Pearlman shares his "pearls" with young journalists

By Desmond Siahaan

News stories do not need to follow the Aristotelian dramatic logic of a beginning, middle and end, says Jonathan Pearlman, a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Instead, a news story can consist of different segments of information usually presented in order of significance rather than a clear narrative flow.

Currently rotating between sections in the Herald, Pearlman says when he writes a hard news lead, he prefers it tight, clear, sharp and succinct. The transition from one paragraph to another in a news story may be dictated by the need to present all aspects of the story or conflict. "The most reliable grammatical method of ensuring a smooth transition is to begin with a conjunction," he says.

Pearlman admits that producing quotations is significant to a news story because not only do they show that the story has credible sources but it also brings life and originality to the story.

To write a good quotation, he tries to clearly capture and summarise the viewpoints of a speaker. Pearlman tries to produce a quotation that contains information or an opinion that is surprising or has not previously been stated by a speaker.
"A quotation should not state the obvious or merely repeat what has been said elsewhere."

In terms of the word length, Pearlman says it depends on the nature and importance of the story. His standard news story is about 400 to 500 words.