How to Use the Inverted Pyramid for Writing News

Have you ever picked up a newspaper or gone to your favorite online news source and read the entire news story, from top to bottom? Most people read the first few paragraphs to get the important news information before moving to the next story. The typical news reader will rarely read to the bottom of the story. When people want the news, they want the news upfront without a lot of descriptive language. As a result, journalists usually write in inverted pyramid style; the bulk of the newsworthy information is at the top, and the less newsworthy or background information toward the bottom.

Instructions

1. Narrow the story down to the "five w's"--who, what, when, where and why--of the news story.

2. Write the lead using the five w's information, containing simple facts so that if the reader continues no further, she will have the most important information about the story.

3. Write the middle of the news story. This section will contain facts that further elaborate on the five w's. This information is helpful to the reader in further understanding the details, but it is not necessary to gather the essential facts, as are found in the lead. The middle section of the story is the place where creativity can come into play.

4. Add quotes to the middle section. This is where the journalist should insert facts from witnesses, experts or opinion givers who can add some substance and interest to the story.

5. Close the story with the least interesting or least important facts. It should be of such substance that if the editor had to cut it off, no important news information would be lost.

Tips & Warnings

• Quotes in the middle section should be colorful or descriptive to add the most value to the story. While the writer should not lead the quote giver, it is OK to ask multilayered questions to mine more colorful responses from the interviewee.