COMM 209: Here's a model back-to-school story

Journalistic writing is pretty much the same all over the English-speaking world, and the format for a meat-and-potatoes newspaper story doesn't change. Which is why we're reading a back-to-school story from The Torres News, Australia's "Independent Voice of the Torres Strait and N.P.A." [Northern Peninsula Area], wherever that is. It's getting toward the end of summer in the southern hemisphere, so that's why we're reading back-to-school stories from South Africa and Australia, by the way. That's where the kiddies are going back to school at this time of the year.

Well, wherever it is, this little back-to-school story will show us the format for a news story like the back-to-school stories you're getting back today.

[And the primary election stories you'll write this week. Your assignment: A 750-word feature on election day at Springfield College/Benedictine. Based on no fewer than three interviews. Write it in the format I outline here. Due Friday.]

Let's take a closer look at the back-to-school story. The first three grafs set it up:

Lunches are packed, bags are ready - students across the Torres Strait are heading back to school this week to start another year of active learning.

The 2008 school year for all Prep to Year 9 student started on Tuesday, 29th January. For Year 10 to 12 students, school will start on Wednesday 30th. Pre-Prep on Thursday Island will be stagged – Group A starting Wednesday and Group B on Thursday. This means all students, between the ages of 3½ and 17 are expected to be enrolled and attending their school this week.

“The first few days of the school year are important for all students.” Stephanie Savage, Associate Principal - Tagai State College said. “They are provided with an introduction to the learning environment, their teacher as well as the learning and behaviour expectations for the class. Students that miss these days, start the year on the back foot.”

See what's happening here? The lede in the first graf is an attention-getter. See how it's short, it's crisp and it sets the scene to tell a story?

That's what journalistic writing is all about. Short. Crisp. To-the-point. It's about stories. Narrative. That's why reporters always call the stuff they write a story. People want to read stories.

Now let's look at the second graf. It's present tense and future tense, but it tells a story. The kids are going back to school.

Next, a quote. It isn't a great quote, but it'll do. It isn't a great story. So we have a lede, an elaboration on the lede and a quote. Graf graf quote.

See what comes next? See the pattern?

Tagai State College’s Executive Principal, Don Anderson, outlines another important reason for kids to be front of teachers this week. “Schools are resourced on the enrolment figures collected on the 8th day of the school year. The number of teachers, the amount of teacher aide hours and the funds available for learning materials depend on the numbers of heads in the classrooms on day 8. Students enrolled after this time are not counted – so resources have to be spread thinner.”

Let's go back and look at the pattern for the whole story. Graf graf quote, transition quote. I would break that last graf into two, by the way. So would most writers and most copyeditors. (The Brits, and the Australians, call them subeditors, by the way.) So it would be graf graf quote, graf quote. See the pattern?

Let's read on:

In 2008, Tagai State College is looking to continue working with families and communities to improve on the learning outcomes for the students of Torres Strait.

“We have over 140 experienced and enthusiastic teachers ready. We have developed the highest standards of learning experiences and materials” Stephanie Savage said. “For the best start, Parents and Communities need to ensure that all children start school this week.

“2008 is the year in which we have every student, everyday in every classroom, learning.”

See how the pattern continues? Graf quote quote. There's something else going on here, too: Stephanie Savage's quote is broken into two grafs. If you closely at the end of the first graf, you'll see it doesn't have a quote mark at the end. That means the quote carries over to the next graf. That's "AP Stylebook" style. They use it in Australia, too, apparently.

Finally, the last graf is kind of a throw-away:

Parents are encouraged to contact their local Tagai State College Campus if they have any questions regarding enrolment for 2008.

So they just stick it on at the end.

And the pattern for the entire story (as I would edit it) is graf graf quote, graf quote, graf quote quote, graf. That's very common way of putting together stories. It's not rocket science. It's not a mathematical equation. Sometimes you'll have three or four grafs in between quotes. Sometimes you'll have longer quotes and shorter grafs in between. But you string the story together from quote to quote like beads on a cheap necklace.

What else can we notice about this story? The grafs are short. Much shorter than you learned in English class. In newspaper copy that is prepared for a print edition, almost every quote stands alone in its own paragraph. Sentences are short, too. Once you get used to it, you'll find you can write well in a stripped-down news style. You'll find you can write fast, too.

(Which is why they do it! When you're on deadline, you don't have time for a lot of fancy stuff.)

When I started newspapering, I had just finished a Ph.D. in English. So it took me forever to get rid of my great big long, academic, sophisticatedly articulated, philosophically cogent, clunky, unreadable sentences. (One tip: I learned to break each of my school paragraphs into three or four newspaper grafs.) But once I did make the transition, I felt a lot better. I'll bet you will too.