Week 8: Writing for the printing press

8/10/2019 Week 8: Writing for the printing press

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COMM-125 Introduction to Journalism

Section 1- Language of instruction English

Wednesdays 15:00-18:00Venue: NEWTON Amphitheatre

Lecture no. 8

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In the lecture before the midterm, weexamined characteristics of writing, theimportance of language, conventionsand tools.

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In this meeting, after the midterm, wewill examine structures/formats andtechniques of writing, writing styles, theediting procedure and the headlineformation.

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The Inverted Pyramid Once a writer has gathered theinformation necessary to begin a story,he or she must decide on the structureof it.

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The goal of a proper structure is to getinformation to the reader quickly and toallow him/her to move through thestory easily.

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The reader must be able to see therelationships between the variouspieces of information that the reporterhas gathered.

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The most common structure for writingnews stories is called the invertedpyramid .

A daily newspaper or web site containsmany stories. They must be written in a

way that readers can get mostinformation, in the least amount oftime.

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The inverted pyramid structureconcentrates the most interesting andimportant information at the top of thestory, so that readers can get it andthen go on to another story, if theychoose.

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In the inverted pyramid format, thelead or first paragraph , is the focalpoint of the news story.

Lead paragraphs are discussed more

fully in the next section of the lecture.

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The second paragraph is almost asimportant as the lead. It takes some ofthe information and adds to it,

elaborating on the lead.

A good second paragraph will put the

readers into a story and will give themincentive to read on.

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The body of the inverted pyramid storyadds detail to information that hasbeen introduced in the lead and thefirst two paragraphs.

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The body should provide moreinformation, supporting evidence,context, and illumination in the form ofmore details, direct and indirectquotes, and other description.

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The major concept of the invertedpyramid structure is to put the mostimportant and latest information towardthe top of the story.

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As the story continues, the writershould be using information of lessimportance.

There are 3 reasons for writing a story

this way:

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One is what have already talked about:

Putting the most important informationat the top, allows a reader to get themain info efficiently and then decidequickly whether or not to stick and read

the whole story, or go on to anotherstory, if he/she chooses to.

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The second reason is a practical one.

If there is lack of space and a story istoo long to be published wholly, then,during the editing procedure, theshortening of it will start from the

bottom upwards, ensuring that theimportant information and the gist ofthe story will still be published.

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Finally, the inverted pyramid structuredemands that the writer makes

judgments about the importance of theinformation, putting it in a hierarchy,based on the news values discussed ina previous lecture.

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The Inverted Pyramid is also thewriting structure of press releases,which are published free of charge.

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The Lead ParagraphThe most important part of any newsstory is the first, or lead (pronouncedLEED), paragraph.

The lead should tell the reader the

most important or more basicinformation.

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A lead on a story might simply say:

The House of Parliament voted againstraising taxes in last night's session.

An otherwise good story will not be

read by many people if the lead is dullor confusing.

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The lead is the first part of the story areader will come in contact with, afterthe headline, and if it does not hold thereader's interest and attention, littleelse will.

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Leads on news stories generallycontain at least four or all of the fiveWs and H,

i.e the Who, What, Where and When.

The fifth W is the Why and the H, is theHow.

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A lead paragraph may emphasize anyone of these elements, depending onthe facts that are available to thereporter, but usually all four of thesequestions are answered in the lead.

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Sometimes the lead will contain oremphasize the why and the how of astory.

Lead paragraphs should say neither

too much not too little.

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Thus, the lead should not be crowdedwith information; rather, it should tellenough to answer the reader's majorquestions about a story in aninteresting (entertaining) and efficientway.

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Leads can come in a wide variety offorms and styles.

Although journalistic conventionsrestrict what writers can do in some

ways, there is still plenty of room forcreativity.

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The following types of leads anddemonstrate some of the ways writerscan approach a story.

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The straight news lead is just-the-facts approach. It delivers informationquickly and concisely to the reader anddoes not try to dress up theinformation.

For instance:

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Two people were killed and four injuredtoday when a truck collided with a

passenger car on the A1 Motorway (orthe Nicosia-Limassol Highway), nearthe Skarinou exit.

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This straight news approach is themost common type of news lead andlends itself to most of the stories a

journalist will have to cover.

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A couple of technical rules have beendeveloped for this kind of story.

Such leads should be one sentencelong, and they should contain about 30

words (a maximum of 33 words).

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It is particularly important for thebeginning writer to master this onesentence, thirty-word approach because of the discipline of thinkingthat it requires.

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A writer must learn that words cannotbe wasted, particularly at the beginningof the story.

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The summary lead is one in whichthere may be more than one majorfacts of the story.

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Though a more complex approach, theone sentence, thirty word rule shouldbe used, even if the composition of itrequires more effort on the part of thewriter.

For example:

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A tractor trailer truck carryingdangerous chemicals crashed on A1Motorway (or the Nicosia-LimassolHighway) today, killing one person,injuring four others, and causing a longlasting traffic congestion.

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The emphasis in this kind of lead is onoutlining almost the full story for thereaders in a brief paragraph.

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At this point, using the example withthe accident, let us see ways ofelaborating on the lead, in order toformulate the second and thirdparagraphs

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In the second paragraph, we canmention the kind of the chemical, thesex and ages of those killed-injured,and the hours that the traffic jamlasted.

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Up to this point, we have been dealingwith straight leads for the most part,that give the who, what, when, where,how and why elements of the story tothe reader in a straightforward, no-frillsfashion.

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In the examples with the accident, weactually used straight blind leads ,

i.e. two leads in which the people arenot named.

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This kind of lead is common when thepeople in the story are not well known(prominence value).

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If however, one of the people hurt wasa mayor, or an MP, we would not wantto write a blind lead.

We would want to mention his/her

name in the lead.

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Other types of leads also exist.

For example:

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The direct address lead is one whichthe writer speaks directly to the reader.The main characteristic of this lead is

the word you , present or implied:

If you' re a property owner in Nicosia,the City Council is about to take atleast 40 more from you each year .

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The direct address lead is a good wayof getting the reader's attention.

By implication, the direct address leadpromises the reader some immediate

information.

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The question lead attempts to drawthe reader into the story by asking a

question.

Why doesn't the president tell the

people how he stands on the payreduction issue?

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The question lead has some of thesame characteristics of the direct lead.

It is a good way of getting attention onthe one hand (advantage).

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On the other hand, it can be easilyoverused (disadvantage).

It too promises to give the reader someimmediate information, and the writer

should make good on that promise.

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The direct address and the questionlead also imply that the story has someconvincing information for the reader.

That's why writers should be careful touse them only when that is the case.Otherwise, the reader will likely bedisappointed.

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The direct quote lead uses a directquotation to introduce the story.

The direct quote should be somethingthat one of the participants of the storysaid.

For example:

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"The resolution of the issue, dependson the Central Bank Governors'decisions, President Nikos

Anastasiadis said today after theconference of the Economistmagazine.

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Developing the story The inverted pyramid requires thatwriters make judgments not only aboutwhat should be at the beginning of thestory, but also about the relativeimportance of all the information theypresent in the story.

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In other words, writers must not onlydecide what the most important

information is for the lead, but theymust also decide what the second andthird most important pieces ofinformation are.

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Developing the story in a logical andcoherent way requires much skill and

practice.

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If the lead paragraph is the mostimportant part of the news story, thesecond paragraph is the second most

important part of the story.

In some ways, it is almost as importantas the lead, but for different reasons.

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A lead paragraph cannot contain all ofthe information in a news story.

If it is written well, it will inform thereader, but it will also raise certainquestions in the reader's mind aboutthe story.

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Chief among the roles of the second(and succeeding) paragraphs is to

answer these questions.

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One method that writers use to answerthe possible questions of the reader, isby first putting themselves in the place

of the reader, asking the following: " If Iw ere the reader of th is s tory , w hatwo uld I want to kno w n ext?"

For instance, a lead might say:

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Authorities are searching for a state prison inmate who escaped from awork crew at the Nicosia Central PrisonFacility yesterday.

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That lead gives some informationabout the story, but it also raises a

number of questions, such as:

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Who was the inmate?Why was he in prison?How long had he been there and howlong was his sentence?How did he escape?

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Where is the search for him takingplace?

Is the inmate dangerous?What does he look like?How have the prison officials explained

his escape?

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These are just a few questions thatcould be asked about this story.

The writer must answer them in alogical and coherent manner in theparagraphs following the lead, that willresult in a unified and interesting story,not a salad.

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The order in which these questions areanswered will depend on the specific

information that the writer has to workwith.

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Editing This phase of the writing procedure isdone by Editors, the so-called readers'advocates , who are supposed to readthe draft story with a fresh, questioningeye.

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And it is their responsibility to correctthese deficiencies.

They should approach their work notwith an attitude of arrogance, but withconfidence that they can improve thework that is before them.

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Copyediting and headline writing areoften handled by the same people in anewsroom.

Knowledge of the language is the basison which these tasks can begin, butthe work goes much further than that.

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The successful editor must understandthe fundamental principles of

journalism, so as to check they exist inthe text:

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- Accuracy & Brevity- Clarity (keep it simple, avoid jargon,be specific, check the time sequence,

use transitions)- Checking of facts: Names and titles(academic, professional, business ofother), numbers and sums/totals,places, i.e. the story's inner logic(coherency).

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Editing procedure An editor ideally should be able to readthrough any story at least three times.

Sometimes of course, there is not timeto do that, but in this section we will

assume that for any given story, thetime is available. Here's how it shouldbe allocated:

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The first reading of any story shouldbe a fairly quick one.

This reading allows the editor to getthe "feel" of the story, to find out what

is about, and to spot any majorproblems that are readily identifiable.

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The editor should note the storycontent and structure.

The first reading may be all an editorneeds to realize the story should go

back to the reporter for rewriting or not.

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As much as possible, editors should dofirst readings as if they knew little or

nothing about the subjects, as this isthe position of the average reader onfirst reading a story.

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If the editor deems the story goodenough for the rest of the editing

procedure, the second reading shouldtake place much more slowly.

It is on this reading that the majorediting is done.

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Accuracy, clarity, and brevity are themajor goals of the editor.

With these goals in mind, editorsshould use the following guidelines in

editing any story.

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The LeadThe editor should pay particularattention to the lead, or in case of amagazine article, the introduction. It isthe most important part of the story.

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Story s t ruc ture After the lead, the editor should dealwith the organization of the story.

Is the story put together in a logical

manner, especially with regard to thelead?

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Facts should be given in a manner thatwill satisfy the reader.

Not all the facts can be given at once,nor should they be.

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The story should develop in a way thatallows the reader to understand the

information it is attempting to convey.

The editor's job is to make sure thathappens.

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CompletenessEvery story should have all the factsnecessary for the reader to understandit.

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Although reporters and editors mustmake certain assumptions about the

readers' prior knowledge, theseassumptions cannot be carried too far.

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For instance, if an editor is dealing witha city council story, he or she cannotassume that the reader has read lastweek's city council story, or pressreleases issued.

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If some action the council takes is afollow-up to action taken the previous

week, the story must briefly explainthat.

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Another area of completeness that isoften overlooked involves the failure of

a story to provide all of the facts thereader is led to expect.

For example, a story might talk about anew day care center about to open.

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The reader, particularly a parent whomight want to use the center, wouldwant to know what hours it plans to

keep, what age children the center willaccept, and how much it will cost.

Stories without such facts areincomplete.

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StyleEvery publication should have a set

style, and every editor should see thatthe story conforms to this.

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Style should not be a straitjacket intowhich an editor forces all stories.

Rather it should be a help to writersand editors in achieving accuracy andconsistency.

Some well know style manuals are thefollowing:

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Nam es and t i t lesJournalists should be particularlycareful in handling names and titles,

and editors must make every effort toensure their accuracy.

Names that have unusual spellingsshould always be checked.

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Editors need to remember that eventhe most common names may have

uncommon spellings (as in Smith,Smyth, and Smythe).

Nothing should be taken for grantedwhen dealing with a person's name.

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There is no quicker way for apublication to lose credibility than bymisspelling names.

Titles too, need special care.

Formal titles should be correctly stated;they are extremely important to thepeople who hold them.

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Titles should also be descriptive of the

jobs people have.

If they are not, editors may consideradding a line of job description in thestory if this will clarify things to thereader.

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Quotations and at t r ibu t ionGood and experienced editors

understand how to use quoted materialproperly.

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A good news story usually has amixture of direct and indirect

quotations, and a news writer musthave a good sense of when to usethem.

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Most news stories will use more

indirect quotations than directquotations, unless its a story onlyabout what a speaker said.

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An indirect quotation may contain oneor a few of the same words that a

speaker has used, but will also havewords that the speaker did not use.

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Indirect quotations should maintain themeaning of what the speaker said.

Writers and editors can paraphrasewhat people say, be more efficient thanthe speakers themselves, but theymust not change the meaning.

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By doing this, journalists can get moreinformation into their stories.

If that is the case, why worry aboutusing direct quotations at all?

Why not just use indirect quotations allthe time?

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Additionally, occasionally people willsay something in a memorable or

colorful way, and that should bepreserved by the writer.

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The following are some of the basicrules for using direct quotations in

news stories:

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-Use the exact words of the speaker.

Anything that is within quotation marks

should be something the speakeractually said.

The words should be the speaker's, notthe writer's.

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- Use direct quotations tosupplement and clarify theinformation presented in the indirect

quotes. In a news story, a direct quoteis rarely used to present new orimportant information to the reader. It ismost commonly used to follow up

information that has already been putin the story.

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Knowing how to deal with direct andindirect quotations is one of the mostimportant skills that a newswriter or

editor can acquire.

It takes some practice to paraphraseaccurately and to select the directquotations that should be used in astory.

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The key to both is to listen carefully sothat you can understand what thespeaker is saying, so as to remember

the exact words used by the speaker.

Recording or taking notes arefundamental for remembering.

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The correct sequence for a directquote and its attribution is:

(a) direct quote,(b) speaker,(c) verb.

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This sequence is generally used innews stories because if follows the

inverted pyramid philosophy of puttingthe most important information first.

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Tritenes s an d c lichsEven the most common news storiesshould have some freshness about

them.

Editors need to be sensitive to the factthat some words and phrases areoverused.

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"Dead on arrival", "straight as anarrow", "very", "basically", "quite",

"mainly", "really", and "actually" are allwords and phrases that can easilyshow up too many times in an Englishpublication.

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Wordiness A story should not be one word longerthan necessary, in order to maintain

accuracy and clarity.

Most reporters, especially young ones,use too many words.

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Repeti t ion and redu nd anc ySpeakers who use the same wordsover and over, quickly become boring,

and so do writers.

English is a language with a largevariety of words easily understood bymost people.

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A redundancy is a phrase or set ofwords in which the same meaning is

transmitted twice.

Some redundancies make writers andeditors look foolish. For example:

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"A dead corpse",

"we should not forget to remember",

"apathetic people who don't care"

are some phrases in need of editing.

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Offens ive langu ageDifferent publications maintain differentpolicies on printing offensive language.

Not too many years ago, "hell", and"damn" were regularly deleted from astory.

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Today, much stronger language findsits way into many publications.

The editor's job is to see that thepolicies of the publication are carriedout.

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If no such policies exist, they should bedeveloped to take into account thegoals of the publication and thesensibilities of its readers.

As with most editorial decision making,it always helps to discuss with othercolleagues on sensitive matters.

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Principles of Headline writing

A headline must catch the most

important and interesting details ofnews stories.

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They must give what the reporter istrying to say about the topic and

present those angles and elements ofthe story that lie at its heart.

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Style is important in headline writingand words must be used precisely.

Headlines are abbreviated newsstories.

Headlines must create vividimpressions with only a few words. Soa good vocabulary is important.

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The headline must serve the dual

function of informing and attractingthe reader.

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Every word must create understandingand interest.

This dual task requires that each wordbe carefully selected for its maximumimpact on the reader.

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On the other hand, double meanings,and ambiguity should not appear on

headlines.

Editors should keep a constant watchfor them.

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They can be embarrassing for thenewspaper and for the people involved

in a story.

Examples of double meanings are thefollowing:

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Sex education delayed, teachersrequest trainingWar dims hope for peace

March planned for next AugustLingerie shipment hijacked. Thief gives

police the slipCancer society honors Marlboro manTwo naval ships collide, one dies

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Examples for styling!Killer Sentenced to Die for Second

Time in nine Years

Killer Sentenced to Die for SecondTime in 10 Years

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Editors should read headlines to try todiscern every possible meaning that

the words could carry.

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Except from avoiding doublemeanings, headlines must follow the

general principles of: accuracy, logic,specificity, and word precision.

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Headline guidelines Headlines must conform to certain

rules.

These rules may vary according to thepublication, the language and even the

journalistic culture of the country.

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Even though the following guidelines

will help you in producing consistent,informative heads, they apply mostly tothe English language.

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Headlines should be based on themain idea of the story, which should be

found in the lead or introduction

If facts are not in the story, do not usethem in the headline

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Avoid repetition. Don't repeat keywords in the same headline; don't

repeat the exact wording of the story inthe headline, unless you make a directquote your headline

Avoid ambiguity, insinuations, anddouble meanings

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Use present-tense verbs for headlinesthat refer to past or present events

For the future tense, use the infinitiveform of the verb (such as to go, to runetc.), rather than the verb will

To be verbs such as is, are, was, andwere, should be omitted

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Alliteration, if used, should bedeliberate and should not go against

the general tone of the story (e.g. Shesells sea shells by the sea shore )

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Do not use articles a, an, and the. These take up space that could be put

to better use in informing the reader.

In the following examples, the secondheadline gives readers moreinformation than the first.

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Do not use the conjunction and . It alsouses space unnecessarily. Use acomma instead

Mayor and council meet on budget fornext year Mayor, council agree to cuts on newbudget

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Avoid using unclear or little-knownnames, phrases, and abbreviations inheadlines

Use punctuation sparingly (? ! ;)

Never begin a headline with a verb

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Headlines should be completesentences or should imply complete

sentences.

When a linking verb is used, it can beimplied rather than spelled out

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Fill out most of the space allowed forheadlines; do not leave gaping holes of

white space.

In most newspapers headlines shouldfill at least 90% of the maximum spaceallowed

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Avoid "headlinese" - that is words suchas hit, flay, rap, hike, nix, nab, slate,

and so on. Use words for their precisemeaning

Do not use pronouns alone andunidentified

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noun and its modifier should be onthe same line in a multiline headline.

So should a preposition and its object.

Violating this rule is called splitting, andfollowing are examples of splitheadlines.

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With the greater use of largerheadlines, many publications are

relaxing this rule, but following it is stillgood discipline

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President withdraws support ofnew welfare reform legislation

Council plans newsefforts to control dogs

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With a multiline head, try to put theverb in the top line

Be accurate and specific

Documents

Week 8: Writing for the printing press