Lead Analysis

By Alison Henderson
In an article from the BBC about an earthquake in Nepal, India, the story is reported as hard-news. The lead is presented in a straight-forward manner addressing who, where, what and why with little excess information. The main news value addressed in this lead seems to be impact, because the reporter begins with the number of people that have been killed.
The most emphasis is focused on the people that were killed or injured and the magnitude of the earthquake. By providing this information and emphasis in the lead, the reporter is able to express the gravity of the situation without directly stating "this is serious". The facts are speaking for themselves in this case, which is what gives it the hard-news format.
I think it's interesting that the lead left out the "when" component of the story. Perhaps this is a continuing story that has been updated several times since it occurred.