Hello ANN Journalism Education participant and welcome back.
The following audio material is for your note guide as you move forward in building your craft as a news journalists.
So jot away on your notes at your own pace, and pause or re-listen as you wish, to help you pen down the basics, and be sure to LABEL THE LESSON “5 W’s 1H” PART I, PART II and PART III.
Just a reminder, PLEASE LISTEN to the audio or listen and read along, unless you have hearing problems, to get the best effect.
PART I: THE 5 W’S AND 1 H
So, we will start this first audio session, with a look at a couple of bedrock ingredients in news writing.
Most folks have heard, often early in life, about the “Five W’s and one H.”
That seemingly simple telling lines up significantly with another early life lesson about ‘the birds and the bees.’
Both are actually fraught with special complexities and depth of their own, but, let’s just say that our focus here is a lot more pragmatic and less fraught with judging the limits on what to say and when in introducing, –often tip-toeing around– the facts of life’ as we also like to euphemize.
The order of our letter platter usually presented is, “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, ” and those terms usually sum up the basic ingredients of a news story.
Think back to lesson one, which touched on the centrality of WHAT with the time tested “What’s new?” inquiry.
But the recipe as to ‘where’ to use WHAT AND WHO , as well as ‘when and how’ in structuring and arranging the order in which they enter a story is a bit more involved.
FOR THIS FIRST PART OF THE LESSON, LET’S FOCUS ON THE FIRST TWO IN THE GOOD OLD 5W’s ONE H PHRASE, The Who and The What.
The first two terms, “Who and What” actually align with many a customary ordering of them in opening up the essence of many a news story.
Take for example, this opening paragraph –aka lede– from a front page story in the New York Times on June 24, 2023: The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Biden administration could set priorities for which undocumented immigrants to arrest and which to leave alone, rejecting a challenge from two conservative states that pressed for more aggressive enforcement…”
The arrangement of the 3 W’s in the paragraph is clear: Who/When/What in that order. In short, this boils down to one basic type of lede: The Who/What lede. We’ll talk a bit later about the “When” piece and “Where it should and should not go in a lede.
Simply put, the Who is the USSC, and the What is the essence of their ruling.
Ok, now let’s try another lede, same paper, same day: Flying a 50,000 pound attack jet while 10,000 feet above Earth may not be the best time for a language lesson, but it was part of the drills that Maj. Greg Kirk of the Idaho Air National Guard had to decipher last week as he sought clarity on his mission from a heavily accented German air traffic controller issuing the orders.”
Well that was a mouthful, but again the structure is pretty clear: This lede starts with the What –or at least the first part of it—before getting into the Who.
Hence, this is pretty much a second, somewhat less common type known as the What/Who lede.
The What’s first part involves the act of flying (What the pilot is doing) and hints at the second part, namely how an accent might pose a challenge regarding clarity of flight orders by air traffic controllers. Then, after we hear the Who, followed by When, we get to the rest of the What.
From a more subtle stand point, the writer splits the what into two parts, the first being used as a kind of teaser, the “language lesson” phrase, that hints at and paves the way for the gut of the what, namely issues related to understand English in a foreign accent.
The first part of the what creates curiousity in the reader: “What does “language lesson” mean in the context of a pilot in the cockpit?
This curiousity arousing technique functions as what is called a “hook” specifically, a literary device used to draw the reader into the story by creating a desire to know more. Sort of like an opening riddle.
You have to read further to figure out what it’s all about, and often, taking that second step into a story means that the reader will continue further, maybe to the end.
You’ll learn more about “hooks” in a later lesson on The Anatomy Of News”
So how are you as the reporter supposed to decide whether to write a Who/What or What/Who lede?
Well let’s start with this bit of a brain twister in this bit of dialogue that would happen in similar fashion scores of times in my classroom when I introduced to first year students this basic lesson on the W’s and H:
I would look at a given student, to start the back and forth and say:
“What is the core element of any news story Pause:
That’s not a question.
What?
That’s right, What is the core element of any news story”
Wait, What?
Exactly
Huh? No What
Ok let me try it a different way: The core element of a news story is the what
The What?
You got it!
Got What?
The What!
Wait, What? What, What?
Precisely but no need to repeat, just that What
What do you mean?
What!
I said like, you mean What?
Spot on….and on and on and on…
So yes indeed, what is the essence of a news story.
So let me ask you: What is the essence of a news story?
If you said Yes, or What or What is the essence of a news story as in Jeopardy you have got it. Hurrah !
Ok, so back to the question of whether or not you write a Who/What or a What/Who lede. Since What is the essence of a news story, the What/Who prevails, with this But attached to the What:
If the Who is a person, entity, nation etc. of special power, prominence or name recognition , — think the President, Ukraine, Russia, China, NATO, Elon Musk, Tik-Tok, Senator so, the mayor, police chief etc. then we typically give the nod to the Who in first place of order.
If the who is less instrumental or important in comparison to the what –a common citizen, little known rank and file government official, or someone/something whose identity is secondary to the key news event at hand, then the choice goes to the What/Who.
The bottom line is that either construct is pretty much acceptable, so if your put them in first instead of second place it is not a huge deal.
—-
Ok so now it’s time to self test by listening to a few sample ledes and determine which is which with respect to Who/What and What/Who ledes and to note some added elements of detail especially with respect to the What part.
This first one is pretty straightforward, just for starters:
“Russian Generals late on Friday accused Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the outspoken military tycoon, of trying to mount a coup against President Vladimir Putin as the Russian authorities opened up an investigation into Mr. Prigozhin for “organizing an armed rebellion.”
If you said Who/What you got it! Congrats!
We start with a very clear Who “Russian Generals” and another Who, Prigozhin, , followed by the core What: an attempted coup.
There is the basic Who/What structure with a bit more meat on the bones.
Ok, now take a stab at this next one in terms of basic structure:
“An audio recording of former President Donald J. Trump in 2021 discussing what he called a “highly confidential” document about Iran that he acknowledged he could not declassify because he was out of office appears to contradict his recent assertion that the material he was referring to was simply news clippings.”
If you said Who/ What Well……. you’d be close, but no cigar…… It is a What/Who lede, with the initial part of the What consisting of only 3 words., namely “an audio recording…”
It then moves to the obvious Who element,, “former President Donald Trump” and then goes into added detail about the What, namely WHAT is so important about the recording.
In effect, the added particulars answer an implicit question: WHAT is so important about the recording?
The implied answer to that begins with the word “discussing” (WHAT he was doing at the time the recording was made) and the essence of just WHAT he was talking about at the time.
But there is more here in terms of function, and now we get more into the strategic purpose of the What in opening a story:
The lede as a whole, and the broader meaning of the What , spell out the significance of the audio.
In other words, the elaboration puts the recording into a context that sets up what is called a “story line”
Story line, in essence, is derived from the core facts comprising the basics of the story, and then walks the reader through various statements he and others in the room made during their conversation to let the reader know WHAT was said, word for word.
It addresses reader curiousity to answer “oooh, tell me more, tell me more. I want the dirt. There is intrigue here ”
The story line in the article also touches the myriad ways the audio might fit in as evidence in the ongoing investigation into Trump’s possession of top secret and other classified documents he took from the White House and stored in his Florida and New Jersey residences without having first formally or provably declassified them when he was still president.
It also involves credibility aspects of the recording’s impact on earlier claims that Trump was merely bragging or overstating matters about material he had in his possession.
The recording verifies that he did retain at least one document pertaining to what he called “a plan of attack” for Iran that the Pentagon had drawn up as a contingency plan.
We will dive into story-line in a later lesson.
Ok, one last look at THE WHAT’S OF THE WHAT:
So let’s go back to another news story lede to let you consider a slightly more sophisticated –complicated even,– construct of who, what and where placement.
QUOTE “Texas has been enduring a dangerous early heat wave this week that has broken temperature records and strained the state’s independent power grid.”
If you said Where/What you are right!
. TA DA !
See how simple……exceeeeeptt, Texas is also a bit of a what is it not?
we might argue that Texas is a what , as in What state in the Union is known as the lone star state and is experiencing a major heat wave ?
Whaaa thet’d be Texas mister. (JOHN WAYNE)
Ok ! Don’t fret.
That basic lede is still a Who What since the real what is not the location, it is WHAT IS HAPPENING there. And it is happening to an entity of sorts known as Texas, a proper name/noun.
Now, let me give you the full lede as written in the NYT:
“Strafed by powerful storms and superheated by a dome of hot air, Texas has been enduring a dangerous early heat wave this week that has broken temperature records and strained the state’s independent power grid.”
See? So easy again. What/Who or What/Where if you prefer.
The full lede starts with the dramatic part of the ‘what’ with “strafed” and “superheated” those action verbs adding color, accompanied by “superheated” an adjective adding sensory or tactile elements. So called “color” words are the subject of another upcoming lesson.
Then the lede gives us the Who/Where element –Texas—followed by the GUT OF THE WHAT “heat wave” and more about the what, or put more pointedly WHAT MORE ABOUT THE WHAT.
The last phrase elaborates on the what by providing more detail. That added aspect of more WHAT ABOUT THE WHAT is also often done in a paragraph following the lede., known as a follow-graph. You’ll come back to this concept later in the Anatomy of a News Story lesson.
Ok, time to take a breather. Looking forward to the next session when you return for Part II
END OF PART I