News Story With a Solid Lead
September 7, 2016
This story brings in the reader because you don’t normally associate veterans with protecting marijuana, which has been a controversial topic in politics for many years. It’s a good lead because the first paragraph is short, it sets the scene, and shows the reader exactly what these veterans are protecting. The author set their writing up to allow the reader to immerse themselves in the experience of these veterans. There are no unsupported generalizations and it genuinely intrigues the reader so they will keep reading. The second most important facts are in the second paragraph, and there are no opinions or excessive use of adjectives. Quotes are included within the first two paragraphs, and every paragraph is relatively the same size. All in all, it appears to be a solid lead to a well-researched story.
News Comment #3
September 6, 2016
The conservation of animals has long been a project that spans all countries and connects people despite the language barriers and other political issues between nations. Even with the collective efforts of all these countries to help creatures around the world; when an animal is put on an endangered list like the ones these conservation groups create, it isn’t likely to leave that list until it’s extinct. This is why it’s newsworthy that the giant panda has been removed from the list of endangered species to vulnerable. While this change seems significant to animal lovers, the Chinese government believes that it is still imperative to continue ramping up conservation of the giant panda’s habitat. Climate change in the next 80 years could wipe the species out completely, as well as the fact that these pandas don’t have a lot of offspring in the wild and families are spread out. While this article brings potentially surprising news to readers, it also informs readers of several other species whose status on the endangered list has become closer and closer to extinct and informs readers of the importance of conservation work.
This article is newsworthy because animals are a significant part of nature and help balance the environment. They are also helpful in bringing attention to changes in their habitats and climate that might also be significant to humans and the future of the Earth. The audience for this article could be anyone who loves animals, anyone interested in general conservation efforts, or the public in general, as the vocabulary and terms used are general and easily understandable. The lead to this story does give the basic information of the article and seems interesting, but there are some extra description words such as “languished” in the sentence that aren’t necessary to give only the facts and news side of the story. The article brings up both sides of the issue, showing why the conservation group changed the status and also why China doesn’t believe the giant panda is out of the woods yet, but there wasn’t much commentary from the conservation group’s side in response to the Chinese government’s concerns. This information could better help readers understand the thinking behind the change instead of seeing only potential downsides.