Dave Molloy

When editing other young journalists’ work, I’m often amazed at the lack of basic knowledge shown by English majors when it comes to news writing. Often, they miss a big part of the story. They shouldn’t, because there’s only six things we need to know:

What, why, when, how, where and who.

These are the things that make up a story. It’s always been so, even back in the days when Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, and wrote the poem:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who…

For those of you who noticed this is where I got the blog title from, congratulations. Keep those observational skills honed. Hit the jump for examples of applying this in practice.

Let’s look at a news piece to see how this information is delivered. The following is an excerpt from Reuter’s online news coverage on the man who threw his shoes at George W. Bush during a press conference:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush has become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.

The little-known Shi’ite reporter, said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by gunmen in 2007.

TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the Iraqi government of a “barbaric act.” He would be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the prime minister’s media adviser, Yasin Majeed.

His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Baghdad’s Sadr City, in the southern Shi’ite stronghold of Basra and in the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a U.S. convoy.

“Thanks be to God, Muntazer’s act fills Iraqi hearts with pride,” his brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television.

“I’m sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush.”

Zaidi shouted “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog,” at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.

The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush’s head and slammed into the wall behind him. Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.

Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.

Let’s take a look at that first paragraph.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush has become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.

This paragraph tells us “what”. That’s its only purpose. A short, simple, one-sentence introduction, telling us what happened. If a reader is in a hurry, they can just scan that sentence and move to the next story. If they want to, they can read more.

Obviously, a reader might wonder “why” someone would throw their shoes at the President of the USA. Paragraph 2 takes care of this:

The little-known Shi’ite reporter, said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by gunmen in 2007.

And the next paragraph takes care of “who”: TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi. Three paragraphs in, and we’ve already covered three of the six big questions any story raises.

If our busy audience kept reading after paragraph 1 but needed to stop now, they’d be reasonably well informed. There’s a little extra information in the next few paragraphs, and a quotation from the man’s brother, too. Then, the last paragraphs round off the details of the attack: “how”, “where”, and “when”:

Zaidi shouted “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog,” at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.

The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush’s head and slammed into the wall behind him.

And that pretty much concludes the necessary information for the story. It’s interesting to note that the story itself doesn’t actually end there- the full post goes on for another page or so, and covers reactions from both supporters of the individual and the Iraqi government. But the core information that people need to know is contained right there in the first few paragraphs. The full post can be read here.

(Keen observers might notice that there’s really two stories going on here- the attack itself and the reaction to it. While we’ve dealt with the strand of the story that covers the attack itself, this approach applies equally well to the reaction).

So, in reporting, remember to cover these basics. It’s amazing how often even seasoned reporters let one slip by without inclusion, and it’s frustrating for a reader to notice it’s missing. And always keep these crucially important “core” questions right at the front of the story- nothing annoys readers more than hunting down information contained in long portions of text.

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Journalism •Resources

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