Eng 223: Journalistic writing Week 3

Inverted Pyramid The News Lead 5Ws & 1H Most important facts Next most important Next most important Next

The Basic News Story Week 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

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

How are readers and viewers affected by the story? 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?

How would you tell the story to a friend? 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”

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.”

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.”

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.

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 city‘s fire investigator concluded Monday.

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.

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

Basic Questions or elements of the news: 5 W’s 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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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?

Support for the Lead Context/ Background Elaboration 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

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