C) Emphasizing the News.
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 871.
A beginner in journalism (your colleague) asked you to look through the following leads he / she had written. Help him/her rewrite these leads, emphasizing the news, not the attribution. Limit the attributions to a few words and place them at the end, not the beginning, of the leads.
| 1. At a news conference held at the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon the head of the agency told reporters that the Senate's approval of a plan to dump nuclear waste material in the Nevada desert near Las Vegas will provide a safe haven for more than 77,000 tons of radioactive waste. | 2. Tracy Tibitts, Lisa Drolshagen and Dorothy Brayton, all members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority at Iowa State University, appeared in a local courtroom this morning and testified that the defendant, Steven House, appeared drunk when he got into his car to leave the party moments before he struck and killed the pedestrian. |
D) Combining Multisentence Leads.
The following leads should be rewritten in a single sentence, correcting errors where it is necessary.
| 1. Mildred Berg, the former president of City College, is a professor of economics at the college now. Berg got a call Monday from David DeBecker, president of the Harrison County Board of Education. BeDecker offered Berg the job of superintendent of Harrison County Schools, a position Berg interviewed for two months ago. | 2. At 10:41 a.m., two police detectives saw two men enter Barneys Liquor Mart in the Oak Hill Shopping Center. The shopping center is located in the 1300 block of Oak Hill Avenue. The men were acting suspiciously. When the detectives entered the store to investigate, they saw one of the men pointing a gun at the clerk and the other taking money from the register. The officers pulled their weapons and shot the man with the gun. There have been seven robberies at the shopping center in the past month. |
E) Stressing the Unusual.
You are having an internship in one of the local newspapers. Your editor-in-chief asked you to look through the following information and write only the lead for each of the following stories, correcting errors if necessary. Don't forget to take into consideration some discourse categories.
1. Terri Snow of 3418 Hazel St. is a nurse at Mercy Hospital. She is married to Dale Snow, a former eighth-grade science teacher at Mays Junior High School. Snow was crippled after a diving accident three years ago, when his arms and legs were paralyzed. He met his wife at the hospital, where he was a patient, and they were married last month. Now state officials have suggested that they get a divorce. Before his marriage, Snow received $345 a month from the states Department of Social Services and a monthly $792 federal Supplemental Security Income payment. Because of his wife's income, he is no longer eligible for the payments, and the couple says without the payments they cannot afford to pay for Snows continuing medical treatments and special diet. State officials have advised them that Snow will again become eligible for the aid if they get a divorce. The officials refused to talk to reporters, however.
2. Gladys Anne Riggs is 81 years old. Her husband, George, died 10 years ago. She is retired and normally receives about $800 a month in Social Security benefits. She complains she has not received her benefits for the past 4 months. When she inquired as to the reasons for the troubles, officials at a Social Security office in your city today explained that she was dead. Four months ago, her check was returned and marked "deceased," so all her benefits were canceled. Because of the error, Mrs. Riggs fears that her check for next month may also be late, and she says she needs the money to buy food and to pay her rent. She lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment and says she has already fallen behind in her rent and is afraid she will be evicted. Social Security officials said that they will correct the problem as soon as possible and that she will receive a check for all the benefits she has missed during the past 4 months, but that it may take several weeks to issue the check. They suggested that she apply for welfare until the check arrives.
F) Localizing Your Lead.
Being an intern in one of the local newspaper you have been given an assignment to choose any story you like and write only the lead for the story, correcting errors if necessary.
1. The state Department of Transportation today announced plans for next year. It will spend a total of $418 million to build new roads and to improve old ones. The amount represents a $14.5 million increase over last year's total. The money comes from a state gasoline tax amounting to 4 cents per gallon sold. The department allocates the money on the basis of need, with the most congested and dangerous areas receiving the most help. Included in the allocations for next year are $17.8 million, allocated to widen from two to four lanes state highway 17-92, which runs through the southeastern part of your city for a distance of approximately three miles. Construction work on the highway project is expected to begin in four months and to be completed within one and one-half years.
2. Three persons have been killed in the crash of a single-engine plane. Police have identified the victims as Mr. and Mrs. Joel Skurow of Atlanta, Georgia, and Melville Skurow of 4138 Hennessy Court in your community. Joel and Melville are brothers. The plane, flown by Joel, crashed on the outskirts of Atlanta at 7:30 a.m. today. Cause of the crash is unknown. No one on the ground was injured. Friends said Melville Skurow was visiting his brother, an attorney in Atlanta. Skurow is a carpenter and was thirty-seven years of age. The plane, valued at $34,800, was fully insured.
G) Updating Your Lead.
Write only the lead for the following story, correcting errors if necessary.
The state Legislature passed a law which prohibits doctors from performing abortions on girls under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents or guardians. The law specifies that doctors found guilty of violating the law can be fined up to $5,000 and can lose their licenses to practice medicine in the state. The law, which was signed by the governor, will go into effect at midnight tonight. The Legislature adopted the law after news media in the state revealed that girls as young as the age of 11 were given abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent. The law is intended to prevent that. The parents consent must be in writing. The law stipulates that the girl who is pregnant must also agree to the abortion so her parents cannot force her to have one unwillingly.
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