If there is one thing many newspapers around the world seem to have in common, it is the rigid adherence to the Inverted Pyramid as a style of news presentation. Editors justify the Inverted Pyramid as an effective way of informing readers very quicky about what happened, when, where, why, to whom it happened and how, without losing their interest and attention. Though there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this approach, it has created the impression that all the news has to be reported in the first paragraph, hence the use of summary leads.
Edem Djokotoe | June 27, 2008