Using the Inverted Pyramid to Write News Articles

Writing news articles isn't always fun and sometimes it's downright tedious. The rules of journalism are complex, leaving novice writers confused about how to move forward. The fact is, however, that news articles are among the most popular, and you can learn to write news articles using the "inverted pyramid" style of journalism.

The inverted pyramid is a journalism tactic that describes how news information should be dispatched to the reader. When you write a news article, you should know that your readers are usually wanting to get the gist of "what happened", but may not have time to read the entire article. That is why you use the inverted pyramid; it means that readers will continue to look at your articles. While you don't have to use the inverted pyramid style, it is a widely-accepted way to write news articles and can actually improve your writing.

Essentially, the inverted pyramid style means that you give the most important or interesting details first, and then continue to dribble less-important information throughout the body of the article. Ideally, you'll want to give the most important information in the first paragraph, and save the least important information for last. This allows the reader to digest the information in the order of most importance and to move on to the next article if he or she is just browsing. Since news articles are usually short anyway, this gives the reader the best of all worlds.

The first sentence of a news article - called the "lead" - should answer the two most important questions about the subject of your article: Who and What. The Who is who your article is about - be it a person, a business or a place - and the What is what happened to that person, business or place to make the story newsworthy. Sometimes the Who and the What are obvious, while there will also be times when you have to carefully select the most important subject to write about.

For example, take a look at Stephanie Guidry's AC news article Duane "Dog" Chapman Set to Be Extradited to Mexico. Her first sentence reads like this:

"According to the Associated Press, Duane "Dog" Chapman's request not be extradited to Mexico on charges of deprivation of liberty has been denied."

In this opening sentence, Guidry used the inverted pyramid to answer the Who and the What of the article. Who is Duane "Dog" Chapman and What is his request not to be extradited was denied. These are obviously the two most important facts to be given in the article, and she started with them.

After that, Guidry goes on to dribble out the less-important information of the article, just as the inverted pyramid style suggests. She details the amount of bail that "Dog" posted, his wife's quote and the information regarding the person whom he brought back to the States with him. At the end, Guidry tells the reader who "Dog" is and where he can be found on television.

When writing a news article, you'll want to use the inverted pyramid to appeal to your readers. Not only will you appear to be a professional journalist, but your readers will also get the information they need right off the bat. News articles are often skimmed, and if your readers can't find the information they want immediately, they will likely search for a different source of information.