hard news story
i read “Flash flooding traps driver in KC intersection” by Chad Day in the Kansas City Star today. it was a hard news story about a man who was stranded in his car in a flooded intersection this morning. it is a simple news story, like the one we read about the motorcycle accident. the lead is a simple sentence that relays the most essential information, and it uses delayed identification. this identification eventually turns out to be anonymous. the second paragraph has more details, especially one relating to the driver. the third paragraph then has a quotation from a nearby employee about past flooding in the area. the final two paragraph simply has more details. there is no unnecessary information, and everything in the story helps to illustrate the situation.
