Editing course

  The Inverted Pyramid For decades, the “inverted pyramid” structure has been a mainstay of traditional mass media writing. Following this structure, the “base” of the pyramid—the most fundamental facts—appear at the top of the story, in the lead paragraph. Non-essential information appears in the following paragraphs, or “nut” graphs, in order of importance. While some media writers are critical of the inverted pyramid structure, it remains one of the most widely used and time-tested structures in mass media writing. What’s Essential? Essential information generally refers to the oft-cited “Five Ws” of journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. A successful lead paragraph communicates, on a basic level, the essential facts of who did what, when, where, and why. The “nut” graphs that follow contain additional details, quotes from sources, statistics, background, or other information. These are added to the article in order of importance, so that the least important items are at t...

  A news story begins with  a  lead , which is the most important part of a story.   The  lead  contains five Ws -- Who, What, Where, When and Why Who is it about? What happened? When did it take place? Where did it take place? Why did it happen?   The body of the story follows the  lead . The second paragraph should develop the  lead ; it should elaborate on the  lead . Sometimes, you can weave in the "why" element into the second para. Or you can include the context/background in the second paragraph. Again, it's a question of judgement.   Make sure you have a quote to back up your  lead . It shouldn't be a mirror quote, i.e., it shouldn't parrot the  lead .   After you've got the basics out of the way, move on to the details.   Save the less important details for last.   Try and weave background into the story; don't just throw in slabs of background at the bottom of the story.   Oh, and keep your pa...

Let's get started.... So, you want to be a journalist, huh? Well, why not? You've got that fancy schmancy degree in English Lit. You've read James Joyce. And you know some big words. Perfect qualifications to become a journo, right? Well, I've got news for you, pal. They're not. You can toss that degree out of the window. And wipe all that Joyce out of your head. Cos you ain't gonna need it here. Yeah, you can't learn journalism at university. You only learn on the job. The learning begins the day you join. And it never ends. Let's begin at the beginning. Editing. And news. It’s an exciting world, and if you have a passion for news, you’re in the right place. This is an editing blog that will tap that passion by taking you from the basics of punctuation and grammar to other fun things such as editing spot stories and features. By the end of it, you will be able to edit perfect copy for a magazine, newspaper, website or wire agency, depending on where you...