Writing News Leads Joe Pappalardo

Lead = Beginning Attract readers Other articles are competition New info first

One Story  6 leads Who What Where When Why – “to make up for time” (reason) How – “by a vote” (the way it was done/happened)

News Summary Lead Direct/Hard News Lead Answers same ?’s as before. What will happen next? Can also begin with Subordinate clauses Infinitive – “to look…” Present participle – “Rejecting…” Gerund – “Flying planes has always been…”

News Summary Lead More ways to begin leads Temporal clause – “after months of...” Conditional clause – “if…then…” statement Concessive clause – “though/although…” Cite the source

Feature Fact Don’t need to answer all seven questions in one sentence. Pick most important one. Only need a few sentences. People like shorter sentences/paragraphs.

The Modified News Lead May take up to three sentences/paragraphs. Gradually introduces info and answers questions.

Nut Graph / Focus Graph Starts out with attention grabber (“anecdotal lead”) First paragraph is soft, indirect Second paragraph is “nut graph” Answers actual questions like who & what. Keeps readers hooked

The Vignette Lead Followed by nut graph and feature fact Used with social, economical, political, environmental, etc. Brings issue to personal level Brief descriptive sketch or story Longer than nut graph – paragraphs Followed by narrative/story and inverted pyramid Vignette may reappear later in story Example – Chad Johnson’s article in city newspaper

Other Choices for Leads Descriptive/background lead Setting, details leading up to, dialogue Delayed answer to questions or feature fact Direct address Uses “you”/”your” Body of story is 3 rd person Informal Direct Quotation: Short quote– long one will bore readers Question: Used if it is the essence of the story Only 1-2 in school newspaper Compare/Contrast: time, culture, size Novelty/Oddity: rare event attracts attention