New York Times knows how to lead

Kelsey Giordano         

        I thought this article had a poor lead.  After reading the first paragraph, I still had no idea what the article would be about.  Not having heard about the Colorado flood, I was confused about where exactly in Colorado (from the headline alone I knew it was in Colorado) or since when the event written about (a flood) had been so influential on the area.  If I were editing this article, I would keep the second sentence: “Today, the biggest civilian airlift operation is underway since Hurricane Katrina, searching for and seeking to rescue over 1,200 missing/stranded people in vast areas completely cutoff by floodwaters.”  I think it is a very informative and interesting sentence but would 1) put it first as the opening sentence and 2) add a location to inform the reader.  As I read on, I discovered that the flood had affected Boulder, Colorado.  This is a known city in Colorado, even to those reading elsewhere in America (the article was published in The Washington Post.) My rewritten article would begin: “Today, the biggest civilian airlift operation is underway since Hurricane Katrina, searching for and seeking to rescue over 1,200 missing/stranded people in the areas of Boulder, Colorado that are completely cutoff by floodwaters from last week’s rainfall.  The flood was described as ‘biblical’ by the National Weather Service, and the clean-up efforts are just beginning.”

This New York Times article on the Navy Yard shooting that happened this morning had a concise, informative lead. All in one, non-run-on sentence, the journalist tells the most important facts of the story: who, what, where, when, how, and the outcome. Who? “A former Navy reservist.” What? “Killed at least 12 people.” When? “Monday.” Where? “In a mass shooting at a naval office building in Washington.” How? “After he shot his way into the secure military facility, officials said, and then was killed by the police.” The subject, “a former Navy reservist,” starts the sentence off, followed by his actions and the context.  The structure of this sentence is therefore what makes it so strong. As you read the rest of the article, extraneous but just as interesting details of the story unfold.  More detailed explanations of the shooting, as well as quotes, make up the rest of the article which started so informatively.

           Lastly, this New York Times article on health also had a strong lead, with concise information presented reliably.  The opening sentence has specific, compelling statistics: “two million Americans fall ill” and “at least 23,000 die from those infections.” The lead states from whom, "federal health officials," and when, "Monday," they got the information. It also is a good representation of the rest of the article, which further discusses yearly records of deaths and the like, and reflected the article title, "Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Lead to 23,000 Deaths a Year," simply and efficiently.