Beyond the inverted pyramid

Dr Martin Hirst, News Reporting,

AUT 2011

BEYOND THE INVERTED PYRAMID

BEYOND THE INVERTED PYRAMID

For the good journalist, writing news is first and foremost an exercise in intellectual organisation:

• What is the story? • Why am I doing this story? • Who will care about it?

Secondly it is about the facts – without facts you don’t have a story.

Third, if you like, but in a way, equal second, is people.

Facts don’t make news, people do.

Without interviews and observations about people you don’t have a story.

When you’ve got all these threads assembled you can set it out straight, so it makes sense. That’s real news writing.

Once you can do that, then, and only then, is it about style.

The lexical, grammatical and syntactical choices a journalist makes, such as writing a headline, lead or body of a news story, make up a schema that, while shaped by rules and conventions, can function as a framing device itself (van Dijk, 1988).

Intellectual organisation

Structuring the story

• Focus on the strongest angle• Write an attractive intro• Set out the facts faithfully and

lucidly• Structure the story to encourage

reading• Use the most compelling quotes

early on

Good writers structure their stories clearly and logically, enticing the reader in and encouraging them to keep reading. (Sissons, 2006, p.57)

Form follows function + content [GIGO]

Good structure and strong news values must scaffold style

• Answers news questions• Simplicity• Edited from bottom up• Summary lead• Clear B—M—E

A common complaint is that the inverted pyramid does not have the emotion or suspense of other news writing structures such as the narrative or hourglass.

It is informative but often reduces news to the bare bones

If we only ever wrote to this formula journalism would be boring and news would be dull

Audiences would desert the news faster than they are already

It no longer works in broadcast or online and perhaps less and less in print as newspapersre-invent themselves

In the inverted pyramid structure, the most important or

interesting moment in the story is right at the start – in

the summary lead.

According to American news folklore, the inverted pyramid

was invented during the Civil War – as news was sent by

wire, it had to be sharp and concise, the most important

information was sent first in case the wires were cut.

Maybe it’s time to bury the inverted pyramid,

perhaps at 150 years old it is passed its use-by date

In a typical news story, you generally make your point, set the tone, and frame the issue in the first paragraph or two.

Beyond the in verted pyramid you can develop the theme of the story and leave your point until the end, if that suits your style.

Move beyond the inverted pyramid

Narrative – story-tellingNarrative structure has the same basic structure as a book; a beginning, middle and end.

The story focuses on the people involved and offers the opportunity for dialogue and action.

•B: the introduction should enticeyour reader

drama, emotion, quotes, questions, description

•M keep promises to readers

or answer any questions you pose

maintain an "atmosphere”•E: conclusion: help the reader remember the story

Hourglass structure involves both the pyramid structure and the narrative structure of news writing.

The summary lead and the top section of the story delivers the facts

The bottom of the hourglass compliments the facts by injecting a narrative to provide colour and background

B—M—E

Hourglass Style Basics1. Begin with a summary lead

2. Build your story from there with facts organized from most important to least

3. About the middle of the article, build in a, "turn," the transitional paragraph

4. Organize the second half of the article from least important to most important facts

5. Use active voice & colorful verbs throughout the article

6. Build in a conclusion. The conclusion can circle back to the original lead.

Linking via referential continuity• Each paragraph links to the previous one by

referencing a subject using the same or similar word, a detail of the subject, a contrast, or a synonym. For example:

• ‘A young boy is attacked by dogs…’ in the first paragraph,

• Police statement / parent [?] in par 2• ‘the eight-year-old survived the attack…’ in the third

and• ‘The dog’s owner in the fourth.• The child is now in hospital…’in the fifth

Get the details right…don’t overload

Choose the right amount of detail to include in your story; you don't have to tackle the less important aspects of your topic.

Give the most vital pieces of information that you want to get across, and choose the details that go along with it

However, be careful that you don't omit so much detail that you end up with a vague outline for an article

News stories often don't have the space for long passages of description, but even just a few key words can convey to readers a sense of a place or a person.

Use a variety of verbs that convey action and give a sense of movement

Link actions from one sentence to the next – think about a re-action from another source or contrast

Write in the active voice. In active writing, people do things.

Passive sentences often have the person doing the action at the end of the sentence or things being done “by” someone.

People have agency and take action

An organisation is it, not they

Write right. Syntax, all right?

Avoid clichés (cutting edge, world beating, revolutionary ) and sentimental statements - especially at the end of your article

Focus on human interest – the feel and emotion you put into the article are critical. Don't think about writing a "science" story - think about writing a "human interest" story

Avoid clichéd emotions

Don't subject your reader to the equivalent of linguistic torture. News is supposed to be light, entertaining and informative-not deathly pedantic like a textbook

Watch your language

• Subject—verb—object• Agreement of tenses• Tense can change when appropriate• Agreement of verb and noun• Action completed, or on-going

Decide on the ‘tense' of your story at the start and stick to it. Present tense usually works best

Change tense with care – action in past or present

Avoid lengthy, complex paragraphs, so one or two sentences equals a paragraph

Show your reader instead of telling Why say a person is friendly when you can say how they bounce down the street, smiling at everyone and calling hello to strangers.

Remember you are telling a storyThat means characters, scenes and action. Who is there? What are they like? What are they doing and saying? What does the place look like?

Use concrete and specific words to get your meaning across. It was a pearl-grey Siamese – not just a cat.

It was a crumbling cement building with broken panes of glass where windows used to be — not an abandoned building.

Status detail adds colour and weight

Location, location, detail

Quotes should be something interesting and compelling, something that the source says better than you could.

Do not quote people stating facts:"The school board will hold a hearing next Monday night to find out what parents think of the school closures.“

Save the quotation marks for a person's opinion or their experience:"If parents don't turn up for the hearing, then I think we know that they just don't care about the school system," says Anne Smith, a school board member.

Make people earn quote space

The DNA of documentary style

1. Chronology – start to finish• Sequence of events

2. Non-chronological timeline• Events, but not in sequence

3. Compare and contrast• People / groups• Themes• Related ideas