• Introduction
• Lesson
• Practice
• Task

Lesson

The Hard-Boiled News Story

Hard  news stories are those front-page "Just the facts, Ma'am" kind of articles that communicate important information or news to the audience. This is what many people call the serious side of news.

Inverted Pyramid

Editors place these hard-hitting articles in prominent places such as the front page or the first page of a particular section of the newspaper. Hard news follows the inverted pyramid format.

This means the article is organized from the most important information to the least. How do you know what's the most important? You use your 5W-H.

Summary Leads

Summary leads, where writers identify the 5W-H in the first two paragraphs, are the most common way to begin these articles. The remaining paragraphs of the article will be short, providing details and explanations.

When assigned to write a hard news story, journalists recognize that their readers expect a no-nonsense approach that follows the inverted pyramid format. This gives readers the control to determine how involved they want to become with the piece of news.