In 1902, Rudyard Kipling published his book Just So Stories. The book had a short story The Elephant’s Child which ended with a poem. And do you know how the poem began:
I have six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
It’s a very interesting rhyme and captures the essence of the news story. It also tells you how to write a news story. Incidentally, Kipling was a journalist. He worked for Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore and with The Pioneer in Allahabad in the late nineteenth century.
All students of journalism must learn how to make Kipling’s six honest men work for them, especially Who and What.
Mr Who gives you the names of the people. It is the starting point of all news stories. The more important the person the more important is the story. You must make sure that you get the name, designation, age, standing etc of Mr Who right.
Mr What informs you as to what has happened. This is what the readers want to know. So, please keep Mr What happy. Find out everything from Mr What before writing your story.
The next two honest men on your list should be Mr When and Mr Where.
Mr When tells you when an event occurred. You cannot ignore this important point in your story. Always find out when an event has happened or when it is going to happen, and share it with your readers.
Mr Where too cannot be ignored. After all, you have to tell your readers where the event happened. Make sure you get this right.
The last two honest men — Mr Why and Mr How – do not share their information easily. You have to work hard to make them open up.
Mr How, if he is happy with your efforts, will reveal how an event was planned. This is extremely useful background information, and can give your story an extra dimension. That is why good reporters work hard to get Mr How open up.
Mr Why similarly is not easy to please. But the best crime reporters or investigative reporters are those who do not give up their search. They rest only when they have found all the answers known to the mysterious Mr Why.
The six honest men are popularly known by their acronym – the five Ws and an H. Your teachers will tell you that you must keep all the six honest men happy at all time.
But this is not a good strategy. Use only those honest men in your lead or intro that are relevant. All six make for a cluttered opening. The rest can be included later in the story – and that too if there is a need.
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