TEXT
We had a guest lecturer in, and she explained the importance of text, not just in content, but also through headlines and especially with online news.
She first mentioned the inverted pyramid which came up in one of the readings I read for the first tutorial. The inverted pyramid is simply the way news is organised, with the most important details at the top (who/when/where/why/how), followed by less important information and additional tidbits at the bottom of the pyramid. This not only makes it easy to organize stories, but also to be able to edit it fast.
Here's a nice little diagram to demonstrate it:
from this website, which explained it well.
Obviously the most important information should be contained in your first sentence, which should succintly tell you what the story is about. Skye mentioned that this is a hard news skill, and it's definitely something I struggle with (along with headlines) when I'm writing. Skye explained that the inverted pyramid is identifiable in print, but talked to us about online news and how text is created there too.
I wouldn't think something as obvious as a hyperlink would be included in text, but it is, as it can link you to other related stories, and allows you to explore the story in depth.
Text also includes:
- The actual story, a headline, captions, pull quotes, break out boxes, a masthead and a standfirst.
- Links, hyperlinks, photo captions. Online includes navigation.
Skye's explanation of how online news is structured really helped. She also talked about complex management systems. This article took me a while to completely understand, but is interesting nonetheless.
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