On writing
The “nut graf:” the familiar paragraph (“graf”) containing the kernel (“nut”) of most significant information. This format is so well-established that many people believe that its “who, what, when, where, and why” structure represents the essence of writing. The chief virtue of nut grafs is their speed—the way they quickly focus the attention of journalists, editors, and readers on the essentials of a story. If writers and readers were as unhurried today as they were in, say, the 1830s, then there would be far fewer nut grafs.
The “soft lede:” an easy-to-write form of anecdote, generally one or two paragraphs long, that provides an accessible, “human-faced” entry point into a complex piece of news The headline and subhead—highly stylized formats, often created on the copy desk, that cue readers to the key facts that will influence whether or not they read a particular article.
The picture caption—a format invented in 1886 by French photographer Paul Nadar.
Captions are often the first part of a news story people read; they welcome us into the story in a way that photographs, alone, could not, by identifying what important people and places look like.
The narrow column (making it easier to read long stories), , and many more. The purpose of such formats is not to create deathless journalism. By establishing stylistic conventions, they eliminate the number of decisions that have to be made, thus reducing the cost and increasing the speed of “good-enough”. They allow any half-decent reporter to observe an event at 4 PM, turn in a story about it over the phone to an editor at 7 PM, and know that it can appear in the next morning’s, on a reasonably small budget.
No comments:
Post a Comment