1.

Using the following information, write both hard and soft leads:
A tanker registered to the Zabo Oil Company of Panama has run aground. This happened off
the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. One half million gallons of oil already have spilled
into the Atlantic. It is believed that another half million gallons are still on the ship.
2. Write a quote lead based on the following information:
A man on welfare, Bill Nelson, found a purse on the street. When he opened it, there was
$5000 inside. Nelson counted it a dozen times. After two hours, he went to the police station
and turned over the money to the officer at the desk. When questioned about his honesty,
Nelson said, “I may be poor but I am honest.”
3. Using the information from Exercise 2, write a delayed lead.
4. Write a shotgun lead using the following information:
Forest fires in Oregon have burned more than 10,000 acres of timberland and the flames are
threatening thousands of additional acres. In California, firefighters are battling flames that
already have destroyed 15,000 acres of woodland.
5. Use your imagination to figure out ways to update these leads:
The president is scheduled to leave this afternoon for a vacation in Florida, where he will
work on a new budget.
The hurricane is off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, and could hit the mainland within the
next three hours.
Striking autoworkers are meeting at this hour to decide whether to accept the auto industry’s
latest contract offer.
The countdown has begun at Cape Canaveral for the launching of the space shuttle Atlantis.
6. Using any of the types of leads discussed, write a story from the following information:
Lori and Kevin were married today. It was exactly 30 years ago to the day that they met.
When they were teenagers the two had dated for about a year after meeting on a blind date in
1963. “I remember the date, of course, because it was my birthday,” said Lori Scott. Lori and
Kevin Rowce broke up following a fight. They both married and had children and had not
seen each other for 29 years. Kevin contacted Lori when he heard from a friend that her
husband had died. Kevin had been divorced a number of years ago. They decided to marry
after dating for the past year. They were married on New York’s Staten Island ferry. “That’s
what we did on our first date,” Kevin said.