Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Structuring a News Story Pt. 2 - The Inverted Pyramid

The most basic guideline for how to structure a news story is the "inverted pyramid." We already learned about the "lede," which introduces the story. The lede is written so that if the reader stops after the lede, he or she will have gotten the most important information in the article. The inverted pyramid follows that logic, and just says that as the article goes on, the information presented should get less and less important. That way, if, for example, the reader stops reading halfway through the article, he or she will have gotten the more important half of the information. Here are some graphic illustrations of the inverted pyramid:


The Inverted Pyramid - Complex Version




The Inverted Pyramid - Simple Version


In-Class Assignment:
Use the story information from the lede-writing exercise to write a full-length news story. Remember, this should be as short as possible while including all of the necessary and interesting information. Feel free to discard information that you think should not make the story.

4 comments:

  1. 14 year old Maria from Greenland High School set a new country record for the 2 Kilometers race. Winner of the country swim meet last year, Gloria won second place.

    Maria's parents who are Doctors were excited about this achievement by their daughter and threw a party in hers honour.

    Maria's race win coupled with her academic hard work has propelled her from the edge to the mainstream of a wonderful career for a younger woman.

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  2. Fourteen year old Greenland-er, Maria, went on to beat last year's champion yesterday setting a new country for the 2-kilometer swim race. Gloria, this years defeated champion, pulled into a close second.

    Maria's win came as a huge upset. Having doctors for parents and maintaining the top seat in her class, made Maria the unfavored competitor, compared to the scrappy and less affluent Gloria, known for her fierceness. Last year she kicked in the shins of an opponents coach.

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  3. Maria, a 14 year old student at Greenland High School won first place at the county swim meet, becoming victorious over Gloria near the end of the race. Not only did Maria win the race but she also set a record for the 2km swim.

    The success of Maria is not limited to swimming however. Maria is the top student of her freshman class. The young lady has kept a solid Grade Point Average of 4.0 since her enrollment.

    Maria's biggest supporters are her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Maria are doctors at the local hospital. Both of her parents attended GHS and were swim champions as well.

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  4. Young and successful girl from Greenland high school set the country record for two-kilometer race and also won the country swim meet leaving behind the last year’s winner.

    Maria is only 14 years old, but already she's one of the most known girls in Greenland. Her parents are the most successfully doctors in country and they always support their daughter.

    Maria together with her biggest competitor Gloria who staid in the 2nd place in country swim meet study in the same class and are the leaders also there.

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