Write one summary lead and one alternative lead for each of the two exercises on the following pages. You should also write a headline for each lead. Even though newspaper reporters typically do not write headlines for their stories, multimedia journalists often write the headlines for their stories. So now is a good time to start practicing.
Summary leads: Use the guidelines discussed in the text and in class to write a headline and summary lead for each story. Headlines should be fewer than eight words and each summary lead should be only one sentence or two sentences with a semicolon, and no more than 35 words.
Alternative leads: Write the headline and the first two paragraphs of each alternative lead (lead and second sentence or paragraph the nut graph). Your lead and second sentence/paragraph (nut graph) together, should be no more than 75 words. The alternative lead for each of the three exercises must be a different type: quote lead, descriptive, ironic, delayed, or a question lead. (This means that the alternative leads for the both examples cannot be for example, descriptive leads). Be sure to label your lead by type, e.g., descriptive, delayed or ironic.
Be careful to emphasize the most appropriate news values in your leads.
Do the leads in the order listed above and put a number1or 2to the left of each lead, along with a one-word description of the type of lead it is. Write the summary lead first, then write the alternative lead for each exercise. At the end of each lead in parentheses include the word count and Gunning Fog readability index for the lead. That index can be obtained by going to the following website: : https://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp (copy paste each summary lead and report the GUNNING FOG index that indicates the number of years of formal education each person needs to easily understand the text).
Try to keep the readability index below 18, which can be difficult on a summary lead. Make sure you follow AP Style. After you write your leads, check the various elements against the AP Style guide.
