"Special Leads"

"Even in an era of escalating pop spectacle, Pink’s “Funhouse” tour is going to be hard to top."
This is an example of a contrast lead because it compares Pink's Funhouse tour to the other pop artist performances of today.

Is this the best lead for the story?
The lead is fitting because it compares Pink's performance to other pop artists and makes it stand out. It keeps the reader interested and it makes them want to read on to hear what the reviewer had to say about her show.

Can this lead be improved?
I think the lead perfectly sums what the article is about, and it peaks the readers interest. It has strong, powerful verbs that stand out like escalating. I don't think it needs improvement.

Is a summary more appropriate?
A summary lead wouldn't entice the reader to want to finish the article, the contrast lead functions as sort of a cliff hanger. The reader wants to find out what happened on the tour. If it were a summary lead they would get most of their information in the lead and not be interested in reading until the end of the story.

Would one of the other special leads work better?
I think that if the author added a quote, maybe from the show, it would compliment the contrast lead, but I don't think any other special lead would function better.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html

Staccato Lead
"Man o'War in the 1920s. Phar Lap in the '30s. Secretariat in the '70s. Dancing Brave in the '80s. The debate over horse racing's greatest ever flat runner has always been as contested as a Breeders' Cup — and it just got hotter."

Is this the best lead for the story?
I think this lead works for the story because it is suspenseful, when it says "and it just got hotter," it makes the reader want to find out why, so they keep reading to learn about the race horse Sea the Stars.

Can this lead be improved?
If the reader didn't know anything about horse racing, it would be confusing and they might not read on. It might have been better to clarify.

Is a summary more appropriate?
No I think it would make the story uninteresting

Would one of the other special leads work better?
I think this lead is very fitting for the story. The other leads wouldn't be able to captivate the reader as this does.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1927869,00.html