Here’s a test: are you going to make it to the fourth paragraph of this article? Statistically, the chances are slim. Most of us, it turns out, just skim the surface when we read news stories; the majority don’t get past the headline. You might not think this really matters for a radio review (even if it’s a riveting one), but what if the context provided lower down in a story would radically change how it is perceived, if only the reader could get that far?
Welcome to How to Read the News, a meta-analysis of the nuts and bolts of journalism running in snappy 15-minute segments on Radio 4. At the heart of episode one is the “inverted pyramid”: the way journalists are taught to write reports starting with the most newsworthy information at the top.
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