Effective Lead Analysis
A story was posted on the Miami Herald website on Wed, Mar. 28, 2007. This was the title: Botched robbery leads to chaos at Miami Beach bank
The lead was as follows:
Botched robbery leads to chaos at Miami Beach bank
The lead was as follows:"A mysterious caller played a ''cat-and-mouse'' game with police Tuesday, threatening to open fire on a busy Miami Beach street
This is a salient feature lead. It only highlights one outstanding aspect of the story: the fact that an anonymous caller was threatening to pick off good, law-abiding Miamians in the middle of rush hour. This wasn't the main focus of the story and the lead certainly doesn't encompass all the facts of the story: the actual bank robbery, apprehension of the suspect, etc.
The reason why this lead is so effective is that it's exciting. It pulls the reader into the story with the promise of the gritty, cop-drama action television has familiarized him with that he loves so very much. Any good high school English teacher will tell you that the key to a good story, the way to get your reader to actually read it, is to have an attention-grabbing first paragraph and better yet, to have a scintillating first line. Once the reader sees this, his attention will be suficiently grabbed and he will be interested to read more. This is the same strategy employed in this story. The idea of a man threatening to open fire on Miami commuters unless police release a bank robbery suspect is eye-catching; it encourages the target audience to read on and it is quite effective.
This is a salient feature lead. It only highlights one outstanding aspect of the story: the fact that an anonymous caller was threatening to pick off good, law-abiding Miamians in the middle of rush hour. This wasn't the main focus of the story and the lead certainly doesn't encompass all the facts of the story: the actual bank robbery, apprehension of the suspect, etc.
The reason why this lead is so effective is that it's exciting. It pulls the reader into the story with the promise of the gritty, cop-drama action television has familiarized him with that he loves so very much. Any good high school English teacher will tell you that the key to a good story, the way to get your reader to actually read it, is to have an attention-grabbing first paragraph and better yet, to have a scintillating first line. Once the reader sees this, his attention will be suficiently grabbed and he will be interested to read more. This is the same strategy employed in this story. The idea of a man threatening to open fire on Miami commuters unless police release a bank robbery suspect is eye-catching; it encourages the target audience to read on and it is quite effective.
posted by trentmurdoc at
9:00 PM
7 Comments:
I completely agree with you. I think that the lead does not achieve in giving all the information to the reader in a fast manner, but that is not the point of this kind of lead. It is exciting and sensational and "cat and mouse" is interesting. It makes me want to read more. I liked this lead very much.
We don't know all the details about what the story will include, but it gives us a very brief description and paints a picture. I like the use of "cat and mouse."
This salient feature lead is a good one. It puts you right in the middle of the action, I thought it was a great way to start a story, about a robbery, off. I feel like I can see the robbery happening with this lead.
I also thought this lead took a very interesting approach by focusing on one feature. Also but focusing on one feature in the lead, the lead left the reader wanting to know more info. and keep reading the article.
While leaving out a lot of information, this lead focuses on the most exciting part of the story, which, in turn, will draw readers into the story.
This lead does a good job of dramatizing the story, and uses the action of the event as a attention grabber to keep the reader reading.
Good posting and good comments. HOWEVER, this is a summary lead. Just because it is interesting doesn't mean that it's not a summary lead. It does have an element of salient feature, however.
THe lead tells us basically what this story is about. I did not read this story, so I'm going back to do so. I might post again once I've read it.
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