MSNBC.com reported that a snowboarder was killed in an avalanche Saturday.
The news lead the reporter chose was very straight forward. The lead gets right to the point. It tells who died, where it happened, why it happened, and it also says the public had been warned not to go into the area, which could make people read more.
Who the person was is general, the lead just says that it was a 24-year-old man. It also only says it happened in a steep Utah backcountry. As someone who is not from Utah naming a city in the lead would be pointless, because I wouldn't know where it was or what it looked like anyways.
How the person died was a specific element in the lead. The reporter uses a good verb in "trapped" to describe how the snowboarder died in the avalanche. Also saying he was a snowboarder allows for a better visual of the man, he was not a skier or hiker that died. That information puts the stereotypical image of a young snowboarder in my head. Then giving the information about how the public was warned about bad conditions is somewhat specific to why the avalanche occured. It tells the reader that it was not just a freak accident, but the conditions were right for an avalanche to happen.
Overall this lead was very informative with only one sentence. I got the whole story aside from the specifics such as the man's name and where he is from. It told me what happened right away, and if I chose not to read on I still have a firm grasp of the event.
Garrison: You're doing a great job with the blog. Keep it up. GG