Nail in the Coffin

Last week in class, I think I finally pounded the last nail in the coffin of ambiguious leads. I find that I always leave too much information out of the lead such as time, date, and place. Trying to draw the reader in, I tend to give the reader the most exciting part of the news as the headline. However, by doing so, I neglect the purpose of news altogether which is to give the facts. After last week's class, I can confidently say that I have found the balance between the exciting and the necessary ingredients in a news lead.

Headers (not footers)

In my Comm160 class, we learned the secret to writing news headers. Some are born with the gift to seek out proper ommisible parts of the story, while others must learn what is necessary to include in a headline. I realized that if a reader could get all the information in the headlining story, why would one continue to read the full article? In my opinion, leaving the "who", also known as the "perpetrator", out of the headline, will keep people reading. We are quite the judgemental species, and often look for the perfect person to pass judgement (or give praise) to. Things like the date and time are perhaps not so important in local daily news.