Saturday, September 13, 2008

Lead Exercise #4

Smoking Wheels
For each of the following sets of facts, write the lead and second paragraph of a hard news story:

40 passengers evacuated from a Wisconsin Airport

A landing tower employee witnessed the smoke near the wheels of the Northwest Airlines jet, Flight 428, at the LaCrosse, Wisconsin Municipal Airport today, subsequently following a flight from Minneapolis.



Missing Boy

From the following set of facts, write the first two paragraphs of a news story:

A 7-year-old boy missing for three years was found in Brick Township, New Jersey Monday night. A neighbor recognized the child’s picture, when it was shown after the movie Adam: the Song Continues and then called the police.

The police then arrested the boy’s mother, Ellen Lynn Conner, 27. She is in the process of facing charges of kidnapping as well as interference with a custody warrant.


1 comment:

camccune said...

Wheels: Don't start a sentence with a numeral -- write it out (e.g., Fifteen not 15). Make it one sentence.
Fact Error: The passengers weren't evacuated from the airport -- they were evacuated from a plane.

Boy: Too much information! Keep your lead paragraph to 25-35 words and 1-2 sentences. You can tell me about the mother in P2.
Punctuation: A 7-year-old boy, missing for three years, was found in Brick Township, NJ, Monday night after a neighbor recognized the child’s picture on TV and called the police. (You can tell me what program it was later.)

Wheels: 0/5 - Fact error
Boy: 4/5