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The Straight News Story
Figure  2-4.Example  lead  variations.

Journalist 3 & 2 - Introduction to Journalism and other reporting practices
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Figure  2-3.—Inverted  pyramid  news  story  structure. Before  you  can  present  the  facts,  you  first  must understand them, appraise them correctly and organize them in an orderly and easily understood manner. This process of organization and selection begins when you set out on an assignment. You rarely will be able to-get your facts in the order in which they will appear in the final story. The process of legible note-taking provides the  raw  material  for  you  to  construct  the  story,  and certain  proven  guidelines  serve  as  the  blueprint  for building  the  final  product. In   fiction,   a   short   story   or   novel   is   normally constructed  in  chronological  order.  This  means  the author starts from the beginning, sets the time and place, describes  the  scene,  introduces  his  characters,  then slowly weaves the threads of his plots and subplots until a climax is reached, usually near the end of the story. The writer deliberately holds back the climax to build suspense and to make sure the reader reads the entire story. Most news stories, however, are constructed in just the  opposite  fashion.  The  climax  is  presented  first. This  method  packs  the  most  important  facts  together with the barest necessary explanatory material into the first  paragraph  (the  summary  lead),  then  moves  into  the detailed portion of the story (the body) by covering the facts in diminishing order of importance. This form of newswriting  is  commonly  known  as  the  inverted pyramid style because when it is diagramed, it appears as an upside-down pyramid (fig. 2-3). ADVANTAGES OF THE INVERTED PYRAMID  STYLE The  inverted  pyramid  style  offers  several  distinct advantages in newswriting, which are discussed in the following  text. Presents Pertinent Facts First Most readers have neither the time nor the desire to read every word of every story in a newspaper. By using the summary lead, the JO focuses the reader’s attention on the news, arouses the reader’s interest and allows the reader to swiftly skim important facts. In other words, spill the whole story in the first paragraph. The reader can decide whether to continue reading the details or to go on to something else. But even if the reader stops there, the inverted pyramid form of writing has provided the essential facts. The primary objective of a news story then, is not to withhold information, but to present the facts with rapid, simple directness. Facilitates Page Layout The inverted pyramid method of story construction is  a  valuable  tool  to  the  makeup  person  who  is confronted with an eight-inch story and only six inches of column space. If the story has been written in inverted pyramid  form,  it  becomes  a  simple  matter  of  cutting lines of type from the bottom of the story until it fits the available space or “jumping” (continuing) the story on anothe  page  —  all  without  damage  to  the  important facts that appear at the top. Facilitates Headline Writing Headlines for news stories should tell the main facts in the most brief form. If a story is written in the proper inverted pyramid style, the copyreader (who writes the headline) can find these facts in the first paragraph. The copyreader will not have to search the entire story for headline material. THE LEAD The opening paragraph of a news story is referred to as the lead (pronounced “leed”). 2-11







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