Good Lede

I am no expert, but I am pretty sure that the lede to this article is a pretty darn good one:

MENDOTA, Calif. -- Are we ready to start saving ugly species?

When it began compiling lists of threatened and endangered animals and plants more than 35 years ago, the U.S. government gave itself the same mandate as Noah's Ark: Save everything.

But in practice, the effort has often worked more like a velvet-rope nightclub: Glamour rules.

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Feature Lede Example- Happy Musicians Can't Write Sad Songs

Hello all,

I think this article in the NY Times has a good "soft" lede:

On a damp April night, Stuart Murdoch sat at the piano in his Glasgow West End apartment and struggled to finish another sad song. It’s not as easy as it once was. Now beautiful women distract him. Perched next to Murdoch was Catherine Ireton, a singer from Ireland who features prominently in Murdoch’s new project, a movie musical he hasn’t quite finished writing. She texted while Murdoch hummed a melody. His wife, Marisa Privitera, was curled up on a nearby couch. She bears a striking resemblance to the French New Wave actress Jean Seberg, Murdoch’s favorite screen heroine — a likeness that was hard to miss, since she sat under a poster of Godard’s “Breathless” that featured Seberg. Murdoch played a few notes, but then stopped abruptly.“Marisa, what are you doing?”

The writer answers the who, what, where, when, and why, but makes it a feature lede with all of the details: the texting, humming, etc.

I also think the article is pretty timely, because so many artists have miserable lives (aka Michael Jackson) but produce wonderful, heartbreaking music...Can a happy artist write a great sad song?

-Tina
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The real news

As I'm doing the readings from Kovach & Rosenstiel, I've been thinking about the responsibility of the press. With all the recent news devoted to the life and death of Michael Jackson, it's absolutely amazing to me that we've almost overlooked the pending pull-out from Iraq. It wasn't until this morning that I noticed it on the front page.

One model for non-profit journalism

Check it out. From the Bay Area -- funding (and votes on which stories will be pursued) comes from consumers.

Lede Discussion

Hi Everyone!

Regarding Hard/Feature Ledes:

Here is a great example of a Hard News Lede:

The state on Monday revoked the driver's license of an 86-year-old woman whose car allegedly struck and severely injured an elderly pedestrian in Melrose Sunday.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/melrose/2009/06/license_revoked_of_woman_86_af.html

The lead is effective because it covers the Who: “86-year-old woman” the What: “the state... revoked the driver's license;” the Where: “Melrose;” the When: “Sunday;” and the Why: “whose car allegedly struck and severly injured an elderly pedestrian.” The rest of the article continues on to discuss How everything happened and to give more details on the 86-year-old lady's driving record. It leaves out enough details to keep the reader reading, but it give the gist right off the bat.

Here is a great example of a Feature Lede:

WASHINGTON - When the longtime mayor of North Adams, John Barrett III, picks up the phone these days, he often hears a familiar deep voice that he once acidly complained wasn’t heard very much in his city or other smaller venues in Massachusetts.

John F. Kerry’s voice.

“He’ll say, ‘What do you need? What’s going on back there? How can I help you?’ ’’ Barrett said.

“I’ve been all over him like a cheap suit when I think he’s wrong about something or not paying attention,’’ added Barrett, a Democrat who snubbed Kerry to endorse GOP Senate candidate William Weld in 1996. “I would go through the wall now for John Kerry, and I wouldn’t have said that 10 years ago.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/29/colleagues_say_kerry_is_in_midcareer_metamorphosis/

This is a great feature lead because it effectively uses the Narrative Lead style. The article begins with a story about the relationship between John Barrett III and John Kerry, and how it has grown since Kerry's presidential candidate days are over. The article then develops into a story about how Kerry is doing the job he's elected for better than ever.

Thanks, Shelly Runyon

Since learning of Michael Jackson's death, I've been noticing how every conversation about his life begins or ends with the fading color of his skin.

I found this article, from Sunday's Boston Globe really interesting. The article talks about Michael Jackson's struggle with his skin color and how this struggle represented that of the African American population.

The article really made me think about why he made some of the choices he did about his physical appearance, rather just sort of mocking him.

http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2009/06/28/for_blacks_looking_at_jackson_meant_looking_at_selves/?page=3

Greetings from Finland! 

I was trying to find an interesting hard or feature lede from Finland just for a point of contrast but unfortunately the International Edition of the Helsinki Sanomat (National Newspaper) has gone on holidays.  I found their farewell note on the internet quite amusing.   So much for news being 24/7.  Not in Finland.

“The International Edition will be offline for the whole of the month of July. Yesterday (24.6.) was the last time we updated the daily items before coming back online at the end of July. Weeklies will return shortly after we open up again.

Though there can be exceptions, July is not traditionally a very "hard" news month in Finland, either in politics or in business, as the country, too, is in recess: Finland is more or less "closed" for the duration. While the world will continue to turn, and news will doubtless be made, we hope that on the Finnish front at least it will be possible to enjoy the short Finnish summer in peace and to return refreshed in late July and August"

As a second alternative I thought I would venture to the Australian media.  "The Australian" newspaper is probably one of the most reputed in the country but this article had a surprisingly bad hard lede.  I know Angelia asked for good examples but bad can sometimes be just as illustrative. 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25709614-2703,00.html

 

US won't use tariffs to change climate

BARACK Obama has warned against the US imposing trade penalties on countries that decline to limit carbon emissions, after a late amendment was added to climate change legislation approved by the House of Representatives.

Even after reading this sentence 5 times I’m not sure what it means or that it’s even grammatically correct. 

 For a good feature lede you can’t go past the New York Times.  It’s seems to be their specialty given their magazine style appeal.  To find a good lede I turned to the most popular story “ Frugal Paris”

 http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/travel/28frugalparis.html?em

”WELL before midsummer, the sun sets late over Paris. Even at 9 p.m., you can sit on the banks of the Canal St.-Martin in the 10th Arrondissement, and see in the still water the reflection of the sky, a blue mottled with thin clouds, and the low pale buildings with their amber lights just turned on, and the ruffled, fractal edge of the trees in full green bloom. Night seems as if it will never come.”

 

Although I like the article overall and thought it was well researched and interesting I found the lede (above bold) indulgent.    I would be interested in other people’s opinions because here is an article that is voted most popular and yet I would be turned off by this first paragraph.  Is it just a matter of great topic choice or have I been looking at news ledes too long?

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Celebrity obits: Losing the spotlight

Cory Franklin opines on the timing of celebrity deaths in his opinion piece "Life's final snub: Getting cheated on your obituary" in today's Chicago Tribune. This piece brought back to me our class discussion on why poor Farrah Fawcett's obit star fell with the news of Michael Jackson's death later that the same day. In death, as in life, timing is everything.

Wikipedia?!?!

As a political junkie and history buff, I find Watergate to be a perfect storm. Thus, I am almost as excited when new Nixon tapes are released as others are when the new Kanye West or Radiohead CD drops.

The content of the newest tapes as revealed in this article notwithstanding, I was quite disturbed by the fact that the first two hyperlinks are to Wikipedia. Not that they were being used for fact-checking per se, but if I had a dime for every time a journalism instructor told the class not to use Wikipedia....


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Ledes in Mark and Jenny Sanford story

I read this lede in the NY Times, and it occurred to me that it would probably not have gone over very well had one of us presented it in class.

This one, from the Washington Post, is more succinct, but kind of melodramatic.

I hoped that searching some local South Carolina newspapers might help. Sure enough, it did. This story was in the Charleston newspaper The Post and Courier.

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If Perez Said It, It Must Be True.

The news of Michael Jackson’s death has proven to epitomize two of the media’s most defining recent trends: spreading the news with wildfire immediacy and keeping it alluring, no matter what the cost. It looks like grievance and honor have a shelf life of about two days. After that it’s Christmas for the tabloids. Though Michael Jackson indisputably made some of the greatest musical contributions of our time, the King of Pop has suddenly become the sultan of scandal.

Will such ill-defined boundaries for what now constitutes “journalism,” it doesn’t seem inappropriate to use Perez Hilton as an example of what’s being reported by the media. His latest headline reads “Michael Is Not The Father, Confirms Egg Donor/Ex-Wife.” In fact, over the past 24 hours, I’ve heard all about Michael’s illegitimate children…his staged marriage to Elvis Presley’s daughter…his extreme debt incurred from the Neverland Ranch property…his multiple failed plastic surgeries…his seeming lack of race or gender…his reckless parenting…and his questionable sexual preference.
The list goes on.

The news feeds on Twitter and Facebook have been seas of stories since Thursday evening. With additional vehicles like iTunes podcasts, Wordpress blogs, text messaging and RSS feeds driving the media, a clean form of journalism that accurately reports the facts no longer stands a chance. I recognized this while watching CNN last week at the gym. It was noon - peak news time - and the anchor was showing photos from the chaos in Iran, with a graphic logo that read “Unverified Material.” The images were gathered from camera phone files uploaded to the internet. I can’t see this sort of thing occurring even ten years ago, when serious journalists fact-checked and double fact-checked hard news. Especially not on a network like CNN. When CNN is turning to unverified photos from the World Wide Web as its source of news, it’s clear that we’ve entered a whole new era of media.

It makes me wonder: If we had the same technology in the 70s as we have now, would Elvis Presley - arguably the only other music icon as pivotal as Michael, save maybe Madonna - have been just as defiled upon his deathbed? While these new, instantaneous, unsubstantiated forms of media have done our world justice in terms of efficiency, I can’t help but think that they’ve also stripped journalism of its integrity and substance.

Hard news LEDE, NYTimes

Taliban Losses No Sure Gain For Pakistanis

Struggle in Swat Area Uproots 2 Million

By JANE PERLEZ and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH

MARDAN, Pakistan -- For the past month and a half, the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach toward the heartland of the country.

Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week, the low-rise buildings of Mingora, the largest city in Swat, now deserted and under a 24-hour curfew, appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside, farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land.

All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without a major fight, possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere, military analysts say. About two million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign.

My comments -- This is a hard news lead with the first nutgraf starting with the dateline and quickly and succinctly moving into answering: when, who, where, what. The 2nd graf, with strong imagery, supports the 3rd graf that reports that there were no destructive battles between the Taliban and the Pakistani military. The lead, which is hinged on the word 'territory', is enhanced in the 2nd graf by descriptors of the landscape and the ongoing harvest by farmers -- suggestive of a pastoral ceasefire. The 3rd graf refers to the humanitarian crisis of 2 million refugees, the disturbing backdrop to the conflict. The rest of the article goes on to more specifically define the territory that the Pakistani military was able to secure -- a small perimeter of roads and urban centers. Beyond this, shellings on civilian territories such as markets and tribal areas in ruins.

"Get close to history in Boston" from Houston Chronicle

BOSTON
Get close to history in Boston

BOSTON — From its tea party to its battles to that famous midnight ride, it’s no secret Boston played a major role in our country’s past.
But when the likes of Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and George Washington weren’t busy making history, they were like the rest of us — in need of places to dine, relax or even down a brew or two.
Here’s a guide to some taverns, restaurants and attractions where famous politicians, statesmen, writers and entertainers have let loose over the centuries.

Being from Texas, the land of the Yankees seems like the idyllic place to be for the Fourth of July. I think this feature piece's lede draws in the Houston reader with all the well-known tales and personas tied to historic Boston. Texans don't have the rich history of the American Revolution, so they are naturally curious about it.

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example of hard news lede from The Houston Chronicle

Police horse tramples Montrose resident at Pride parade

Kirste Reimers didn’t notice the policemen approaching on horseback from her left. Her eyes were fixed on the festive pageantry on her right, where sequins glittered and bright beads sailed from floats in the annual Pride Houston Parade.
The three mounted Houston police officers were sweeping the edge of Westheimer, trying to keep pedestrians from spilling off the sidewalks and into the street during the Saturday night parade, which winds through the heart of Montrose. Oblivious to the patrol, the 50-year-old Montrose resident suddenly found herself under the horse’s hooves, where she was kicked and stomped, bruising most of her body, splitting her chin open, knocking out teeth and slamming her head on the asphalt.

I think this works as a great hard news lede because of the irony of the situation. To start out with having a parade-goer simply attending the local Pride Parade and literally ending up being kicked in the teeth, to me, is pretty jolting. This horse attack sounds brutal and Reimers wasn't doing anything to upset the police or the horse. It could have happened to anyone there. A case of "wrong place at the wrong time". (And, of course, what is a Texas story without a horse in it?)

Great feature LEDE from The Cincinnati Enquirer by Cliff Peale

from the Thursday, June 25th edition/Local Front Page:

By Cliff Peale

PETERSBURG -- "Praise God," the official at the Creation Museum told the tour group, "we are excited to have you." For the 80 paleontologists, taking a break from their convention at the University of Cincinnati to tour the museum, some were amused, some were offended. But they all seemed interested to see the museum, built to tell a Creationist view of the origins of man and to rebut the theory of evolution that many of the scientists hold dear.

"I think it's a very professional outfit and they put on a good show," said Jason Rosenhouse, a math professor at James Madison University in Harrisburg, Va., and manager of a blog on evolution. "If you can sort of suspend disbelief, you can see why people get caught up in it. "I hate the fact that this exists," he added. "But given that it exists, I can see why people would find it compelling."

Compelling it is. The museum hosted 1,200 people Tuesday and has hosted nearly 750,000 since it opened in May 2007. With its message that the Earth is only about 6,000 years old according to the Bible and that dinosaurs roamed the Earth with humans, it has fed into the national debate on teaching Creationism in schools.

My comments:

Facts highlighted in the first graf -- what the meeting of the two disparate groups (Darwinian evolutionists versus Creationists) at the heart of the 'teaching Creation/Evolution debate' in schools looks like.

The second graf supports that the paleontologists are interested in studying the debate from within one of the newly appointed headquarters of the debate: The Creation Museum.

The third graf leads us to the reason for this meeting, the debate between science and religion, and frames it within the larger national context of how to teach the origins of earth and life on earth.

The first graf works because the opening quote is an attention-grabber and is a humorous and even light-hearted point of entry into a debate that is more well-known for it's volatile tenor.

Hell hath no fury like a tabloid scorned

Even without phones, internet service, and television converter boxes, most people in Cincinnati's low-income and crime-ridden neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine knew Michael Jackson had died on Thursday evening only moments after The New York Times confirmed the story. That is, except for the people who knew months before.

On Friday morning, while rounding on my home visits in this neighborhood, patients and their families shared how most first heard the news on Thursday afternoon: on 100.9 FM, "The Wiz", a station with a playlist designed for the "urban" demographic. The DJ first reported coma, then reported death, but one patient's grandmother recalled one "Wiz" 's am deejay reporting the death in January. January?

"The deejay said that The National Enquirer said he only had six months to live and that was in the beginning of January. Six months ago," she says.

While prophecy is no substitute for investigative journalism, prescient though it might be, the same day The National Enquirer published a piece on John Edward's 90 minute interview to The Washington Post as more evidence of it's ability over more respected outlets to once again deliver the scoop.

With snarky vindication they write: "Leave it to The Washington Post, our 4th estate brothers in investigative journalism, to get to the crux of the matter." The title of the piece? "John Edwards speaks for 90 minutes, says nothing."

Changes in reporting after a tragedy

Whenever a celebrity or media focus dies, it is always interesting to me when they will turn headlines of tragedy into opportunities to stir up drama.  It seems there is a grace period of sorts when journalists focus on mourning, and then turn to heat up the press.  It is only natural that they would take advantage of these opportunities to keep stories in the news, but what interests me is the grace period they allot.  When John Travolta's son died, I had the same feeling when the headlines changed.  At first, they were about the tragedy and sorrow everyone was feeling.  They then switched to wondering if John and his wife were negligent parents. Today, I began to see how headlines are really switching between those of sadness and remembrance to prodding into deeper issues.  It is no surprise that drugs are now being brought into question, but I also saw an article in thestar.com today that I thought would come into play.  The headline read "Michael Jackson: Black or ...What?" 

This headline is a pun on his famous hit including the lyrics "It doesn't matter if you're black or white."  The article goes on to state that, "Distinctly troubling to Jackson's black audience were the cosmetic enhancements and skin lightening which diminished his African facial features. Black comics joked about him turning into a white woman, but many devotees were pained." I think the article itself is well-written and does a good job explaining how this pop-icon opened doors for other black artists.  I also think that the article itself isn't offensive and would not be hurtful for Jackson fans to read which I think is an important part of the transition during the "grace period" between mourning and digging deeper in reporting.  The only problem that I have with the article is its headline.  I think that the line between making his song a joke title came a bit soon, but that is just my personal taste.  An avid MJ fan, the headline alone made me not want to read the rest of the article.  I'm glad I did though as the end acknowledged his influence on the entertainment industry and lasting impression on the world!

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TMZ posted that Michael Jackson was dead six minutes before the coroner declared his death. I don't know how they did it (wire tapping at UCLA medical or maybe an office psychic). Who knew entertainment websites would be the place to turn for breaking news. I am assured that my guilty pleasure of reading tabloids will be very important to my career, life and future happiness.

So what does this say about receiving breaking news through the internet?

TMZ did not identify their source. However, their speediness played a part in the athletic game of who gets the news out first (good work in delivering factual gossip). Especially when the legit news sites like CNN, BBC, NY Times were bombarded with hits and google thought they were being attacked by a virus, one that can do the moonwalk, that is. TMZ managed to grab the news first, the best in the game, they win.

Could’ve done worse, no? Hopefully future happiness is still in the cards for those of us who read tabloids.

Michael Jackson: Citizens Stop the Presses

For the Michael Jackson story, the citizens "stopped the presses", or at least slowed them down.

Below are links to Chicago Tribune and Guardian articles regarding web services being overwhelmed by people looking for Michael Jackson information.

Michael Jackson death news: Online activity heats up Twitter and Google, slows down some sites

Michael Jackson, the Twitter effect, and the 'science' of reportings

In addition to noting the volume of online activity, both news organizations included criticisms of gossip sites, notably TMZ. This Chicago Tribune quote seems to hint at the frustration felt by an "old media stalwart" facing bankruptcy:

Gossip site TMZ.com, owned by Time Warner, was out in front with Jackson news and digital-era pipelines spread the word, as has happened before with other major celebrity news stories. But it was old media stalwarts that did the heavy lifting, with giants such as The Associated Press and the Web site of the L.A. Times, sister paper of the Chicago Tribune, reporting the fastest, most credible information on the emergency call for paramedics and ultimately his death. [boldface added]

source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri-jackson-mediajun26,0,5302945.story

After reading the Elements of Journalism chapters earlier in the week, it's interesting that this "news about the news", including delivery methods (internet) and differences between publishers (TMZ vs. Guardian), made its way into the Michael Jackson story.

The New MJ Spin

Hi everyone,

Hope you're having a great weekend following the MJ controversy unfold (and of course other weekend-related things as well).

The L.A. Times (online) has an article by Robert Hilburn, a pop music critic, that I found interesting while watching (and reading) the changing headlines, ledes and photos since Jackson's death. His article is a personal one that speaks about MJ's rather shy personality and disposition contrasted by his flashy stage persona.

I find it interesting how quickly public interest has shifted from mourning and sadness to curiosity. Labeled a great tragedy, Jackson's death is said to be untimely and unexpected. Now, with the release of the 911 phone call and the possibility of foul play and the presence (or not) of a personal physician, it seems certain that Jackson's death will fall into the same category as the "tragic and untimely death" of many a celebrity. It seems like every time this happens, personal responsibilities are overshadowed by the possibility of foul play-and yet time and time again it's news.

Hilburn's lede: "For all his charisma and authority on stage, he had a Bambi-like shyness and fragility away from the spotlight. 'I'm lonely,' a 23-year-old Jackson said." For better and worse, MJ had problems-public and private-and now everyone believes they have a claim in how he's remembered and finding the truth behind his death.

Also, in class we spoke a lot about angles and how to spin a story. I think more than half of the other news headlines (under technology, health, crime, etc) on CNN's website are Jackson related. Funny how it becomes new to everyone and every section.

Obama on Michael Jackson

Hey guys,

This is Tina and as I'm sure many of you are, I've been following the Michael Jackson saga. I think this article, "Will Obama Make a Statement on Jackson?" is short, to the point, and addresses something that I was wondering earlier today, especially after hearing that presidents of other nations had addressed Jackson's death.

It is also an example of a hard lede, I believe.

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Welcome to our blog

This is the first post of many insightful observations on journalism and the news. In the syllabus are post assignments, but also feel free to use this blog to post other observations on ideas discussed in class, thoughts on the journalism industry, and related stories that interest you or highlight concepts discussed in class. Also comment on others posts. Let's have a conversation!

Everyone in my section is being granted permission to post directly. You will receive an email on how to do this shortly.

To make the most of your posts, when writing about a news article, create a link to the article. Reference enough in your text to put it in context, then highlight a piece of text and use the link button in the border of the text box. You can also create a link out of your title by putting the link in the box underneath the title of your post.

It goes without saying, that posts and comments should be respectful. Feel free to challenge the news and what you read, and agree or disagree with your fellow students, but keep it clean and polite. Challenge the position, not the person.

Many students in past classes have gone on to create their own blogs. So don't just look at this as another assignment. Have fun!