UNITED STATES
GetReligion.org
October 23, 2017
By Terry Mattingly
All journalists who hold jobs in which they have to write hard-news stories on tight deadlines – in wire-service newsrooms, for example – know about the challenge of writing short, accurate summary paragraphs that package lots of facts into very few words.
My college mentor, the famous J-prof David McHam, used to put it this way: A journalist is someone who can write a solid 500-word story in 20 minutes, even with a headache.
You really have to watch out for the transition paragraphs, however, the ones in which you try to give readers a big idea in a punchy sentence, or two. You can end up with strained logic, or worse. Hold that thought, because we will return to it later.
Recently, a careful reader of this blog sent me the URL for an Associated Press story that ran at Crux focusing on a complex and very difficult subject. The headline is rather calm, considering the scandalous subject: “Pope’s advisers on sex abuse also take up children of priests.” Here is the overture:
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.