Journalism Basics: What is the nut graph?

By Rob Golub

The nut graph is the starting point that launches every great story. If you want to do written journalism, you must understand the nut graph.

Journalism students are often taught that a nut graph is a sentence or short paragraph near the top of a story that answers one simple question: “Why should I care about this?” It’s sometimes called the “why we care” paragraph.

This is a fair description, yet I’ve found it can be confusing language for new journalists, partly because the word “care” can be taken in different directions. I find it’s more useful to think about the nut graph as answering a different question: “Why are we doing this story?”

It’s the same paragraph, just a different way of thinking about it: Why are we doing this story?

After we answer that, the rest of the story connects with the nut graph, often proves it with sourcing. This makes the writing easier, the reporting in service of a purpose. You’ll get focused, in a good way.

In good newsrooms, editors often ask: “What’s the nut?”

If the writer can’t answer that, the story isn’t ready to be written.

An example

Instead of:

“A meeting was held Tuesday night at City Hall where several resolutions were passed.”

A good nut graph often finds an appropriate angle for us to focus on and might say:

 “A City Council meeting Tuesday turned tense during discussion of a proposed ordinance to limit protests near religious institutions. After some debate related to religious freedom, personal safety and free speech, a vote on the issue was postponed to the next session.”

Same event. Much clearer purpose.

Why are we doing this story? Not just because there was a meeting. No, if it was a meeting about which bank the city should use, it might not be story worthy at all. But a tense meeting that can honestly be distilled down to religious freedom and safety vs. free speech – that’s why we are doing the story. We are writing a story because of the tenseness and the indisputable reality behind the facts. It is why we care. So that’s our nut graph.

Next: Is the nut graph always the second paragraph?

More: Journalism Basics

Looking for more lessons in basic journalism? More coming in the months to come!