Chapter 7

The lead (aka lede)
 The beginning of the story that entices the reader
 Crucial in any medium
▪ Especially in today’s media environment
▪
▪
▪
▪
Social media
Print
Broadcast
Online

The lead
▪ Tells the reader what the story is about
 Hard-News Leads
▪ Also called Summary leads
 Soft news leads
▪ Also called feature leads
 Nut Graphs
▪ Also called the focus graph

Hard-News leads
 Aka - Summary leads
▪ Should answer several, but not necessarily ALL of the 5
W’s
▪ Choose the most important of the 5 W’s for the lead
▪ Save the others for the second or third paragraph
 Subject-Verb-Order
▪ Effective format for summary leads
 “Who did what” or “what happened”
▪ Avoid writing summary leads with clauses (pg 124)
 Order of information
▪ When writing a summary lead
▪ The point of emphasis should be the first or last words
▪ Decide which elements are the most important
 Point of emphasis
▪ Most of the time when writing a hard-news lead
▪ Put the most important info first
▪ Otherwise put it at the end of the lead

Active vs Passive voice
 Active voice is preferred in print & broadcast
▪ Stresses who is doing the action
 Passive voice should be used
▪ When emphasis is on what happened instead of who

Where to say “When”
 Time can be confusing in a lead
▪ For prior day events, when doesn’t come first
▪ When used, make sure it’s placed where accurate (pg 127)

Delayed Identification
 When the who is not a well known person
▪ Identify them by age, location, occupation or other
description in the lead.
▪ Identify them by name in the second paragraph
 Be aware of laws and newsroom policy about
names of juveniles and criminal offenders

Updated leads
▪ Used for stories that have already been introduced
▪ Provide immediacy for continuing stories

Impact leads
▪
▪
▪
▪
Explains how the reader & viewer will be affected
Good for broadcast stories
Help to make stories seem fresh and relevant
Help to answer the question “So What”

Attribution leads
 Tell the reader where you got your information
 Too much attribution can clutter a lead
▪ If you witnessed the information
▪ You can eliminate the lead
▪ If you received it from a source/interview
▪ Include attribution

Soft lead
 Coaching tips
▪ Write multiple leads vs struggling to find the perfect one
▪ Make sure lead is related to focus and can be backed up
▪ Don’t strain to create a lead from your head
▪ Pull from the story to develop it

Descriptive leads
 Describe a person, place or event
 Can be used for a news or feature story

Anecdotal leads
 Starts with a story about a person or an event.
 All soft leads are anecdotal
▪ They are storytelling approaches

Narrative leads
 Like anecdotal, tell a story with dramatic action
▪ To make readers feel like a witness to the event
 Use writing techniques of fiction including
▪ Dialogue
▪ Scene setting
▪ Forshadowing

Other soft leads
 Soft leads can be written in many ways
▪ Focus on a person lead
▪ Contrast lead
▪ But-Guess-What contrast
▪ Then and now contrast
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Teaser lead
Mystery lead
Build on a quote lead
List leads
Question leads
Cliché leads

Leads to avoid
 Cluttered leads
 Good news/Bad news leads
 Crystal ball leads
 Nightmare leads
 Plop a person leads
 Weather-reports leads
 Stereotype leads

Tips for finding your lead
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Reader interest
Memorable item
Focus on a person
Descriptive approach
Mystery approach
Build on a quote
Contrast
Problem/Solution
Narrative Storytelling