Journalism Basics: What are the Ws? Should they be part of the nut graph?
By Rob Golub
The Ws are an important part of any work of journalism. They are:
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?
These are the core questions we must work to answer in our information gathering and writing. It’s best to run through them in your mind, to make sure you’ve got your bases covered when you draft a nut graph or write a story. Sometimes, new journalists forget to include all the Ws as they learn, and even experienced journalists sometimes forget, including your buddy Rob. Editors are a beautiful thing – when they notice something missing, I don’t get defensive. I just say, “Thanks so much for the catch.”
I like to tell interns that the Why and How are the saddest Ws. These two little three-letter fellows are the most-often forgotten Ws. Poor little guys.
Sometimes there really is no How or Why to report. But many times there’s an important How or Why that should have been included, and reporters just forgot to think about it. So don’t forget! Remember to check for if a Why or How is needed!
Most of the time, for typical news and feature stories, your nut graph should have some or all the Ws. There is an exception, which is when the focus of the story is not the same as the point of the nut graph. I’ll hit the focus exception in a future post. For now, let’s talk about the more typical set-up, where the nut should have some or all Ws.
Here in an example of an article like that – a first paragraph nut from a May 14, 2026, article in The New York Times, “Former Brooklyn Judge Arrested in Real Estate Fraud Case.”
Just look at all those beautiful Ws! We love to get to them quickly, especially in a breaking news story, which is what this is.
Who? “A former … judge” starts to answer that. Name will be in the next paragraph.
What? In other words, what happened? He was “arrested."
Where? He’s not just any former judge, he’s a former “New York” judge. And the headlines and the second paragraph say “Brooklyn,” a borough of New York City. The alleged crimes relate to "New Jersey."
When? He was arrested “Wednesday.”
Why? Arrested because he was accused of “defrauding investors."
How? In an earlier version of this story, The New York Times didn't give us any How until the third paragraph: the allegation that he used his “position as a sitting judge to lend false legitimacy to supposed investment opportunities.” Presumably, with a few more hours of work and thought, the reporter was able to also put some How into the first paragraph nut: "... offered fake investment opportunities in New Jersey real estate ..."
This is all great. We’ve hit the Ws quickly in this breaking news story.
Think of your nut as a cat hungry for Ws vittles. Those are important aspects of news, and we like to start with what’s most important, particularly when it comes to breaking news. That’s why we like the inverted pyramid, which we will hit another time.
More Journalism Basics.
Looking for more lessons in basic journalism? More to come in the months ahead!