For Short Attention Spans

By Dick Weiss
March 13, 2008

Time-starved readers and inveterate PC clickers linger barely a few seconds over a headline and story. Increasingly, as writers we have to think more about what we can do to keep readers from turning the page or pounding the mouse. Editors will tell you to get to the point sooner – and that’s usually a good idea. But you CAN get to the point later if by chance you can raise a question that intrigues the readers and keeps them moving through the story. In this edition of Dick’s picks, I’m sharing two stories from The Charlotte Observer and The Philadelphia Inquirer that waste little time getting started. But then there’s my top pick by Diane Jennings and Michael Grabell of The Dallas Morning News which starts with a trail of bread crumbs. Follow it and you’ll find yourself on quite a long journey, but one that you won’t regret taking.

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3  Unrest Over Cost Of Texts Sends Colleges A Message
Kathy Boccella of The Philadelphia Inquirer  
The anecdotal lede is a much-abused journalistic formula. Many take too long to read, sometimes meandering well past the jump from the title page. Others simply fail to make the point. Boccella grabs readers from the start with Regina Ferry who suffered from sticker shock over the cost of her college texts. But then, she ran into Professor Gergory Smits who offered texts for his class for a rock-bottom price – free. Readers can’t help but keep going.

2 The Cruelest Cuts
Kerry Hall, Ames Alexander and Franco Ordonez of The Charlotte Observer
Investigative reporters with a pack of revelations on their hands face a choice. Start by telling a story or hand down an indictment. In this first installment of a multi-part series on the meat packing industry in their region, Hall, Alexander and Ordonez take the latter approach with bill of particulars against a North Carolina poultry giant. The allegations are so damning it’s hard to fault them for going with the NEWS. Later, they paint a vivid
picture and tell some interesting stories.

1  Private Family, Public Feud
Diane Jennings and Michael Grabell of The Dallas Morning News
So you thought you knew the Hunts, the oil rich family that “has meant big money in Big D,” Jennings and Grabell tell their readers. Well, not like this. In crafting the lede on a very substantial piece, the reporters take their time to put the Hunts in context before launching into a storyline with many twists and unexpected turns. Contrast this approach with the one in the story above. Each is effective in its own way.

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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism