The Inverted Pyramid in Journalism: Definition and Examples

The world of journalism is fast-paced and cutthroat: only the best can remain at the top. As people’s attention spans are getting shorter, you need to fight to grab their attention and keep them reading as long as you can.

The good news is, the inverted pyramid technique is a tool that can help you do just that, and you can learn how to use it skillfully.

What Is an Inverted Pyramid in Journalism?

The inverted pyramid in journalism is, simply put, the organization of news stories with the most important information first, as follows:

The Lead: The most essential information, such as Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? The lead usually includes a “hook” or a provocative question or quote, takes around 30 words, or 1–2 thin paragraphs.

The Body: The next most important details, such as controversies or issues, background, evidence, quotes, images, video, or audio that help expand the topic.

The Tail: Extra information such as related items, extra context, an editorial or the journalist’s own opinion.

Not all news stories strictly follow the inverted pyramid style, but the lead for hard news pieces always uses it.

Why Do Journalists Use the Inverted Pyramid?

Using the inverted pyramid lets readers discover the most critical details first, and helps them make the split-second decision to either keep reading or drop the story. It also lets the writer organize the information efficiently, especially in our fast-paced daily life.

Journalists who use the inverted pyramid style of writing also make it easier for the editor, who can simply cut out paragraphs from the bottom to fit into a desired word count, for example.

What Is an Example of Inverted Pyramid?

One of the earliest examples of the inverted pyramid is an article published in the New York Times back in 1865 about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Here is an excerpt from the article, written by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, entitled “President Lincoln Shot by an Assassin.”

This evening at about 9:30 p.m. at Ford’s Theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Harris and Major Rathburn, was shot by an assassin, who suddenly entered the box and approached behind the President.

The assassin then leaped upon the stage, brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theatre.

The pistol ball entered the back of the President’s head and penetrated nearly through the head. The wound is mortal.

The President has been insensible ever since it was inflicted, and is now dying.

About the same hour an assassin, whether the same or not, entered Mr. Seward’s apartment and under pretense of having a prescription was shown to the Secretary’s sick chamber. The assassin immediately rushed to the bed and inflicted two or three stabs on the chest and two on the face. It is hoped the wounds may not be mortal. My apprehension is that they will prove fatal.

The nurse alarmed Mr. Frederick Seward, who was in an adjoining rented room, and he hastened to the door of his father’s room, when he met the assassin, who inflicted upon him one or more dangerous wounds. The recovery of Frederick Seward is doubtful.

It is not probable that the President will live through the night.

But the inverted pyramid is not only for old-style newspapers. Even the BBC uses it a lot these days. Take a look at this excerpt from an online post on BBC in 2018, entitled Theresa May calls off MP’s vote on her Brexit deal:

Prime Minister Theresa May has called off Tuesday’s crucial vote on her Brexit deal so she can go back to Brussels and ask for changes to it.

As it stands the deal “would be rejected by a significant margin” if MPs voted on it, she admitted.

But she said she was confident of getting “reassurances” from the EU on the Northern Ireland border plan.

But European Council President Donald Tusk said the remaining 27 EU countries would not “renegotiate” the deal.

While EU leaders would be willing to “discuss how to facilitate UK ratification” of the withdrawal agreement at Thursday’s summit in Brussels, he suggested the controversial Northern Irish backstop, which the DUP and many Tories want removed, would remain in place.

The prime minister’s U-turn came after she and senior ministers had spent days insisting the vote would go ahead, despite the scale of opposition from MPs being obvious.

Origins of Inverted Pyramid Journalism

Looking back on history, the inverted pyramid style of journalism was likely the result of an old technology, the telegraph. New outlets used the telegraph to send information, so they made sure to transmit the most vital details first. In case the connection was lost, the receiver could still publish the essential information.

Criticism of the Pyramid

Some in the media criticize the inverted pyramid structure for several reasons:

It can lack art or creativity, since it is essentially a formula that journalists follow, removing a big chunk of their autonomy.
Giving the “ending” away first means that readers have no incentive to keep reading.
The structure might make the chronology of events confusing for the reader.

The inverted pyramid has lost some of its prominence with the rise of online news writing. Whereas in traditional print newspapers editors are bound by page and column size, for online writing, article length has more wiggle room.

Also, the rise of blogging means that more writers are shunning traditional structures for news writing altogether.

Using the Inverted Pyramid in Journalism

If you want to try your hand at traditional news writing, you may want to try using the inverted pyramid structure.

But also bear in mind that the goal for any writing is to communicate and be understood, so consider it simply one of the tools in your writing arsenal.

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