Download Writing Leads

LEADS
SUMMARY LEAD—the first paragraph of a news story which
is usually one sentence long (20-30 words and gives the most
important of the 5 W’s; news leads are further identified by the
first “W” or key idea
a. Who lead—starts with “who”
b. What lead—starts with “what”
c. When lead—starts with “when”
d. Where lead—starts with “where”
e. Why lead—starts with “why”
KEY IDEA—the first and most important W; the first 2 or 3
words
TIME REFERENCES IN NEWS:
1. The day before—yesterday
2. The day after—tomorrow
3. One week on either side of the date of publication—use the
day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc. but never
abbreviated)
4. More than one week on either side of the event—use the
date (Oct. 10—abbreviate the month with date but no year)
-do not use “th” or “rd” as in 10th or 3rd—the reader
will say it in his/her mind
-do not use the year unless it is a different year than
you are currently in
-if something is this old, the date will probably appear
much later in the story (use recently rather than a
specific)
STEPS FOR WRITING A SUMMARY LEAD
1. Survey the information—think news elements and
audience!!!
2. Find and list the 5 W’s
3. Determine the key idea from the 5 W’s (remember
readers!!!)
3. Begin writing with the key stated in specific, interestarousing words (great dane vs dog)
-AVOID: a, an, the
-NEVER: at a meeting, yesterday, last week,
recently, according to, it is/was, there is/was
4. Follow the key with a strong, action verb
-Avoid helping verbs
5. Put the “when” as close to the verb as possible if the news
is not dated.
6. Conclude with the other W’s in order of decreasing
importance
7. Add attribution if needed.
8. Re-read many times and evaluate the news quality
(readers)
9. Re-write if needed.
10. Re-read again several times.
EDITORIALIZING: putting the writer’s opinion in a news story.
This is a NO, NO!!
CHECKLIST FOR LEADS:
One sentence (20-30 words)
Appropriate key—think readers
Strong, action verb
When—if timely
Other W’s
Attribution (S+V order usually)
Editorializing
Third person—he, she, it, they (no 1st or 2nd person)
ATTRIBUTION
ATTRIBUTION—naming the source of information and his/her
title or identification
USE ATTRIBUTION WHEN:
1. The story is about future events
2. The story is about important events that the reporter did not
attend or witness
3. The lead has opinion/interpretation
4. The information is potentially libelous
BUT NOT WHEN
5. The information is based on established facts or could be
easily observed
ATTRIBUTION WITH STYLE:
1. Give the first and last name (NO Mr.,Mrs., or Ms.) for the
first mention
2. Use only the last name second mention and in subsequent
paragraphs.
3. Use the person’s title or some sort of identification
a. Short titles go before the name and are capitalized
(Principal Warren Jacobson)
b. Long titles go after the name and are not capitalized;
long titles are set off by commas (Kathy Vogt,
assistant principal of operations and resources,)
4. Most news stories rely on the word “said” or “according to”
-past tense
-subject + verb order (he said)
5. The attribution is set off by a comma if it’s at the end of the
lead
6. The attribution may not be a person’s name, but an
unidentified source, an agency or even a printed source
7. The attribution may also be the “who” or the key idea.
8. Refer to couples as: Mr. and Mrs. Warren Jacobson
ATTRIBUTION PRACTICE
1. Chris Howell who is a senior
2. Shawna Adams who is a freshman and an animal rights
activist
3. Yvonne Lopez and her husband Ed
4. Bonnie Hoffert who is an English teacher and department
chair of Language Arts
5. Yvonne Lopez who is being mentioned again
TWO LEADS
A parade, a pep rally and a bonfire will climax
Homecoming week festivities as the Demons meet the
Thunderbird Chiefs in tonight’s play-off game.
Homecoming festivities come to a close tonight as the
Demons meet the Thunderbird Chiefs in their annual play-off
game here.
1. How are these leads different from the summary leads
you’ve just done?
2. How are #1 and #2 different from each other?
----------------COMPOSITE LEAD—a lead which deals with several events
(closely related by time or content) used as the key idea; the
rest of the lead is the same as the summary lead
KEY FOR COMPOSITE—a parallel series or a specific
generality
PARALLEL STRUCTURE
PARALLEL STRUCTURE—when listing items in a series, all
items must be the same structure
IN WORDS...
James brought oranges, apples and bananas.
Soccer, volleyball and golf have been dropped from the fall
line-up.
IN PHRASES...
Joining clubs, playing sports and helping others make
even the best student more well rounded.
He likes to dance to rock and roll, to listen to classical
music and to play country songs.
IN CLAUSES...
When I get to England and when you get to France, we’ll
both have met our dreams.
The greater the problem the more expensive the solution.
A 68-year-old Tucson woman, who was
rescued Saturday after being stranded for
16 days in a remote area near a huge
wildlife refuge, said Sunday that her only
food was barrel-cactus buds.
Shirley Miller said from her hospital bed
at St. Joseph’s that she was “absolutely
beat.”
BLIND LEADS
BLIND LEAD—a two-paragraph lead (used to keep the
opening sentence from becoming too cluttered and to build
interest); each paragraph is one sentence long with a
generalized key in the first sentence and a specific key in the
second sentence
TRAITS OF KEY IDEAS IN BLIND LEADS:
1. Always a who or what
2. The who is not a prominent person so a generalized
identifier is used in the first sentence.
3. If the what is a key idea, it is fairly broad so a generalized or
broad term is used.
4. The specific key is always in the second paragraph.
FORMULA
Sentence 1
Paragraph 1
-----Sentence 2
Paragraph 2
Write a generalized key
Verb (when?)
Other related W’s
-------Begin with complete ID (who)
or
Specific details (what)
Verb (when?
Other important (related) W’s
SUMMARY
Key idea + strong, action verb + when + other important W’s
COMPOSITE
Key ideas with parallel structure
or
+ strong, action verb + when + other important W’s
Specific generality
BLIND
First paragraph: General key + strong, action verb + other important W’s
Second paragraph: Specific key + strong, action verb + other related W’s
Criteria for choosing the right type of lead:
1. What are the news elements? Who’s it for?
2. Is the who or what important but not in terms of an actual
name or specifics? (Not prominent) Choose the blind lead.
3. Are there several key ideas happening in a short period of
time? Composite
4. Does the information contain elements of news but without
the above two criteria? Summary (Most will be summary
leads—isn’t that what you’ve observed?)