Newspaper Headlines and Leads

A news story is said to possess timeliness if it

• stresses events that have occurred in the last month
• stresses events that occurred today or yesterday
• has been written within the last six hours
• has been read or heard within the last six hours

Journalists recognize two types of news stories: hard and soft. In this regard,

• “hard news” is about complicated topics, like science and economics, and “soft news” is about things like entertainment and fashion
• “hard news” stories have long, complicated sentences, and “soft news” stories have short, simple sentences
• “hard news” is about serious topics and recent events, and “soft news” refers to human interest stories
• “hard news” stories are always 2,000 words or more, and “soft news” stories never exceed 500 words. 

In regard to news values, prominence refers to

• the extent to which the story will affect a number of people
• whether the story has one central, or prominent, character
• the location of the story on the newspaper page or in the news broadcast
• how well known the people involved in the story are

The concept of proximity suggests that a news organization is likely to carry a story about a murder, if that crime

• involved a well-known person
• was committed locally
• occurred within the last 24 hours
• was unusually gruesome

The beginning of an article is called a/an

• Lead
• Hook
• Introduction
• Anecdote

Which one does not refer to lead?

• Lede
• Subheadline
• Kicker
• All of the above

A direct news lead is most likely to appear on what type of story?

• A feature article
• An in-depth sports story
• A soft news story
• A hard, breaking news story

A direct lead written for so as to be easily understood by as many people as possible should be...

• 18-20 words
• 25-35 words
• 35-40 words
• 40-50 words

If the CNN website runs a story about the winner of the US president election, this type of story is called a:

• Soft news
• Hard news
• Featured story
• Editorial article

Which of the following should a summary news lead NOT try to do

• Provide the most important information. 
• Stress what is unusual or interesting.
• Convey the most recent information.
• Lure readers in to reading a story they are not interested in.