Reporting and editing

The essentials

Reporting is collecting facts through observation, interviews and documents and writing them as a news story. Editing is checking and improving that story before publication. Most hard news stories follow the inverted pyramid: the most important facts come first and less important details follow, so the story can be cut from the bottom without losing the main point.

Key points

• The lead (intro) is the first paragraph; it answers the most important of the 5 Ws and 1 H: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.
• The body gives supporting details, quotes and background in decreasing order of importance.
• Copy is the written text of a story. A copy editor (sub-editor) checks facts, spelling, grammar, style, length and legal risks, and removes repetition.
• Headlines are short, use the present tense for past events, use active voice, skip articles like "a" and "the", and must be accurate and attract attention.
• Types of headline include straight news headlines and feature-style headlines that use wordplay.
• A deadline is the time by which copy must be submitted.
• Feature stories often do not follow the inverted pyramid; they may begin with an anecdote or description.

Exam tips

If asked why the inverted pyramid is useful, remember two reasons: readers get the key facts quickly, and editors can trim from the bottom. Practise identifying which W or H a phrase answers.

Common mistakes

Headlines are not full sentences with past tense; "Floods hit Assam" is preferred over "The floods have hit Assam".