Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1 Getting started in journalism
- 1 Writing news for newspapers
- 2 Writing news for radio, television and the internet
- 3 Writing stories for the reader
- 4 The fundamentals of reporting
- Part 2 Writing skills
- Part 3 Understanding the law
- Part 4 Research skills
- Part 5 Being professional in journalism
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- Index
3 - Writing stories for the reader
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1 Getting started in journalism
- 1 Writing news for newspapers
- 2 Writing news for radio, television and the internet
- 3 Writing stories for the reader
- 4 The fundamentals of reporting
- Part 2 Writing skills
- Part 3 Understanding the law
- Part 4 Research skills
- Part 5 Being professional in journalism
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- Index
Summary
News organisations want more from their reporters than just an ability to write news stories. They want people who can also write well – to satisfy those who want more from their news outlet than just the news. Which means they want good writers. They want reporters who can write for the time-rich reader, not just for the news junkie. And writing a story for the reader is a very different challenge from writing a story within the constraints of the inverted pyramid.
In case you should think otherwise, writing for the reader is not just about writing feature articles. It is also about writing news.
Some time ago the Australian Prime Minister's cat was in serious trouble. There was a wonderful photograph of the villain, plus John and Janette Howard at home in Kirribilli House. Every newspaper at the time ran the picture and a story. Most of the stories were variations on the inverted-pyramid formula. But Christopher Niesche of the Australian wrote his front page news story way, way outside the pyramid. It started like this:
A prime ministerial list of things to do: Meet NZ PM, discuss defence agreements. Explain new position on reconciliation. Shift to new stance on population policy. Keep the cat away from the ducks.
What?
This is how the story unfolds.
December: Ducks mysteriously disappearing around PM's harbourside house for some months.
Suspect: Howard family cat Honeycomb. Described as white and ginger, elderly.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- So You Want To Be A Journalist? , pp. 73 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007