I hate to be negative about journalism; I really do.
Today’s journalists are under pressures that those working in the industry five or 10 years ago cannot imagine. They literally are being asked every day to do more with less – adopting new multimedia skills while losing colleagues and other resources that stable finances bring.
BUT sometimes you read something in the paper that just must be addressed. Today was one of those days when I wondered “Is anyone reading this stuff before it’s published?”
This lead in today’s Tulsa World can is damaging and poorly considered:
“David Waddle was “never the same” after eating a down-home meal two years ago at a popular Locust Grove restaurant.”
The lead is cliché by itself, but it’s obvious that the “never the same” came from a source, meaning it likely ties into to story someone further down. The next sentence is the real problem:
“On July 30, the Cabot, Ark., man died in his sleep at age 63.”
He died! Yes, people who die are never the same. They’re DEAD. And, of course, the people around them are never the same either. Hopefully this poor wording choice didn’t cause them further harm.
The story itself is an excellent idea. It’s about an E. coli outbreak in a small Oklahoma town that made 341 people sick. Waddle, one of the victims, went from being a strong, healthy man to death from the outbreak’s aftereffects. Read the full story here. The physical description of Waddle before contracting the virus would have made a great narrative lead-in to the story.
Despite a poor lead, the remainder of the writing in the story is pretty solid. Unfortunately, I predict the lead will make many people turn the page in jest. It’s an example of how a bad lead can ruin a good story.
