Tompkins’ chapter four is about having a lead that is inviting to the reader. The lead should describe the key points that took place in the peak of the story, rather than attempting to summarize everything that happened in the entire story. The reason a writer would like to have some of the most intriguing pieces of the story in their lead is to get the reader to gain an interest in who was involved and what happened in detail. Along with engaging the reader, one wants to do so in a way that doesn’t confuse or overwhelm the reader.
In chapter five, Tompkins discusses the uses of verbs and adjectives in writing. Tompkins spoke about how there should not be verbs that end in “-ing” used in writing and that he believes adjectives are overused by many writers in news stories in the current day media. The choice in a writer’s verbs or subjective adjectives can also reveal a bias and bring a journalist’s integrity to question. Bringing a variety of words into a story can keep a reader from getting bored and eventually not continuing to read.
Chapter seven is about how important pictures are and how powerful they can potentially be to a reader’s emotions. When choosing a picture, it is an important that it does not overwhelm the reader with new information. Pictures are also not supposed to show exactly what a story is talking about, because words are used to explain images. Explaining an image allows a writer to add meaning to their work. While pictures are important, the most important part of a story is still how a writer uses their words to draw readers in.
Chapter 18 includes information about fake stats or, “zombie stats”, as well as being critical when questioning. A reporter does not want to just take comments when gathering information for a story, questions that are addressed should be answered. Despite how credible a source may seem, there always should be a sense of skepticism and a desire to get further confirmation. Fake stats are used by politicians in their campaign as a way to boost themselves above their peers. “Zombie stats” includes corrupted polls as well. These polls could be very biased and lose credibility, which should make them meaningless in the grand scheme of a campaign.
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