Summary Lead and Short Report

Summary Lead: "A New Pratt Street"

"New shops and restaurants would rise along more than a dozen blocks of Baltimore's most heavily traveled downtown boulevard, Pratt Street, and the corridor itself would get a $100 million makeover in one of the city's most ambitious urban renewal initiatives since the redevelopment of Charles Center and the Inner Harbor." (The Baltimore Sun)

Checkout this story: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.pratt10sep10,0,572909.story


Short Story

"North Korean Leader Had Surgery After Stroke, South Koreans Say"(The New York Times)

Checkout this story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/world/asia/11Korea.html



Typically, a lead is a quick overview of news and can be identified as the opener for an online or print media story. For example: The story I've selected, "A new Pratt Street"(above) is the general idea to the full story on the front page. Already, the title is attention grabbing and draws readers in. This gives the reader sufficient information as to what the story is about and a tease to learning more. If your a fan of shopping downtown, especially Pratt Street, then news of new shops and restaurants is an exciting endeavor.

On the otherhand, a short report could be no more than one or two sentences. It puts the news out there; saying so much in a few words. In my example: "North Korean Leader Had Surgery After Stroke, South Koreans Say,"you receive the basic information about the subject in the story. Potentially, it could be all the source knows at the time and they give the audience what is available and more is forthcoming Other reasons for short reports may be that there is not enough space or time to fit the story, but presents the essential facts needed. Later on, readers can find out questions to answers such as where the surgery took place and how North Korea's Leader is recovering? Overall, news reports are delivered through many techniques, whether its a summary lead, short report, crawls, news bulletins etc. I hope these examples provide further insight to helping you see the bigger picture of news media.