The Use of a Writing Model for Print or On-line News: Concise Formula for Complex Topics

Teaching students to discipline their writing so that it conforms to a fairly narrow set of criteria for good news writing is most difficult. Students accustomed to the "anything goes" method employed by many English teachers are overwhelmed when they discover how difficult it is (a) to convey the most important facts in a story in a logical order from most important to least important and (b) to make that story interesting.Students find some aid and comfort in the inverted pyramid model and in a conceptual model described here that helps them visualize that which they are trying to accomplish.The inverted pyramid model is criticized on several grounds. Mencher, in News Reporting and Writing, calls the model "monstrous" because of its "unbalanced monolith" image. Rich notes in Writing and Reporting News that many editors view the model with disfavor because a story written in this format does not entice a reader to finish, and because it is difficult to rank facts in order of importance. Other critics charge that the inverted pyramid and other writing models force students into a kind of formula writing requiring little thought.I have found in more than two decades of teaching news writing that the inverted pyramid model is quite useful and clear and that it is not the reason why writers produce stories that readers do not finish: If an article is not read to the end, it is because the writer has failed to report information that is interesting and relevant. To argue against the inverted pyramid because it is difficult to order facts from most important to least important is to deny the ability of journalists to master this important skill. Finally, I take a position that some critics may see as outrageous: More writers, amateurs, and professionals, should use good models (i.e., write by formula) because their atrocious stories might be improved.Value of modelsStudents who learn to produce simple stories that fit the models I use typically write good stories as assignments become more complex. The models help students reach more quickly the point at which many of their skills become automatic. They, like all professional journalists, must apply much of what they know subconsciously. Obviously, speed and quality improve as more aspects of the writing process become automatic.Models also help students combat writing apprehension, which Riffe and Stacks--writing in Journalism Quarterly in 1988 and in Journalism Educator in 1992--have shown is a major obstacle to good, or even poor, writing. While it may be difficult to decide specifically which information should go into the first phrase of the first paragraph, for example, it helps students avoid writing apprehension when the model indicates generally what should go there. That know-ledge at least gets them started.News in four paragraphsStudents in my classes first learn how the inverted pyramid model is used to help readers and listeners understand a message. They then are encouraged to view hard news stories as four paragraphs, each of which is composed of one compound sentence containing two phrases. I encourage students to "see" each paragraph as three lines, with each phrase a line and a half (see Figure 1). (Figure 1 omitted) This seems the clearest way to present the model. Three lines also is very nearly the optimum length for any sentence, and this guideline helps students keep their sentences short.As indicated in the model, the first phrase of the lead (1 sub a ) is composed of the most important facts in a story, while the second phrase (1 sub b ) typically is composed of secondary information (often an attribution). Students have not followed the model correctly if they produce a first paragraph like this:Lt. James Robinson of the Smithville Police Department said today two 16-year-old sophomores at Joan H. Smith High School died of gunshot wounds sustained during a gang fight Thursday at the Smithville Reservoir. …