Tight Writing

Tight Writing

Like the miner sifting through a million grains of sand for a speck of gold, the reporter pans bits of information to find the nuggets that belong in the first paragraph, called the lead.  Reporters must expose their best material in the lead. 

Often, they must begin at the end, because that’s where the news is.  The king in “Alice in Wonderland” would never succeed as a reporter with his perspective on where to begin:  “Begin at the beginning and go till you come to the end, then stop.” 

The most essential news – the climax of an event, the theme statement of a speech, the result of an investigation – is presented as simply and clearly as possible in the first paragraph.  It sets the tone.  It advertises what is coming in the rest of the story.  It conveys the most important information in the story. 

In news writing, information is arranged in descending order of importance, not in chronological order.  This way, even if the distracted, harried reader puts down the paper after reading only the first paragraph or two, the essence of the news will have been conveyed.   

The above is excerpted & summarized from “News Reporting and Writing” by the Missouri Group, University of Missouri at Columbia. (a review of this News Reporting and Writing)

Six elements of a lead:

1. Who did it

2. What did he do

3. When did he do it

4. Where did he do it

5. How did he do it

6. Why did he do it (this information not always available)

Examples (made up!)

Chocolate can cure migraine headaches (what) by blocking pain signals (how), according to a new study by Nestle’s Inc. (who) released in Niagara Falls (where) on Valentine’s Day (when).

 *   *   *    *

Congress (who) today (when) announced a sweeping new program to install free elevators (what) in the homes (where) of aging Baby Boomers whose knees can no longer tolerate stairs (why) in their multi-story homes.  The proposal includes a new, 5 percent tax (how) on 401(k) retirement plan withdrawals.  

© Copyright 2004 Marcus Pierson, MD . Last update: 7/26/2004; 9:32:39 PM . This theme was created for WWPP by Jack F. Mancilla