tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158350.post817776725498584528..comments2023-10-23T09:10:21.726-07:00Comments on Darwin's California Cat Presents Last Days of My Career as a College Professor: An Exercise for Basic Reporting....J.Michael Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15748774253168313345noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158350.post-48727948885841200562008-02-12T23:03:00.000-08:002008-02-12T23:03:00.000-08:00Tommy: The beautiful inverted pyramid is still out...Tommy: The beautiful inverted pyramid is still out there and is still a useful way to present information in readily digestible bits to those who do not have time to feast on a whole table of information. A word that should be used more often in describing news is proportion. That is, lacking infinite space and infinite time to explore all those things we consider news and which we wish to pass on for that reason, we must exclude some things from the news package and we must write others short so what we think most significant can be written long. That means summary leads and stories that can be cut from the bottom. I have no trouble with that. It's honest and it's efficient and it acknowledges the role of human judgment -- of gatekeeping -- in the manufacture of news. Feature stories are anywhere from somewhat more entertaining than straight news to ONLY entertaining with very little of news about them. I've never really thought about it, but I will now say off the top of my head that a feature story written in the manner of the inverted pyramid is a contradiction in terms. Play and delay are characteristics of the feature story. Come over to the feature class blog at 0166325.blogspot.com and link to some of the student blogs and tell me what you think of what they are doing.....J.Michael Robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15748774253168313345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158350.post-70598366058874513192008-02-12T22:53:00.000-08:002008-02-12T22:53:00.000-08:00Hello Prof.Wasn't there the idea of the inverted p...Hello Prof.<BR/>Wasn't there the idea of the inverted pyramid in writing as a reporter? I'm not sure but I think a very well known professor (on this blog)may have taught that concept many moons ago. Is this a departure from earlier teachings? <BR/>Do you identify feature writing and reporting under the same umbrella? Or am I totally off the mark?Tommayohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04230257320521424962noreply@blogger.com