Article 1:
"Justices appear hesitant as they hear arguments over same-sex marriage"
From: CNN.com
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/26/politics/same-sex-marriage-court
This article's lead uses the inverted pyramid style by answering the who, what, where, how, and so what on the story. The when and why are the only questions not answered in the lead. It also puts the most important parts of the story first and ends with the least important. Also, the article uses the immediate identification lead by mentioning the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the entity the story centers on. The lead could also be somewhat of a summary lead, because there are some details that summarize the story in the lead. However, more details aren't given about the story until the second paragraph. The content of this story is organized in a way similar to that of a multiple-element structure. It covers many issues and laws that fall under the umbrella of the larger issue of same-sex marriage. The story includes anecdotes; for a few brief sentences it tells the story or talks about some same-sex couples and their families that are directly affected by this issue. Pictures and video were also included in the content of the article.
Overall, the article is very detailed and paints an accurate depiction the story. It is very well organized and is set up in a way that is easy for the reader to follow. My favorite part of the article was the anecdotes, because it gives you a sense of the people directly affected by this issue. This isn't just a story about an issue - it's a story about real people - like you and me battling an issue that affects their life and style of life. Having real people and their stories within the main story makes the story more relatable and more interesting to read. The inverted pyramid style lead was a good choice for this story, but the writer could have added more details into the lead to make it more effective. There were some questions answered later on that could have been included in the lead rather than mentioned later on. Having many different kinds of writing techniques in this story makes it more effective overall and the reader more interested. I like the multiple-element structure of the story, because like I said before it makes it easier to follow and is better organized. Lastly, I like how their is somewhat of a summary lead and the immediate identification lead in the lead itself. It definitely pulls the whole article together. The pictures and video also made it a lot more interesting to read and was the hook that caught my attention.
Article 2:
"Supreme Court justices conflicted on same-sex marriage case"
From: Washington Post
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-historic-moment-for-same-sex-marriage-arrives-before-supreme-court/2013/03/25/c8d85442-95ad-11e2-b6f0-a5150a247b6a_story.html
This article's lead uses the inverted pyramid style as well by answering the who, what, when, where, and so what. It doesn't answer the questions of why and how until later on in the story. This article also puts the most important information first and ends with the least important information. This article also uses the immediate identification lead as well as a summary lead, because of the information given in the lead. The Supreme Court is mentioned immediately and the lead summarizes the issue and what the story is all about. This story is also set up in a way consistent to that of a multiple element structure. It talks about many sub-related issues and things that relate to the overall story within the story. However, this story does not include anecdotes in its contents about the people who are affected by this issue.
Overall, I felt this article was a little too short and didn't totally answer all questions I may have had about the issue as a reader. I will say that this article's lead is more effective than the first one, because it provides more details to the reader to keep them interested. I feel it answers the more important questions that that of the first lead also. I like the different types of leads that were used, because it pulls the article together and make it a little better. The multiple element structure like that of the first article was easy to follow and well organized, but I would have liked more elements to the story to keep me interested. However, I felt the article should have included anecdotes, because that makes the story more interesting and that sense of who's affected. I liked the first article better than this one, although it was missing some elements, it was put together better and overall more interesting than this one.
