Dear Teachers:
When Jessica Mitchell at Austin High posted on the mynews@school blog that it was easier for her students to select an engaging story than a lead story, I wondered if that was because an engaging story is in the eyes of the beholder while a lead story is in the eyes of an editor? Or was it because as my journalism colleague Bill Minutaglio, who answered my questions about news story types, said the “front page of your paper is often home to the Hard News/Inverted Pyramid format”? (Please see the full Q and A with Bill Minutaglio below.) Unfortunately, the inverted pyramid format is not the most engaging way to write a story. Even so, it’s fascinating to read the blog posts at http://mynewsatschool.blogspot.com/ to see what stories students found engaging. It’s also heart warming to read about the discussion taking place across mynews@school classrooms.
Next week will be one of the biggest days in journalism—covering the results of the presidential election. Regardless of which candidate wins, history will be made. That makes the 2008 Presidential Election an even bigger news story. How well has the press covered this big news story? Next week students will become media critics and answer that question. On Monday morning, I’ll send some ideas to get the group discussion going. You might find additional ideas to encourage discussion in the Presidential Election Guide posted on the Statesman’s NIE Web site at http://www.nieonline.com/austin/downloads/2008electing_the_president.pdf.
Have a Happy Halloween!
Paula Poindexter
mynews@school
School of Journalism
University of Texas at Austin
P.S. Please e-mail me if you’re still having trouble posting on the blog.
mynews@school Q and A with Bill Minutaglio and the Many Faces of a News Story
Bill Minutaglio is a UT School of Journalism Professor, the author of
First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty, a former reporter for the Dallas Morning News, and a former bureau chief of People magazine. Minutaglio’s book, First Son influenced the director and screenwriter of the new film, W. In one interview, W’s screenwriter said: "In looking at George Bush Jr.'s earlier life, we were very influenced by Bill Minutaglio's First Son.” Oliver Stone directed W and the President is played by Josh Brolin. Check out what ABC News said about Bill Minutaglio and W at http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Movies/Story?id=5879559&page=2.
mynews@school: Newspapers publish stories that vary in format and style. What are the different story formats that can be found in a newspaper and what are their key elements?
Minutgalio: Broadly speaking, many editors break down their stories into two large categories: Hard News & Soft News.
Hard News is often the news that is breaking, fresh, timely and needs to be relayed right away to the reader in a clear, straight, way – often emphasizing the most important news in the very first sentences of the story. New news about war, crime, elections, the economy, often fall into the Hard News format.
Soft News is often the news that is not pegged to rapidly breaking events, that sometimes does not have to run immediately, that can “entertain” rather than “inform,” that can lend itself to different writing styles, including introducing the “essential news value” of the story later in the story – not in the first sentences of the story.
More specifically, when editors talk about formats they begin to think of these types:
== Inverted Pyramid format: Where you have your most “newsy,” most important, information in the first sentence and paragraph. The story diminishes in “news value” in each subsequent paragraph. Often used with Hard News stories.
---- Features format: Where you abandon the Inverted Pyramid, you “delay” the specific introduction of the “hard news” in the story.
----Column/Essay format: Where you sometimes espouse an opinion
---Sidebar format: A companion piece that runs alongside another story, that serves to “add” information to that other story
----A Q&A format: Where you simply print questions and answers (perhaps introduced by a short paragraph that explains what the Q&A is generally about)
----Analysis format: Where you take a Big Picture look at an issue, theme, person and use some history, context, sweep, even statistics.
mynews@school: In general, how do you decide what format to use when writing a news story?
Minutgalio: First decide whether it is Hard News or Soft News: With your editor, you need to decide what the “news value” of your story is and when and where your story needs to run. If you and your editors say “hey, this is a story that everyone needs to know about Right Now,” then you probably will use the Hard News/Inverted Pyramid formats and the piece will go on Page One.
On the other hand, editors may see the story as an “evergreen” – a story that can run any day of the week. Then it is probably in the Soft News category – and you will choose from a feature, column, essay, analysis or sidebar format.
mynews@school: Are certain story formats more likely to be found in certain sections of the newspaper? If yes, which sections generally have what types of formats?
Minutgalio: The front page of your paper is often home to the Hard News/Inverted Pyramid format –the breaking news, the latest news, the most “newsy” material that readers need/want to know about as soon as possible. Those stories, of course, can also run on the Sports, Metro and Business sections. There could be a “big game” that is covered on the front page of Sports. A big corporate story on the front of the Business section. A big to-do at City Hall that needs to be mentioned on the Metro front page. Many times, stories referenced on the front page of the newspaper will be explored in other stories on the front pages of the inside sections.
Most newspapers also have “feature sections” – they are sections of the paper that often run Soft News, “evergreen” stories, stories that can run almost any day of the week, that are not exclusively tied to an immediate news event. You can find Arts sections, Food sections, Travel sections, etc. They will have feature formats, columns, essays, etc.
mynews@school: How is style of writing different from story format?
Minutgalio: Writing style refers to how you compose the story, how you write each piece. It has to do with tone, presentation, composition.
There are many writing styles: Some writers often use a “straight” or “hard news style.” It is usually not invested with “colorful writing” – it is often hard facts presented in a clear order (Who, What, When, Where & Why). You put the most important information in the first paragraph, the second most important information in the second paragraph, and so on, as the story diminishes in “news value.”
There are also several “feature writing” styles you can choose from: You “delay”” the introduction of the most important news (in order to draw the reader in, in order to make them “want” to “find out” what happens in the story). You do a first-person story, where you, the writer, is in the story. You can do a “narrative” – where you begin a story in a moment in time and watch events unfold over time (like a plot in a book or movie).
mynews@school: Once you’ve finished writing a story, who else is involved in the writing and what role do they play in the story that you’ve written?
Minutgalio: At good publications, you should have a copy editor looking at your work – someone who will go over each word, sentence, paragraph in your story and make sure grammar, language, punctuation are all in good order. You will have other editors who will take a Big Picture look at your story – suggesting ways to change the beginning, middle and end of your story. Suggesting additional reporting. Suggesting structural changes, changes in tone. If you are lucky to work with a photographer, they will have input on your story.
mynews@school: What are the major differences in writing for newspapers vs. magazines vs. online vs. blogs vs. books?
Minutgalio: Every publication is different. As a broad, broad rule, deadlines for newspapers and online publications are often a bit more intense. Newspapers don’t usually run stories that are as long as the ones you will find in magazines. Magazine editors sometimes have more time to work with you on stories. Online publications sometimes move briskly, quickly and ask for you to turn your material in sooner than later. Online publications sometimes lean a lot on multimedia components – that you provide links, audio, video. Again, every publication is unique. Some magazines will allow you to write 10,000 word stories. Some newspapers have their own magazines. Books & blogs are probably more varied. Obviously blogs lend themselves to essays, opinions, personal pieces. Books can be the “ultimate long story” – what I tell people is that books are very long feature stories. They have to have great reporting and an attempt at great writing. They require outlines, some sense of structure.
mynews@school: What role, if any, does your audience play when you’re writing a news story?
Minutgalio: It’s key. You have to understand your audience. You have to understand the readership for your particular publication. If you are writing for a sports publication, or a sports section in a newspaper, you should think about your audience. Ditto music magazines, etc. Most book publishers will ask you to really think hard about who will buy your book, who will read it, who you are writing for. These days, most editors want to know this: WHAT VALUE WILL YOUR WORK BRING TO MY PUBLICATION? In other words, how will your story reach my readers – and get me more readers.
mynews@school: When did you first discover that you were good at writing and how did you know?
Minutgalio: Not sure I’m good at it. (I’ve had plenty of critics tell me I’m not!). I like it and I always wanted to write for newspaper, magazines and books. One of my favorite writers when I was young was a newspaper columnist named Jimmy Breslin. I liked the way he would visit “ordinary people” – not famous people – and just hang out with them and write their stories. Those are called slice-of-life pieces – little windows into the worlds of real people. It was what I wanted to do. I was very, very lucky to have some editors who indulged me and who worked hard with me. A friend of mine once said that if you are insecure about your writing, it means you are doing it the right way – you care enough to worry about it. You can decide if you are good at writing in two ways: You tell yourself you are good . . . or other people tell you that your work is good.
mynews@school: What are the elements of good writing?
Minutgalio: There are a lot of them – and each story is different. But, generally, I would say that you need to have vivid writing (no clichés, no over-heated writing), colorful writing, dialog, a sense of events unfolding – you need some action in your stories. You need details, specifics, what I call “intimate details” – about the people you write about, about the places you write about. You have to “show the reader, don’t tell the reader” – show action unfolding, don’t tell readers that action is unfolding. Think of your stories as movies – with plot, color, mood, dialog, action. I love writing that has very specific details – and then can weave in Big Picture issues, thoughts, beliefs. I call it the marriage of the Micro & the Macro in your writing. You have details – and you have a sweep.
mynews@school: What are your recommendations for becoming a great writer?
Minutgalio: Writing is like riding a bike – you get better by doing it over and over again. Your writing improves by reading. Study the publications where you want your work to appear and study how the writers did their stories. Think, hard, about creating an outline of how you would structure your story. One simple thing is to gather as many “intimate details” as you can when you are doing your reporting: Look for specifics, look for dialog, make sure you really bring people to life – and that you really draw a picture of where events take place. And, as always, ask a friend to read your work --- see what they recommend. Finally, think outside the box – say to yourself, how do I make this story as fresh as possible, how do I do it in a new way, an interesting way, a way that will keep people reading? Stephen King says the scariest part of writing is just before you begin. Gay Talese says the pursuit of good writing is like driving with the lights turned off. Norman Mailer and others have said the secret to being a writer is . . . to go to your desk and begin writing. H.L. Mencken says it is a very, very lonely profession.
When Jessica Mitchell at Austin High posted on the mynews@school blog that it was easier for her students to select an engaging story than a lead story, I wondered if that was because an engaging story is in the eyes of the beholder while a lead story is in the eyes of an editor? Or was it because as my journalism colleague Bill Minutaglio, who answered my questions about news story types, said the “front page of your paper is often home to the Hard News/Inverted Pyramid format”? (Please see the full Q and A with Bill Minutaglio below.) Unfortunately, the inverted pyramid format is not the most engaging way to write a story. Even so, it’s fascinating to read the blog posts at http://mynewsatschool.blogspot.com/ to see what stories students found engaging. It’s also heart warming to read about the discussion taking place across mynews@school classrooms.
Next week will be one of the biggest days in journalism—covering the results of the presidential election. Regardless of which candidate wins, history will be made. That makes the 2008 Presidential Election an even bigger news story. How well has the press covered this big news story? Next week students will become media critics and answer that question. On Monday morning, I’ll send some ideas to get the group discussion going. You might find additional ideas to encourage discussion in the Presidential Election Guide posted on the Statesman’s NIE Web site at http://www.nieonline.com/austin/downloads/2008electing_the_president.pdf.
Have a Happy Halloween!
Paula Poindexter
mynews@school
School of Journalism
University of Texas at Austin
P.S. Please e-mail me if you’re still having trouble posting on the blog.
mynews@school Q and A with Bill Minutaglio and the Many Faces of a News Story
Bill Minutaglio is a UT School of Journalism Professor, the author of
First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty, a former reporter for the Dallas Morning News, and a former bureau chief of People magazine. Minutaglio’s book, First Son influenced the director and screenwriter of the new film, W. In one interview, W’s screenwriter said: "In looking at George Bush Jr.'s earlier life, we were very influenced by Bill Minutaglio's First Son.” Oliver Stone directed W and the President is played by Josh Brolin. Check out what ABC News said about Bill Minutaglio and W at http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Movies/Story?id=5879559&page=2.
mynews@school: Newspapers publish stories that vary in format and style. What are the different story formats that can be found in a newspaper and what are their key elements?
Minutgalio: Broadly speaking, many editors break down their stories into two large categories: Hard News & Soft News.
Hard News is often the news that is breaking, fresh, timely and needs to be relayed right away to the reader in a clear, straight, way – often emphasizing the most important news in the very first sentences of the story. New news about war, crime, elections, the economy, often fall into the Hard News format.
Soft News is often the news that is not pegged to rapidly breaking events, that sometimes does not have to run immediately, that can “entertain” rather than “inform,” that can lend itself to different writing styles, including introducing the “essential news value” of the story later in the story – not in the first sentences of the story.
More specifically, when editors talk about formats they begin to think of these types:
== Inverted Pyramid format: Where you have your most “newsy,” most important, information in the first sentence and paragraph. The story diminishes in “news value” in each subsequent paragraph. Often used with Hard News stories.
---- Features format: Where you abandon the Inverted Pyramid, you “delay” the specific introduction of the “hard news” in the story.
----Column/Essay format: Where you sometimes espouse an opinion
---Sidebar format: A companion piece that runs alongside another story, that serves to “add” information to that other story
----A Q&A format: Where you simply print questions and answers (perhaps introduced by a short paragraph that explains what the Q&A is generally about)
----Analysis format: Where you take a Big Picture look at an issue, theme, person and use some history, context, sweep, even statistics.
mynews@school: In general, how do you decide what format to use when writing a news story?
Minutgalio: First decide whether it is Hard News or Soft News: With your editor, you need to decide what the “news value” of your story is and when and where your story needs to run. If you and your editors say “hey, this is a story that everyone needs to know about Right Now,” then you probably will use the Hard News/Inverted Pyramid formats and the piece will go on Page One.
On the other hand, editors may see the story as an “evergreen” – a story that can run any day of the week. Then it is probably in the Soft News category – and you will choose from a feature, column, essay, analysis or sidebar format.
mynews@school: Are certain story formats more likely to be found in certain sections of the newspaper? If yes, which sections generally have what types of formats?
Minutgalio: The front page of your paper is often home to the Hard News/Inverted Pyramid format –the breaking news, the latest news, the most “newsy” material that readers need/want to know about as soon as possible. Those stories, of course, can also run on the Sports, Metro and Business sections. There could be a “big game” that is covered on the front page of Sports. A big corporate story on the front of the Business section. A big to-do at City Hall that needs to be mentioned on the Metro front page. Many times, stories referenced on the front page of the newspaper will be explored in other stories on the front pages of the inside sections.
Most newspapers also have “feature sections” – they are sections of the paper that often run Soft News, “evergreen” stories, stories that can run almost any day of the week, that are not exclusively tied to an immediate news event. You can find Arts sections, Food sections, Travel sections, etc. They will have feature formats, columns, essays, etc.
mynews@school: How is style of writing different from story format?
Minutgalio: Writing style refers to how you compose the story, how you write each piece. It has to do with tone, presentation, composition.
There are many writing styles: Some writers often use a “straight” or “hard news style.” It is usually not invested with “colorful writing” – it is often hard facts presented in a clear order (Who, What, When, Where & Why). You put the most important information in the first paragraph, the second most important information in the second paragraph, and so on, as the story diminishes in “news value.”
There are also several “feature writing” styles you can choose from: You “delay”” the introduction of the most important news (in order to draw the reader in, in order to make them “want” to “find out” what happens in the story). You do a first-person story, where you, the writer, is in the story. You can do a “narrative” – where you begin a story in a moment in time and watch events unfold over time (like a plot in a book or movie).
mynews@school: Once you’ve finished writing a story, who else is involved in the writing and what role do they play in the story that you’ve written?
Minutgalio: At good publications, you should have a copy editor looking at your work – someone who will go over each word, sentence, paragraph in your story and make sure grammar, language, punctuation are all in good order. You will have other editors who will take a Big Picture look at your story – suggesting ways to change the beginning, middle and end of your story. Suggesting additional reporting. Suggesting structural changes, changes in tone. If you are lucky to work with a photographer, they will have input on your story.
mynews@school: What are the major differences in writing for newspapers vs. magazines vs. online vs. blogs vs. books?
Minutgalio: Every publication is different. As a broad, broad rule, deadlines for newspapers and online publications are often a bit more intense. Newspapers don’t usually run stories that are as long as the ones you will find in magazines. Magazine editors sometimes have more time to work with you on stories. Online publications sometimes move briskly, quickly and ask for you to turn your material in sooner than later. Online publications sometimes lean a lot on multimedia components – that you provide links, audio, video. Again, every publication is unique. Some magazines will allow you to write 10,000 word stories. Some newspapers have their own magazines. Books & blogs are probably more varied. Obviously blogs lend themselves to essays, opinions, personal pieces. Books can be the “ultimate long story” – what I tell people is that books are very long feature stories. They have to have great reporting and an attempt at great writing. They require outlines, some sense of structure.
mynews@school: What role, if any, does your audience play when you’re writing a news story?
Minutgalio: It’s key. You have to understand your audience. You have to understand the readership for your particular publication. If you are writing for a sports publication, or a sports section in a newspaper, you should think about your audience. Ditto music magazines, etc. Most book publishers will ask you to really think hard about who will buy your book, who will read it, who you are writing for. These days, most editors want to know this: WHAT VALUE WILL YOUR WORK BRING TO MY PUBLICATION? In other words, how will your story reach my readers – and get me more readers.
mynews@school: When did you first discover that you were good at writing and how did you know?
Minutgalio: Not sure I’m good at it. (I’ve had plenty of critics tell me I’m not!). I like it and I always wanted to write for newspaper, magazines and books. One of my favorite writers when I was young was a newspaper columnist named Jimmy Breslin. I liked the way he would visit “ordinary people” – not famous people – and just hang out with them and write their stories. Those are called slice-of-life pieces – little windows into the worlds of real people. It was what I wanted to do. I was very, very lucky to have some editors who indulged me and who worked hard with me. A friend of mine once said that if you are insecure about your writing, it means you are doing it the right way – you care enough to worry about it. You can decide if you are good at writing in two ways: You tell yourself you are good . . . or other people tell you that your work is good.
mynews@school: What are the elements of good writing?
Minutgalio: There are a lot of them – and each story is different. But, generally, I would say that you need to have vivid writing (no clichés, no over-heated writing), colorful writing, dialog, a sense of events unfolding – you need some action in your stories. You need details, specifics, what I call “intimate details” – about the people you write about, about the places you write about. You have to “show the reader, don’t tell the reader” – show action unfolding, don’t tell readers that action is unfolding. Think of your stories as movies – with plot, color, mood, dialog, action. I love writing that has very specific details – and then can weave in Big Picture issues, thoughts, beliefs. I call it the marriage of the Micro & the Macro in your writing. You have details – and you have a sweep.
mynews@school: What are your recommendations for becoming a great writer?
Minutgalio: Writing is like riding a bike – you get better by doing it over and over again. Your writing improves by reading. Study the publications where you want your work to appear and study how the writers did their stories. Think, hard, about creating an outline of how you would structure your story. One simple thing is to gather as many “intimate details” as you can when you are doing your reporting: Look for specifics, look for dialog, make sure you really bring people to life – and that you really draw a picture of where events take place. And, as always, ask a friend to read your work --- see what they recommend. Finally, think outside the box – say to yourself, how do I make this story as fresh as possible, how do I do it in a new way, an interesting way, a way that will keep people reading? Stephen King says the scariest part of writing is just before you begin. Gay Talese says the pursuit of good writing is like driving with the lights turned off. Norman Mailer and others have said the secret to being a writer is . . . to go to your desk and begin writing. H.L. Mencken says it is a very, very lonely profession.
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