Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A tale of 2 ledes

By Cristin Nelson

Lede I liked: “The powerful earthquakes that shook Nepal in April and May injured more than 22,000 people who are now struggling to recover from broken bones, lost limbs, and other injuries, uncertain if they will ever be able to return to the lives they once knew.”

This lede is powerful because of its vivid imagery, its call for empathy, and because it is a reminder of the documented phenomena of our strong immediate response to international tragedy, followed by no response at all as the incident fades from our minds.  I am drawn in because I know there will be anecdotal follow-up to this lede in addition to a big-picture summary of the current state of things in Nepal.

The Boston Globe, June 24, 2015

Lede that doesn’t work: “A federal court has ruled in favor of tough new regulations aimed at career training programs, dealing a major blow to the for-profit college industry.”

Although it does draw attention into the story, I see this lede as a strange combination of lede and nut graph.  It doesn’t provide a news summary like a purely informational lede should—instead, it provides the big-picture view that a nut graph typically provides, and the who/what/where/etc details are strewn about the following few paragraphs.


The Boston Globe, June 24, 2015

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