Chuck Byers, Director of Brand Management at the world's No.1 silicon foundry, TSMC, tells a great yarn of how, as a 22 year-old cub reporter, he had a lesson of supreme importance inculcated into him by his editor.
"Every story should start with a paragraph of 25 words or less, and at least one local name and address."
The advice was given by Loren Schultz, Executive Editor of the Springfield Ohio Daily News.
Schultz was many decades ahead of his time. This is exactly how everyone starts Internet news stories today.
If you're going to grab and retain eyeballs, the opening must go straight to the point of the story, and to the characters involved.
Internet stories may not print local names and addresses, but look how often the words Intel, Apple, iPhone etc get stuffed into opening sentences to get peoples' interest.
What a relief it is to get back to Mr Shultz's principles and away from those wordy, setting-the-scene, atmospheric openings to newspaper stories of the type:
'In the twilight, on the Khyber Pass, the shadows were lengthening, and the only sounds were the guttural barkings of deer, the wail of an egret and the beating wings of a passing bustard blah di blah di blah etc etc.'
We salute you, Mr Shultz. Long may your principle prevail.
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