Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Basic ledes: End Result

Ledes need to go to end result and ultimate outcome. So, is this lede sufficent?

A train struck a car carrying a family of three Monday morning. The accident occurred at 5:48 p.m. when Abraham Cohen failed to stop at a stop sign.

I would say not. What happened to the family? That goes to end result, right? This lede does that:

On Monday evening, a train struck a sport-utility vehicle carrying two adults and a child, resulting in extensive vehicle damage but no serious injuries.

Now, you know not only what happened, but how it ended up. And that's what a lede is supposed to do.

Likewise, the news isn't just that something happened, it's what happened. This lede gets the first part, but not the second:

A $1.5 million study by the University of Florida reveals how education effects the marital status of women.

Okay, so we know that there was a study. Problem is, from this lede we don't know what the study found, exactly!

And the news isn't that a study took place, in the same way the news isn't that a football game was played. It's who won or lost, right?

Again, we need end result. And the end result is that the study found more educated women are more likely to divorce. So, the best lede would have been something like this:

A $1.5 million study by the University of Florida reveals more education can negatively effect the marital status of women.

Now, we know ultimate outcome: what the study found.






No comments: