LEAD
The first sentence of a news story that contains the main facts.
What is the lead?
This news writing structure organizes information from most to least important.
What is the inverted pyramid?
This technique introduces a quote, identifies the speaker, then continues the quote.
What is a quote sandwich?
This is the main title of a story.
What is a headline?
AP Style emphasizes writing in this voice for clarity and conciseness.
What is active voice?
A lead states: “Hundreds of residents were displaced after flooding swept through Millbrook.” What W is emphasized?
What is the Who?
This is the name of the five-element acronym that describes the options a reporter has when writing the transitional sentence.
What is the WAITS?
These statements communicate the commander’s priorities and organizational message.
What are command messages?
This replaces the word "and" in a headline.
What does a comma mean in a headline?
Paris and Atlanta are examples of this.
What are stand alone cities in datelines?
In a news lead, a writer begins with “Petty Officer 2nd Class John Smith…” even though the individual is not nationally recognizable. What lead-writing mistake has the writer made?
What is using a full identification instead of an impersonal who?
This is the term for the most newsworthy element of a story that answers why you are telling this specific story right now.
What is the news peg?
“This training proves the Army is the most capable force in the world.”
What is an opinion?
This verb form is used in a headline to indicate a past event, giving it a sense of immediacy.
What is historical present tense?
A reporter writes "the President visited Fort Meade." This is the AP Style rule governing capitalization of this title in this sentence, and the corrected version.
What are titles?
titles are lowercase when not directly preceding a name? Correct: "the president visited Fort Meade."
A story about a training exercise emphasizes the unit instead of the exercise itself.
What is the Lead Emphasis?
Prominence, significance, and conflict are examples of something journalists use to evaluate whether a story is worth reporting.
What are the 8 Elements of Mass Appeal?
A quote appears without identifying the speaker until two paragraphs later.
What is improper attribution?
A headline writer wants to attribute a statement to a source without writing the word "says." These two punctuation marks can each serve as a substitute for "says" in a headline.
What are a colon and a dash?
A reporter writes that a soldier "was comprised of strong leadership qualities."
What is wrong word usage?
"Comprise" means to contain or include — a person cannot be comprised of qualities. Correct: "demonstrated strong leadership qualities" or the unit "comprises" its members, not the reverse.
“On Tuesday afternoon at approximately 3 p.m., the soldiers who were assigned to the 22nd brigade conducted training.” What writing problem is present?
What is a Buried lead?
A reporter has a quote from a source that contains accurate command messaging but also contains the phrase "synergistic cross-functional paradigm." This is exactly what the reporter must do with this quote before it can be used in a military news article intended for an external audience.
What is a paraphrase? Jargon must be removed for external audiences. The reporter must rewrite the content in plain language, verify with the source that the paraphrase accurately reflects the meaning, and attribute it as an indirect quote.
A reporter's lead reads: "Due to the recent increase in cyber threats facing DoD installations, the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade conducted a training exercise Friday at Fort Meade."
What is backing into the lead?
What is a buried lead?
A story covers a ceremony scheduled for next Friday where a general will present a Silver Star @ Fort Meade. Write a correct AP-style headline for this event.
Acceptable answers must use infinitive form ("to receive" / "to present"), downstyle capitalization, no period, under 60 characters. Example: "Fort Meade general to present Silver Star at Friday ceremony"
According to AP Style, this is the correct way to write a time that falls exactly on the hour, and this is why "2:00 p.m." is incorrect.
What is "2 p.m."? The colon and zeros are dropped for even hours in AP Style.