Have you ever wondered why newspaper paragraphs, unlike paragraphs in books, are so short; often just one sentence?
The American Civil War was partly to blame, as were the limitations of hot metal newspaper production.
A paragraph, in formal writing or a book, is a unit of thought rather than a unit of length.
It deals with one idea. It explains itself, perhaps asks one or more questions, and gives answers.
Or a paragraph may carry a description then offer comment on it.
However, an older English language stylist might insist a paragraph should be three to five sentences. They might also suggest that one person (a mannerly person) should speak in paragraph lengths and allow the person they are speaking to time to give a paragraph-length answer.
All of that might be true in books, formal writing, and polite conversation. But newspapers are different. This is because they construct stories using the inverted pyramid system.
Reports consist of facts: who, when, where, why, what, how. A hard news report starts with the most important fact, then the next important, and so on. As the name suggests: the big stuff at the top; a pyramid upside down.
A newspaper report looks like this:
Best fact: “Two men killed” (human life is always paramount).
When: “today”.
How and where: “In a fire at Dundee docks”.
Why: “leaking fuel barrels”.
Cost always comes after life: “£20 million damage”.
Then your next best facts: “1,000 evacuated; Tay Road Bridge closed; 100 firefighters; plume of smoke over town”. The journalist’s skill being, of course, to decide the order in which to report facts. Eyewitness accounts are worked in where appropriate.
Legend has it that this method was honed during the American Civil War, when primitive telegraph communications forced war correspondents to relate their best fact first in case the line went dead.
When a newspaper was created in hot metal type, as happened well into the 1980s, if a story had to be shortened (as often happened) it was cut from the bottom up.
There was no text manipulation by computer. No time for rewrites. The page had to be “put to bed” at speed. I miss the hot metal days.
Inverted pyramid story construction was essential; you cut the least important facts, one sentence (paragraph) at a time.
This is outmoded now, when we can press “delete” on a single word or run sentences together. But tradition persists.
Word of the week
Nuddle (verb)
To push with the nose. EG: “The cute kitten nuddled its owner in an instantly rewarded demand for attention.”
Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk
