COMM 209: A pretty good little 'color' story

But first, some ground rules for the class -- and how to use our class blog ... Get in the habit of reading the blog. When you see a course number in a head, that means the post is assigned reading for that class. For example, this post is assigned for Communications 209 (basic newswriting). Sometimes I'll ask questions and direct you to post answers as comments to the post. (That'll come a bit later, though, and I'll show you how to do it when it does.) Sometimes we'll kick off a class discussion by looking at the blog. Other times I'll sneak up on you from behind with a question you wouldn't know the answer to unless you read the blog.

Here's one: What does "color" mean when you're talking about newspaper stories? Read on.

Jeff Zeleny, who covered President Barack Obama's campaign for The New York Times, has a nice little story on what Obama's first day as president was like. (I've also been known to refer to these as "dumb little stories" ... which is not an insult the way I use the term ... that won't win anybody a Pulitzer Prize but are nice, solidly crafted little stories that people like to read.) Let's look at the way this one is put together.

First, there's a lede that tells a little story.

WASHINGTON — As President Obama stood on the east steps of the Capitol, waiting to review the troops in his new role as commander in chief, he discreetly moved the American flag pin from the lapel of his suit to his black wool overcoat and proceeded onto one of his first ceremonial acts of office.

He listened to “Stars and Stripes Forever.” He watched stoically as representatives of each branch of the armed services passed before him. And before he climbed into his limousine to set off for the parade, he turned to the military officer in charge of the day’s festivities and offered a handshake of gratitude.

The two-star Army general returned the handshake with a sharp salute.

When, as protocol demanded, Mr. Obama returned it, he delivered his first salute with a crisp precision that looked as though he had been practicing. (Yes, one friend said, he certainly has.) By nightfall, Mr. Obama had gotten plenty more practice, saluting again and again as bands and soldiers marched by in a parade that rolled along until well after sundown.

You'll see these ledes again and again. And again. Sometimes they'll be called "soft" ledes. Sometimes "Jell-O" ledes. (We'll study a handout from Newsweek pretty soon, and I'll probably call them Newsweek ledes, but you see them in Springfield's State Journal-Register, too. You see them everywhere.) See how this little anecdote in the lede tells you something important about Obama? His attention to detail? His studied effort to win over the military people who mostly voted against him in last year's election? Notice also how the color that is, the details, launch us as readers into the rest of the story.

"The day was steeped in emotion, history and a dash of disbelief — all three of which, friends said, Mr. Obama experienced himself in formally becoming the nation’s 44th president."

Notice how everything in this story -- every detail, every bit of color -- comes from Zeleny's own observation or his reporting. How did Obama feel? And how did Zeleny know what he felt? He asked Obama's friends. And he attributed it to the friends. After U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy collapsed at a luncheon, Zeleny said, "Mr. Obama’s aides kept him apprised of Mr. Kennedy’s condition." How did he know this? The aides (or one of them) said so. My point: Even the things Zeleny didn't see for himself, he got from someone who did.

So ... now ... what do we mean when we talk about "color" in a newspaper story? The details? Yeah. Good. And what's a "color story?" A story that tells the details? Yeah. See, we're cooking already! And how do you get the details? You have to be there. Go to the scene. Of the crime. Of the inauguration. Whichever. So it's a kind of eyewitness story. And it's based, always, on reporting. Always.