Magically turning print leads into broadcast ready ones

And now, for my next trick, I, magical writer/future journalist, shall turn these three leads from other newspapers into ones for broadcast media!

Like this one from the Baltimore Sun...
"A Howard County man charged with the murder of a woman whose body was found floating in an underground cable vault under a Northeast Baltimore street Friday was pronounced dead Monday night after being found unresponsive in his jail cell, said a State Department of Corrections spokesman." -Liz F. Kay and Justin Fenton

That might be the longest lead in the world. It's 47 words long! And it's really heavy, too!

And now, I turn it into a broadcast ready lead. Oohf! Let's place it in the cabinet (Thud) and shut the door... There's nothing up my right sleeve and nothing up my left sleeve... and Fwahhh! It's done! Let's open up the cabinet and see what's there now:
A State Department Corrections spokesman said that a suspect of the murder of a woman found floating in an underground vault was found dead in his jail cell Monday night.

Ah, it's much shorter and lighter than the original lead! About half as many words than the original and it's easier to understand when it could be broadcasted on television or radio. Want to see the trick again? Well, let's try this one. It's different from that one, concerning our mayor.

"Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon should stand trial on charges that she perjured herself by not disclosing gifts from a developer boyfriend, a judge ruled Monday as he rebuffed objections from the mayor's defense team that the accusations rest on faulty evidence." -Annie Linskey

My, oh my, that is a mouthful! An anchor on ABC News can't possibly say all of that without taking a breath in the middle of it! But just stick it in the cabinet, close the door and... Fwaahhhhhhh! Here it is in short form:

A judge ruled that Mayor Sheila Dixon may be standing another trial on charges of perjury from a developer boyfriend.

That's better. Simple and easy to understand. It even answers some of the W's, but not all of them. The rest of the details can be revealed later in the story. It also has a conversational tone, as if just laying it out on the table.

Alright, one more. This time, let's pull it from (gasp) the New York Times. Oh, dear. There are lots of big long leads in the Times, especially those that aren't even feature leads. This will be interesting.

"President Obama said on Tuesday that Al Qaeda has “lost operational capacity” after a series of recent missile strikes and special forces raids, but vowed to continue pressing the battle to cripple the network around the world and protect America from future terrorist attacks." -Peter Baker

That's a tricky one. And it's 44 words, whew! Not as big as the first lead from the Sun, but that's very close. Leads normally shouldn't be that long.

Ooh, it's heavy! Let's throw it in the cabinet, I'm sure it can take it. (Thud) Now, shut the door and... FWWAAAAAHHHHHH! It's done! Now what have we here...

President Obama vowed to continue the battle against terrorism, despite Al Qaeda's damages from recent missile strikes and raids.

That's nice and simple. Not too many big words that someone listening to the radio won't be able to understand. Only 19 words long! That's great for any kind of broadcast.
Sorry, but that's all I'm doing tonight. Nope, a magician never reveals her secrets. I must go now. Night!

On second thought.....

I've been ignoring my idea for a new publication. I was going to start Baltimore Vinyl here in Towson right about now.

But think again.

I'm swamped with some things already. I need to write a feature story for journalism class, I just got hired as an assignment editor for "16 News" on the campus television station WMJF, I'm a notetaker for my political science class (with Professor Cates, who's awesome), and I'm seeing an additional counselor who's on campus and is referring me to a psychiatrist later in the month. I'm also still involved with the Ballroom Dance Club, I want to see what Martial Arts club is like (since I want to learn how to defend myself from muggers on the streets of Towson), and I've just been inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

I need to worry about my GPA to make sure I stay in the top 20 percent of my class to remain in NSCS. I still haven't been able to do community service in a long while, so I would love to do something for a good cause. But most importantly of all, I need to keep my mental health in check because I'm a bit of a chronic worrier and I have anxiety issues that I'm still working out.

Therefore, Baltimore Vinyl has been postponed until I find a decent editor in chief. I would love to start it up right now since I'm a junior and maybe the timing is right, but I need more experience and I don't have enough time on my hands to work with it. It may be good to have someone else to be in charge of it and have me as a contributing writer, music critic, or columnist.

Then again, it might be better if I start the publication after I graduate and I have more time. After all, this is my baby. I don't know what lies ahead. There are still so many things that I want to do in the field I'm venturing into right now. It depends on time, everything else in college and my future.