JRN- 2904-Editing for the Print Media - Week-4

Writing a Newspaper Story – The Lead

Prepared by
Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj
Monash University
sonyjraj@gmail.com
sonyjraj@sass.monash.edu.my
 Parts of a News Story

1. Headline – tells what the story is about

2. Byline – shows who wrote the story
3. Lead – tells the most important facts (5 W’s & 1H)
4. Body – contains more information and details
5. Ending – gives something to think about
 Parts of a News Story

1. Headline Train accident forces evacuation

 Parts of a News Story

1. Headline Train accident forces evacuation

2. Byline Abeer Yusuf
 Parts of a News Story

1. Headline Train accident forces evacuation

2. Byline By Scott Freed

3. Lead A freight train carrying dangerous chemicals

collided with a semi-trailer in southwestern
Manitoba on Thursday, sending a towering plume
of toxic black smoke into the air and forcing the
evacuation of more than 100 area residents.
 Parts of a News Story
1. Headline Fifteen of 20 derailed cars at an
uncontrolled crossing along CN Rail’s
2. Byline mail line were ablaze, including cars
carrying benzene and plastic pellets. At
least one of the derailed cars was
3. Lead carrying hexane, although that car was
not on fire, said CN spokesperson Jim
4. Body Feeny.
Emergency measures officials decided it
was too dangerous to send in firefighters
to try to douse the flames, said Edward
Geirsbrecht, the reeve of Norfolk
municipality. “At this point they’re just
letting it burn,”he said. “The way it looks
it could take a couple of days.”
Feeny said neither the truck driver nor
the train’s driver were killed in the 4:15
p.m. accident.
An area five to eight kilometres
wide was being evacuated, although
Manitoba RCMP spokesperson Sgt.
Steve Saunders indicated the region
was sparsely populated. “The number
of people that will be evacuated will
be determined by the weather,” said
Giesbrecht. “Right now it (the wind)
is blowing in a direction where there
is not a high population so it’s OK.
Among the evacuees were 60
members of the Pine Creek Hutterite
colony who live two kilometres from
the crash site. Colony manager
Lawrence Maendel was at the crash
site shortly after the accident
happened. “My tongue was tingling,
but we should be OK,” said Maendel,
who was frustrated at being …
 Parts of a News Story

1. Headline
2. Byline
3. Lead
4. Body …
5. Ending “This is a dangerous toxin – it could get you any
time,” Roy said. “One of the guys came tearing
down the road. He said a ball of flame was going
over his house.”
 What is a lead?
A lead is the
beginning
of your story.

“If it bleeds, it leads”

 Lede, lead or Intro
Look up lede, lead
The most important structural element of a story is
the lede or lead or "intro" (in the UK) —the story's
first, or leading, sentence.
Charnley (1966) stated that
"an effective lead is a "brief, sharp statement of the
story's essential facts"" .

The lede/lead is usually the first sentence, or in some cases the

first two sentences, and is ideally 20-25 words in length.
A lead is short, concise, and should make an impression on a
reader as he or she browses through articles. The lead sentence is
usually between 25 to 30 words long.
Reporters use the most important facts to begin every story
with a lead. A lead summarizes the major parts of the article
for the reader.
 What lead does????????

A good lead catches the

reader’s attention,
making them want to
read on. It also makes
the writer want to
write more.
 Lead by Lead
“If the lead is successful, a basic story flow plan emerges.
Good leads stress the impact of the story on the people.”

The mission of the news lead is to communicate essential news strongly,

unmistakably, or alluringly signal readers to significant news that lies in ensuing
paragraphs.

– Distils from a “mass of facts, figures and quotations the single coherent statement
that … best expresses the meaning of the story”.
– Present that statement in a powerful, evocative way.

Notes on editing the lead

The lead propels the story.
The lead should highlight the salient and most newsworthy
point of the story
It should seek out the point that makes the story special
Every word should be indispensable
Word order and word choice are critical to good lead writing.
Most important words come first.
 Laws for writing
Leads………
The top-loading principle applies especially to ledes, but
the unreadability of long sentences constrains its size.
This makes writing a lede an optimization problem, in which
the goal is to articulate the most encompassing and interesting
statement that a writer can make in one sentence, given the
material with which he or she has to work.

While a rule of thumb says the lede should

answer most or all of the 5 Ws, few ledes can
fit all of these.
Different Types of Leads

Summary Lead
Question / Interrogative Lead
Set-up Lead
Talking Lead
Snapshot Lead
Identification Lead
Anecdotal or Narrative Lead
 Snap Shot
Lead :- Leads …. Leads……
Create a Set-up
picture of
the Lead :- Set Summary Lead :-Answers to the six questions
setting or a up the (who, what, when, where, why, and how) are
character action for provided in the first sentence of the story.
in the the entire The summary lead is most often found when the
reader’s news story is written as an inverted pyramid.
mind. story in a
In this structure, all of the important information is
few presented immediately, with support or elaboration
Anecdotal or sentences. following.
Narrative Lead :-
they may be
Question or Interrogative leads :- may focus
Talking
grounded in a
quotation; or they more on answering one of the six questions.
may ask a question,
tease, or be
Lead :-
mysterious. These Start with Identification Lead :- When the most important
element of the story is a person, the lead may
a line or
more creative leads
are most emphasize his or her identity.

two of
appropriate for These are labeled immediate identification (“Laura
human interest Bush...”) and delayed identification (“An 11-year-old
stories and are least
likely to be found in
dialogue. child was killed earlier today when.... Dead is...”).

hard news.
 Lead >>>>>
What is this story about and why is it important?
Common problems in leads……
• Cluttered. More than one idea.
• Flabby. It says, "I don't know what this story is about."
• Dull. Ho-hum. No tension. No energy that drives the
writing forward.
• Mechanical. No human voice, no "music." Just
another burger and fries.
• Closed. A private conversation between those who
speak the same jargon. It says, "Stay away. You don't
know enough to read this."
• Predictable. Written in journalese or bureaucratese.
Clichés. No surprises, no unexpected words of
phrases that are unexpected and that delight us as
they capture and clarify a news event.

• No "chuckle quality."
How to attract through your leads?

Qualities of Effective Leads

Focus. Make a specific promise to the reader, and then deliver.
Context. Involve the reader. Show clear, immediate significance.
Answer the question, "Why should I read this story?"
Form. Implies a design, a plan, a structure, a pattern that will help
the reader understand the meaning.
Information. Whets the readers appetite, promises delivery.
Voice. A human voice talking to the reader. Provides the "music" to
support the meaning of what is being read.
Surprise. The promise of something new.
 Editing Lead---- Test -1

TEST - 1
The story is heading somewhere.
There are strong factual vehicles and strong verbs to take it there.
The path is not cluttered with obstacles – grammar, structure,
habit, opinion…, stray information.
The lead makes sense as a unit and as a part of a whole.
 Editing Lead---- Test -2
TEST - 2
Weigh the elements within the lead against each other.
Are they weighty, of essence, coherent, unique, and compelling?
Weigh the lead against the next paragraph.
Is it subject to elaboration, correlation or development?
Weigh the lead against the story.
Is it related to the body, part of a whole, and essential to the whole?
Confirm that the lead foreshadows the other key elements.
Is the lead a team player,
passing the ball to the other team members who may score the goal?
The lead must make a promise.
Does it make a promise that will be kept by other paragraphs?
 Remember

The lead needs support –

statements, quotes or more detail
to explain what happened, how
and why the problem or action
occurred, reactions to the event.