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Inverted Pyramid

The inverted pyramid is a traditional news writing structure where the most important facts are presented in the first paragraph. This summary lead paragraph should be brief, around 25 words, and contain the essential Who, What, When details. Following paragraphs provide additional facts in descending order of importance. The structure makes stories easier to read quickly while allowing readers to get the key information even if they do not read the entire article.

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Benedick Runas
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403 views

Inverted Pyramid

The inverted pyramid is a traditional news writing structure where the most important facts are presented in the first paragraph. This summary lead paragraph should be brief, around 25 words, and contain the essential Who, What, When details. Following paragraphs provide additional facts in descending order of importance. The structure makes stories easier to read quickly while allowing readers to get the key information even if they do not read the entire article.

Uploaded by

Benedick Runas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Inverted Pyramid

In daily newspapers, most timely and featured news stories are written in the traditional form--the
inverted pyramid form (the order of decreasing importance).

Most important facts

Next most
important
Next most
important

Next

The first paragraph of a news story contains the most important information.
This is called the Summary Lead, because it summarizes the most important facts gathered about the
story.
Reasons for the Inverted Pyramid:
• Makes reading easier and faster
• Enables the hurried reader to get all the important facts in a very short period of time
• Satisfies curiosity in a logical way
• Makes page makeup easier
• Makes the work of the copydesk easier
Characteristics of a good Summary Lead
• Briefest possible summary of a story, usually no more than 25 words.
• Includes only those Ws and H that are important. These usually include the What, Who and
sometimes When, and sometimes the So What.
What are the Ws and H
• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• Why
• How

Characteristics of a good Summary Lead


• Usually only one paragraph but may be more. It is easier to read two short paragraphs than one
long one.
• Usually starts with the feature of the story, the most important fact.
How to find the feature
• Use your knowledge of news values.
• Know who your readers are.
• Ask yourself: “What would be the first question a reader would ask about this event?”

Characteristics of a good Summary Lead


• Quickly summarizes in the first few words the most important fact of the story.
• The What is usually the most used feature of a lead, followed closely by the Who. (The Who
should be used only when the name itself is clearly the most important fact.)
• Begins with specific, interest arousing words.
Poor:
For several years it has been the custom…
Good:
A two-day vacation is in store for...
• Usually avoids beginning with such words or phrases as a, an, at a meeting, yesterday, last night,
last week, recently, days of the week, according to, in the opinion of; it is, was, will be; there is,
was, will be.
• It is broken into two sentences or two paragraphs when too much important information would
make an excessively long sentence. Shorter sentences and paragraphs are easier for a reader to
grasp quickly.
Poor:
• Lincoln’s basketball season came to an end March 2 when the Maroons were defeated by
Bridgeport, 45-44, in an overtime in finals of the Regional Tournament at Rockford
• Better:
• An overtime in the semifinals ended Lincoln’s basketball season Wednesday in the Regional
Tournament at Rockford.
• The Maroons were edged by Bridgeport, 45-44.
The lead tells the most important part of the story, and the body of the story gives the other facts in
decreasing order of importance.

Through alternating direct quotes (which contain opinions, feelings or information that cannot be
measured by some standard) and transitional statements (which contain facts), the reporter tells the
story.
Transitions
are words or phrases which keep the story flowing smoothly and let the reader know you are either
talking about the same thing as before or you have changed subjects.
• Word or phrases such as meanwhile; also; nevertheless; accordingly; at the same time
• Repetition of a word or phrase from a previous paragraph
• Use of a synonym for a key word from a previous paragraph

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