The New York Times reporter that I have been following this semester is Michael D. Shear who is a White House correspondent in the Washington bureau. He mostly covers political issues involving President Trump. Recently, almost all of his articles are about the President.
His leads are very concise and clearly explain what the article will address. His leads are usually more than 35 words, but he utilizes simple, digestible language. He includes details that are vital to understanding the story, but he does not over explain them and gets right to the point. Additionally, Shear often includes two sentences in his first paragraph to lay out all the important details before proceeding.
One thing that I really enjoy about his leads are that they are not dramatic, but rather explicit and factual. I think this does partly takeaway from grabbing the readers attention, but when you’re in a rush and want to know the facts, his leads are very effective.
An example of his concise leads are: “President Trump, citing what he said was advice from friends and business associates, granted clemency on Tuesday to a who’s who of white-collar criminals from politics, sports and business who were convicted on charges involving fraud, corruption and lies — including the financier Michael R. Milken.”
Shear sparsely includes quotations in his articles, but when he does, they are from relevant political officials or from the subject of the article themself.
From reading Shear’s work, I have learned how to balance storytelling with staying to the facts. I feel like in my first story I tried to engage the reader too much and then I ran out of space to include the important and relevant information. From Shear, I have also learned how to tie all the details into a lead without it being wordy or confusing. His leads always state the most important information so that the reader has a good understanding of what the story will address.