I've come across some important tidbits in the textbook readings that would never have occurred to me. I struggle with how to decipher which facts are significant to a story and which are not. The textbook had a simple solution to my problem: significant facts = facts with consequences. Furthermore, the book quoted a journalist who redirected my aim. The journalist said that we are not writing for our sources; we write for our readers and listeners. The difference entails how we portray the sources; if the sources are skewed one way or the other, we have to let our audiences know.
The 5 W's is what really got me, though. It is a simple format for how to write and yet it is the most important information I can give as a journalist. The two to lead with are the who and/or the what. The what gives the news its substance. The who gives news its humanity and personality.
Since I really struggle with leads, the chapter about them has been extremely helpful. One of the questions the book asked was what makes the best lead? And I never would have guessed the answer: emphasizing why things matter.
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