Types of leads
All the following leads are used in soft news (easy to read stories, columns and
entertainment stories etc)
Anecdotal Lead:
Where anecdotal gives a brief story or retells a universal experience. For example:
“Imagine being thrown off from the stage by the security officers who thought you are a fan
trying to get close to the stage” recalled Chris Brown about his concert in Dubai.
The above example then follows the rest of the story about Chris Brown and the success of his
concert.
Expression Lead (parody lead):
This type of lead uses well known phrases, proverbs to start of a story. For example:
Honesty is the best policy
OR
As you sow so shall you reap
Prediction Lead:
As the name suggests, stories that are predicting something about the future are called prediction
leads.
For example: The world will come to an end in 2012 predicted the famous astrologer xyz.
First person (personal) lead:
Typically used in columns or features where the writer uses the first person account. For
example:
During my interview with Osama bin Laden I asked him some of the things that…
OR
When I started my journey into the north little did I expect I would meet the wonderful people I
came across…
Delayed Identification Lead/ Blind Lead:
Reporter uses this when the person involved has little recognition. An ordinary person in an
extra ordinary situation news calls for a delayed identification lead as the beginning of the news
story. This type of lead can be used in hard news stories as well. For example:
A 39 year old carpenter was found dead in the empty plot in the dark of the night near Shadbagh.
Police identified him to be Ajmal, a resident of Sabzazaar.
Immediate Identification Lead:
One of the important feature in this type of lead is the WHO element. A recognized person, a
prominent personality is in news, the news starts with immediate identification of that person.
For example:
Robin Williams was found dead in his room in mysterious circumstances
Or
Pop singer Shahzad Roy was invited by PTI chief to join the dharna in Islamabad.
Or
Mehdi Hasan was hospitalized last night after he suffered heart attack…