In all news-writing, the main thing is that it shall be easily
read, easily understood, and generally, one should come away from a
news-story without any remembrance of how it was written, the thing
should seem so simply done, so obviously constructed. The art that
hides itself is nowhere more needed than in this field where the artist
is a man at a typewriter pounding out sheet after sheet of copy, with
no time to linger over the choice of words or go back for careful
revision. The newspaper writer must have at his instant command all the
capabilities and powers within him. That is the reason why it is really
useless to talk at great length to a man who will, after all, have no
time for meditation on matters of style, on niceties of rhetoric. The
newspaper reporter is usually working under stress of great hurry and
often under keen excitement and for long stretches of time such as
would fray the nerves of any other type of writer or worker. He must
get certain principles--or “hints,” if you will,--into the back of his
head, where they will guide his work without too much burdening him,
and then forget everything but the main essentials. It is the purpose
of this section to give some of these bare essentials to good news
writing.
Beginning with the simplest element of language, WORDS, it may be
said immediately that aside from archaic terminology and words which
are dubbed “poetic” by the dictionary, the whole wide field of the
English vocabulary lies open to the newspaper writer, and no man need
try “writing down to his public.” Good writing in any field means being
clear and vivid and forceful, and these same three terms apply here as
elsewhere. A newspaper account should be written in such language that
if it is read aloud it will immediately be clear what the writer means.
If ever, in your writing, you come to a place where the conditions are
complex and will not straighten themselves out for you readily, so
that it seems impossible to state them clearly and vividly, try asking
yourself the question, “How would I say it if I were trying to tell
somebody about it?” That will frequently straighten the whole matter
out for you and give you instantly the point at which you wish to begin
the explanation. And it will generally make for good news-writing, as
it will generally make for clearness, vividness, and forcefulness.
“Use concrete terms” is another good bit of advice in the choice of
words, and applies from the simple matter of being specific up to the
matter of attempting artistically to depict the fine shades of a man’s
manner. “Six men” is better for news purposes than “A number of men,”
because it is more specific. “Harvard trampled over Yale yesterday” is
better news-writing than “Harvard won from Yale yesterday,” because it
is more vivid, it gives more of an image, it is thus more concrete.
When fire “shoots out across the street,” it gives us something to see,
and is vivid. “The first puff of flame” is good for the same reason.
In general, descriptive verbs are better than descriptive nouns,
however, for they are more active, and thus make for greater life in
a piece of writing. The difference between a good writer and a weak
and ineffective writer can, as a matter of fact, most often be traced
to this matter of the comparative number of nouns and verbs. Take a
news-story that grips you from beginning to end, say some account of a
fire or an accident. Count the number of verbs, in comparison with the
number of nouns and the total number of words used. Do the same for
some humdrum account that does not hold your attention. From the first
you felt that there was a difference, without knowing why. It will most
likely be found that the vivid writer, the man who could hold your
attention, has used a far higher percentage of verbs than the other.
Beginners very often break the back of every verb with an adverb, and
weaken every noun with an attendant adjective. The master of writing
shows himself to be such by the comparative absence of these two
parts of speech. He gets his effects by using colorful verbs. A good
exercise consists in watching the people one meets in daily life on the
sidewalks, and trying to find the one verb which will distinguish their
way of walking from that of everybody else you have seen that day.
There are a thousand and one different ways of saying “He went across
the street,” just as there are of stating the fact of “She said,” and
an excellent start toward a vivid style lies in these two suggestions.
In the matter of slang, good taste alone must dictate. In certain
types of stories, slang is permissible. Sports particularly have
indulged in this language. On the other hand there are stories where
it would be distinctly bad taste and out of place. In an obituary, for
instance, we rarely wish to see slang used. On the whole, it may be
safely said that a writer weakens his real command over language if
he allows himself to become dependent on slang for forcefulness. Most
reputable papers do not like slang in their general news-columns, as it
tends to lower the tone of their paper.
SENTENCES are generally shorter in newspapers than in ordinary
writing. Especially the first sentence must be short, in the estimation
of many editors, who like a “short lead.” This does not mean, however,
that a short choppy succession of bullet-like sentences is good
newspaper writing. As has been said before, the best news-writing is
that which attracts least attention to itself. So it is best to vary
the form of one’s sentences, both in length and structure. A whole
succession of very short or very long sentences would be monotonous,
and hence bad. Several sentences all starting out with the same word or
group of words would tire us. It is best to train one’s ear for this
sort of thing in writing and to try to be sensitive to this sort of
repetition so that if the typewriter begins to tap out automatically a
series of monotonous sentences, the subconscious will step in and sound
a warning. Another hint as to the forcefulness of sentences lies in the
fact that in general a sentence sounds stronger if it ends with a noun
or at least a verb. Not only is “a preposition bad to end a sentence
with,” but the same is also true of adverbs and, to a less degree, of
adjectives. Take some news-story that strikes you as being strongly
written, and look at the closing words of the sentences. The results
will bear me out, I am pretty sure.
In both sentences and paragraphs the most forceful arrangement is
generally that in which the principal elements are placed first.
Just as in the story as a whole it was seen that the lead gives the
principal facts, so also at the beginning of each paragraph there
should be some indication of the matter contained in it. In a fire
story, if we are dealing with the insurance involved, the paragraph
might open with the words: “Insurance covered most of the buildings, it
was learned today.” Or if the damages are being dealt with, they might
be organized under the paragraph beginning, “Total damages will amount
to $50,000.” The sentence can be treated in the same manner, thus
indicating to the reader its bearing on the story as a whole and making
for greater coherence.
For this reason, such expressions as “It is said,” or “Mr. Smith
remarked,” or “She declared,” are generally not placed either at the
beginning of a sentence or of a paragraph, but are “buried” in the
body of the sentence or the paragraph. The important position at the
beginning is thus reserved for really important matter. Situations may
arise where this general rule will best be neglected, but on the whole
it embodies a good principle of news-writing.
PARAGRAPHS as a whole are shorter in newspapers than elsewhere, and
this is one of the most marked differences encountered by the young
writer taking up newspaper work. Because of the narrowness of the
average newspaper column, allowing only about six or seven words to
the line, an ordinary paragraph taken from a novel or an essay would
take on a length that would discourage the reader. Newspapers differ
in this respect, but fifty words may be taken as the common length of
paragraphs in news-stories. This means that the thought is divided
into smaller sections, and the reporter must early begin to learn to
organize his material accordingly.