Please review elements of Chapter 3 as they relate to writing basic news leads and prioritizing information.

Remember our discussions in class about putting the most important information first — in how you order your paragraphs, and how you order your sentences.

New detail: Leads (your first paragraph) should be short — 30 words or less. Succeeding paragraphs should also be short, no more than two or three sentences. I’ll explain in class. All quotes should stand as a separate paragraph. Punctuating quotes correctly is essential.

DUE IN CLASS MONDAY: Go to the online portal for the text book (click here). There are a short set of facts presented in Exercises 3.2-3 (fire), 3.2-4 (plane) and 3.2-5 (meeting). Using a basic news lead for each, type of a news brief for each set of facts. Each should be about three paragraphs. Keep them all on one sheet, print out, and bring to class to discuss on Monday.

Remember — I will ask you to write a blog post here about the NY Times reporter you intend to follow later next week.