THE BODY

For you to produce a smooth, final story, the lead and body must coincide. The body is the detailed portion of a news story that develops and explains the facts outlined in the lead (and in the bridge, if there is a bridge). Here again, the importance of a neatly tailored lead cannot be overemphasized. A cumbersome lead is most often followed by a cumbersome body. But when a lead has done its job, it will usually provide an outline for the orderly organization of facts in the body of the story.

To some extent the organization of the body is dictated by the material itself - if it is a series of events, for instance. So the writer has to write an orderly, well-organized story and at the same time keep in mind the relative importance of various details.

Guided by the idea of news importance, the writer proceeds through the story by selecting the next most

Figure 2-8. - Diagram of a straight news story.

important incident, fact or detail, then the next important, and soon, until reaching the least important of all. At this point, the writer has reached the apex of the inverted pyramid with material of least value. The writer now knows that the makeup editor can slice one, two or three paragraphs from the bottom of his story without depriving the reader of the story's chief news elements. Figure 2-8 shows a diagram of a straight news story structure.

A FINAL THOUGHT

For several years, there has been a trend among civilian newspapers toward greater informality in news presentation. This trend has become known as "talking a story onto paper."

Several years ago, an observant editor noticed that a reporter would come to the city desk and describe a story he has covered. The story would sound attractive as he talked. Then the same writer would go to his desk and write the piece, pouring facts into the established newswriting mold. What had been interesting when he related it verbally then sounded like every other story that had appeared before only the names and places were changed.

Recognizing the value of the reporter's conversational report of the story, the editor thereafter encouraged his writers to use a more conversational tone, coupled with simple language, in all their copy.

The main purpose of any news story is to communicate the facts. To accomplish this communication, the story must be read. When an informal story presented in simple, everyday language can accomplish this purpose, use it without hesitation.