foolishness报刊英语知识点

2021年1月6日发(作者：杜光庭)
As we can see, this passage is a disaster report on the
American’s 911 event. Since this event is such a serious
emegerncy that sweeps through the world
instantaneously, the author adpots the most frequently
used structure in breaking news writing—the inverted
pyramid form. In this structure, events are written in
descending order of importance. It’s known to us that
most newspaper leads are summary news leads, which
usually include all the 5Ws and one H of the news.
However, in my perspective, at the begining of this
passage, the author uses a suspense lead without
providing the complete element of news for us, which
adds suspense interest to the story.
After setting up a suspense lead, the author offers us the
details in the following paragraphs which consist of the
body of this passage. Using a large number of direct or
indirect quotations can help to show maximum
objectivity and to decrease the color of personal slant. In
addition, the author also adopts interpretative way of
writing such as the eighth paragraph which potrays a
vivid scene before us.

Inverted pyramid style: it is the most frequently used
structure in news writing.
In this structure, events are written in descending order
of importance. First of all, a terse lead is formed. The
lead offers the most essential elements telling who, what,
when, where, why and how of the story.
Advantages: First, it is convenient for editors to decide
the news value and cut the news from the bottom;
Second, it is convenient for journalists to meet the
deadline without missing any key facts; Third, it can help
readers to find the main facts of the news quickly.
Disadvantages: First, the main facts all frequently appear
in the headline, lead and body, which would be
suffocative to most readers; Second, the writing is not
tightly organized and fully deployed, what’s more, the
style is top heavy and lack of suspense interest.

8. News value determiners
A: timeliness or freshness;
Importance/consequence/impact/significance;
Prominence;
Proximity/locality/nearness
Unusualness/bizarreness/oddity/novelty
Human interest;
Conflict
大量事例的罗列Hard news (spot news/straight news):
Events that are timely and are covered almost
automatically by print and electronic media. They are
often very serious and important news.
11. News structure
Pyramid style/the chronological style
It is composed by three parts, they are beginning, body
and ending. To write a piece of news in pyramid style, a
beginning is given first and events are written in time
sequence. Writers can take advantage of narrative and
descriptive writing, so it flows better and involves
readers. At the meantime, it adds suspense interest to the
story.
List technique
Wall Street journal formula: It tends to focus on
individual.
12. Forms of reporting
Follow-ups/ follow-up stories (second cycle stories/
development stories)
Advantages: First, it attracts readers’ attention by
accentuating on one important fact of the news; Second,
it tends to fully deploy the news from different aspects,
which can well make up for the contradiction in terms of
freshness and integrity; Third, it helps to form the public
opinion.

Content: Facts that are not mentioned in previous stories
or some background of events.
The developments of the events;
Different opinions from people of all walks of life;
The prediction of the events;
Important facts that previously reported.
es of leads
A: Succinct. A summary lead should outline a news story
in no more than 35 words
Informative. A summary lead should contain the 5Ws of
news.
Intriguing. Leads are sometimes called “grabbers”, which
means it serves the duty to grab the readers’ attention.
What’s more, leads should also be straightforward,
varied, clear specific and active.