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Heartbuuurn!

How serious is this on CBS-TV in Sacramento? When you tune in to find out that "Residents in a North Highlands neighborhood woke up to find locks on their water spigots after their homeowners association turned off some of its water without warning." There's more in the tone-setting beginning of the story.

If you go through the whole story on TV or read it online, you eventually find out -- at the end of the story -- that "The HOA says the locked spigots are in the outdoor common areas and that water systems inside the homes are not affected." Maybe if this was higher up in the story and not at the very end, the tone might have been different? Not quite so dramatic, perhaps, but different?

Want to know what gives PR professionals serious heartburn? The order in which everything is reported in stories, because this sets tone and influences opinion. But the playing field can be leveled. For more about this, contact hoastrategic@gmail.com.

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