Summary Leads on the Move!

From Chapter 4 of our Journalism textbook
Disclaimer: Professor Spaulding, this blog may be a little over 50 words this time. I tried to get it as short as I could. Thanks!

Summary lead- the opening one or two sentences that summarize the news story very quickly
Characteristics:

1.) Specifics- Leads contain the most important information and answers the question, "What happened?"
2.) No backing in- No introductory phrase should come before the subject of the story. The subject always comes first.
3.) Concise- How brief is the lead? Should only include the essential information of the news story and leads are written in 30 words or less.
4.) Active voice- This catches a reader's attention by creating movement in the story and explaining how and why the subject takes the action.

Examples of leads from The New York Times:

*"Gunmen kidnapped an American who is a senior United Nations refugee official in Pakistan and killed his driver in the southwestern city of Quetta on Monday morning, United Nations officials said." -Salmon Masood
Why I chose it: It's cutting edge and gets right to the point. There are no introductions before the article, it just tells me what this is going to be about. It really grabbed my attention and interested me in reading the rest of the story to find out more details.

*"The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Monday evening to confirm Eric H. Holder, Jr. as attorney general. The vote was 75 to 21, with only Republicans opposing the nomination." -Neil A. Lewis
Why I chose it: This lead is a lot shorter. I believe the first sentence is the lead itself since it tells me the basics about the turn out of the Senate vote for attorney general. The second sentence showed a little more information that told me how this candidate won by a landslide, but is really not part of the lead. Still, it strikes importance and makes the lead more specific, so it's placed at the beginning. This is a great example of conciseness since it's brief and sums up the whole story.

*"Nearly 14,000 donors- including homemakers, priests, and a former of the Los Angeles Dodgers- poured millions of dollars into the last two weeks of the campaign to pass Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage in California." -Jesse McKinley
Why I chose it: Again, it just states what happened in California a while ago on the subject of passing Proposition 8. Notice how the subject- the sum of 14,000 people- gathered together to do something about a controversial issue of same sex marriage. Like all leads, the subject comes first and is followed by a verb and object or goal.