Journalism: writing leads and story basics
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An adaption of a writing leads and story basics with an emphasis on acquisition of basic writing skills and lanaguage comprehension. Deleivered as part of an undergraduate news analysis course.
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Journalism: writing leads and story basics
- 1. Leads and Stor y Basics 1
- 2. what is a LEA D • A killer first paragraph • Attention grabbing • Includes the 5 W's and 1 H 2
- 4. THE INVERTED PYRA MID to least • Most important important – Newspaper readers spend 15 to 25 minutes per day reading the paper. 4
- 5. THE INVERTED PYRA MID • Readers can find the key information • Editors can trim less important information • Forces writers to rank the importance of the information 5
- 6. THE INVERTED PYRA MID • Lead comes first • Supporting paragraphs in descending order of importance – Multiple editions with story running different lengths 6
- 7. LEA DS or fir st par agr aph • Clear, simple statement • First paragraph -- occasionally two paragraphs • Key news values – “So what?” or “Who cares?” 7
- 8. LEA DS basic questions • Who • What • When • Where • Why • How 8
- 9. LEA DS basics • What do you want to know? • As few other things as appropriate • Word limit? – May be two sentences, if necessary 9
- 10. LEA DS basics • Telling someone a story when they’re trying to catch a bus... 10
- 11. LEA DS basics • Just the facts... • Keep your opinions out... • Double check spelling, address, key facts... • Avoid too many numbers... 11
- 12. LEA DS examples Zero-hours workers are more likely to be happy with their work-life balance than other employees, new research has found. The study from the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development comes amid mounting controversy over the widespread use of these deals. 12
- 13. LEA DS examples The couple arrested in the Lambeth slavery case were part of a radical Maoist collective who believed that 1970s Britain would be invaded by Chinese communist forces. Aravindan Balakrishnan and his wife Chanda are believed to have set up the "Workers' Institute of Marxism– Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought" which operated a bookshop and a meeting place out of a squat in south London. 13
- 14. LEA DS examples The campaign against Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants coming to Britain has echoes of Enoch Powell, a world famous human rights campaigner has warned. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was asked about the lifting of visa restrictions on people from the new EU countries, which will come into place in January. 14
- 15. STORY ORGA NISA TION • Following the lead, introduce any additional important information • Explain the “so what” if possible • Elaborate on the information in the lead 15
- 16. STORY ORGA NISA TION • Generally, use one paragraph per idea • [Yes, you can have one-sentence paragraphs] 16
- 17. STORY ORGA NISA TION • Who are your sources? • Can you include quotes? • How do we know the story is true? 17
- 18. STORY ORGA NISA TION • Whose story are you telling? • Use an active voice... 18
- 19. A CTIVE VOICE One rule that most journalists follow is to write copy in the active voice, not passive. In order to understand this rule, you must know the parts of a sentence. 19
- 20. A CTIVE VOICE subject predicate Subject: who or what is doing something Predicate: what the subject is doing. (verb and any information contributing to what is being done) 20
- 21. A CTIVE VOICE subject predicate Example: The biker climbed the hill in three hours. Subject: The biker Predicate: climbed the hill in three hours. 21
- 22. A CTIVE VOICE subject predicate Example: Moving at a strange angle, the bird fell from the sky. Subject: The bird Predicate: fell from the sky moving at a strange angle 22
- 23. A CTIVE VOICE active voice Active Voice: When the verb is being performed by its subject. Passive Voice: The action the sentence expresses is being performed upon by its subject. 23
- 24. A CTIVE VOICE example Active: The manager hired us. Passive: We were hired by the manager. 24
- 25. A CTIVE VOICE example Active: The judge carefully instructed the jury. Passive: The jury was carefully instructed by the judge. 25
- 26. STORY ORGA NISA TION • Proof reading... • Check your spelting and grammer! • The Grauniad! Is a bad example! 26
- 27. BY-LINES • Who the story is written by... • The date... 27
- 28. HEA DLINES • Strong attention grabbing HEADLINES! 28