Inverted Pyramid in technical writing - A dissenting note

As a former journalist, I have written news stories according to the Inverted Pyramid style. As a technical writer, I have not tried that.

Writing user manuals according to the Inverted Pyramid style, which still is a distinctive characteristic of news writing, may work. However, I do have some reservations. What I would like to point out here to non-journalist technical writers is the "context" and "news values" that are used to select a news story is 'fundamentally different" from writing a section in a user manual. The "analysis" that precedes the actual process of writing in both the cases is entirely different.

For example, one of the important news value or determinant used to select a news story is "Significance." Any event that affects or interests a large number of people merits a news story. For example, the recent hike in petrol prices in India affects not just the entire population, but it has a larger impact on the economy as well.

"Proximity' is another important news value. An accident in Bangalore is given more importance than another one in Chennai. But if the accident in Chennai has more casualties, then that news may get prominence in the front pages. Similarly, "Prominence" is another important news value. For example, the Indian Prime Minister's comment on the economy may be given more importance than a credit rating agency's comments.

Moreover, certain news items will be presented according to the "slant" of the newspaper. The lead or the main story in one newspaper may not be the same as the one in another newspaper. The type of headline, whether it should be single deck or multi-deck, and the words used in each and every headline are very carefully chosen.

So, when someone says that the Inverted Pyramid style can be used in technical writing, then is it that the introduction becomes the most important section? So, is it that the procedural tasks are less important than the section introduction? I don't know.

Re-probe or reinvestigation?

"Call strengthens for re-probe into Yuva Morcha leader’s murder," said a newspaper headline.

Re-probe? Wiktionary says "to probe again", but the Corpus of Historical American English did not return any search results for either "re-probe" or "reprobe". Moreover, reprobe seems to be a molecular biology term than a word meaning "reinvestigation". To be more apt, it is better to use "reinvestigate" than re-probe.

Nadal blasts into the French Open Final

Rafael Nadal stormed into the French Open finals today by beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. 

In a match that spanned just one hour and 46 minutes, Nadal showed total control of the game after Ferrer made initial gains by winning a couple of break points. As the game progressed, Nadal's hard-hitting volleys and agility found no match in Ferrer who struggled to keep pace with the former, who is just one victory away from the seventh French Open title. Nadal showed no signs of slowing down as he continued to hold on to the remarkable run he is having in this edition of French Open.

Nadal will meet the winner of the second semi-final between world numbr one Novak Djokovic and third seed Roger Federer.

Rain did interrupt the match after the first set, but after a 55-minute break and with the Sun coming out, Nadal raced to win the rest of the sets in a pretty quick fashion. Nadal said that he would be matching the second semi-final as it would be one of the greatest matches in French Open this year.

Earlier, Nadal reached the semifinals by beating Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3, and Ferrer by defeating fourth seed Andy Murray 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-2.