Developing a gist-extraction typology based on journalistic lead writing: A case of food risk news

Abstract Risk communication is challenging since scientific knowledge is likely to be targeted to the public, which may have inadequate knowledge to understand jargons and expertise in risk messages. This study aims to construct a journalistic gist extraction typology, which can be useful for developing risk messages. Journalists' lead writing was conducted for 164 governmental press releases regarding food risks, and they were compared to factual information in original press releases. seven types of gist extraction were identified: ‘exemplifying,’ ‘contextualizing,’ ‘grouping,’ ‘identifying likely victims,’ ‘emotional appeal,’ ‘separating verbatim,’ and ‘sense-making numbers.’ The typology was valid with 92% of the total leads made by nine reporters being applicable to it. The content analysis revealed that ‘exemplifying’ was the most frequent gist extraction type, followed by ‘contextualizing’ and ‘separating verbatim.’