2.1: The Basics- Lead Paragraphs, Inverted Pyramids, Five W’s

In this one chapter, we’re going to teach you the essential fundamentals of newswriting. These rules apply in any medium – newspapers, radio/TV, online news, and news blogs.  They don’t necessarily apply in magazine writing or in non-news blogging, which have different objectives. Nor do they apply in fiction, legal writing, scholarly writing (especially in scholarly writing), or in books. 

 

But one principle does apply across all types of writing:  Make it easy for the reader.  Why? Because the easiest thing for the reader to do is stop reading.  A study a few years ago found that the most cited articles in scholarly journals were also the articles that were easiest to read.  So, while the structure of journalistic writing does not apply to scholarly writing, the principle of writing clearly for your audience, in an organized and coherent manner, applies regardless of the medium.

 

The Inverted Pyramid

 

The “inverted pyramid” is the most-used form of media writing in news stories and in press releases.  The principal concept is that the most important factors are placed at the top of the story. You get right to the point: 

• Two people were killed yesterday when ….
• The President proposed a record spending plan . . .
•  The Prince George’s Community College men’s basketball team won the NJCAA national championship defeating ….

The remaining information is placed in descending order of importance in the following paragraphs. 

 

What’s Essential?

 

Essential information is usually defined as the “Five Ws” of journalism: Who, What, When, Where and Why.  A successful lead paragraph communicates the essential facts of who did what, where, when, where and why.

 

In reporting an accident, for instance, a reporter might write for the first paragraph:

 

Two people were killed yesterday on a rain-slickened Maryland 202 in Largo when their red sports car crossed the median and struck an on-coming semi.

 

That conveys the essential information of the story. Now you begin to fill in the details:

 

Police said the red 2019 Ford Mustang, driven by John Jones, 19, was traveling 22 miles over the speed limit when Jones apparently lost control of the vehicle.  Both Jones and his passenger, Beth Hapless, were thrown from the vehicle and were transported to Prince George’s County Medical Center where they were pronounced dead as a result of their injuries.

 

Here you can now fill in more details, but each paragraph is increasing less significant. 

 

Another example:

The Biden Administration today proposed wiping out all student loan debt. President Biden said the huge amount of debt was holding back students from “getting on with their lives,” while Republicans called it “another Democratic giveaway to the rich.” 

Some 85% of all student loan debt is held by people who attended graduate schools, primarily business, law and medicine. .”President Biden wants hard-working men and women – most of whom don’t have any college degree – to pay for the education of people who will be making six-figure incomes the day they graduate,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said McCarthy’s statement was typical “of the heartlessness we’ve learned to expect from Republicans.” 

 

The inverted pyramid dates from the 1850s, when news was transmitted over telegraph wires.  With the most important information transmitted first, if the connection was lost, the story’s essential facts could still be printed. 

 

For editors, the inverted pyramid structed had an additional benefit:  If an editor needed to cut an article to make it fit a certain amount of space, he could simply cut from the bottom, confident that the most important information would remain.

 

The first paragraph of a news story is called the lead paragraph (also spelled lede to distinguish it from the metal).  Lead paragraphs should be short, not exceeding 30 words.

 

Inverted pyramids often are not used in feature stories, and some argue that in this day of online journalism they are no longer essential.  Nonetheless, it remains true that if you want to get your news into a newspaper or on the air, you should use the inverted pyramid style because editors don’t read all the way through press releases to decide whether to use them.  If the first paragraph (or, if you’re lucky, the first two paragraphs) don’t “hook” them, your news will never see the light of day. 

 

Body of the Article

 

Having given the reader the most important information in the lead, now you can elaborate on what else you know about the story.  You present this information in decreasing order of importance, not necessarily in chronological order.  Use direct and indirect quotes, and be sure to cite your sources.

 

When it comes to citations, remember you are not writing an academic paper.  Thus, “police said” or “William Jones, vice-president, customer relations, said” is fine.  Every paragraph – ideally, every paragraph – should contain a fact, and every fact should be cited.  If it’s not cited, the source should be perfectly clear. 

 

When initially referring to a human source, use the full name and title on first reference.  On subsequent references, use the last name. If you believe it is necessary to remind the reader who the source is affiliated with, you might write, “PGCC’s Williams.”

 

In news stories, use the third person. Don’t use pronouns such as I, me, you or us.  Those are more suited to opinion pages.

 

Paragraphs should be no more than two or three sentences, and sentences should be short and simple.  News stories are not the place to dazzle your reader with your brilliance.  You can do that in a freelance piece you sell to The Atlantic or National Review if you wish. 

 

Examples

 

Study the following news stories to see how these principles are applied:

 

Donald P. Baker, who chronicled Va. politics for The Post, dies at 90     (Washington Post obituary)

 

Police ID man who died after falling through ice in Prince William County  (WTOP)

 

High Rates of Chronic Absenteeism Persist at U.S. Schools   (Wall Street Journal)

 

As Covid-19 Continues to Spread, So Does Misinformation About It   (New York Times)

 

Christine Fuentes Joins Exovera as VP for Marketing, Communications  (WashingtonExec.com)