My first lede is from the Wall Street Journal:
Title: “Sochi Gambles on Future Gold”
Sub-head: “Not Ready for Prime Time, but Russia Hopes $51 Billion Investment Eventually Pays Off”
Lede: “Sochi, Russia — On the first Saturday night of the Winter Olympics in the alpine village of Krasnaya Polyana, the new blonde-brick pedestrian mall called Gorki Gorod was nearly deserted at 9 p.m. Workers were putting up a sign at a bakery yet to open. A walkway was clogged with unclaimed trash bins. At one of the few open restaurants, giant magnums of Veuve Clicquot nearly outnumbered customers.”
What works: This lede is captivating because it sets an interesting scene in the first sentence. There are good details about when and where the scene is taking place, which adds credibility the reporter’s perspective early in the story.
What could be better: What doesn’t work quite as well for lede is that there is no connection to the bigger story it is trying to tell — that there has been massive development around the Sochi region of Russian for the Winter Olympics, but much of it is not completed yet. However, this is covered by the “nut graph,” and then connected to a broader point about whether Sochi can become a popular resort.
General: I think this article has a tone that is more negative than balanced overall, but it covers an interesting angle of an important topic well.
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My second story is from Bleacher Report:
Title: “Olympic Freestyle Skiing 2014: Live Results, Highlights of Women's Slopestyle”
Lede: “Coming into Tuesday morning's inaugural women's slopestyle event in freestyle skiing, it was widely expected that a Canadian skier would leave Sochi with a gold medal.
And one did. But she's not who you were expecting.”
What works: This is a breaking news lede, and it sets up the story in a way that is quick and exciting. The lede gets right to the facts and some of the drama of a recent sporting event.
What could be better: The bait-and-switch style lede, if that is what this can be called, seems a bit overused. However, the article was written as a live blog. As such, I would expect a story written for the next morning’s paper, which would have had more time before being published, to have a more creative lede.
Such haunting beauty of deserted streets-in Krasnaya Polyana. I suspect the lede was intended to appeal to those who wanted the Russian Olympics to stumble in. I can't be sure as I was no privy to the full article. The games represent political as well as physical prowess. Used to take the Wall Street Journal for years, and this lede almost makes me want to subscribe again.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that the first lede you chose needs to be stronger. The broader story is not included and the reader may miss the point. I was actually going to choose this one!
ReplyDeleteI would also agree on the second lede you chose, this is a breaking news-style lede and does capture the attention of the reader.