A Final Thought

Figure 2-8.—Diagram of a straight news story. important incident, fact or detail, then the next important, and soon, until reaching the least important of all. At this point, the writer has reached the apex of the inverted pyramid with material of least value. The writer now knows that the makeup editor can slice one, two or three paragraphs from the bottom of his story without depriving the reader of the story’s chief news elements. Figure 2-8 shows a diagram of a straight news story structure. A FINAL THOUGHT that had appeared before — only the names and places For several years, there has been a trend among civilian newspapers toward greater informality in news presentation. This trend has become known as “talking a story onto paper.” Several years ago, an observant editor noticed that a reporter would come to the city desk and describe a 2-18 story he has covered. The story would sound attractive as he talked. Then the same writer would go to his desk and write the piece, pouring facts into the established newswriting mold. What had been interesting when he related it verbally then sounded like every other story were changed. Recognizing the value of the reporter’s -conversational report of the story, the editor thereafter encouraged his writers to use a more conversational tone, coupled with simple language, in all their copy. The main purpose of any news story is to communicate the facts. To accomplish this communication, the story must be read. When an informal story presented in simple, everyday language can accomplish this purpose, use it without hesitation.