BASIC NEWS LEADS

1
BASIC NEWS LEADS

• CHAPTER 7
• He was the quiet Beatle who left
• the loud legacy.
• (CNN lead on death of Beatle George Harrison)

2
The Leads Needs

• The first sentence or two, or the first
  paragraph or two, in a newspaper, magazine, or
  online news story is called the lead or lede.
  
• It is considered the most important part of a
  storyand can be the most difficult to write.
• The lead should arouse a readers interest.
• Leads often will cover the central point of the
  story, not hide it with unnecessary or misleading
  words and phrases.

3
Summary or central point leads

• The most common type of lead. It gives the main
  or central point of the story.
• While every news story should answer six
  questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?--
  the lead is not the place to answer or address
  all of them.
• The lead should answer only the one or two
  questions that are most interesting, newsworthy
  and/or unusual.

4
To determine the lead, ask yourself

• What is the most important information? What is
  the storys central point?
• What was said or done about the topic? What
  happened or what action was taken?

• What are the most recent developments? What
  happened today or yesterday?
• Which facts are most likely to affect or interest
  readers?
• Which facts are most unusual or out of the
  ordinary?

5
Peoples Names dont have to be in leads

• Delayed-Identification Leads In many stories,
  the names of the main subjects are not as
  important as what those people did or what
  happened to them.
• For these stories, reporters use leads that
  withhold complete identification of the people
  involved until the second or third paragraph.
  (See examples top of page 150)

6
Leads Avoid headline writing

• Leads must be complete sentences They are not
  headlines, so they must include all the necessary
  little words, often articles, such as the words
  a, an, and the.
• Bad lead Six College of Charleston students
  arrested last night when police break up downtown
  party. (too headlinenot a complete,
  grammatically correct sentence)
• Better lead Six College of Charleston students
  were arrested last night when police broke up a
  downtown party.

7
Count your words!

• Lead Length Many readers find a 25-word lead
  difficult to read and a 29-word lead very
  difficult. A better average would be 18 to 20
  words. (see p.152 chart of newspaper lead
  lengths)
• Reporters should examine their leads critically
  to determine whether they are wordy or
  repetitious, or contain facts that could be
  shifted to later paragraphs.
• Broadcast leads are even shorter12 words

8
Elements of Good Leads

• Are specificgood leads contain interesting
  details and can help readers or viewers/listeners
  visualize the events they describe
• Use strong, active verbsa strong word or
  descriptive verb can transform a routine lead
  into a dramatic one.
• Emphasize the magnitude of the storystress the
  impact stories have on people

• Stress the unusualby definition, news involves
  deviations from the norm
• Strive for simplicityevery lead should be clear,
  simple and to the point
• Localize and updateleads should emphasize your
  communities involvement in stories (local angles
  and reactions to national, international stories)
  

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Good Leads (more)

• Are objective and attribute opinionsreporters
  are expected to gather and convey facts to their
  readers, not to comment, interpret or advocate.
• Reporters may anger or offend readers when they
  insert their own opinions.
• A lead containing someone elses opinion or
  statement must be attributed so readers clearly
  understand the opinion is not the reporters.

10
Common Errors with Leads

• Not beginning with the newsyou should stress the
  news of the story, not the attribution (example,
  p.156)
• Dont bury the leadchronological order rarely
  works in a news storythe lead should stress the
  central point, whats most newsworthy, noteworthy
  or unique

• Avoid agenda leadsan opening paragraph that
  places too much emphasis on the time and place at
  which a story occurred is called an agenda
  lead.
• Example Yesterday the Cougar baseball team
  played a double-header against Clemson at
  Patriots Point.
• Better At Patriots Point yesterday the Cougar
  baseball team swept a double-header from Clemson.

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More Common Errors with Leads

• Avoid label leads--Label leads mention a
  topic but fail to reveal what was said or done
  about the topic. Leads must report the substance
  of a story, not just its topic.
• Example The City Council Tuesday night
  discussed ways of regulating underage drinking
  downtown.
• Better The City Council Tuesday night examined
  several fake ID cards and approved new guidelines
  to help bar owners crack down on underage
  drinking downtown.

12
Also Avoid

• Lists- can be dull
• Platitudes-- avoid stating the obvious or
  stressing the routine in leads (p.158)
• The negative- report what happened, not what
  failed to happen or what does not exist (p.158)

• Exaggerationif a story is weak, exaggeration is
  likely to make it weaker, not stronger
• Misleading readers/viewersevery lead must be
  accurate and truthful

13
Finally

• Critically examine all leads and rewrite them as
  often as necessary
• First drafts are rarely so well-written that they
  cannot be improved
• Even experienced professionals often rewrite
  their leads three or more times