The Associated Press Guide to News Writing Chapter 3 Review


For every news story there is a lead. It is one of the most important parts of a news story. It is the hook that lures the reader into the story. This is exactly what we will be looking at this week in the third chapter of Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing: Leads: The Agony of Square One.

This chapter focuses on the importance of leads. Cappon states that a lead must be clear and specific. Cappon compares a lead to a speech, in that it shouldn’t mumble. A neews lead must be loud and clear, so it can speak directly to the reader and captivate their attention. Cappon shows a lot of examples in what are good and bad news leads in this chapter.

Again, in this chapter we see that Cappon stresses the importance of simplicity and clarity in news writing. Cappon succeeds in teaching the reader the importance of writing good news leads in this chapter. Cappon also succeeds in continuing his overarching message in his book within this chapter. Overall this was an excellent chapter and addition to Cappon’s guidebook.

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