THE INVERTED PYRAMID

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THE INVERTED PYRAMID

• Creating a News Story

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The Inverted Pyramid

• Journalists dont want their stories told from
  the beginning of a news event.
• They focus on the end result, and then may go
  back to the beginning.
• They like giving away the ending.
• They are more interested in the outcome.
• News writing is about the only form of writing in
  which you start with the climax.
• This story form is widely known as the inverted
  pyramid.

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The Inverted Pyramid

• Ledes are mini-inverted pyramids as well.
• You analyzed the who-what-when-where elements
• Find the elements that are the most important or
  compelling.
• You assign value to a few facts
• In the Inverted Pyramid, you will have to weigh
  the news value of whole sentences and paragraphs.
  
• The rest of the story should support and
  elaborate on the lede and also provide the
  information that didnt make the cut up top.

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Some history

• How we got here

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Some history

• Until the early 1900s, newspaper writing was more
  akin to
• literary prose. They wrote dispatches -- not
  stories. In 1869,
• a reporter for the New York Herald, Henry Morton
  Stanley,
• was sent to Africa in search of a missionary
  named Dr.
• David Livingstone. Stanleys story began thusly
  Only two
• months gone and what a change in my feelings! But
  two
• months ago, what a peevish, fretful soul was
  mine! What a
• hopeless prospect presented itself before your
• correspondent! Stanleys story continues on and
  on and
• ends like this Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
  And he says,
• Yes. How many readers today would have kept
  reading
• long enough to find those two famous lines?

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Some history

• In this style of writing, the
• significance of a story the nut graph
• could be anywhere. Of course, in those
• days, that kind of writing style was
• greatly assisted by the multiple
• headlines accompanying the story.
• With 5 to 10 headlines telling the
• reader what happened, the writer could
• feel free to take liberties with their style.
• The Chicago Tribune used 15 decks on
• its report about Mrs. OLeary and her
• famous cow in the Great Fire of 1871.
• Many stories started in one column and
• just continued to the next column
• there were no jump pages.

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Some history

• The first newspaper photograph was printed in
  1880, but
• photos didnt become commonly used until the
  early 1900s.
• The advent of photos, changes in newspaper space
• requirements and the changing lifestyles of the
  early 20th
• century brought forth the need for a new type of
  writing
• style one that got to the point more quickly.
• Thus, was born the inverted pyramid style. And
  like so
• many trends in this business, it was copied and
  recopied
• until it became a tradition and the norm.

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The Inverted Pyramid

• The inverted pyramid style has been around for
  more than 100 years and is still going strong.
• It is still widely used in newspapers and wire
  services.
• It is the style of choice on many, if not most,
  online news sites, including the Chronicle,
  because many Web surfers have itchy mouse fingers
  -- its even easier to click a mouse than turn a
  page.
• Heres a visual on what an inverted pyramid story
  might
• look like (from handout)

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(No Transcript)
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The inverted pyramid what it is

• The inverted pyramid has a news summary lead that
  rests
• atop a series of paragraphs arranged in
  descending order
• of importance. This movement from greater to
  lesser
• information can be demonstrated in a geometric
  shape
• the pyramid. Well talk about other geometric
  story shapes
• later. After the news summary lede, the
  subsequent
• information and quotes provide background and
• explanation, present facts and color, explore
  other issues,
• clarify conflict, speculate on cause and effect.
  The average
• newspaper reader spends about 15-20 minutes a day
  with
• the paper. Thats not a lot of time -- especially
  when you
• have taken hours to write your story.

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The inverted pyramid Advantages

• 1. Offers quick reading
• 2. Features less repetition
• 3. Offers easier editing (easier to cut and
  paste)
• 4. Offers faster headline preparation
• 5. Easier to add to a story (as well as cut it)
• 6. Allows for faster writing of a story (can do
  it in your head, from a phone booth even)
• 7. Offers a quick organizing tool

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Inverted Pyramid Disadvantages

• 1. This style doesnt always encourage readers to
  continue to the end of a story because the
  important elements come first.
• 2. Its backward you give away the punchline
  at the top.
• 3. Can be somewhat formulaic it gives more value
  to substance rather than style.
• 4. Theres less allowance for creativity.

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PBS film

• Going to war with the inverted pyramid

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(No Transcript)
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How to do it

• News writing is not like writing a theme for
  English class.
• Theres no thesis sentence (well, there IS a nut
  graph)
• Theres no conclusion.
• The inverted pyramid is designed to help
  reporters put information in logical order.
• It forces the reporter to rank, in order of
  importance, the information to be presented.
• Just as there is a mental checklist for writing a
  lede, there
• is also a checklist for writing the rest of an
  inverted pyramid
• story

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The IP Checklist

• The lede or lede device that directs the reader
  to the nut graph.
• Introduce the additional important information
  that you were unable to put in the lede. This may
  be where the reporter introduces the who, the
  why, the how and the what else happened
  material.
• If possible, indicate the significance, or the
  so-what factor

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The IP Checklist

• Elaborate on the information presented in the
  lede.
• Give background on the issues, subjects,
  chronology of events, clarify conflict, etc.
• Include information from all sides of an issue
  for fairness and balance. (If you have a GOP
  proposal, for example, get the Democratic
  response -- and vice versa.)
• Continue introducing new information in the order
  you have ranked it. Dont forget the what
  happens next angle if its significant.

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The IP Checklist

• Develop the ideas in the order that you
  introduced them. Avoid skipping around.
• Use direct and indirect quotes for color and
  explanation.
• You may have mini-inverted pyramids or blocs of
  related material within your story. (GOP view,
  followed by several explanations and quotes then
  the Democratic view, followed by several
  explanations and quotes.)

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The IP Checklist

• Try to use the one idea - one paragraph method.
  
• In newspapers and magazines that feature narrower
  column widths, the paragraphs are only one or two
  sentences.
• The use of frequent paragraph breaks makes the
  typography less gray and is less formidable to
  the reader.
• Type on the Internet is often narrow as well so
  they can put all those ads on the side of the
  story.

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A short exercise

• Assemble these paragraphs into an inverted
  pyramid story. The
• dateline is Austin. Simply arrange by the
  appropriate letter
• A. David Bailey, homeland security division
  chief for the Austin Fire Department, said nine
  workers from the mailroom where the letter was
  processed were quarantined until tests could
  determine whether the powder was toxic.
• B. The mailroom is in the State Insurance
  Building.
• C. Gov. Rick Perry's office said the letter came
  from a prison inmate but provided no other
  details. The substance was sent to the Texas
  Department of State Health Services for testing.
• D. Bailey said none of the workers became ill.
• E. Authorities evacuated a state office building
  on Wednesday after a suspicious powder was found
  in a letter sent to the governor's office.

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A short exercise How it ran (e, a, c, d, b)

• AUSTIN Authorities evacuated a state office
  building
• on Wednesday after a suspicious powder was found
  in a
• letter sent to the governor's office.
• David Bailey, homeland security division chief
  for the
• Austin Fire Department, said nine workers from
  the
• mailroom where the letter was processed were
  quarantined
• until tests could determine whether the powder
  was toxic.
• Gov. Rick Perry's office said the letter came
  from a
• prison inmate but provided no other details. The
  substance
• was sent to the Texas Department of State Health
  Services
• for testing.
• Bailey said none of the workers became ill.
• The mailroom is in the State Insurance Building.

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Organizational options

• Use subheads as a way to introduce key transition
  points
• Be aware of what material is being used in
  graphics or other display elements there may be
  no need to repeat the information
• Indicate optional or MUST material
• Are some elements best told in bullet form? (In
  other action, the council .. ) If so, use
  parallel construction.
• Is some information important or different
  enough to be broken out into a sidebar?
  (Analysis, a lot of reaction, quotes, chronology,
  background, etc.)

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Transition

• Transition gives signposts to the reader, lets
  them know
• where you are going and when you are switching
  gears.
• Since most news-story paragraphs are only a
  sentence or
• two, a story will often contain a series, or even
  multiple
• series, of related paragraphs. Certain transition
  words help
• string those graphs together, like stringing
  beads.
• When the topic or subject changes, news writers
  need to
• provide good transition so that the text flows
  smoothly.

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Transition Hints

• Transition words that link also, in addition,
  additionally, moreover, furthermore
• Transition words that compare in the same way,
  likewise, similarly, as well as
• Transitions that contrast although, but,
  however, nevertheless, on the other hand, on the
  contrary
• Transitions that create emphasis clearly,
  indeed, surely, truly, certainly

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Transition Hints

• Transitions that show cause and effect as a
  result, consequently, therefore
• Transitions that show a relationship in time
  afterward, later, then, while, next, previously,
  during, since, before
• Transitions that sum up finally, in conclusion,
  in short, thus, to sum up

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How to end

• Some writers feel a compulsion to make their last
  graph
• some sort of happy ending (They may have lost
  today, but
• the Cougars will try again next week).
• Resist the urge. In general, when the storys
  over, stop.
• Many news writers find useful or creative ways to
  divert
• from the strict inverted pyramid style they put
  a good
• quote at the end to serve as a closer or maybe
  they save
• a juicy fact or observation thats low on the
  importance
• scale.

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How to end Example

• Check this nice touch as an end graph to a story
  on the
• commissioning ceremony for the submarine USS
  Texas
• The veterans, crew, families and other guests
  enjoyed a light lunch after the ceremony under a
  giant pavilion. They were served sodas, chip, and
  of course submarine sandwiches.

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How to end

• Another possible option is to use the whats next
  angle as a closer.
• The bill now goes to the Senate, where it faces
  stronger opposition. A vote there is expected
  Thursday.
• These techniques are fine, but if you are going
  to put
• something vital at the end, then you better warn
  your
• copy editors because they often look at the end
  of a
• story to make their first cuts.

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How to end Just FYI

• Where did that 30 come from?
• By the way, do you know why print journalists
  used to end
• their stories with a 30? Some say it was
  because an
• XXX symbol was used at the end of early stories
  or was
• used at the end of telegraphed articles and it
  evolved into
• 30. Some say it was a signal to the hot-lead
  Linotype
• operators to mark the end of a line or to insert
  30 points of
• leading, or space, before the beginning of the
  next headline
• on a page. The most popular theory is that 30
  originated
• during the Civil War, when many stories were
  transmitted
• by telegraph -- a 30 was a telegraphers
  shorthand for
• end.

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Very Helpful Links, Handouts

• Poynter writing tips
• http//www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id
  31907sid2
• The Secret of Writing well and quickly
• How to Write a Short Story
• Pros and Cons of the Inverted Pyramid
  http//www.poynter.org/column.asp?id52aid38693
• Inverted Pyramid in Cyberspace http//www.useit.co
  m/alertbox/9606.htm

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Next class

• Review the ledes you wrote
• Practice stories (Luna, Cremeen)
• Exercise for Grade