Viewers are key to a successful show
Choosing a lead story is one of the most important aspects to consider when putting together the newscast. Essentially, the lead story should be the most important story of the day that will be the most interesting to viewers.
From what I've learned thus far, the lead story can change at any moment. For Monday's newscast, our lead story was the suspicious envelope that was found in a USC parking structure. While I was not lead producer on this day, I know that Steven and Sarah were initially thinking of other stories to put as the lead story based on the morning meeting. However, since news of the envelope broke later that morning, Steven had to consider changing the lead to this incident.
One of the factors that is important to consider when choosing a lead story is which story is going to capture the most attention from students. Since most ATVN viewers are USC students, faculty, and staff, I would consider putting important stories about USC as the lead. I know that if I were watching the show, I would prefer to see USC news at the top of the newscast, rather than at the end of the newscast.
Overall, I think Steven made the right choice in changing the lead to the suspicious envelope incident. This worked well as a lead story since it interests USC students.
