Inverted Pyramid Style of News Writing Examples With Pros & Cons

Inverted Pyramid Style of News Writing Examples. Inverted Pyramid Journalism. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Inverted Pyramid.

Inverted Pyramid Style

Inverted Pyramid Style refers to the hierarchical structure of news writing in which essential information is presented before the non-essential info in the news story. According to the Inverted pyramid style, the most essential info goes to the top, following the less important information. Many readers read only the main point of the news mentioned in the news lead section.

The mass media journalist comprehensively follows an inverted pyramid style to write a news story. It assists writers in illustrating the most crucial information on top of the news. This style prioritizes newsworthy information to write a news article, telegraph, blogs, editorial-column, and sometimes feature articles in journalism. It is one of the most effective strategies to grab readers' attention to read the whole story.  Sometimes, authors follow the inverted pyramid formula to review journal articles in analyzing the findings and accuracy of the study. However, researchers identify both advantages and disadvantages of the inverted pyramid style.

Inverted Pyramid History

The inverted pyramid style has been used since the invention of the telegraph in 1844. Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph in 1840. However, the written message was sent for long-distance interaction in 1844. People followed the inverted pyramid style to send breaking news through telegraph to inform others. They put essential info on top, following the non-essential information. Nowadays, journalists follow this inverted triangle style to report stories in the different types of journalism, including print, broadcast, and digital.Inverted Pyramid Style

The inverted pyramid describes a triangle diagram pointing down feature, which is an inverted triangle writing style. The broader part of the pyramid goes top, and the narrow section goes down. It indicates that the essential news goes up to catch the reader's attention.

Inverted Pyramid Model

The inverted pyramid framework contains three segments: the lead: the most newsworthy information; the body: essential details; and the tail: background info.

1. The Lead: Most Newsworthy Information

The Lead includes the most newsworthy information, followed by the 5w and 1h of report writing style. The journalist should answer the six questions (who,  what, where, when, why, and how) to report the story. This information attracts the audience to read the entire story; hence, the writer keeps the most newsworthy words on the top of the news. The Lead segment includes around 30 words and 1-2 paragraphs. A good news lead must enclose 5w's and 1h report writing formula. The readers can stop reading at any time; therefore, journalists put an essential fact on top of the report.

2. The Body: Essential Details

The body represents the detailed information to expand the story. It also extends the news lead to provide more background details. The main issue is illustrated in this section. It is a broader part of the report where details info is explained. The body explains the issue elaborately; therefore, it is a long paragraph.

3. The Tail: Background Info

The tail is the last part of the news report. It includes background and additional information to the story for readers. The background information keeps readers engaged with the news for a long time. The editor cuts unnecessary info from the news bottom.

In journalism, the inverted pyramid style is a strategic story structure where the most important details are presented first. The report's 5w and 1 h questions appear at the story's beginning, followed by supporting details and background information.

Inverted Pyramid Style of News Writing Examples

This example of an inverted pyramid style of news writing presents how to write a news article concisely including the lead, body, and tail. This example also includes a heading, byline, news lead, and conclusion. It is a news writing example for students based on an inverted pyramid framework.

A Colorful Celebration of Malaysia's National Day
By: M M Kobiruzzaman

UPDATED AUGUST 31, 2022, 12:13 AM

The Lead: Most Essential Info

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's 65 National Day parade brought a massive crowd to Dataran Merdeka, Independence Square, located in Kuala Lumpur's capital.  Around 100,000 visitors participated in the celebration on Wednesday (Aug 31) after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa expressed that we are surprised to see overwhelming civilian participation in the celebration. He also mentioned that around 20,000 participants joined the parades to run the show smoothly.

The Body: Details and Essential Info

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob participated in the ‘Ambang Merdeka 2022’ program at Anjung Floria with family members to celebrate the 65th National Day. The Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Shahidan Kassim, Deputy Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias, Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr. Radzi Jidin, and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Wee Ka Siong also joined the program held present 4. At midnight, the national anthem ''Tanggal 31 Ogos''and patriotic songs reverberated through the Dataran Merdeka ground—the civilians shouted to usher the occasion cheerfully.

The 31 August is the official Independence Day in Malaysia, also known as Hari Merdeka. People celebrate this day with respect and joy to commemorate the Declaration of Independence on 31 August 1957. After two years, people celebrate Malaysia's 65th National Day, full of patriotic spirit and amusement.

The most fantastic event was displaying fireworks for five minutes that lit up the Kuala Lumpur sky. The program has been blessed by the clear weather influencing people from all walks of life to cheer the crowd.

Earlier, many famous local artists such as Ella, Haqiem Rusli, Man Bai, and Ameng Spring performed to treat the crowd. The most local point in Kuala Lumpur, including KLCC and Botanical Gardens, was flooded with thousands of people to commemorate National Day.

The Tail: Additional Info

However, the gathering of thousands of people caused heavy traffic surrounding the area of KLCC. Kuala Lumpur police managed to control heavy traffic and ensured participants' safety and security.

Inverted Pyramid Style of News Writing Example For Students
Advantages and Disadvantages of Inverted Pyramid Style of News Writing

The inverted pyramid is used chiefly globally in traditional print journalism frameworks for news writing. It organizes the news story chronologically and presents the news's main point in the first paragraph, including facts and evidence. The inverted pyramid style of news writing has advantages and disadvantages in news writing.

Advantages of the Inverted Pyramid News Writing Style
Facilitates Editor

The editors can modify the headline easily if it is necessary. The headline should be based on the main point of the story. Hence, the editor can rewrite the headline based on the news lead, and they do not need the whole report. Sometimes, editors cut unnecessary info from the news tail. The inverted pyramid style assists them in modifying news quickly.

Improve Writer Performance

The inverted pyramid style improves the author's news writing performance. It shows them a chronological way to publish news easily. This model applies to all types of news writing, so authors follow the same structure regularly. It certainly saves time to write and deliver news content.

Improve Reader's Comprehension

The reader can easily understand the whole topic while reading the news lead. The inverted pyramid suggests following the 5w and one h writing style, making the feature more attractive to readers.

Represent the Fact

The inverted pyramid news writing style represents the story's facts in chronological sequence. It assists the author in identifying the uninteresting factors and separating them accordingly.

Save Time

The reader can understand the entire news story by reading the news lead so they can decide whether to read it. They can avoid the news if the story is not essential or relevant. So it does not tire the readers.

Improve News Values

The inverted pyramid journalism certainly improves newsworthiness and news values. This model is applicable to all types of journalism, including Personal influence, Controversy, Suitability, Impact, and Bizarre.

Increase Revenue

The inverted pyramid news style encourages readers to narrow down to read the conclusion. The audiences spend more time online on news portals; therefore, it increases revenue.

Disadvantages of the Inverted Pyramid News Writing Style

The inverted pyramid style represents the main ideas on the top of the news; therefore, many light readers read the headline and lead and leave it. It cannot hold the audience on the same report for long.  Hence, the most significant cons of the inverted pyramid style are that it provides the primary information o  top and releases the audience.

No Suspense

This model does not influence to make suspense, but many readers find uncertainty in news stories. It demotivates readers from reading the news due to the suspense.

No Creativity

The writers can follow the same style to write all types of news. So, there is less opportunity to emphasize the author's creativity. It does not influence writers to implement creativity.

Formulaic

It can tell the readers that reports are generated in the same formula. A backward style gives more value to the structure rather than facts.

No Beginning

The story has no beginning or end. It focuses on the basic rules of the inverted pyramid style while writing news rather than the beginning point of the story. It demotivates journalists to write the story from the beginning point.

In conclusion, despite the advantages and disadvantages of the inverted pyramid style of news writing, most journalists, directly and indirectly, utilize the inverted pyramid style for report writing. Also, blogger follows this strategy to write creative, educational, and feature articles.

Feature Articles Examples and Samples For Students PDF

Feature Articles Examples for Students PDF. Feature Writing Example For Students. How to Write a Feature Story.

Feature Article

A feature article refers to the human-interest story in mass media, including newspapers, magazines, blogs, and websites. It is a journalistic report but not opinion or editorial writing. The fundamental objective of the feature articles is to educate and entertain people, concentrating on certain people, locations, events, and expertise. For example, a travel feature article focuses on a particular location and describes why tourists should visit the place. The profile feature article also represents a person's lifestyle, hobby, profession, recognition, and goal. There are many types of feature articles. The seven most common feature articles in journalism are profile, travel, round-up, how-to, personal experience, review, and obituary.

The feature article is soft news, so writers take enough time to study the topic to publish it. Journalists research, gather information and convey a descriptive and meaningful message through feature articles about the original ideas.  However, journalists intend to publish hard news quickly in print media. Hard news cannot adequately explain the event's background due to the lack of preparation and time.

How Long Should a Feature Article Be?
  • A feature article should be 500 to 2500 words in length for newspapers.
  • A feature article should be 500 to 5000 words in length for Magazine.

Feature Articles Examples for Students

Today, the author explains how to write a feature article for students in journalism. This article also mentions seven steps to writing feature stories. The writers must prepare before writing the feature article and follow the steps thoroughly to yield a thoughtful article.

The Steps To Write a Feature Article

The seven steps to writing a feature article are as follows:

  1. Select the Topic
  2. Target Audience
  3. Research the Topic
  4. Outline the Steps
  5. Start the Writing Process
  6. Propose Recommendation and Caution
  7. Edit and Proofread
Feature Articles Examples for Students PDF in Journalism
1. Select the Topic

Firstly, the writers have to select the subject topic in which they can generate a meaningful feature article. It is significant to set a title as part of the pre-writing article. So, the author suggests the writers choose a topic they are interested in studying. Additionally, the writers must have a good idea and experience with the topics. For example, if the writers like to travel to tourist areas and know how to describe a tourist place. It will undoubtedly help them to set the feature article's topic based on travel experiences. Therefore, selecting a topic is a crucial and initial step in writing a feature article in journalism.

2. Target Audience

Target audience is the second stage of making a feature article. It is another essential fact; it is useless if nobody reads the story. For example, the youths show more interest in topics related to social media. In contrast, they might offer less interest in the feature article relevant to cooking recipes. However, the restaurant owners and cooks show more interest in cooking instructions. So, the writer must set the topic based on the target audiences who will read the articles. The researchers suggest following geographic, demographic, and psychographic factors when targeting the audiences.

3. Research the Topic

Research on the topic means studying the issue in depth to collect more information. So, writers should take enough time to research the case before writing the feature article. It isn't easy to write a thoughtful story without providing precious information. The research assists journalists in discovering sources. Authentic sources help verify information authentication, such as statistic reports, quotes by a well-known person, and references from TV, newspapers, radio, and journals. Hence, research on the topic is significant in making the article more valuable and believable.

4. Outline the Steps

The outline of the steps means sketching all stages that the writer plans to complete thoroughly. The writers should make a rough draft of how to write a complete feature story mentioning all steps of feature writing. This outline certainly helps to determine how many steps writers need to complete and how many have already been done. It also discovers the strengths and weaknesses of the writers. So they can take the additional initiative to overcome weaknesses. The best way to outline the stages is by using transitional verbs or highlighting points with number sequences. After all, it has appeared as an essential step in feature writing.

5. Start the Writing Process

The writers start to write the feature article in this stage. Therefore, it is the most significant part of feature writing. In the first paragraph, they should introduce the feature so readers can understand the topic's essence. In addition, journalists explain the advantages of reading this article; therefore, they use catchy sentences to attract audiences. For example, journalists must explain what kind of adverse consequences the audience can encounter by hacking if they want to write a feature article about how to stop hacking Facebook IDs. So it triggers them to read the full article.

Moreover, the researcher suggests writing one paragraph for each section and never messing up one part with other parts. The writer should remember that readers are not aware of the writing process. So, it will be difficult for them if they do not write one paragraph in each section.  For example, journalists should mention "how to open a Facebook ID" before instructing them to protect Facebook from hacking.

Furthermore, the writers should use chronological order to clarify every step to the readers. For example, they should mention steps one, two, and three of the article for better understanding. They also need to use action verbs to describe steps, such as apply, write, cut, mix, use, change, etc.

Finally, the writers should ensure that the article is simple and friendly. So, they need to stop using irrelevant information and make it assertive.

6. Add Recommendations and Caution

If necessary, the journalists should propose suggestions and cautions when necessary. The readers might consider the writer less informative if they do not offer recommendations. It is a fundamental duty to add a warning if there have any possible dangers in the process of the article. For example,  the writers suggest wearing winter dresses to keep warm when writing the travelogue feature article representing cold places, including Antarctica, Russia, Iceland, Canada, and the United States.

7. Edit and Proofread

The final step of feature writing is editing and proofreading. It means revising the article again and again before publishing it for the readers. The writers should read the article loudly in front of friends and employees to verify it. They need to brainstorm to dig out more questions and find the answer. Students can edit the article only; because proofreading is expensive. However, the editors must proofread the article before publishing it in print media such as newspapers and magazines.  The researchers suggested some common questions for writers that they can ask. The questions are as follows: do they understand the process, are there any steps missing, and is there anything else to add?

Feature Articles Examples for Students

The author includes two feature article examples for students. These examples incorporate the seven steps to writing a feature article. Therefore, this feature article example must assist students, writers, journalists, and employees teach how to write a feature story.

Short feature article example for students -1

Title: "Discover the Diversity of the USA: A Journey Across America's Landscapes"

From the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains to the bustling streets of New York City, the United States of America offers travelers a diverse array of experiences waiting to be explored. Whether you're drawn to natural wonders, iconic landmarks, or vibrant cities, a journey through the USA promises adventure at every turn.

Begin your American adventure in the breathtaking landscapes of the West Coast. Explore the rugged beauty of California's coastline along the Pacific Coast Highway, where you can surf the waves of Malibu, hike among the towering redwoods of Muir Woods, and witness the stunning vistas of Big Sur.

Head inland to the awe-inspiring landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, where you can embark on outdoor adventures year-round. In Colorado, ski the slopes of Aspen or hike the trails of Rocky Mountain National Park, while in Utah, marvel at the otherworldly rock formations of Arches and Zion National Parks.

For a taste of American history and culture, journey to the East Coast and immerse yourself in the vibrant cities that define the region. Explore the historic streets of Boston, where the Freedom Trail leads you past revolutionary landmarks such as the Paul Revere House and Faneuil Hall. In Washington, D.C., stroll along the National Mall and marvel at the iconic monuments and memorials that pay tribute to the nation's past.

No visit to the USA would be complete without experiencing the excitement of New York City. From Times Square and Central Park to the Statue of Liberty and Broadway, the Big Apple offers endless opportunities for exploration and discovery.

As you travel across the USA, take time to savor the local cuisine that reflects the country's diverse cultural heritage. Indulge in barbecue in Texas, seafood in New England, and soul food in the South, sampling regional specialties that tantalize the taste buds.

With its vast landscapes, vibrant cities, and rich cultural tapestry, the USA beckons travelers from around the world to embark on a journey of discovery. Whether you're exploring the natural wonders of the West Coast or immersing yourself in the history of the East Coast, a trip to the USA promises an unforgettable adventure filled with experiences that will stay with you long after you return home.

Travelogue Feature Writing Examples-2

Travelogue Example for Students & Travelogue Sample

Film Review Writing on 3 Idiots-3

Film Review of 3 Idiots For StudentsConclusion

The seven steps to write a feature article are: select the topic, target audience, research the topic, outline the steps, start the writing process and propose recommendations and cautions, and edit and Proofread. People read feature articles to earn more knowledge on certain events.  Sometimes, the audiences read feature writing to get instructions to complete their tasks. So, the writer should be more responsible when writing a feature article to educate the audience. Hopefully, the seven steps to writing a feature article will assist students in completing feature writing assignments. It also guides new writers and journalists in writing complete feature articles.