Traditional:

The Associated Press will start transmitting alternative beginning paragraphs for news stories, letting editors choose whether to go with the old-fashioned just-the-facts-approach or a snappier style.

Optional:

Millions of American newspaper readers may find themselves reading more interesting news stories in a decision that is being seen as a sign of the changing way people consume news.

The AP, a cooperative that serves 1,700 American newspapers, is calling their new service the “optional lead,” as compared to the “straight lead” that began this story. In the age of the 24-hour news cycle, where newsworthiness is measured in minutes, the AP said the optional lead will be “an alternative approach that attempts to draw in the reader through imagery, narrative devices, perspective or other creative means.

The AP said the optional lead was created in response to demand from newspapers and will be available only to them.

In the new communications landscape in which newspapers are competing against television, radio, Internet news sites, and bloggers to reach younger audiences less inclined to read the morning paper over a bowl of cereal, the “optional lead” will help newspapers “compete for eyes,” the managing editor of the AP, Mike Silverman, said in an interview with The New York Sun.

“We’re not in any way moving away from presenting strong action leads on major news events,” Mr. Silverman said. “What we are doing really is adding an alternative in response to what we are hearing from our newspaper members.”

Analysts of the press said the development was a small, positive step for the AP and its member newspapers.

“The notion that the audience is just waiting around to be informed doesn’t exist anymore,” said the chairman of the journalism department at New York University, Jay Rosen.