Journalism 101: The Basics of Journalism (2) What are the basic structures of journalistic writing?

• Once you get the information for your article, you will begin to structure it into an article. Articles in magazines and newspapers follow three main forms: the inverted pyramid, the diamond, and literary journalistic writing.

Story structure 1: The Inverted Pyramid News stories can be structured in a format that is referred to as the inverted pyramid. In the inverted pyramid format, the story’s main facts come at the beginning of the article and “taper down” to include the less significant facts. This structure is used to write stories that are factual in nature. The inverted pyramid is the granddaddy of all news story structures; it is the most basic form and is the starting point of every journalist’s understanding of how news is presented. Why are stories written in this way?

• There are three main reasons why stories are structured in inverted pyramids:

1. It makes reading easier and faster. 2. It satisfies the curiosity of the reader in a logical way. 3. It makes layout easier. If the story is too long, the end of it

may be cut off without harming the story. How do you start an inverted pyramid article?

• The first paragraph, or lead, of an inverted pyramid is usually written as an AP or summary lead. A summary or AP lead tells what happened, who did it, when and where, and perhaps why or how. When the reader has finished the first paragraph, all essential facts should have emerged. The remainder of the story explains these facts, gives details, and adds less important information. Here are some examples:

� The City Council voted unanimously Monday to begin planning for a major study of the city’s traffic

patterns. � NASA launched a spacecraft yesterday on a three-year voyage to an asteroid that may contain clues to the

birth of the solar system. � Seniors Jaime Garcie and Mary Jo Shanahan were named Nov. 12 as King and Queen of Homecoming. � An airplane bound for New York City skidded off the Centerville Airport runway Tuesday, injuring three

passengers slightly. � Traffic is smothering the city, an urban-affairs specialist told Optimist Club members Tuesday. � With a key win against Lockport, the varsity girls’ team snapped a three-way tie for the SCIA title two weeks

ago, then claimed sole possession of it when Romeoville defeated Joliet Central last week. � With an undefeated 3-0 record, the Scholastic Bowl Team is heading toward another flawless season,

following last year’s 9-0 record and SCIA championship. � Promoted as the last dance before the Prom, the girls-ask-guys Valentine’s Dance will be held February 17

from 8-11 p.m. in the cafeteria.

After the lead of an inverted pyramid story is written, what then?

• After the lead, an inverted pyramid story proceeds to explain the story, proceeding from the most important information down to the least important. The story, as with all newspaper stories, is written in short paragraphs, ranging in length from one to three sentences at most. When direct quotations are used, they are usually a paragraph in itself.

• Stories are generally written alternating between factual information and direct quotations from people who have been interviewed for the story. As far as the flow of the story, the factual information generally “sets up” the quotations. Think about volleyball. . .before there is a kill, there has to be a set. This is how news stories run. . .factual info (set) then quotations (kill), then back to factual info, quote, etc.

• Information for the stories generally comes from extensive interviewing and first hand witnessing on the part of the reporter. The reporter then looks through all of the information she has, decides which quotes are good in and of themselves and which quotes merely state factual information. The factual information is usually paraphrased (put into the writers own words) and attributed (this is the phrase that lets you know who said the information, for example, “According to Chief Murdy, the work was far from over.”

• In these stories, the first paragraph gives you the essential information for the story, the paragraphs are very short, direct quotations are interspersed with factual information, and the story ends with the least important facts. This is a textbook inverted pyramid. If you pick up any daily newspaper, most of the stories in the news section of the paper will be written in this way.

Story Structure 2: The diamond

What is the diamond story structure?

• The diamond structure has become increasingly popular in the last fifteen years in the writing of sports, news, and feature articles. The structure presents a more in depth, storytelling approach to writing an article. The diamond structure usually has four main parts:

1. Anecdotal lead: The article begins with an introduction that

plucks from a multifaceted, highly complex story a single element-a person, a situation-that readers can comprehend as they are led, ever so gently, deeper into a web of details. These stories usually start out with a story, a small piece of the greater story that gets the reader interested in the rest of the story.

2. Transition: Brings the reader from the story-like beginning into

the story’s wider dimensions and the true meaning the writer is attempting to illustrate.

3. “Nut graf” followed by the body of story: The “nut graf” tells the

reader the main point of the article. In the inverted pyramid, these facts are at the beginning; in the diamond, these are added only after the lead paragraphs have drawn the reader into the story. From here, the story goes into its body of information: the wider details of the story, facts, quotations, etc.

4. Kicker Exit: Employs in the conclusion the same person or situation used in the intro. Ties up the story into

a nice circular package.

Why is the diamond story different from the inverted pyramid?

• The diamond story is different mainly in that it does not go from the most important information down to the least important. The stories here function as a whole; you can’t cut off the bottom of a diamond story. Stories written in this way are more in depth; they do not lend themselves to a quick hit of information.

• The lead of a diamond story is also different from the lead of an inverted pyramid story. Where the AP lead has the most important information first and then tapers off as you go, the diamond story may not have its most important information (the “nut graf”) for several paragraphs. The lead paragraphs in these stories are there to get the reader interested in the rest of the story. They are a sort of storytelling beginning to the story that the reader will warm up to and want to keep reading. Leads for these types of stories are often more anecdotal (story-like) than the AP lead.

Story structure 3: Literary Journalism:

• Literary journalism is a form of journalistic writing created by journalists who wished to capture more than just the facts of a particular event. Take for example a battle in the Vietnam war. . .you can write an inverted pyramid story that tells where the battle was, who it was against, if it was successful, the casualty rates, the outcome of the battle, what it meant to the forces fighting it, etc. Typical news story. Or, you can write a story that seeks to place the reader in the midst of that battle so that she can experience what in fact the soldiers are experiencing. A story written in this fashion will allow the reader to feel, smell, hear and truly experience the battle from the perspective of the people who were a part of it. This type of writing, called “literary journalism,” “literary nonfiction” or “the new journalism” became prominent in the 1960s and is still used today.

• These stories, when you read them, read like short stories rather than typical news or feature stories. The amount of reporting involved in these stories is staggering the writing can be nothing short of breathtaking. Below is an example from a Pulitzer Prize winning story written by Thomas French, a writer for the St. Petersburg Times about middle school students:

4 UR EYES ONLY Barely 7:15, and already Carlo's wondering if he'll see her. He's in the back seat of the family Volvo, headed to school.

His mom and dad are talking up front, but he's not listening. He is still waking up. His light blond hair is uncombed as usual; a micro-pebble of sleep dust clings to the lashes of his right eye. Through headphones, a man is singing into his brain.

Woo-ee-oo I look just like Buddy Holly Oh-oh, and you're Mary Tyler Moore I don't care what they say about us anyway I don't care 'bout that The singer is from Weezer, one of Carlo's favorite groups.

He likes to listen to them when he's riding in the car with his parents. It would be nice if he could drive himself wherever he wanted to go. But when you're 13, lots of nice things are far away.

Carlo stares out the window at the blur of early morning traffic, the houses rushing by, the towers of downtown Tampa rising in the distance.

He is waiting for his real life to begin. At least the part where he gets a girlfriend. Don't you ever fear, I'm always near I know that you need help By the time they pull into the parking lot at Booker T, the buses are starting to arrive. Carlo tells his parents

goodbye, makes his getaway before they can do anything to embarrass him in front of the rest of the seventh grade. He walks onto campus, hoping for a glimpse of her, a moment of eye contact, maybe even a hello. His friends

are always saying how stupid it is to get so hung up on Kalie. They tell him to find someone else, anyone else. But he doesn't listen.

At the bank of blue lockers next to the science lab, he finds No. 894. Spying him there, another girl runs up and begs to glide her palm across the top of his hair. She does this almost every day. She is fixated on his fluffiness.

"I'm sorry," she says. "Please? Just once?" Carlo stands still for a moment and lets her do it, then heads for his first class. Through the crowd he goes,

searching for a face.

• See how this story is so much different from the other two? It’s still journalism in that it is meticulously reported, but it reads like a short story. This excerpt is the beginning of a 13 part series on middle school students that French wrote a few years ago. The detail is staggering and the story is meticulously crafted. It looks easy to write, but it isn’t. . .just think of the reporting needed to produce such a story.

When do I use each of these structures?

• Inverted pyramid and the AP lead style are used usually for more serious factual stories in the daily newspaper. Look through the front page of the Trib or any other paper. . .usually the news stories will follow this structure. Rarely will we use this.

• Diamond stories are becoming more popular because they are more interesting to read. With people getting their news more and more from television, radio and the internet, the diamond structure lends itself to more in-depth treatments of subjects as well as lighter subjects. Most magazine articles are written with more of a diamond story format. This is the king of story structures and will be used most frequently in here.

• Literary journalism lends itself to really in depth powerful stories of people and their lives. Will we write these types of stories? Maybe. . .but more importantly, we will be using some of the techniques employed by these writers to breathe life into stories that otherwise could be dull and flat.