Chapter III

Different Styles of
Writing News
Headline, Lead and
Body
 Chapter 3

DIFFERENT STYLES OF WRITING NEWS, HEADLINES,

LEAD AND BODY

Journalism historian Slosson (1910)1 in his book “Great American

Universities” says that a genuine newspaper must come out at least weekly; it must be
printed “to distinguish it from the handwritten ‘newsletters”, anyone willing to pay
the price must have access to it; all material must be “of interest to a general public, as
contrasted with religious and business publications”, it must have appeal to average
citizens; “it must be timely”, and it must be stable. The newspaper files reveal how
improvements can cross national frontiers, while for a time worthwhile new ideas are
held back by domestic barriers of competitive jealousy and snobbery; how
innovations develop into tendencies and tendencies into conventions; and how what is
frequently thought to be sanctified by tradition has comparatively shallow roots. Type
revolving presses used in the 1840s and 1850s, for instances required the type to be
locked into the forms by wedge- shaped column rules. For the type to stay in place
column rules had to run from the top of the forme to the bottom and so headlines
running across more than one column were impossible. The rotary press and the
curved stereotype plate made a horizontal layout- feasible, but vertical layout
persisted.

Maitlan Graves (1941)2, give a detailed study in his book “The Art of Color
and Design” that newspapers at the commencement of the nineteenth century made
no effort, in their vertical display, to put a headline over the main story or to make
sure that the main story began at the top of a page. Early American and Canadian
colonial newspapers (such as Quebec’s Morning Chronicle of 1847) were copies of
English papers but, with the war against Mexico and the Gold rush, American display
began to respond with bigger headlines and more of them a single column.

A newspaper, as a well-known and often respected institution, can influence

what a community thinks and does and it’s what Walter Lippmann describes “putting
pictures in our heads.” By directing thinking on matters of public concern, the
newspaper often influences what the community considers important (Waldrop,
1967)3.

54
 The newspaper may influence how members of the community think about a
specific matter, such as a new candidate in the race. The way it deals with subjects-
the selection of which candidates to write about, the angle or approach in treating
subjects, the paper’s stated editorial views, and the frequency of stories may affect
community response.

Researcher F.J. Mansfield (1936)4, in his work “The Complete Journalists”

talked about the power of media to mobilize public response during a political
campaign. The modern newspaper is also bigger, with substantial increases in
pagination reflecting, in part, the emergence of Sunday supplements pioneered by the
Times of India in the mid-1980s. The Hindustan Times, The Hindu and the Indian
Express are also the main newspapers in India, included supplements focused on
work, family, sport, money, travel and the book review, in the Sunday colour
supplement.

The contemporary newspaper is incalculably larger than its predecessor of

even a decade ago because all Indian newspapers have developed an online presence
which offers readers an almost endless supply of news and comment, archives and
database. Newspapers, moreover, have long since extended their interactivity beyond
reader’s letters with innovations to post a comment online, which constructs a
continuously expansive discussion and debate that makes the task of reading a modern
newspaper somewhat akin to painting the fourth pillar. This shifting, as well as
constant, elements in the understanding of what constitutes a newspaper signal
continuity rather than any rupture with the past, and they will inform the discussion
and analysis here. This introduction offers an overview of recent trends and
developments in Indian newspapers and assesses the evidence that informs the
occasional gloom speculations about newspapers in the Indian.

The squabble unravels that a business strategy designed to maintain

profitability by minimizing costs by reducing numbers of journalists necessarily
creates a growing reliance on public relations materials and agency copy to fill the
expensive news hole (Allan, 2006). Such a strategy also reduces journalists to
processors rather than originators of news – as in the case of Google news mentioned
above – and thereby reduces newspapers’ claims to that title by diminishing their
newsgathering activities. The introduction is in three sections. The first looks at

55
newspapers as a business, examining recent changes in the number of published titles,
circulations, advertising revenues, and profitability. The second explores newspapers
shifting editorial priorities alongside changes in journalists working practices
reflecting a growing prominence for public relations and news agency copy in
newspapers editorial page (Flesh, 1974)5.

The term ‘Newszak’, originally coined by journalist Malcolm Muggeridge,

has been used previously to capture and describe these changes in newspapers’
editorial formats (Franklin 1997)6. So what is Newszak and why has it emerged?
(McDougall, 1972)7. The spat concerning Newszak suggests that across the last two
decades newspapers have increasingly tended: to retreat from investigative journalism
and hard news to the preferred territory of ‘softer’ or ‘lighter’ stories (Rivers, 1984)8.
Entertainment has superseded the provision of information; human interest has
supplanted the public interest; measured judgment has succumbed to sensationalism;
the trivial has triumphed over the weighty; the intimate relationships of celebrities
from soap operas, the world of sport or the royal family are judged more
‘newsworthy’ than the reporting of significant issues and events of international
consequence. Traditional news values have been undermined by new values;
infotainment is rampant. Journalists more concerned to report stories which interest
the public rather than stories which are in the public interest (Berelson, 1952)9 .

3.1 Writing news

The news is one of the best-known commodities in today’s world. Everybody

who understands a language and has access to mass media recognizes it (Ghiglione,
1982)10. The concept of news must have existed even before the beginning of the era
of mass media. One may find relics of a primitive system in remote tribal areas where
people exchange local news during weekly markets just by talking to one another.
When two friends meet after some time they exchange information which can be
called personal news (Machin & Niblock, 2006)11.

Everybody will agree that death makes the news. If a person dies of a disease
or an accident it makes the news. The importance of this news is related to the
importance of the person and/or deadliness of the disease (Julian Harris, Kelly Leiter
and, & Stanley Johnson, 1977)12.

56
 Mrs. Indira Gandhi was assassinated. It was big news. If she had died of a
heart attack or in an accident, even then it would have been big news. That news was
important because of the importance of Mrs. Gandhi, other factors were there, but the
biggest news value of that event was the person involved.

The four letters of the word news have been described as representing the four
directions-North, East, West and South. News can come from any of these directions.
But as we see every day all events do not make the news. Only important and
interesting events make the news. Further, an event itself is not news- it becomes
news when its account is available (Hutt & James, 1989)13 .

Writing for the news media is about bringing certain facts before the public in
a manner that capture and retains attention, describes events and personalities, and
clarifies issues and analyses them in order to inform people and aid their
understanding of political, civil, economic and social processes (Bogart, 1982)14.
Other forms of writing too have a purpose that could be either strategic or personal,
but they tend to represent the point of view of the organization to achieve a specific
goal (as in marketing communications, or public relations), to construct an argument
or purpose a theory based on evidence (as in academic writing), or to express the
ideas and imagination of an individual (as in fiction and poetry) (Kaplan, 2003)15.

3.2 The process of writing news

Despite the differences in the product, most writing follows a similar process,
though the stages may vary in importance and time taken. Writing can be seen as a
four-stage process, beginning with idea generation (conception), to gathering
information (collection), to planning an outline and filling it in (construction), and
finally, editing and polishing the work (correction). While each of the four ‘C’s is a
distinct phase with specific goals to be met, each builds upon what has been done in
the previous phase (Ray, 2006)16.

3.3 The basic news story- the classic inverted pyramid

Research has shown that most people spend less than three seconds on
scanning a news article and deciding whether to read it or not. These three seconds are
barely enough to take in the headline and the first few lines, and perhaps a photograph

57
if there is one (Brill, 2006)17. Writers must keep this in mind as they build stories-
how does one capture reader interest and provide the main thrust of the story in less
than three seconds? By structuring stories so that those three seconds are utilized to
provide the meat of a story. The basic structure of the news story is the inverted
pyramid- as the name suggests, this is a ‘top-heavy’ format, beginning with the most
important facts and progressing towards the least important ones (Fig 1.1) (Evans H. ,
1976)18.

The inverted pyramid owes its origins to the early days of the telegraph when
reporters wired in stories from remote locations over undependable lines. Before that,
reporters were less direct and used narrative storytelling techniques. But ones the
telegraph introduced the idea of speedy information transmission; the culture of

Most important facts

Elaboration of
lead

Details in
decreasing
order of
importance

Figure 1

reporting underwent a significant change. The telegraph made it possible to transmit

information as soon as it was received by the reporter, shortening the news cycle
considerably and making it possible for news to travel almost instantaneously from
the place it was generated to where it was to be read. However, the telegraph was not
always reliable lines were often unclear and discontinuous (Craig, 1971)19. It was
important that reporters got the most important information before the line broke, and
gradually this structure came to stay, as it also made editing easy- copy editors could

58
simply chop off the last few lines or paragraphs of a story if they did not fit the space
(Flesh, 1974)20.

William L. Rivers (1984)21, in his book “News in Print: Writing and

Reporting” suggests that the first paragraph of the story- or lead (spelled ‘lede’ in the
early days) - contained the gist of the story in a way that sparked interest and drew in
readers. The paragraph following the lead provided important background or
contextual information, and this was sometimes referred to as the elaboration of lead (
nut graf the paragraph containing the nuts and bolts).the inverted pyramid format
ensures that even those who simply skim or scan the paper get the important details
upper front, and others can read further for more information .

The inverted pyramid offers the writers a way of quickly and efficiently
putting the story together, keeping in mind the main news values that make the story
news. If it is a breaking story, the lead will focus on the main points of interest to the
audience, sometimes linking the story to other events that may help place it in
perspective. In all these stories, apart from beginning with a clear statement of what
the story is about and what makes it news, there is a quick follow-through with just
enough detail to keep the reader going (Rivers, 1984)22.

Despite its efficiency, however, the inverted pyramid format does have some
disadvantages (Summer, 2004)23. Since the main summary is provided right at the top,
it does not encourage readers to go through the entire text, and we know from
experience that this what readers do-they quickly scan the first few sentences and go
on to the next story (Taylor, 2000)24. There is no suspense and stories tend to simply
‘stop’ rather than end in an elegant fashion. Nevertheless, over 80 per cent of all
newspaper stories still uses the inverted pyramid because there is simply no better
way to provide information quickly, clearly, and directly (Machin & Niblock, 2006)25.

3.4 Linked boxes structure for news

In this form news structure, each of the points in the story has an equal or
similar impact, so they could conceivably go in any order without affecting the
narrative. Each is complete in itself, with its own analysis (Cutlip & Allen H, 1971)26.

This is what the structure looks like (Fig 2).

59
 Figure 2

Each of the boxes represents a paragraph, which deals with a particular detail
or idea in the story, and the boxes are linked by transmissions (connecting phrases and
words) that indicate that they are different aspects of the same story (Cutlip & Allen
H, 1971)27.

This structure is used when there is an event or an issue with multiple points
of focus where the traditional inverted pyramid is not suitable. Sometimes the two
structures are combined in a story, with the beginning written like an inverted
pyramid followed by a detailed analysis written in the linked boxes form. This is used
when there is a development in an on-going issue, which is dealt with in the inverted
pyramid lead and back-up paragraphs and the background is given in the linked boxes
form (Picard, 2002)28. Whether it is the inverted pyramid or a variation of it, or the
linked boxes structure, the main objective of the news story is to give information
quickly, losing as little time as possible, in as clear a manner as possible. There is no
room here for teasing and intrigue- it is all about the ‘bare facts’ (Rich, 2010)29.

3.5 Feature story structures

Feature stories use a less formal structure, as they tend to be longer and more
reflective, and are aimed at a readership that has more time to spend with the
newspaper. Features can also use a wider range of writing styles, from narrative to
descriptive to interpretive, depending on the subject matter and the tone they wish to
adopt. One of the most popular feature structures has come to be known as the ‘Wall
Street Journal Formula’, (Kamhawi & Weaver, 2003)30, referred to by some authors
as the ‘neck-of-the-vase’ story. Here the writer begins with an anecdote or a narrative
describing a specific context. This is then related to a larger issue, an issue that this
instance illustrates or illumines. In other words, the writer proceeds from the specific
(an individual story) to the general (the larger issue at hand) (McBurney, 1990)31.
60
 However serious or weighty an issue, it is bound to have some connection
with everyday human life. During the second half of 2008, for instance, one of the big
stories worlds over was the economic downslide (Kim, 2012)32. Almost every day the
papers carried stories of large financial firms lying off employees, staving off
bankruptcy, and the impact of these events on other parts of the economy. The
financial and business pages stuck to the bare details, but there were several stories on
other pages that looked at how the crisis had impacted families and individuals, taking
a more anecdotal or story-telling approach (Currah, 2009)33.

The neck-of-the-vase approach begins with a human interest angle but very
quickly moves to the ‘hard facts’, plunging into the core issue at hand. If you have a
compelling human story that needs more time and space, you might take a slightly
different approach, using what might be called the ‘focus-on-a-person’ technique,
where the whole story is told through the experience or a single person or a group of
people. Here, the generalities are woven through the example and the quotes, rather
than being separated from them. For instance, if you wish to explain the impact of
introducing genetically modified cotton into the agriculture of the state, you might
trace it through the story of a single farmer or a single village which illustrates very
clearly how the introduction happened, what it meant to the farmer from season to
season, in terms of cost of planting, maintaining, and harvesting his crop, and the
outcomes. With each stage, you could step back just a little to compare his experience
with the bigger picture, alternating personal details with facts and figures. Many
magazine stories use this approach in complex feature stories, and while it takes some
practice and skill to weave together the disparate elements of such a story, the result is
satisfying and helps bring an issue home to the reader in a way simply presented facts
or anecdotes alone could not (Herd, 1952)34.

Some features begin like an inverted pyramid and then go on to a narrative

form, taking on a structure rather like an hourglass (Fig 3)

61
 The first half is
written like a
classic inverted
pyramid.

Transition

The second half

follows a narrative
structure, like a
story

Figure 2
This kind of a structure might be used when a breaking news story must first
give all the main details to satisfy the requirements of immediacy and then get into the
human aspect of the issue. For instance, a news report of a train accident might start
off with the main facts- where, when, and how it happened, how many people have
been affected, and what is being done to handle the emergency. The story might then
lead to personal accounts, first-hand experiences, which serve to recreate the human
story. Readers who need a quick recounting of facts get that upper front, while those
who would like to know the build-up to the event can read on to get that part (Herd,
1952)35.

3.6 Three other forms of newspaper news

News events are straightforward; they are usually ambiguous and reflect
different histories and competing for spatial stories and are reported from a particular
perspective. Perspective is a way of interpreting the news based upon the claim to
both represent and speak for their readers whose worldview that they have adopted or
try to anticipate.

With regards to the news in the UK, there are two dominant versions of the
readers’ worldview adopted by newspapers. First, a Burkean kind of perspective,

62
which consists of a worldview based on a belief in contractual politics and civic
mindedness, combined with a sense of activism and protest. It is in accordance to
either one of these worldviews that newspapers, to borrow a phrase from Hayek,
judge their readers’ concern for issues of law, legislation, and liberty’ in the context of
a particular news event. This is not a simple right/left distinction, as recent political
history shows, but is essentially how newspapers judge a particular news event and its
subsequent relevance to its readers’ interests. Because of the diversity of the UK press
no on news event is reported exclusively or independently according to one
worldview (Havick, 1997)36.

3.6.1 The discursive form of news

Discursive news reports are often concerned with a critical relationship to

political authority. It is also this form of news, referring to the continuing
contemporary use of the phrase ‘Fourth Estate’ and which originally Carlyle,
following Burke, found so admirable. Discursive news tends to describe itself as
covering a hard news agenda that includes as its staple national and international
political and economic affairs. It is historically grounded in a tradition of such
coverage since The Times, originally called The Daily Universal Register, was
established in 1788 (Baskette F. K., 1982)37. Also, it is a news form which is
comfortable with the intellectual or technical issues and is written for a readership
perceived to be capable of understanding and following an argument. A readership,
therefore, assumed to be intelligent and educated, people who do not require that
everything is explained to them (Allen, Livingstone, & Reiner, 1997)38.

3.6.2 The descriptive form of news

B.R.P. Bhaskar (2005), in his book “Flourishing Papers, Floundering Craft:

The Press and the Law”, quoted C.P. Scott’s ‘The neutral descriptive form of news.
The descriptive form of news is in one instance neutral and in another reflects and
displays support for one of the two worldviews outlined above: to take them in order’.
Dictum, ‘Comment is free, but facts are sacred’, a view that only makes sense
alongside the requirement to be able to obtain the facts and then in a clear and
intelligible way report them. Thus according to the descriptive and neutral form of
news, the most complex events are expressed in terms of a deliberate reductionism, of

63
complexity to simplicity, achieved by a process of paring down a news event to its
core or essential facts. With the neutral descriptive news form news journalism seeks
to be reporting without comment or opinion. In this way news, journalism achieves
one of its most valuable functions, to simply describe events as they are and not as
one would like them to be or approve of. In this the opposite of tendentious news and
is profoundly antithetical to propaganda (Bhaskar, 2005)39.

The neutral descriptive news form is usually short, derived as it forms a

bulletin style of expression. Sometimes it is referred to as news in brief (nibs), one
paragraph long, or it consists of no more than a few paragraphs (Bilton, 2007)40. At its
best, the neutral descriptive news is instructive. In essence, short, neutral descriptive
news bulletins of events are used when the reader is perceived as requiring no more
than a minimum report or accurate summary, or when an event is deemed less
important than others (Gunther, 1968)41.

Newspapers use neutral descriptive news of the shorter kind to a lesser or

greater extent. For example, the ‘World Bulletin’ in the Daily Telegraph and the
‘Briefing’ or ‘World News Digest’ in the Financial Times. This does not mean that
the descriptive news form (especially in its longer version) is always neutral. Letting
the facts speak for themselves also produces news reports which are evaluated and
judgemental. As noted above, newspapers in the UK claim to represent and speak for
their readers in accordance with either a Burkean or Locean perspective (Flesh,
1974)42.

3.6.3 The tendentious form of news

The movement away from the descriptive forms of news is most clearly
manifest when news becomes the direct advocacy of a specific cause (to be
distinguished from the consistent interpretation of news from a certain perspective
and subsequent worldview), or offers to explain events in terms solely of the personal,
so called human interest stories. These promote the view that to show people as they
are in their personal lives is to reveal the true motives or causes for events being as
they are.

Tendentious news based upon the direct advocacy of a specific cause adopts a
campaigning and universalistic style- it is aimed at persuading everyone. Thus, the

64
Daily Express ran a campaign entitled ‘New Inheritance Tax Crusade’. A crusading
style is one that at one time or another is taken up by almost all newspapers.

When a newspaper campaigns it is obvious: the cause is clearly and stridently

announced, the paper seeks to actively elicit support, devotes prominent positions in
the paper to its advocacy and opts for a didactic tone. Tendentious news based upon
human interest stories marks the point where, for some, news today concentrates on
the extremes of human behavior and experience (Field, 1974)43. As such the
tendentious form of news is becoming more and more sensational, wrapped in
entertainment values, or just ridiculously trivial and is increasingly defined through
prurience, salaciousness, voyeurism, and celebrity. It adopts an overtly sensational
style and is usually associated (though not exclusively) with those newspapers which
are positioned down market and are known as a tabloid or red tops (Chakravarty S. ,
2007)44.

When a newspaper deals in human interest stories in a tendentious way it

often relies on ‘emotive language, the bizarre, the lewd, sex, suppression fees, cheque
book journalism, gossip, police news, marriage and divorce, royal news, celebrities,
political bias and any form of prurience which can be included under the general
heading of human interest’ (Arnold & Howard, 1968)45 and one could also add,
unlawful attempts at phone tapping, entrapment and ‘stings’.

News in the form of human interest stories requires of the reader nothing more
than a response of moral approval or moral disapproval. This successful commercial
formula has led to charges of increasing trivialisation and ‘tabloidization’, and a way
of speaking to the reader as someone who should be engaged solely at the emotive
level (Evans H. , 1976)46. The end result is called ‘junk food news’ (i.e. of no value
whatsoever). The fact that this form of tendentious news is a commercial success has
ensured its continued promotion and any talk of ‘drinking at the last chance saloon
now seems risible (Evans H. , 1976)47.

3.7 Writing headlines

One of the key tasks of the copy desk is to put in headlines for stories. It
occupies an important role in attracting readers to the page, and ultimately, to an
article. Although the copy desk is responsible for generating headlines, it helps if

65
writers can suggest a headline that captures the essence of a story, as they know it
‘from inside out’. Copy editors usually read no more than a couple of sentences
before they write a headline – this is as much the style of the copy desk as it is the
demand to meet very tight deadlines (Kepes, 1949)48.

The headline should be as specific as possible not only in the identification of

the subject but also in other matters as well. One should be specific about the main
newsprint and a headline should tell as much as possible, it does not, however, mean
that ‘where’ of the story should always be included. One should test by examining the
headline whether the addition of a place name adds significance. It is sufficient to say
‘Barnala condemned terrorism at a Chandigarh press conference’. Further place
name comes to the first thing after the headline as a part of the dateline. But in stories
where the place is important, it must be there in a headline. For example, Earthquake
rocks Shimla’.

The language of the headline should be positive. Some stories must be

negative but the headline writer should avoid using ‘no or ‘not’ and try to express the
same thing in different words. Short and simple words should be used for longer ones.
For example, talks can be used for ‘negotiations’ and ‘goods’ for ‘commodities’.

• A headline should speak. It should say something which educates and entertains
the reader.
• A headline should be sharp and convey the essence of a story.
• A headline should stimulate the readership, and lead you to read the story under
it.
• Use commonly-known abbreviations.
• Help contribute to the overall tone of the publication.
• The headline should be active and positive.
• Serve as a visual element on the page.

Some of these have to do with the words in the headline; others have to do
with the design, typography, and layout of the page. Every morning, when a reader
looks for something interesting in a newspaper, it is the heading which catches his
eyes. After scanning the headings, he settles down to read the story in detail.

66
 A story, however well-edited, would no attract him unless it is given a heading
or headline, the most vulnerable spot in a newspaper. The headline attracts the reader
to go through the story. It tells him what the story is about. Thus, a headline sells the
story. Besides, a headline serves the reader in several ways. The size of the headline
determines the importance of a story: the larger or bolder the headline, the most
important is the news story. Writing a headline is like applying the finishing polish on
a well-crafted piece of furniture.

3.8 Choosing and designing news headlines

According to Floyd K. Baskette “every headline is written in a separate folio.

The headline should be written clearly in capitals if necessary. The letter which needs
capitalization should be double ticked. Edition and page mark go on the top left-hand
corner and the catch line on top right-hand corner. It also carries instructions
regarding the type and the columns over which the headline will be spread and the
headline style. If the normal headline style is set left in that case it need not be
specified in the instructions. However, it is essential that the style breaking headlines
should be marked with words and symbols” (Baskette F. K., 1982)49.

3.8.1 Kicker

The kicker is another conventional headline, usually a one-line heading with a

second line (Kicker) above it in a different style and half the type size. It extends no
more than midway above the main line (Bush, 1970)50. Kicker headlines are used to
dress up a page by lending variety. Kicker headline is a short line of display type,
usually no larger than half the point size of the main headline and placed over the
main part of the headline. On some papers, the kicker is termed the eyebrow or tagline
(Eisentein, 1983)51.

A kicker is a line of type placed immediately above the main headline. The
purpose is to summarize quickly some outstanding feature of the story below, even as
the main head underneath also provides additional summary (Baskette F. K., 1982)52.
A principle of setting kickers is that they should be one-half the point size of the
headline below. If the headline below is 48 point, the kicker should be about 24
points. Also, the kicker line should be at least half the width of the line below. If it is

67
too short, it will create an ugly gap of white space at the right side of the headline. If it
is too long, it will detract from the headline below.

A hammer head is a one or two-word kicker that is set in very large type to
attract attention to the story. Hammerheads stand out easily on a page. Hammer heads
are sometimes called wickets (also called a reverse kicker) also is a kicker that is set
larger than the line below it.

In using a kicker, hammerhead, or wicket, the disadvantages may outweigh the

advantages. The danger is that these devices may call too much attention to
themselves, primarily because they are attention getting devices. If more than one of
these are used on a page, the effect may be a series of white holes that tend to destroy
the harmony of page unity (Baskette F. K., 1982)53.

3.8.2 Hammer

Hammer is the reverse of the kicker, but usually, in all capital letters. The big
type is the kicker and the smaller type the main headline. One word or two at the most
will suffice of the hammer. By virtue of their size, hammers impress the readers with
their importance. But too many hammers on one page may dilute that significance,
and destroy the look of the page (Arnold E. G., 1969)54.

Headlines are means to attract the readers towards the news items. For a page
designer, each headline is a new and unique challenge. For him/her, the headlines of
the news are much more than just a set of words. It is the responsibility of the page-
designer to make each headline as distinctive as possible within the given newspaper
format and its policies with regard to the use of typefaces and type sizes. These
policies evolve over a period of time. The task of the page designer or make-up
person is to decide whether he/she wants to give more news and shorter coverage of
each or fewer news items and emphasize them with greater details (Allen,
Livingstone, & Reiner, 1997)55.

A headline can be made bold (big typeface), a single line and run horizontally
across columns, or short with width: small typeface, two lines, and one column.
Carefully notice these variations in the headlines. Each page designer uses his/her

68
own experience and creative genius to make the page attractive and give each news an
appropriate placement on the page (Allen, Livingstone, & Reiner, 1997)56.

Headlines are given generally by the sub-editors/copy editors. The page make-
up person cannot change them, but he/she can increase or decrease the display value,
readability or importance of the news by using different techniques at his/her disposal
such as type face and size, placement, making it run horizontally across more columns
or less. Most newspapers every day give a four or five column bottom-spread on their
front page; it is down to give a solid base to the whole page.

3.8.3 Vertical headlines

Vertical headlines are set in the width of the basic single-column grid and the
text runs single column (Baskette F. K., 1982)57. This oldest style has a limited range
of news value expression. Though it is visually depressing, a maximum number of
stories can be given above the fold (Flesh, 1974)58.

When headlines side by side are the same size and style the result is called
‘tombstoning’. This is a major problem of the vertical layout; it can be overcome with
alteration of color along a horizontal line. Colour here means blocks, grays and white
and with modern display type adjacent heads can be varied to express different news
values or tone. The headings can be set left in the white to avoid a clash of headlines.
Another way is to vary the width of the headline grid. For example, a two column
head is used to express more important news. The width of text setting can also vary
to avoid the monotony of tombstoning (Arnold E. G., 1969)59.

3.8.4 Horizontal headlines

This is another style of headline with more capacity for emphasis. It is

modular with text squared up under multi-columns heads to create a horizontal unit.
The page is then made up of these units lying flat on each other.

In this layout, a long story seems shorter. Complete stories can be read with
page-folded at the natural mid-page fold and without the reader having to shuffle the
paper up and down, headlines are separated from each other by text thus each
headline retains its emphasis. In horizontal layout full use of the width of the page is

69
possible for display. However, there are only a few stories above the midfield which
can be seen at retail outlets.

Horizontal makeup is distinguished by the fact that stories are continued into
three or more adjacent columns and the shape of such stories is horizontal. Although a
story may be continued into the next adjacent column, this does not necessarily
produce horizontal makeup because the shape of the story may be vertical. Another
distinguishing feature of horizontal makeup is that stories are squared off at the
bottom. This means that the depth of each column where the story is continued is the
same. However, a page using horizontally shaped stories exclusively may be as
monotonous as one where all stories are vertically shaped (Baskette F. K., 1982)60.

3.8.5 Banner headline

The first headlines were a single column. Now they can be spread over the
entire column in the newspaper. Newspapers today use the opportunities for display
by mixing single column and multi-column headline depending on the importance of
the news.

The banner headline should not be in lower case because lower case letters
across such a wide measure look straggly. Moreover, headlines should be crisp and
lower case headline will be unduly wordy. There is a wide range of possibilities
regarding arrangements of the headline. A newspaper may standardize on one form,
such as the centered head, or it can mix them between headlines. But much depends
on the skill of the page planers and the ideas they try to communicate. The basic
typographic arrangements are flush left, centered, stepped, flush right and hanging
indention (Baskette F. K., 1982)61.

3.8.6 Flush left

The flush left heading has one or more lines which are set to the left. This
should not touch the column rule. The flush left headline is a two or three line
headline with each line set flush-left. The lines do not have to be equal in width or set
full. The white space at the right is considered enhancing because it allows “air” into
the otherwise stuffy column spaces. The flush left is the most commonly used
headline today. The flush left headlines to look better when each line is indented on

70
the column rule leaving 6 points or half an 11 cm space on an 11 cm column (Evans,
1976)62.

3.8.7 Flush right

Each line is pushed against the right-hand margin to create a stepped effect on
the left. It has even more limited application than the stepped headline. It may be
occasional variant in a newspaper but it cannot be recommended as a regular style. It
is shown to set and difficult to read.

3.8.8 Drop heads

Drop heads are also called a dropout headline or a deck. A drop head is
another headline below the main headline that gives additional information. It should
stand alone as a secondary, but related, headline (Baskette F. K., 1982)63.

3.8.9 Centered

In this type of arrangement, each line of headline type is centered on the white
of the column. The well-constructed, centered heading, whether of a multi-line or a
multi-deck has its own symmetry and it is neatly framed in white. The patterns
created by this need slightly more attention than the patterns the flush left heading
creates, but neither needs as much attention as some other patterns. If one is writing
multi-deck headlines they should be centered where they look best. The common
double column headline is a single deck of two lines with centered headings. The
second line should always be shorter than the first at least by two units (Baskette F.
K., 1982)64.

3.8.10 Stepped

In this arrangement the first line is set to flush left and the last flush right and
the middle lines centered. Each line has to be about the same length, and they look
like steps. To achieve a smooth step requires great care in headline writing. This style
is discouraged by modern experts of readability. However, the greatest difficulty is
that the stepped style depends too much on a precise count and any failure can lead to
ugly results (Garcia, 1993)65.

71
3.8.11 Quotes

Quotes are one of the devices for dealing with strong opinions in headlining
speeches or political party resolutions. One may put the name of the speaker or party
in the headline. Headlines entirely in quotes are usually weak and should always be
avoided. It is better to use single quotes for the part of headline which really needs
them (Entman, R. M. 2004)66. When the headline is in decks often the attribution is
given in the second deck. It is a bad practice. A headline with opinion and without
quotes cannot be made acceptable by putting an attribution in the second deck.
Attributions must be contained in the same deck as assertions; otherwise, the
statement in the first deck seems to have the authority of the newspaper for it.

3.9 Verbs in headlines

There should always be a verb in the headline. The news is activity and verbs
bring activity and life to headline. In a normal headline, there should be no room for
adjectives. Its color and spice must come from a rich verb. One should avoid using
parts of weak verb ‘to be’ or ‘to have’ as the main verb in the headline. The verbs ‘to
be’ or ‘to have’ are not needed even as auxiliaries. For example “Justice Ganguli
arrested” is better than “Justice Ganguli is arrested”.

The headlines have been using the present tense to describe events that have
already happened. The argument in support of this phenomenon is that the present
tense is active; it puts the reader in the middle of the action and gives him a feeling of
participation. The event described in the present tense in the headline may be passed,
but it is recent past and the reader is learning about it now. He also understands the
convention and will imply that in the present tense his morning newspaper’s headline
is giving the news of yesterday.

Passive voice has been major culprint in headline writing. A verb should be
used in active voice as far as possible. At least before using the passive voice the sub-
editor should himself try the active voice and should explain to himself the reason for
not using active voice. Passive voice normally breeds extra words and burdens a
headline.

72
3.10 Punctuation

A full point is not used in headlines. The last word is the end of a though and
therefore no need to put a full stop. When two thoughts are joined together in a deck
they should be separated by a colon. The use of semi-colon should be avoided for
simplicity and typographic neatness for easy reading. Exclamation and question
marks should be rarely used. The comma should be used to separate clauses and
sometimes used to indicate the omission of ‘and’. While using comma care should be
taken to ensure right meaning. Quotation marks are used to indicate external authority
for a statement and also to indicate about an assertion.

The headline gives emphasis to a few words in bold types. Hence every word
should be weighed. Accuracy, intelligibility, and vigor are the requirements and any
newspaper which is careless with its headlines is careless about its own purpose and
vitality. Wordy and vague headlines leave a newspaper reader confused and irritate
him. Where every headline goes to the print with precision or wit, the whole
newspaper comes alive.

Headline writing is art and craft at the same time. The art is in imagination and
vocabulary and the craft lies in the accuracy of content, the attractiveness of
appearance and practicality.

3.11 Counting the headline

During the course of study, researcher found that many newspapers now have
a computer system that allows the copyeditor to press a button and determine almost
instantly whether a headline will fit. This is possible when computers are programmed
with the width value of each character available in the typeface. At split-second speed
the computer can add the width values of the characters the copyeditor has assembled
on the VDT screen and determine whether that total exceeds the maximum width
value of the line in the specified typeface, size and column width. The availability of
this feature simplifies the copyeditor’s work. If it is not available, the copyeditor turns
to time-tested manual methods of calculation.

Eminent scholar Floyd K. Baskette suggest in his very famous book “The Art
of Editing” (Baskette F. K., 1982)67 ‘the easiest way to count a headline manually is

73
with the typewriter system one letter for all letters, figures, punctuation, and space
between words. If a line has a maximum of 18 units as specified by the newspaper’s
headline schedule and the head has 15 counts, it will fit, unless it contains several fat
letters (such as M and W). In that case, the headline writer recounts the line using the
popular standard method:

Lowercase letter 1 unit

Uppercase letters 1 ½ units

Because of the variation in the widths of letters in different families of type or

even within the same family, the standard method is not always correct. The letter I,
for example, usually is thinner than the lowercase t. and in some faces, r is thinner
than d or g and a string of zeroes will likely make the line too long. That reality led
journalism professors at the University of Missouri to develop a more accurate
method of counting that has been adopted by many newspapers. If it is used, no
headline will be too long, regardless of the type family used. The counts:

Lowercase letters 1 unit

Uppercase letters 1 ½ units

Lowercase i, 1 ½ unit

Lowercase m, w 1 ½ units

Uppercase I and numeral 1 ½ unit

Uppercase M and W 2 units

Numerals (except 1) 1 ½ units

Comma, Quotation mark ½ unit

Dollar sign, percentage symbol,

Dash and question mark 1 ½ units

All headline writers are expected to keep within the maximum count
allowable. It is costly and time-consuming to have heads reset. If it appears that the
desired head slightly exceeds the maximum count, the writer may provide an optional
word as a substitute for a long word. The compositor then can try to fit the head as
originally written. If it won’t fit, the optional word can be used’.

74
3.12 Writing news Leads

Today there is common confusion among readers about the role of news and
the role of opinion in all media. It is not that anyone holds that editorializing should
be part of the news – that opinions, normally found on the editorial page, should be
mingled with news reports. For example, a beginning student was writing his story in
two paragraphs about a young woman, Kempis Smith, who was going to college. He
rounded it off with: “Good Luck, Kempie.” However trivial that statement is, it is an
opinion.

A century ago the news was usually filtered deliberately through the biases of
the newspaper that carried it. A political figure whom the paper opposed could not
expect a true report of his actions, but he probably had on his side another paper that
exaggerated his good qualities as much as the opposition paper exaggerated his
failings. It was understood that this kind of bias existed, and newspapers were read in
this light.

The growth and power of the wire services and press associations brought an
exchange of news in the early years of this century, and some of the dissatisfaction
with the old standard was magnified. A wire service that served newspapers of
differing persuasions found it impossible to prepare a story to suit all its clients. A
paper that belonged to a cooperative like the Associated Press might exchange news
with a paper of another persuasion. These problems, along with the growing
dissatisfaction with “slanted news,” led to the separation of news and opinion. Thus
developed the standard or straight news story, which called for the chronicling of
sheer fact: objective, factual reporting, dispassionately setting forth a series or group
of facts with all the sources noted.

3.13 Kinds of leads

If beginning reporters are unsure about how to start writing news stories, they
should always begin by thinking of the five Ws and the one H. It is almost inevitable
that they will write one of that they will one of these kinds of leads:

3.13.1 The summary lead

This is the most common and widely used lead especially in newspapers and
most of us have come across these while browsing stories with the morning cuppa
75
(Baskette F. K., 1982)68. These are straight leads that just state the facts and include:
who, where, what, when, why and sometimes even the how of the event or happening.
Traditionally, summary leads have been used to report breaking news or a developing
story. Of late, most breaking news reaches us through electronic media or mobile
much before the print form, so even if you apply the summary to your lead, it makes
better sense to start with the why, what and the how rather than the who, when and
where (Warren, 1959)69. A lead is the opening of a news story, and frequently it is
only one paragraph long. Twenty-five years ago, many reporters’ chief aim was to
summarize the entire story in the first sentence. This practice led to the notion of the
five Ws: who, what, when, where, and why. Sometimes how was also included in the
summary lead. All this information in one sentence tended to choke the reader’s
understanding of the event in question (Cutlip & Allen H, 1971)70.

The absurdity of expecting a reader to comprehend everything in such a fact

choked sentence is obvious. Most reporters now prefer short opening sentences that
give the point of the story in about 25 words. Information that is not needed
immediately is placed in subsequent sentences. This technique is known as delayed
identification: If the exact name of the subject of a news story in not important, the
identification of the subject may be delayed for one or two sentences. The same
applies to the identification of the precise location of the event, the exact time, and so
on (Beam, 2003)71.

Emphasis on the appropriate elements is a sign of professionalism in

journalism. Here is a lead that emphasizes that what of the story:

William L. Rivers in his book “News in Print: Writing and Reporting”

(Rivers, 1984)72, cited this example: ‘BEIRUT, Lebanon- An American marine was
killed and three others wounded as they were trying to defuse a piece of ordnance at
Beirut’s international airport Thursday. The exact time of the incident and the names
of the marines were omitted from the lead because they were not as important as the
nature of the event itself- the what of the story’.

A slight modification of the lead emphasizes the when of the story as well:
BEIRUT, Lebanon- An American marine was killed and three others wounded as they
were trying to defuse a piece of ordnance at Beirut’s international airport Thursday,

76
one day after they had arrived as part of the multinational peacekeeping force in
Lebanon.

In this second version, the timing of the event- only a day after the marines
had arrived to restore peace- adds a bit of irony the story. Sometimes, the who of a
news story deserved the emphasis usually when the person is famous?

The most common of leads- the one we see every day on many pages of the
newspaper- is the news summary lead. It caters to readers who want their news fast
and short. Here is a lead reported by a daily newspaper:

Three youths (who), who apparently wanted a train (why), took a four- car
Boston & Maine freight (what) from the B&M’s yards (where) early Tuesday (when).
The remainder of the story featured the how of the train’s capture down the track two
hours later by a posse of an iron horse and five crewmen.

3.13.2 Cartridge lead

Cartridge lead is another variation of summary lead. This lead is brief and
contains one single news incident, to be expanded later in the story. Its impact makes
it a lead to reserve for important stories (Baskette F. K., 1982)73. Besides being a
straight lead, this lead brings in action and color, and makes the lead on a spot story
fast moving. Not always a lead has to a straight lead. Despite its usefulness, the
inverted pyramid lead is not suitable or desirable for all news situations. The cartridge
lead is abbreviated. Because the first line is short, it must lead readers to discover
what the reporter is talking about (Baskette & Jack, 1977)74. For example: Not in your
life! That sums up the attitudes of four out of five readers who replied to the question:
“Should the death penalty be abolished?”

3.13.3 Striking statement lead/novelty lead

A striking statement is a dramatic version of the simple statement. If reporters

can legitimately try to perplex, startle, or shock the reader, they should do it (Cutlip &
Allen H, 1971)75. For example, in a Chicago daily attempting to awaken readers to the
threat of atomic war, the writer began this lead as: “In the gray damp of early
morning, the first screaming bomb hurtled down on Chicago’s North Side. At 2500
feet, the atomic projectile burst, scattering death and devastation. It was 6:26 A.M”.

77
3.13.4 Question lead

The question lead serves best when a problem with reader appeal or public
interest is the central point of the story. Unfortunately, this type lead is used far too
often as a crutch by a reporter who will not take the time to work on another more
effective approach (Baskette F. K., 1982)76. Some editors put a limit on the number of
question leads that can be used. Many editors dislike question lead on the basis that
people read newspapers to get answers, and not to be asked questions. But if the
question is provocative, it may be used as a lead. In a few cases, a simple question
lead will be approved by the editor. For example:

“Volleyball is a contact sport. Right?”

If there’s any doubt, ask Flo Hyman, Debbie Green, or Pat Dowdell. They
spend more hours than the rest of the story. In many cases, however, reporters will
find a question lead inadequate. In some cases, they will have to combine the question
lead with the 1-2-3-4 lead, like this: Just how serious is the reported decline of basic
reading, writing, and math skills among American Schoolchildren?

“A threat to the democracy,” says one successful educational consultant.

“Grossly exaggerated,” says another expert, who has held high-level U.S. educational
posts in the past 20 years.

Although reporters may be able to quote five or six additional speakers, they
can go on quoting them only as long as they say something important and different
from the statements of the people already quoted (Baskette & Jack, 1977)77.

3.13.5 Narrative lead/staccato lead

Julian Harris (1977)78, in his book “Fundamentals of News Gathering and

Editing” suggest that the staccato lead consists of short, clipped words, phrases,
sentences, sometimes separated by dashes or dots, to help create a certain mood for
the story. It usually is descriptive in nature and should not be used if facts of the story
do not justify it. If reporters adopt this lead, they use the storytelling art of fiction
writers. Although reporters must stick to the facts, consider the lure of the following
lead written by a Wall Street Journal reporter.

78
 “On a dark night six months ago, a shadowy figure stood before a
dilapidated abandoned apartment building on Manhattan’s west side. Lifting a
crowbar, he wrenched loose the sheet metal nailed over the door of the dingy
building. Then he ushered his wife and five children inside. That’s how Jose Rivera
found a home”.

3.13.6 Anecdote lead

To make newspapers more interesting, editors are more likely to approve news
leads that use anecdotes. The anecdotal lead is used when the anecdote is bright and
applicable and not too wasteful of space. It brings the reader quickly into a news
situation that might not attract his attention if it were routinely written. Here is one
that began a series on divorce in the U.S (Baskette F. K., 1982)79. For example:

“As darkness fell Thursday, Adriana Gianturco’s pet rock, a slipping 100-
ton boulder, was still poised precariously on a steep hillside 186 feet above
oceanfront homes in Malibu despite an all-out effort to lower it safely.”

This one begins, as is obvious, with an anecdote. Often, an interesting

anecdote can pull in the readers’ attention like no amount of statistics and straight
narration of facts can. This kind of lead is rarely used for breaking news but works
well for both soft stories and news-based features. But a word of caution, don’t get
carried away with the anecdote and make a mess of the broader point that one want to
talk about. Another attempt to bring the rock down to Pacific Coast Highway was to
be made at first light today, and officials said they hoped they would succeed by 8
A.M.

Because anecdotes are so important in the newspaper, consider using an

anecdote that actually is not told as an anecdote, but merely tells readers that
something happened.

3.13.7 Descriptive lead

As the name suggests, this type of lead goes into great detail to describe the
scene or person that makes up the subject of the story (Neal, 1949)80. The idea is to
create visual impact. So if you are writing a news report about a high-profile murder,
instead of using a boring summary lead informing who was murdered and why you

79
could make the piece more impactful by graphically describing the crime scene. A
descriptive lead describes how an event happened rather than simply telling what the
event is about. Eyewitness accounts can provide the background for writing lucid
descriptions which help the reader to visualize a news situation (Harriss, 1977)81.
Although many old-fashioned editors will object to a descriptive lead, more and more
of the younger editors will welcome this kind of lead:

KUNEITRA, Syria- On a wind-swept volcanic plateau where the kings of

Damascus once battled the kings of Biblical Israel, there is a grim monument to a new
and more devastating kind of warfare. The silent ruins of Kuneitra, once a thriving
farming community and summer resort of 52,000 people, epitomize the continuing
tragedy of the present Arab-Israeli conflict (Rivers, 1984)82.

3.13.8 Quotation lead

When a reporter attempts to begin a story by quoting a story by quoting the

speaker in a full sentence or more, the editor will probably pause over that lead and
try to reduce it to a tighter paragraph. Nonetheless, some veteran reporters still write
long leads like this one, which was published in the respected Christian Science
Monitor: “I am so glad your organization exists. Nobody has wanted to listen to my
plight as a woman on the job who is pestered by the sexual advances of male co-
workers. My problem has been treated as a joke, or with unbelief. Even my husband
doesn’t take it seriously. I’m grateful there is finally a place to turn, and that someone
is doing something about it.” (Rivers, 1984)83.

Quotes frequently are the essential documentation for a lead and should be
used immediately after a paraphrase that summarizes them. Here paraphrasing the
verbatim quotation permits the removal of unnecessary words. But if a verbatim
quotation itself is very important or interesting, it can be the lead itself. This lead
would add an element of interest such as drama, pathos, humor, astonishment, or
some other factor that will reach out to the reader (Cutlip & Allen H, 1971)84.

In a few cases, editors will approve of reporters writing the lead in this
fashion. But most editors prefer reporters to write a lead in this fashion. But most
editors prefer reporters to write a lead that carries an orphan quotation, also known as
a broken quotation. Note the crispness of the following lead:

80
 TEHRAN, Iran- the United States said Thursday it “can’t protect American
lives” in Iran any longer and ordered an emergency evacuation plan into effect for all
U.S. citizens still here.

3.13.9 The suitcase lead

Some lead sounds like the whole story is being thrown in one long breath,
with no pauses. Such leads try to fit all the facts into a short paragraph, putting in the
entire who-what-when-where-why, often at the cost of clarity. Details such as names
of people not instantly recognizable, contextual information that does not aid
understanding of the story can be confusing when provided right at the start (Baskette
F. K., 1982)85. This outcome from the inability to identify the main thrust of the story
and the question to ask oneself is: ‘if I had to tell someone, in a single sentence, the
main point of the story, what would I say? ’

3.13.9 Static lead

The static lead tells you something while also providing descriptive detail. It is
important that there is movement in the lead, that even when you are trying to set the
scene, you give the reader something to hold on to and make progress into the story
with. Similar to this is what some writers call ‘chair sitter’ leads (Baskette & Jack,
1977)86.

The point here is, a led must have something strong to say about the subject at
hand; it should take the story forward, and it should draw the reader into the story
with a strong pull (Schramm, 1957)87. Even in feature stories where the reader might
have more time and inclination to be led gently into the topic, only a strong lead can
stir enough interest to keep the reader there for more than a couple of seconds .

3.14 The body of the story

How one approaches a story depends on the story. For a feature, you may want
to pick the best theme or “news peg” and select additional material that ties in best
with that emphasis. Then you can work in background fact along the way, and use the
less interesting important facts towards the end. For a hard news breaking story, first,
decide what the key action as and simply say it. For the rest of article merely add
information in descending order of importance, using the inverted pyramid pattern.

81
No one formula provides total organization. Of course, article must hold together and
move along logically, from the first statement of fact or theme to the last item of
information (Fink, 2008)88.

3.15 Selecting the information for a story

If one has been working on a story on the growth of corporate hospitals and
the changes that have taken place in the health sector in the past decade. One has to
gather all the relevant and essential information pertaining to that story like and also
talked to patients in both types of hospitals, government hospitals, and private
hospitals. One has to done the research on the health sector and have information on
usage, costs, and growth. If one work for a daily newspaper, this will be one story that
is no longer than 750 or 1000 words. The fifty pages of notes need to be sifted
through and you have to decide what to retain and what to leave out. Omit all the
information that does not directly relate to the article, to begin with. Generally, a story
needs the following three kinds of information (Lee-Wright, 2012)89.

• Facts- The five W’s and one H of the event or issue

• Observations- The ‘look and feel’ of the site of action
• Opinions- What key sources have to say about the event or issue.

The three types of information complement each other. For instance, one may
use a source to narrate the key facts or state them hurry, simply acknowledging the
source. The descriptive information too could be provided through an interviewee’s
anecdotes or narrative. It is important to balance straightforward factual statements
with quotes from interviewees and descriptive or analytical narration, particularly in a
feature (Alessio & Allen, 2000).90 The information one chooses to include must be
closely related to the points made in your outline. Many of the sources may have
given the same kind of information or expressed similar opinions. This needs to
include one sample quote that stands perhaps for several people’s opinions- including
every single statement, simply to show that one have interviewed so many sources
does not really illuminate the issue further and instead makes the article unnecessarily
long (Herd, 1952)91.

82
 Michael L. Johnson (1971)92, in his book “The New Journalism” stated that ‘it
is important, however, to include a range of sources, at different points in the story, so
that by the time you reach the end, you have represented a wide range of people
expressing their opinions on all the issues raised. In the story on corporate hospitals,
for instance, each of the medical professionals was called upon to comment on a
particular aspect, or to express a contrary viewpoint, so that in sum, the range of ideas
and opinions expressed is as varied as the number or people have spoken to’.

3.16 Choosing a narrative structure

When one writes the lead and creates an outline, and also setting the tone of
the story and deciding how it should be told- in other words, creating a frame for the
story. A ‘frame’ provides the readers a way to understand the story, a conceptual
window through which look into the issue or at the event (Summer, 2004)93. Just like
a television producer decides to place his or her camera at a particular point in relation
to the scene, a writer also chooses a vantage point from which to tell the story. Of
course, depending on the number of sources and sites of action and introduce the story
that having multiple frames (just as a television story has multiple camera angles), but
the beginning of the story generally sets the dominant frame (Lowenthal, 1984)94. For
complex stories, one needs to be careful about the frame selection. What sorts of a
narrative are going to build up? To begin with a focus-on-a-person lead, one has to
take the reader close to the issue, while to begin with an abstract summary lead or a
problem-solution lead, it takes a longer shot. Which of these approaches makes the
issues easier to understand and more interesting? (Koopmans, 2004)95

Think of the narrative frame as the style of storytelling. In a straight news

story that strictly follows the inverted pyramid structure, the narrative will be (like the
first Satyam story) straightforward, indicating very clearly the main news value and
using one or more of the five Ws or one H as a key element in the lead (Baskette F.
K., 1982)96. Even here, one can choose either an analytical narrative or a factual one,
and again, the lead is what sets the tone. It is important to intersperse evidence with
analysis and quotes, description with the presentation of research facts, and
viewpoints from key sources. Except in very short stories, one will find that
journalistic stories vary in the kind of information they present from one paragraph to
the next, sometimes even within paragraphs. It is necessary to keep all these elements

83
connected and to ensure that they work together to form a coherent whole. This done
by applying a variety of linguistic devices- through the structure of the piece, by the
way, sentences and paragraphs are connected, and in the manner, the story lies it all
together through the beginning, middle, and end (Reddick, 1969)97.

3.17 Transitions

One of the big challenges in writing a story is to signal shifts clearly- shifts in
time or place, voice, subject/topic, or point of view. A very short story that provides
an update or a report of an event may restrict itself to one locus of action, a single
place, and a few sources all speaking from within the context of the event at the same
time (McDougall, 1972)98. Even in such cases, to using more than one source (as most
stories should), one needs to move from the opinions and the facts given by one
person to those provided by the next person, along with own observations or other
background information. So there is no getting away from such shifts; to tell even the
simplest of stories, one needs to move across time, place, and source, verbal
transitions- words that mark such shifts- are like the glue that holds ideas together,
and writing does not flow smoothly unless the transitions work well (Chalaby,
1998)99.

When a story plays itself out and visualizes the way it moves. In much the
same way as a camera moves across a scene, or an editor cut to a different frame, one
can imagine the thread of the story moving from one paragraph to the next. A visual
medium has the advantage of showing these transitions. When a television reporter
speaks to different people, the camera moves with him, so one can see and hear the
different voices and see the physical movement with words so that a reader can move
along with the pictures and voices (Nash W. , 2005)100.

Transitions are like signposts that guide readers through the maze of
information and organize it in such a way that they understand the story. Just adding a
word here, a phrase there, can make a dense sentence much clearer. Look at the two
examples below and see how the addition of a few transitional devices helps the
information flow. Transitions are generally used to move across time, location, or
source, or to introduce new ideas or opinions, or sometimes to indicate a shift in
theme or aspect of discussion (Stepp, Reader Friendly: Their Futures Uncertain, News

84
Papers are Undergoing a Profound Change in the Way they Carry out their Missions,
2000)101.

3.18 Chronology

J. Elliott (2005)102, in his paper “Using narrative in social research:

Qualitative and quantitative approaches” described to ‘recounting an event in
chronological fashion, tell it in a simple straightforward manner, beginning with a
summary of the most significant details and moving either backwards or forwards in a
linear fashion to explain the rest of the story’. When a person describing a single
event, it may be necessary to move to another point of action within the same time
frame. Often a story will involve incidents that occurred at different points in time, all
of which have to be brought together to create a coherent narration that allows the
reader to understand how such events to each other.

3.19 Changing context and place

In complex stories, we take the reader through several contexts and different
places- a source may be interviewed across contexts (home, office, at a conference),
or the story may follow an investigation across several locations, or you may be
describing a physical journey over distances (Bush, 1970)103.

As William L. Rivers (1984)104, in his book “News in Print: Writing and

Reporting” suggests that the story is organized in a linear fashion such that the
geographical contexts overlap with the chronological ones, then it can be simple- just
move in time and space together. However, to jump back and forth between contexts,
a clear transition is necessary for the reader to understand. It is to bring in a new set of
facts, or is it simply to add a new dimension to the story?

3.20 Multiple source and points of view

Gyorgy Kepes (1949), in his work “Fiction of Modern Design” stated that
‘one of the biggest challenges in journalistic writing is keeping the sources straight,
and ensuring the attributes of information correctly. Thus it is important to mark
clearly when to move from one source to the next, especially if one is presenting
several opinions in quick succession’ (Kepes, 1949)105.

85
 Bogart L. (1982), in his paper titled “Newspapers in transition” (p.p58-70)
described the simplest way of doing this is to preface every quote with ‘X said’, but
this may not always be the best way to write, and it certainly does make the writing a
little stilted. Instead, it helps to shift sources when there is a new point of view, or
additional information provided by the next source. In such cases, one can use
transitions that mark such shifts: on the other hand, in contrast, in addition, however,
etc. (Bogart, 1982)106.

3.21 Middles and endings of the story

As a move through the story, then build a certain rhythm, balancing fact and
opinion, observation and research, and quotes from all the sources. Depending on the
structure of the story and middle of the story is heavy on fact, description, or
viewpoints from different people. If the story has begun with a summary lead to an
inverted pyramid story, the middle of the story will contain the background
information that explains the climax, leading down to the least important details
(Pietilä, V. 1992)107. For other story structures, the information that comes in the
middle usually depends on how the lead from one point of discussion to the next.
Pacing a story is very important; it gives the reader time to assimilate complex
information while being taken through ‘lighter’ points in the story. Pacing is about
spreading out the complex material in such a way that you do not burden a reader with
too much at one go (Machin & Niblock, 2006)108. Mixing and varying the pace of the
story, ensuring that spread out the facts in a manner that makes them easily
understood, and packaging them in a way that holds the reader’s interest can be quite
a job, but it makes the story that much more captivating (Thussu, 2007)109.

3.22 Strong conclusions of the story

Just as leads offer a way to hook a reader and bring him into an article,
conclusions are a means to leave the reader with something to think about. Even with
the inverted pyramid, which evolved to facilitate editing an article from the bottom
up, so that the most important details could be retained and the least important
removed if space constraints demanded, the ending should be well considered.
However, given that readers are in a hurry, and that news stories and features are not
read in the same way as literary texts, the ending should be efficient and crisp (Dennis

86
& William, 1974)110. The ending wraps up the article neatly- perhaps not conclusive
in term of the issue itself, but marking a logical end to this particular discussion of it.
For a writer who has engaged with a topic, spent several days researching and
documenting it, talking to people about it and finally distilling it all in the form of an
article, endings can be literally the ‘last straw’ and the temptation is to just wind up
and go home. But it is worth spending a few moments longer to craft an ending that is
just as well written as the rest of the article (Rusbridger, 2009)111.

3.23 Keep the reader’s interest

A reader will stay with a short news story from beginning to end without
turning the page; it is not easy to keep someone interested in an article that is longer
than 1thousand words. Therefore, it is important to uses a range of story structures
and styles, trying to pack a mix of topics and themes and even points of view within
an article (Ward, M. 2002)112. Not too much, of course, because that would then end
up sounding choppy and confused. As mentioned earlier the variety takes the form of
including different types and styles of information- straight facts based on research
and observation, quotes, description, and narration. Each of these must be used in
moderation and judiciously, as demanded by the specific story and the possibilities
dictated by deadline, and allocated space (Whitaker, 2008)113.

87
REFERENCES

1
Slosson, E. E. (1910). Great American Universities. New York: The Macmillan
Company, pp. 56-58.
2
Graves, M. (1941). The Art of Color and Design. New York: McGraw Hill,
pp.244-245.
3
Waldrop, A. (1967). Editor and Editorial Writer. Dubuque, Ia: Wm. C. Brown
Co, p.311.
4
Mansfield, F. J. (1936). The Complete Journalist. London: Pitman, p.261.
5
Flesh, R. (1974). The Art of Readable Writing. New York: Harper & Row,
pp.74-75.
6
Franklin, B. (1997). Newszak and News Media. London: Arnold, p.78.
7
McDougall, C. (1972). Principles of Editorial Writing. Dubuque, Ia: Wm. C.
Brown Co, p.153.
8
Rivers, W. L. (1984). News In Print: Writing and Reporting. New York: Harper
& Row Publications, pp.63-64.
9
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. New York:
Free Press, 35-37.
10
Ghiglione, L. (1982). Improving Newswriting. Washington, D. C.: American
Society of Newspaper Editors Foundation, pp.122-23.
11
Machin D. & Niblock, S. (2006). News Production: Theory and Practice.
London: Routledge, p.77.
12
Harris, J., Leiter, K. and, & Johnson, S. (1977). Fundamentals News Gathering
and Editing. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., pp.126-27.
13
Hutt, A., & James, B. (1989). Newspaper Design Today: A Manual for
Profesionals. London: Lund Hamphries, p.341.
14
Bogart, L. (1982). News Papers in Transition. The Wilson Quarterly 6(5), pp.58-
70.
15
Kaplan, J. (2003). Convergence: Not a Panacea. Journalism Studies vol. 4 no.4,
pp. 515-18.
16
Ray, G. (2006). Trivialization of Content in Media. Retrieved from Press
Council of India: www.presscouncil.nic.in

88
17
Brill, A. (2006). The Print and online newspapers in Europe. Journalism and
Mass Communication Quaterly 83 (4), pp.953-956.
18
Evans, H. (1976). Newspaper Design,. London: Heinmann, p.78.
19
Craig, J. (1971). Designing with Type: A Basic Course in Typography. New
York: Watson Guptil Publications, pp.321-22.
20
Flesh, R. (1974). The Art of Readable Writing. New York: Harper & Row,
p.183.
21
Rivers, op.cit., pp.87-88.
22
Ibid., p.132.
23
Summer, D. E. (2004). Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle, and
Anecdotes,. Hoboken, New Jersy.: Wiley-Blackwell, p.361.
24
Taylor, J. (2000). Problems in Photojournalism: Realism, the Nature of News
and the Humanitarian Narrative. Journalism Studies vol. 1, pp.199-44.
25
Machin, D. & Niblock, S., op.cit., p.87.
26
Cutlip, S. M. & Allen, H. C. (1971). Effective Public Relations 4th ed. NJ:
Prentice Hall, pp.69-70.
27
Ibid., p.82.
28
Picard, R. (2002). The Economics and Financing of Media Companies. New
York: Fordham University Press, p.267.
29
Rich, C. (2010). Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method. New York:
Wadsworth, p.168.
30
Kamhawi, R. & Weaver, D. (2003). Mass Communication research trends from
1980 to 1990. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (1), pp.7-27.
31
McBurney, D. (1990). Experimental psychology. Belmont, California:
Wadsworth, pp.56-60.
32
Kim, J. (2012). Killing and Dying in the Newspapers: A Content Analysis on
New York Times and New York Newsday,pp.237-240.
33
Currah, A. (2009). What's happening to our news: An investigation into the
likely impact of the digital revolution on the economics of news publishing in the
UK. University of Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, pp.323-
328.

89
34
Herd, H.(1952). March of Journalism. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd,
p.194.
35
Ibid., pp.195-196.
36
Havick, J. (1997). Determinants of National Media Attention. Journal of
Communication, 47 (2), pp.46-47.
37
Baskette, F. K. (1982). The Art of Editing. New York: Macmillan Publishing
Co, p.82.
38
Allen, J., Livingstone, S. & Reiner, R. (1997). The Changing Generic Location
of Crime in Film: A Content Analysis of Film Synopsis, 1945-1991. Journal of
Communication, 47(4), p.27.
39
Bhaskar, B. (2005). Flourishing Papers, Floundering Craft: The Press and the
Law. New Delhi: Sage Publication, p.237.
40
Bilton, J. (2007, May 21). Freesheet Fiasco Compromises the Press's Image.
Media Guardian, p.356.
41
Gunther, M. (1968). Writing the Modern Magazine Article. Boston: The Writer,
Inc., pp.345-346.
42
Flesh, R. (1974). The Art of Readable Writing. New York: Harper & Row,
pp.214-15.
43
Field, S. (1974). Professional Broadcast Writer's Handbook. TAB Books Co.,
p.68.
44
Chakravarty, S. (2007). News Reporting and Editing: An Overview. New Delhi:
Kanishka Publishers, Distributors, pp.368-369.
45
Arnold, E. & Howard, C. (1968). Whats Happen in News Display. London:
Associate Press, p.195.
46
Evans, op.cit., pp.137-138.
47
Ibid., p.122.
48
Kepes, G. (1949). Function in Modern Design. London: Harvard University
Press, p.73.
49
Baskette, op.cit., pp.83-84.
50
Bush, C. (1970). Newswriting and Reporting Public Affairs. Philadelphia:
Chilton Book Co., p.467.

90
51
Eisentein, J. (1983,). The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe
Cambridge:. U.K.: Cambridge University Press, p.247.
52
Baskette, op.cit., p.115.
53
Ibid., p.119.
54
Arnold, E. G. (1969). Modern Newspaper Design. New York: Harper & Row,
p.342.
55
J. Allen, J., Livingstone, S. & Reiner, R., op.cit., p.76.
56
Ibid., pp.113-114.
57
Baskette, op.cit., p.162.
58
Flesh, R., op.cit., p.227.
59
Arnold, E. G., op.cit., p.208.
60
Baskette, op.cit., p.298.
61
Ibid.,pp.332-334.
62
Evans, op.cit., pp.78-79.
63
Baskette, op.cit., p.178.
64
Ibid., p.336.
65
Garcia, M. (1993,). Contemporary Newspaper Design: A Structural Approach,.
London.: Princet-Hall, p.356.
66
Entman, R. M. (2004). Projections of power: Framing news, public opinion, and
US foreign policy. University of Chicago Press, pp.117-118.
67
Baskette, op.cit., pp.183-186.
68
Ibid., p.49.
69
Warren, C. (1959). Modern News Reporting. New York: Harper & Brothers,
p.158.
70
Cutlip, S. M. & Allen, H. C., op.cit., pp.127-130.
71
Beam, R. (2003). Content Differences Between Daily Newspapers With Strong
and Weak Market Orientations. Journalism and Mass Communication. Q 80(2),
pp.243-248.
72
Rivers, W. L. (1984). News In Print: Writing and Reporting. New York: Harper
& Row Publications, pp.55-63.
73
Floyd K. Baskette, op.cit., pp.324-325.

91
74
Floyd K. Baskette, & Z. Jack, (1977). The Art of Editing 2nd ed. New York:
Macmillan, pp.35-37.
75
S. M. Cutlip, & H. C. Allen, op.cit., pp.181-183.
76
Floyd K. Baskette, op.cit., p.331.
77
Floyd K. Baskette, & Z. Jack, op.cit., p.56.
78
Julian Harris, Kelly Leiter and, & Stanley Johnson, op.cit., p.244.
79
Floyd K. Baskette, op.cit., p.57.
80
R. M. Neal, (1949). News Gathering and News Writing 2nd ed. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall Inc., pp.138-139.
81
J. Harriss, (1977). Fundamentals of News Gathering, Writing and Editing. New
York: Macmillan Publishing Co., pp.311-317.
82
William L. Rivers, op.cit., p71.
83
Ibid., p.65.
84
S. M. Cutlip, & H. C. Allen, op.cit., p.152.
85
Floyd K. Baskette, op.cit., p.329.
86
Ibid., pp.329-330.
87
W. Schramm, (1957). Responsibility in Mass Communications. New York:
Harper & Brothers, p.171.
88
C. Fink, (2008). Writing to Engage and Inform. Boulder, Colarado: Westview
Press, p.82.
89
Lee-Wright. (2012). Changing Journalism. New York: Routledge, p.298.
90
D. Alessio, & M. Allen, (2000). Media Bias in Presidential Elections: A Meta
Analysis. Journal of Communication, 50(4), p.416.
91
H. Herd, op.cit., p.219.
92
M. L. Johnson, (1971). The New Journalism. Lawrence, Kan: University of
Kansas Press, pp.73-74.
93
D. E. Summer, op.cit., p.227.
94
L. Lowenthal, (1984). Communication in Society. California: Transaction
Publishers, p.134.
95
J. Koopmans, (2004). Movements and media: Selection processes and
evolutionary dynamics in the public sphere. Theory and Society, pp.367-91.

92
96
Floyd K. Baskette, op.cit., p.113.
97
D. C. Reddick, (1969). Literary Style in Science Writing. New York: Magazine
Publishers Association, p.83.
98
C. McDougall, op.cit., p.105.
99
J. Chalaby, (1998). The Invention of Journalism. London: Palgrave Macmillan,
p.347.
100
W. Nash, (2005). How Newspapers Work. London: Macmillan, p.218.
101
C. Stepp, (2000). Reader Friendly: Their Futures Uncertain, News Papers are
Undergoing a Profound Change in the Way they Carry out their Missions. Am
Journalism Rev. 4, pp.22-43.
102
J. Elliott, (2005). Using narrative in social research: Qualitative and quantitative,
p.187.
103
C. Bush, op.cit., p.322.
104
William L. Rivers, op.cit., pp.112-115.
105
G. Kepes, (1949). Function in Modern Design. London: Harvard University
Press, p.89.
106
L. Bogart, op.cit., p.146.
107
V. Pietilä, (1992). Beyond the news story: News as discursive composition.
European Journal of Communication, 7(1), pp.37-67.
108
D. Machin, & S. Niblock, op.cit., p.132.
109
D. Thussu, (2007). News as Entertainment- The Rise of Global Infotainment.
Media Culture and Society, pp.50-56.
110
E. Dennis, & L. William, (1974). Other Voices: The New Journalism in
America. San Francisco: Canfield Press, p.433.
111
A. Rusbridger, (2009). I've seen the future and it's mutual. British Journalism
Review 20(3), pp.19-26.
112
M. Ward, (2002). Journalism online. Taylor & Francis, p.56.
113
R. C. Whitaker, (2008,). Mediawriting: Print, Broadcast and Public Relations, .
News York: Routledge, pp.134-135.

93