Week 3

1
Eng 223 Journalistic writing

• Week 3

2
Inverted Pyramid
The News Lead
5Ws 1H
Most important facts
Next most important
Next most important
Next
3
The Basic News Story

• Week 4

4
Finding the focus

• Focus is the main idea/ main point of a story
• All news stories are developed around one main
  point
• Put the focus in the first sentence or within the
  first paragraph of the story

5
How to find the focus

• What is the story about?
• Answer the question above in one simple sentence
• Remember that a focus is like a headline(title)
  in a story
• Describe the main idea in a few words
• Ask yourself what makes this story newsworthy
• Get directly to the point of your story

6
How to find the focus

• How are readers and viewers affected by the
  story?
• Ask yourself for the so-what factor
• Why should readers care about your story?
• Is there something important, interesting or
  unusual that would affect the readers?
• If you are trying to convince someone to read
  your story, what point would you stress?

7
How to find the focus

• How would you tell the story to a friend?
• Tell-a friend technique
• Begin with the most interesting part
• Natural conversational method
• See page 36 Eye on privacy at work

8
The News Lead

• A news lead should be in the nut graph and it
  must consist of a single sentence
• no more than 30 words
• summarizes, at minimum, the most newsworthy
  "what," "where" and "when" of the story

"Fire destroyed a house on Al Dairie Street early
Monday morning.
9
The News Lead

• The lead's first verb should express the main
  "what" of the story
• Verb should be placed among the lead's first 7
  words.
• Verb must be active voice, not passive voice

"Fire destroyed a house on Al Dairie Street early
Monday morning.
A house was destroyed by fire on Al Dairie Street
early Monday morning.
10
The News Lead

• The lead should summarize the "why" and "how" of
  the story, but only if there's room.
• "... fire ... raged through his Main Street home
  ..." explains why the man died.
• "... sparked by faulty wiring ..." explains how
  the fire began.

Example An elderly Egyptian man died early
Monday morning when fire sparked by faulty wiring
raged through his home.
11
The News Lead

• If what's in the lead needs to be attributed,
  place the attribution at the end of the lead
• Attribution is simply the source of the news or
  information.

Example Faulty wiring most likely sparked the
blaze that claimed the life of an elderly
Egyptian man last week, the citys fire
investigator concluded Monday.
12
Lead Sentence

• Is the straightforward declarative sentence
• usually with the verb in simple past tense
  subject-verb-object.
• Use the active voice rather than the passive
  voice.
• It is more forceful.

13
Nut graph

• The nut graph is the paragraph identifying the
  focus of the story.
• The word was invented more than 50 years ago by
  the Wall Street journal in a memo to its staff

14

• Basic Questions or elements of the news 5 Ws
  and 1 H
• Elements (Parts) of the Basic News Story
• Headline
• Nut graph
• Lead or beginning sentence with the focus or
  main point of the news
• Middle
• Ending

15
Headline

• Must identify the focus, so the readers can
  decide whether to read the story or not

16
Lead or news lead

• Tells the readers what the story is about
• Gives the most important elements of the news
• Must be less than 30 words
• The lead's first verb should express the main
  "what" of the story
• Verb should be placed among the lead's first 7
  words.
• Verb must be active voice, not passive voice

17

• Learning to write a good lead is one of the most
  difficult things to do in journalism, but once
  the skill is mastered, the writer is much more
  adept at any kind of analytical composition.

18

• Two kinds of news leads
• Summary Lead contains the 5 Ws and 1 H
• Feature lead starts with a story or description
  about a person, place or event

19
Sample Lead

• (Newser) More than half of all lipsticks tested
  in a recent study contained some level of poison,
  a new report warns. The amounts weren't high
  enough to cause poisoning in healthy adults, but
  could affect small children, raising concerns for
  pregnant women and mothers. "There are hazardous
  levels of lead in lipstick," said a
  representative for the Campaign for Safe
  Cosmetics, which issued the report.

20
Nut graph 1st paragraph

• The first paragraph of the news
• It must contain the focus or the lead sentence
• It should tell in a nutshell what the story is
  about and why it is newsworthy

21
Support for the Lead next or succeeding
paragraphs

• Must be supported or backed-up, with facts,
  quotes and statements to substantiate the news
  story
• May contain sound bites
• Direct quotes from an attribution or other
  witnesses to the news

22
Support for the Lead

• Impact explains the reason for the story
• What makes this news important to the readers?
• Why should the readers care to read the story?
• Attribution
• Where did you get the information
• Who told you these facts?
• How can the readers be sure that what is stated
  is true?

23
Support for the Lead

• Context/ Background
• Is there a background story the reader needs to
  know before he can understand the story
• Most stories need background information to
  explain the incident or event.
• Elaboration
• More details to explain what happened, how, and
  why the accident or event took place
• Fairness and Accuracy
• Get comments from both sides of an issue
• Avoid one source stories

24
Endings

• Future Action or plan
• Sentence that summarizes without repeating the
  previous information
• End the news when you have no more new
  information to give the readers

25
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