News isn't that someone did something or something happened; it's what, exactly, was done and/or happened.
For example, we'd never write a lede about a football game like this ...
The Spartans played Notre Dame in a football game Saturday.
... because that lede doesn't say anything of substance. That's because the news isn't that a game was played; it's who won or lost.
The lede we'd do would be something like this:
The Spartans walloped Notre Dame 107-0 Saturday.
Keeping that in mind, does this lede work?
A research study conducted by sociologists at the University of Florida revealed new information Monday regarding marriage stability in relation to women’s education level.
I'd argue it does not, because while it tells us there's new information, it doesn't tell us what the new information is. A better lede tells us what happened, like this one:
Marital disruption is more likely among highly educated women, researchers said in a new study released on Monday.
Now, the reader doesn't simply know that researchers discovered something; they know what the something is.
For example, we'd never write a lede about a football game like this ...
The Spartans played Notre Dame in a football game Saturday.
... because that lede doesn't say anything of substance. That's because the news isn't that a game was played; it's who won or lost.
The lede we'd do would be something like this:
The Spartans walloped Notre Dame 107-0 Saturday.
Keeping that in mind, does this lede work?
A research study conducted by sociologists at the University of Florida revealed new information Monday regarding marriage stability in relation to women’s education level.
I'd argue it does not, because while it tells us there's new information, it doesn't tell us what the new information is. A better lede tells us what happened, like this one:
Marital disruption is more likely among highly educated women, researchers said in a new study released on Monday.
Now, the reader doesn't simply know that researchers discovered something; they know what the something is.
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