The Nut Graph

I don’t remember much from journalism school. Most of what I do remember came from Professor Mike Foley, a former managing editor of the St. Pete Times (now the Tampa Bay Times), a first-rate and highly respected newspaper. Professor Foley looked and acted like a more opinionated, energetic, and debauched Anthony Bourdain. He was an ideal introduction to the profession.

Here are some of the salient points I learned from J school (and I won’t even charge you tuition):

1. Every person should have a limited lifetime supply of exclamation points.
2. Stories and photos should have snappy headlines/captions. For example, in a story about two pandas living in a zoo that, at long last, mated and produced a panda cub: “Ling -Ling and Sing-Sing finally do their thing-thing.”
3. The beginning of a news article is called the lede and it should contain the essential elements of the story: who, what, when, where, why and how.

To introduce you to our story here at 180 Degrees West, we’ll be writing a short series called The Lede that will cover each of these points in turn. Stay tuned.