paragraphs and stuff
The language of journalism makes meaning early.
-Clark & Scanlan pg. 295
I've always been a firm believer of making every word count, and there's really no better example of this in journalism than the first paragraph of an article. Most of the time, 500 words is a lot less than you would think, and if the first hundred words of that don't tell the reader what your trying to say, the next 400 probably wont have a chance. Always open strong. The general public is horribly judgemental whether they have the right to be or not, and if the first lines of an article don't give them what they're looking for, they move on. Cater to reader. If the first paragraph is all that a busy news junkie is going to read of my article, I'm going to make sure it's worth their while.
Comments
Mike, I absolutely love it when a teacher gives me an assignment that is only 400 hundred words. However, when it comes to news writing, 400 words is a lot more difficult than you think. Due to the fact that you have to keep your readers attention, every word is pertinent within your story.D
Posted by: Dianna Griffin | September 18, 2009 9:29 AM