Inverted Pyramid Turned Upside Down p.

By: Debra Gersh

ASNE study: Traditional style less appealing to all readers
A new report from the American Society of Newspaper Editors Literacy Committee has found that the inverted pyramid just doesn't reach readers.
Despite a few changes to newspapers and changes among readers, the technique is still taught and used today, but the ASNE report found the style least popular among four modes tested with readers.
The inverted pyramid includes a story's most important facts in the first few paragraphs and moves into background and less important information as the story progresses. It can be traced to the Civil War, when telegraph lines often cut transmissions in progress.
The study pitted the inverted pyramid against narrative, which tells a story; point of view, which approaches the news with a clear viewpoint, more like a column; and radical clarity, which explains every bit of information.
The four modes were tested against each other using four reporters from the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, each writing the same story, on deadline, in one of the four modes for different zoned editions of the paper. Each style was rotated among reporters and zones for four days. To help keep the focus on the text, each had the same headline, subhead and art.
In a random sample telephone survey, Times subscribers were questioned about their reading habits in general and specifically about the four stories.
The survey found that "writing matters to readers," according to Frank Denton, ASNE Literacy Committee chair and editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.
Denton outlined the five major conclusions as follows:
?"The traditional, inverted-pyramid style that dominates newspaper writing does not work very well with readers. It has some strengths, fulfilling some readers' expectations of news stories, but more weaknesses ? particularly with the people who are less likely to read newspapers today. By all measures, across the board, the traditional stories failed among readers with less than a high school education."
?"Storytelling techniques offer great potential for newspapers. Averaging all kinds of readers and all four stories, the narrative versions tended to outscore the others. They simply were better read, and they communicated information better."
?"Older, loyal readers and women are less picky; that is, they were more willing to sort out different styles. Younger and less frequent readers ? those whom we are trying hardest to reach ? favored the narrative and radical clarity techniques."
?"Perhaps because it is alien to the prevailing newspaper ethic, or because it can feel condescending, the point-of-view technique did not fare well among most readers and thus seems to offer the least potential. The only exception was the less-educated reader, who appeared to be reached most effectively by point of view."
?"Newspapers aiming at a less-educated readership should reconsider their reliance on traditional writing and experiment with the other techniques, all of which worked better with such readers."
The study found that no one technique worked best with all readers. Each was best for certain stories and certain readers.
Rather than editors and reporters feeling discouraged, Denton advised that they should "consider creative combinations."
The report included a series of suggestions by Don Fry, director of writing programs at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and Roy Peter Clark, associate director and dean of the faculty at the Poynter Institute.
The suggestions included:
? Encouraging more of this kind of experimentation, "using real reporters and real readers in real time."
? Continuing to "explore the relationship between certain groups of readers and certain story forms."
? Insisting on the separation of news and opinion because "readers can tell the difference and want them kept apart."
? Encouraging more storytelling in news, using the narrative form to bring readers into the story.
? Rethinking the traditional inverted pyramid form, using it for shorter stories because readers are less willing to follow jumps from this mode.
? Using radical clarity not as a form "but as a test of reporting depth" and for parts of stories, such as sidebars.
? Starting to think about readers as plural, rather than "the" reader, and remembering that reading is an interactive process "in which different kinds of readers bring a rich variety of needs and interests to their encounters with news stories."
? Remembering that reporting, writing and editing are collaborative pro-cesses.
? Training reporters to accept and use new forms and techniques.
? Taking chances and experimenting "to find the forms that serve our readers rather than ourselves."