Inverted Pyramid Structure Samples

Inverted Pyramid in Articles and News Paper Report
THE INVERTED PYRAMID: News reports structure
‘Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph, sink your
thumbs into his windpipe in the second and hold him against the wall
until the tag line.’- Paul O’Neill. News report writing always starts with
the most important fact. When you report on a football game, you do
not start with the kick-off; you begin with the final score. A news
report has a beginning, middle and an end. News stories in contrast
to this will blurt out something and then explain themselves. News
reports are mostly active rather than in passive voice and are written
in concise language. Paragraphs are short so as to set in newspaper
columns. Shorter paragraphs are more likely to keep the attention of
readers. Attribution meaning ‘somebody saying something’ is used in
the news- reports to present a range of views over which the
reporters can appear to remain neutral. Most news reports follow the
‘Kiss and tell’ formula- Kiss standing either for ‘keep it short and
simple’ or ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ Complexity, abstract notions,
ambiguity and unanswered questions tend to be frowned upon and
deleted out of news copy.
News reports structure should have:
1.  Stories should have the main idea given to the journalist for
covering of an incident.
2.  Content of the news report should be comprehensive and balanced.
3.  The intro should contain the main point of the story and should be
clearly developed with the most important information coming early in the
story, followed by a coherent, logical and readable structure.
4.  Personal comments should be avoided.
5.  Facts should be presented logically.
6.  The style, context and facts should be accurate. The news reports
aim is to meet the requirements of everyday life as lived by everyday
readers.
7. So it largely depends on elements like directness, pace, variety and
information. It aims to state the facts quickly and clearly.
A news report has three parts:
 1. The headline:
 Byline.
 In design, a byline is a short phrase that indicates the name of the
author of an article in a publication. Used in newspapers, magazines,
blogs, and other publications, the byline tells the reader who wrote the
piece.
 2. The first paragraph -Lead
 3. The remainder of the news story
1. The headline:
The Headline first attracts us. It stands out in bold black type. It message is
abrupt and often startling. It makes us stop and look. It tells us quickly what
the story covers. Its function is to attract our attention. Though, the headline
writing belongs to the copyreader’s province and not to the reporter’s.
The first paragraph -Lead
The Lead One of the most important elements of news writing is the
opening paragraph or two of the story. Journalists refer to this as the "lead,"
and its function is to summarize the story and/or to draw the reader in
depending on whether it is a "hard" or "soft" news story .
The opening paragraph of the introduction paragraph of the news story is

called the ‘lead’. Though in journalistic practice we also use this word for
biggest headline on the front page of newspaper, calling it the ‘lead story’.
The main purpose of the intro or the lead is to make the reader want to
read on, motivate them to move further into the news story and state the
important facts first. Lead to a story "grabs the reader, informs the reader,
and teaches the reader how to read the rest of the story."
The lead remains the primary concern of the news writer. As the present
day reader is the man who both runs and reads, present day newspapers
seek to facilitate his getting the information quickly. The convention has
developed of telling the main facts of a news story in its first lead
paragraph. Writing this lead also involves answering the questions, which
would occur to any normal person when confronted with the announcement
of a news story.
These questions, called the five W’s are: Where? Who? What? When?
Why?
Suppose the news story concerns a fire. In writing the lead-the reporter
would answer the questions, ‘What?’ “Fire broke out,” he would write. He
would answer the question, ‘Who?’ and ‘Where?’ by telling whose premises
were burnt and giving their location. He would answer “When” by telling the
time the fire broke out and how long it lasted. ‘Why?’-in this case the cause
the usual carelessly tossed cigarette butt. The reporter can also answer the
‘How’ in this story in several ways by describing the type of fire, or by
answering ‘How much’? Here, he would estimate the probable lost and find
out if premises had been covered by insurance and if so by what amount.
The Body
The Body The body of the story involves combining the opinions of the
people you interview, some factual data, and a narrative, which helps the
story flow.
The role of a reporter is to find out what people are thinking of an issue and
to report the opinions of different stakeholders of an issue. As a reporter,
you are the eyes and ears for the readers. You should try to provide some
visual details to bring the story to life this is difficult if you have conducted
only phone interviews, which is why face-to-face is best. You should also
try to get a feel for the story.
 Keep your eyes and ears open; listen to what your friends are talking
about.
 Read everything you can get your hands on; get story ideas from other
newspapers and magazines.
 Think of a youth angle to a current news story.

3The remainder of the news story=Conclusion
The end is the conclusion of the news reports. From the headline and the
lead one comes to the rest of the story. He selects the most important
incident or fact for his lead. Then he proceeds by selecting the next most
important incident, fact or detail, the next most important after that, and so
on till he reaches least important phase of all. Guided by his idea of news
importance, the story assumes graphically the shape inverted pyramid
The end will be at the peak of the inverted pyramid with the facts or
incidents of least value. When writing a news story for an organization you
should always retain the idea that your text is to be read and understood by
others. Thus a story is like building blocks, which should be linked logically
to each other.
Therefore, there should be continuity between the intro, the lead and the
end of the news story. Thus, the most popular format of news writing is the
Inverted Pyramid This is the most widely used approach in news writing.
The information is given in the descending order of importance.
http://millab.ge/en/exercise/exercise-12-inverted-pyramid/10
https://wecommunication.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-inverted-pyramid-
news-reports.html
https://plasq.com/2014/12/journalistic-writing-with-comic-life/

Inverted Pyramid Structure Samples

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Inverted Pyramid Structure Samples

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Inverted Pyramid Structure Samples

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Inverted Pyramid in Articles and News Paper Report

THE INVERTED PYRAMID: News reports structure

The first paragraph -Lead

The opening paragraph of the introduction paragraph of the news story is

 Think of a youth angle to a current news story.

You might also like