SCCS Media Writing 2012: Usings "5Ws and an H" Opening

Monday, January 16, 2012

Usings "5Ws and an H" Opening

This is just a handy way of constructing the start (or "lead") of a news story when you are under deadline pressure, or when the story does not merit greater effort. In this case you get the reader's by telling him or her what they want to know in the fastest and most efficient way possible.

The "Five Ws" are who, what, when, where, why. Memorize them. They will be on a quiz or test. The "H," which is not always included, is for how. (In fact, why is also sometimes omitted from the lead paragraph if it is too complicated, or if it goes without saying.)

To think of it another way, the opening paragraph should tell the reader who did what, when, where, why and, sometimes, how.

It may become clearer if we look at real example from a kind of story we will be covering (games in the Santa Cruz Interscholastic Sports League):

Who? The Cooperative School boys varsity soccer team

What: Defeated Cambridge 11-0

When: Thursday afternoon

Where: The Jaguars' home field

Why? To open the season with a win

How: By outplaying the Cambridge Knight on offense and defense

This might all come together, with some embellishments, as follows:

The Cooperative boys varsity soccer team opened its season in impressive fashion with a decisive 11-0 win over Cambridge in a game played on the Jaguars' field Thursday afternoon. The Jaguars scored early and late, dominating play at both ends of the field.

You can always start a news story with a five W lead, though you may often be able to think of a better way to get the reader's attention. But even when you do you should answer the basic questions signalled by "The Five Ws and an H" by the second paragraph (or at least the third).

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Fri., Jan 20

This class could be called "Introduction to Interviewing," and we will keep things fairly simple. Later you will be assigned (or choose) a more interesting interview assignment.

In class we will first create individual weblogs. Everything you write for the class should be posted on the weblog, starting with the interviews of classmates which will be the second part of the class. The weblog will be assessed just before the end of the quarter and you will get a grade equivalent to a test based on its content (80%) and appearance (20%).

The interview written about you by a classmate should go, after being corrected and approved (by you and me) into the right hand column as a text "gadget," underneath (if possible) a nice picture of you. The interview you write about a classmate should be posted in the main column, with a headline on it.

Headlines are very important in this class. Give your blog a clever and engaging name, and write an interesting explanation of it underneath. (To do this go to "DESIGN" and edit the "Header.")

There will also be assigned reading on interviewing for next class (pages 83-93 of "Writing Across the Media.)

Ex-Journalist tells all

David Boldt was born at a very early age in New York City shortly before the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor (although the events were not otherwise connected). He spent a largely uneventful childhood in the suburbs of New York located in the state of Connecticut, where he graduated from St. Luke’s School for Boys, a small private school (yes, even smaller than SCCS) located in New Canaan, Conn. He later graduated from Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N.H., in 1964 “with distinction in the major field of history.”

He immediately went to work for The Wall Street Journal in New York, and later, Los Angeles. He spent four years with the Journal, sandwiched around two years with the US Army Signal Corps stationed in Tehran, Iran, an experience that would later prove important to him in his journalistic career. He switched from the Journal to The Washington Post in 1968, and spent four years there, mainly covering the US Congress He was there during the time the Post broke open in the Watergate scandal, and actually sat at the desk next to Carl Bernstein, one of the principal authors of that investigation.

Boldt moved next to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which was then experiencing a renaissance under editor Eugene Roberts, who is quoted frequently in your textbook. During his thirty years at The Inquirer he was a member of a reporting team that won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting for covering the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. The Inquirer took advantage of Boldt’s knowledge of Iran by sending him to cover the Islamic Revolution there in 1979, for which he received a special citation from the Overseas Press Club.

He edited the Inquirer Sunday Magazine from 1976 to 1986, during which time stories and photographs in the Magazine won three Pulitzer Prizes. Subsequent to that he was editor of the editorial page at The Inquirer and an Op-Ed columnist, winning awards in both assignments. He retired in 2000 and moved to Bolivia, where he has not been heard of since, though it is rumored that he teaches English and media writing there at the Santa Cruz Cooperative School.

Boldt has been married to the former Kelly Clark for over 20 years, and they have a daughter, Julia, 14. Boldt’s first wife, Fereshteh, died in 1989. His son from that marriage, Thomas, lives in Los Angeles with his wife Alanna, where he practices traditional Chinese medicine.For amusement Boldt enjoys swimming, horseback riding, tennis, travel, and reading, among other activities. He tried to learn how to play the guitar, but failed. Boldt both bats and throws right-handed.