Thursday, July 18, 2013

Detroit | Which story 'lede' do you like best?

The New York Times, USA Today (via the Detroit Free Press) and The Wall Street Journal are all covering Detroit's historic bankruptcy filing this afternoon. Here are the first paragraphs of their stories:

The city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court Thursday, laying the groundwork for a historic effort to bail out a city that is sinking under billions of dollars in debt and decades of mismanagement, population flight and loss of tax revenue. (Source.)

The city of Detroit filed for federal bankruptcy protection on Thursday afternoon, making the automobile capital and onetime music powerhouse the country's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy case. (Source.)

Detroit, the cradle of America’s automobile industry and once the nation’s fourth-most-populous city, has filed for bankruptcy, an official said Thursday afternoon, the largest American city ever to take such a course. (Source.)

7 comments:

  1. Why of course the one USA TODAY ran is without context, technical and boring.

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  2. You mis-copied the NY Times version, making the graph look amateurish. So I thought THAT was the USAT version.

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    Replies
    1. No; the NYT changed its lede graph after I posted this in order to remove the attribution ("an official said Thursday afternoon"). Here's the latest version:

      "Detroit, the cradle of America’s automobile industry and once the nation’s fourth-most-populous city, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, the largest American city ever to take such a course."

      The NYT is scrupulous about sourcing information whenever there might be a shred of doubt.

      Delete
  3. Richard MIchem7/19/2013 8:41 AM

    How much is this going to cost Gannett? I sure they be unpaid bills, for legal ads and such. Other supplier, that Detroit owns money to that has debts to Gannett's properties will not be able to pay Gannett.

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  4. The best coverage was in The Detroit New. The main story had a sweeping lede that defined Detroit and its place in the national story. The Freep had the Gannett journalism of hope "new beginnnings" angle promising kittens, puppies and rainbows for all.

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    Replies
    1. If anyplace cries out for the journalism of hope, it's motown.

      Delete
  5. Beryl Love finally comes through. What does this guy do except work on his daily blog? Not seen. Not heard. Not impressive.

    ReplyDelete

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