The Who, What, Where, When and Why were successfully tackled in this Saturday's Miami Herald article regarding former football legend O.J. Simpson and co-conspirator Clarence Stewart-both facing life with parole for armed robbery and kidnapping.
The no-nonsense lede, "O.J. Simpson is going to prison," captures the attention of "scanners" and encourages them to read on to obtain additional details and background information. The Subheads, "Colorful Testimony" and "Plea Deals," are effectively titled and provide an overview behind the jurors' decision and the four co-defendants' involvement in the case.
The inverted pyramid works well in the O.J. story, since readers want to receive the most pertinent information early on in the first couple of paragraphs. The aptly titled subheads are also effective, as they allow readers to skip/scan ahead to access information pertaining to that topic, especially if they're pressed for time.
This article is a great example of a "print plus" story, as the text is paired with web-exclusive feautures, such as: a video of the Las Vegas courtroom and deliberation, a slideshow and related links (Jury Instructions for the O.J. Simpson Case).
Since this article could also be considered a "thematic" story (O.J. is the theme), the structure could have been divided into chunks, allowing readers to explore related elements or parts of the story without effecting the main story. For instance, instead of simply posting pictures of the nine men involved in the Las Vegas armed robbery, miamiherald.com could have created chunks or seperate pages for each of the nine men, detailing their involvement and individual plea deals, which would grant readers control over how they view and obtain their information.
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1 comment:
Excellent example and deconstruction.
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