Hook’em Horns

Hook’em Horns

By Clair Chun

“Find a horn of this news, and pull a horn from the story you know, then hook’em horns!” I always growled at my writers when I ran a magazine company in Korea. The truth is, I am worse than any body I growled at when it comes to lede or an introductory paragraph. One time, I was so desperate for lede I “hooked” a Cinderella story to a renewable energy field in Korea where Chinese and Japanese top-tier companies come in like Prince Charming to save the misery of the industry…..  Well, good thing I am no longer running anything but learning things rather. It is much easier to judge other people’s lede than writing one myself.

My local paper is Atlanta Journal Constitution, but I bought the Wall Street Journal and USA Today’s weekend paper (February 8-9) at Starbucks today.  I used those sources for this assignment- the lege that works and one that could be better.

Works	Could be better
Wall Street Journal Article:  New Antitheft Push for  Mobile  Devices Lede:  Smartphones and tablets sold in  California would have to contain  antitheft technology under  proposed legislation. A3 First impression: A sentence  gives a clear idea of what I’m  expected to read more on A3.  Now I have to decide if I wanted  details about it or not. It doesn’t  give me the analogies or brilliant   hooks, but the straight summary  of the article itself is fresh  information in my knowledge.  Thus, grabs my attention.	USA TODAY Article:   Sweet dreams:  Valentine’s Day  ultra-getaways Lede: Super-indulgent  Valentines. Five ways to wow-if  your wallet allows. 6B First impression:  As if written on a magazine  cover, simple two lines not only  caught my eyes in the right  timing, but it also was just  enough for me to enthusiastically  flip to the page 6B. Look at the  keywords: super, indulgent, wow,  wallet, and valentines. I mean,  pretty impressive.
On page A3: Unlike the other example I have  chosen to post, the lede is clear  and the article elaborates.  “Smartphones and tablet  computers sold in California  would have to be equipped with  antitheft technology under new  legislation proposed Friday.”  Many quotes from important  personnel are added, to give the  perspectives of leading  smartphone makers (Apple and  Samsung).	On page 6B: Who would have guessed this  was going to be one of the travel   section articles? What I had in  mind as I was reaching 6B was  some super indulgent dining or  gift tips instead of five sumptuous  getaways including Epicurean  Delights in Paris. Thank you,  article, for breaking the  information down into three eye- catching categories: heart- throbbing highlights, indulgent  details, and price tag. But this is  one of the moment readers like  me feel violated. In Korea, we  say, “I was totally fished to this  article, or 낚였다” Just to get  many number of clicks, many  media in Korea draws the  readers with generally interesting  words as baits. Once the readers  click to read further, they soon  realize that they were totally  misled to an uninterested  subject. This lede reminded me  of one of those.
Works why? The writer could have started a  paragraph by creating a thief who  steals Galaxy phone in  California, and describe all the  chaos and hassle of the story  after, in order to hook it to the  point why CA government must  have proposed this legislation,  but I like this lede and article just  the way it is. It is right to the point,  and it gives the phone  manufacturer’s perspectives of  the regulation change. And it  suits the characteristic of Wall  Street Journal.	Suggestion: I’m shame to admit that I am not  really a grammar person, and I  believe in short strong  messages. But perhaps the lede  could have added a noun  “getaways” after Valentines. It  will only draw the potential  travelers’ attention, but it would  be fair to all.