimming was prohibited in Cooper Lake Monday after a dangerous amount of algae was found in the water last week. Polk County health officials declared the lake off-limits because of blue-green algae blooms. Ingesting the water can make people ill and kill small pets.The restrictions include windsurfing and sailboarding but not boating. We hope it wont last longer than two or three weeks, said Robin Fox, the countys director of environmental health.

The who:
No, were not talking about that legendary 1960s rock group, The Who although we could be, if we were writing a story about classic rockers. And that story might be popular, too, because readers love stories that focus on people: Celebrities. Movers and shakers. The rich and powerful. The weird and wacky. Reporters generally love writing people profiles, too, because its so fun to interview fascinating folks. Journalism provides a perfect excuse for letting you ask intimate questions of total strangers. When you start assembling facts for even the hardest hard-news story, always look for the who elements: Whos involved? Whos affected? Whos going to benefit? Whos getting screwed? No matter how abstract the topic, its the who angle that keeps it real. .

EMPHASIZING THE WHO ANGLE:

This lead from the Medford (Ore.) Mail Tribune makes it instantly clear what the storys about: A self-described miser who drank outdated milk, lived in an unheated house and held up his second-hand pants with a bungee cord has left a $9 million legacy that will benefit Southern Oregon social service agencies. This feature story centers on a number of whos film critics, film characters and film actors: The Online Film Critics Society, an international association of Internet-based cinema journalists, is sharing its love with the character were supposed to hate. The society has announced its new list celebrating the Top 100 Villains of All Time. The greatest screen villain, according to the 132 members, is Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones in the original Star Wars trilogy.

The what:
Whats what? Its the stuff that news is about events and ideas, projects and problems, dollars and disasters. And its your job, as a journalist, to monitor and explain the stuff that matters most to your readers, whether you find it in a classroom, dig it up on a government beat or watch it on a football field. Now, heres something you may not have realized before: The what gives news its substance; the who gives news its humanity and personality.Why does that matter? Because news stories become dry and dull when they focus too much on, say, meetings and money (the what) and forget to connect them to real people (the who).Which is one reason why business reports and scientific papers are so boring: Theyre all what and no who.

EMPHASIZING THE WHAT ANGLE:

Notice how this USA Today business story begins with a list of famous whats: The Empire State Building. The SUV. The Incredible Hulk. The Boeing 747.When it comes to big, no place does it better than the USA. But after a 34-year run, one of these icons is starting to see its popularity fade. The 747 synonymous with huge as the worlds largest commercial jetliner is increasingly being pushed out of airline fleets worldwide for being too expensive to operate and too hard to fill. . . . Heres a Toronto Star story about a pop-culture trend: Plastic surgery reality shows are setting a frightening example, bringing the practice of cosmetic surgery into disrepute, doctors say. It is barbaric, the whole premise of changing the way they look completely, says Dr. Frank Lista. Its turned plastic surgery into a freak show.. . .

The when:
Some news stories happened in the past (The Beavers lost Friday nights game). Some will happen in the future (The Beavers play the Warthogs next week). And some go on and on, through the past, present and future (The Beavers are in the midst of a 20-game losing streak. When is it ever going to end?). Timeliness is essential to every story. In this media-saturated, 24hour cable-network and- online-delivery culture we live in, readers want news thats fresh and immediate. They depend on you to tell them when events happened, when events will happen and how long theyll last. Being a reporter, then, means constantly keeping your eyes on the clock, for two reasons: 1) so you can include the when in every story, and 2) so you can finish every story before deadline.

EMPHASIZING THE WHEN ANGLE:

This story from the Las Vegas Review-Journal is all about holidays, so it begins: Clark County public school students dont go to class on Labor Day, Nevada Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day or Memorial Day. In the past, theyve had to go to school on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, when it fell on a school day. This year, the districts 258,000 students will have Monday off because administrators deliberately scheduled the first of four teacher training days to coincide with Yom Kippur

The where:
The bigger the news organization, the broader its coverage area. USA Today, for example, calls itself The Nations Newspaper, and it covers the entire world. But most American newspapers are small dailies and weeklies that focus exclusively on their cities, counties or school campuses. Which means the where of every story is crucial: the closer the event, the more relevant it will be to readers. But explaining the where of a story isnt always easy. Thats why the more complex a topic is, the more you need to supplement your reporting with visuals such as a map (Where will they build the new airport?), a diagram (Where will they expand the gym?) or a photo (Where did police find the body?). THIS TRAVEL STORY from The Oregonian focuses on a specific place Costa Maya relying on maps, photos and detailed description to paint a picture for would-be visitors.

EMPHASIZING THE WHERE ANGLE:

This story from the Washington Post immediately transports you to a dramatic destination: Fishermen call it the Hell Hole, this place of whistling winds and smashing waves in the north Atlantic Ocean. Above a chasm in the Northeast Channel, which runs between the submerged Georges and Browns banks off Nova Scotia, fishermen catch cod, haddock and other fish with hooks at the ends of long lines, and by dragging nets along the sea floor. It takes guts to fish Hell Hole, said Sanford Atwood, a 54-year-old fisherman who has braved Hell Holes elements aboard his boat, the Ocean Legend. . . .

Thy why:
Good journalism reports the news; great journalism explains it. And explaining the news requires asking, over and over, the question why: Why is this law necessary? Why will it cost somuch? And most important of all: Why should we care? When news breaks suddenly, finding the explanations for events can be difficult. But for most stories, remember, the why is what makes the news meaningful.

The how:
Good reporters are good teachers. They know how to explain things in a clear, concise way. And explaining the how of a story often requires detailed explanation: How will this plan work? How did that prisoner escape? How do I decorate my dog for Halloween? For short stories and news briefs, the how is often omitted to save space. But readers love a good how-to story, especially in the feature section.

Types of lead 1. Summary lead:

Which comprise of a statement that answers the 5Ws and 1H of a news story.

2. The effect lead:

Which focuses on the effect or consequences of an event.

3. The contrast lead:

Which portrays contrasts of news event

4. The direct address lead

Which directs its statements at the readers.

5. The question lead:

Which ask a question and provides an answer as well.

6. The cartridge lead

Which presents the gist of an event the fewest words.

7. The double feature lead:

Which contains two separate ideas.

8. The quote lead

Which starts with a quotation.

9. The shirt tail lead:

The shirt tail lead which is a lead broken into two sentences expressing related ideas. you've done a ton of reporting and dug up a great story. But all your work will be wasted if you write a boring lead that won't grab your readers' attention. Follow these tips and you'll be writing knock-their-socks-off leads that will leave your readers wanting more.

1. Writing a Lead - The Basics

The lead is the first paragraph of any news story. Its also the most important. The lead must give readers the main points of the story, get readers interested in reading the story and accomplish both a and b in as few words as possible. Typically editors want leads to be no longer than 35-40 words. Readers want their news delivered quickly, and a short lead does just that.

2. Know What To Put In And What To Leave Out

One of the first questions journalism students have when learning to write a lead is what to put in, and what to leave out. Experienced reporters instinctively know what should be included in a lead. But while crafting a lead can be confusing for the beginner, rest assured that with practice, it will eventually come easily. Generally, the lead should convey the main point of the story without getting bogged down in a lot of small details.

3. When Writing a Lead, Listen to Your Gut

Beginners learning to craft a lead often worry about cramming the five W's and the H into that all-important first sentence. But writing a great lead is really about listening to what your gut tells you about what makes a story interesting.

4. Emphasize What's Newsworthy

Sometimes, one particular aspect of a story the who, what, where, when, why or how - will be especially interesting or newsworthy. Celebrity stories are an example. People die of drug overdoses all the time, but when it happens to a celebrity its big news. So the who aspect of the story who died must be emphasized.

5. Add Context

Leads must be short, but that doesnt mean they cant include context and perspective that add meaning to a story. Adding just a little context gives the reader a much greater understanding of what the story is about.

6. Keep it Short And To The Point

You've probably heard an editor say that when it comes to news writing, keep it short, sweet and to the point. Some editors call this "writing tight." It means conveying as much information as possible in as few words as possible. It sounds easy, but if you've spent years writing research papers - where the emphasis is often on being longwinded - it can be quite difficult So your lead might go something like this: A man was injured yesterday when he fell off a rickety ladder that collapsed while he was painting his house. That sums up the main points of the story in just 20 words, which is all you need for the lead.

Inverted pyramid style

According to newspaper folklore, the inverted pyramid was first developed during the Civil War

by correspondents like these from the New York Herald. Reporters transmitted their battlefield stories via telegraph, which was expensive and unreliable. Stories could be cut off in midsentence, before the reporter had gotten around to saying whod won the battle. So frustrated editors started urging writers to file fact-filled summaries of their stories FIRST, then fill in the lengthier details. Before long, the inverted pyramid became the standard structure for most news stories This news writing format summarizes the most important facts at the very start of the story. It may seem like an obvious idea to us nowadays getting right to the point when you start a story but it didnt occur to most reporters until midway through the 19th century. For example, heres the lead from a Fourth of July story in the Massachusetts Centinel in 1785: Flowery enough for you? By 1898, however, the Chicago Tribune was opening stories this way: What changed? Sentences got shorter. Writing got tighter. And reporters developed a formula for compressing the most newsworthy facts the who, what, when, where, why into the opening paragraphs of a story. That formula lives on today. Its known as the inverted pyramid.

WHY, IT DOES SORT OF LOOK LIKE AN UPSIDE-DOWN PYRAMID, DOESNT IT?

The problem is this:How do you structure a news story so that readers quickly understand whats going on without having to read a mile of text? The answer: Summarize first. Explain later. Whenever you write a story, you have to decide how to stack the facts. One solution, used for centuries by storytellers, is to stack facts chronologically: first one thing happened, which caused another thing to happen, which caused something else to happen, and then the princess married the prince. The End. Sure, those types of stories are entertaining, but only if you stick with them from start to finish which makes them an annoyingly slow, inefficient way to deliver breaking news.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL STORY

On Sept. 20, Pete Moss bought some marijuana from Lynn C. Doyle. But Mosss dog bit Doyle in the leg during the transaction. So Doyle grabbed a shotgun and killed Mosss dog. Moss was furious. He got in his car, chased Doyle into an alley and crushed him against a dumpster. Doyle died. The next day, Moss confessed to police that he had run Doyle over. He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.Yesterday, Moss pleaded guilty in court. The judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison. On his way to Jackson State Prison, Moss leaped from a police van and escaped. A search is under way. As the story goes on, the facts become less essential and the text becomes more cuttable which lets editors trim the story to fit on the page.

As the story goes on, the facts become less essential and the text becomes more cuttable which lets editors trim the story to fit on the page. To tell that same story using the inverted pyramid, youd stack the facts in the opposite order, putting the final facts first

THE INVERTED PYRAMID STORY

The inverted pyramid is a metaphor used by journalists and other writers to illustrate the placing of the most important information first within a text. It is a common method for writing news stories and is widely taught to journalism students. The "inverted" or upsidedown "pyramid" can be thought of as a simple triangle with one side drawn horizontally at the top and the body pointing down. The widest part at the top represents the most substantial, interesting, and important information the writer means to convey, illustrating that this kind of material should head the article, while the tapering lower portion illustrates that other material should follow in order of diminishing importance. It is sometimes called a "summary news lead" style, or "Bottom Line Up Front" or BLUF. The format is valued because readers can leave the story at any point and understand it, even if they don't have all the details. It also allows less important information at the end, where it can be removed by editors so the article can fit a fixed size - that is, it can be "cut from the bottom" .Rather than petering out, a story may end with a "kicker" a conclusion, perhaps call to action which comes after the pyramid. This is particularly common in feature. Other styles are also used in news writing, including the "anecdotal lead," which begins the story with an eye-catching tale or anecdote rather than the central facts; and the Q&A, or questionand-answer format

A search is under way for a criminal who leaped from a police van outside of Jackson State Prison yesterday. After pleading guilty to second-degree murder in court, Pete Moss was on his way to begin serving a 10-year sentence when he escaped. Moss had been arrested Sept. 21 after confessing to killing Lynn C. Doyle by running him over in an alley with his car. Moss admitted he had been furious with Doyle for shooting Mosss dog during a marijuana deal. See the difference? In chronological stories, things slowly get resolved at the end. In the inverted pyramid, things quickly get summed up at the beginning. You start as strong as you can, summarizing whats most newsy then you add additional facts in descending order of importance.

The inverted pyramid helps readers scan news stories quickly and efficiently. But it helps you write news stories quickly and efficiently, too. Once you train yourself to organize facts this way, you can apply this formula to almost any breaking news event which is why the inverted pyramid has been a cornerstone of news writing for the past century

HOW A TYPICAL NEWS STORY USES THE INVERTED PYRAMID

As weve seen, the main advantages of the inverted pyramid are: u It condenses information efficiently, so readers can grasp facts quickly. u It allows editors to trim stories from the bottom, since the details in the text become gradually less essential. Now, reporters certainly dont want their stories cut carelessly (or prematurely). But sometimes its necessary. Take this wire story, for instance. It could be cut after the second paragraph. Or the third. Or . . . . VIENNA, Austria California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting a birthday gift from his home country: a stamp in his honor. The Austrian post office announced on its Web site that the $1.25 stamp will be released on the actor-turned-politicians birthday, July 30. Schwarzenegger, who will be 57, was born in the Austrian village of Thal near the southern city of Graz. The stamp which shows Schwarzenegger in a suit and tie, with the U.S. and Austrian flags in the background is part of a collectors series called Austrians living abroad, the post office said. Schwarzenegger moved to the United States in 1968 to pursue a career as a body builder and movie star. He made his first visit to Austria as California governor last weekend, when he represented the United States at the state funeral of President Thomas Klestil. The Associated Press Heres the main point of the story, engagingly summarized. Notice how the lead is crafted to start with the who of the story, a name youll recognize: Arnold Schwarzenegger. The second paragraph elaborates on the birthday gift mentioned in the lead. It also adds more details about the when and where. The third paragraph fills in the rest of the what details, describing the stamp and the series its a part of. This final paragraph supplies relevant but less essential background information: a quick recap of Schwarzeneggers stamp worthy career and his latest Austria connection. Is there more to this story? We dont need it. This is enough.

SO SHOULD YOU USE THIS FORMAT FOR EVERY STORY? WHY WRITING A GOOD LEAD ACTUALLY MATTERS TO READERS
Not every journalist is a fan of the inverted pyramid. Writing coach Don Fry called it the worst form ever invented by the human race for explaining anything in words. And Bruce DeSilva of The Hartford Courant once complained that the inverted pyramid remains the Dracula of journalism. It keeps rising from its coffin and sneaking into the paper. Whats the problem? Why do some journalists get so honked off at the inverted pyramid? Two reasons, usually: u It gets repetitive. And stale. And repetitive. Who wants to read a paper where story after story looks like this?

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS

A LESS IMPORTANT FACT AN EVEN DULLER FACT A BORING FACT ZZZ-ZZZ-ZZZ BLAH, BLAH, BLAH It doesnt always organize story material logically or engagingly. If youre not careful, complex stories may start with a bang but end with a whimper as facts stack up and bog down in a muddle in the middle. The solution? Dont get lazy; dont let your writing fall into a rut. As well explain later, you have a wide range of options for structuring stories and making complex material reader-friendly. The inverted pyramid is valuable for helping you arrange the facts in breaking news stories quickly and efficiently.Will you use it on every story? No. But its still an essential tool in every reporters toolbox. To tell that same story using the inverted pyramid, youd stack the facts in the opposite order, putting the final facts first: See the difference? In chronological stories, things slowly get resolved at the end. In the inverted pyramid, things quickly get summed up at the beginning. You start as strong as you can, summarizing whats most newsy then you add additional facts in descending order of importance. The inverted pyramid helps readers scan news stories quickly and efficiently. But it helps you write news stories quickly and efficiently, too. Once you train yourself to organize facts this way, you can apply this formula to almost any breaking news event which is why the inverted pyramid has been a cornerstone of news writing for the past century. According to newspaper folklore, the inverted pyramid was first developed during the Civil War by correspondents like these from the New York Herald. Reporters transmitted their battlefield stories via telegraph, which was expensive and unreliable. Stories could be cut off in midsentence, before the reporter had gotten around to saying whod won the battle. So frustrated editors started urging writers to file fact-filled summaries of their stories FIRST, then fill in the lengthier details. Before long, the inverted pyramid became the standard structure for most news stories.