I think this is one of the best advices i got about writing news content in a while. It's a 5+1 formula for writing perfect news content. The 5+1 stands for questions that the writer needs to answer in it's article to fulfill the readers desire. Good read but a bit too short though... Does anyone have any more info on this formula?
W5 is not a formula. It simply represents the five questions which must be immediately answered in any news article. Typically, those questions are answered in the first one or two paragraphs and then additional information is presented in descending order of importance. The reason for this is that prior to 1975, nearly all newspapers used hot lead type to create pages from which the plates which were used to print the newspaper were made. By immediately answering the five key questions and then presenting more information in descending order of importance, long articles could be editing on the composing floor by simply cutting paragraphs from the bottom up until the story was short for the space available. Applied to a blog, the first two paragraphs could be displayed on page one and would answer those five questions, with the "next" page containing more if people are interested.
I worked in the newspaper business for many years. Out of high school I worked on the composing room floor of the Winnipeg Free Press as the newspaper was making the transition from hot lead to composing pages using a special paper to which wax was applied. I worked with the hot lead. I went on to become a reporter and editor at one of the newspapers that company owned.