Normally a news article/story is broken down into many segments which includes the headline, the lead and the body of the story (including the tail). These segments are mostly presented in an inverted pyramid style of writing, where the lead constitutes the most important function.
A lead is composed of the opening sentences of a brief composition, or the first paragraph or two of a longer article or essay. It performs the pivotal function of introducing the story to the audience in an effectual and irresistible manner by condensing the important facts. The ideal lead consists of 20–25 words.
IMPORTANCE
In todays fast moving world the audience devotes a minimal amount of time on news stories. The impact of a lead on the reader’s minds is usually the deciding factor of whether or not one will spend their precious time by indulging in the whole story. It is the lead which sets everything in motion, it directs the forthcoming facts and details. It acts like an orb, that attracts the reader towards the bright and shine of the entire story. Like a magnet, its job is to attract the reader and create a curiosity for them to follow.
TYPES
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1.Direct Address Lead: The Direct Address lead is aimed directly at the readers and makes them relate to the facts in the story. It usually employs the pronouns “you” and “your“.
EXAMPLE: “You might not get relief from the harsh winds as the weather is going to be the same for next 10 days or more.”
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2.The Circumstantial Lead: This type of lead stresses on the circumstances under which the story occurred. It usually is usedin human interest stories.
EXAMPLE: A 60–year old retired bank employee raised the alarms when two unidentified persons entered her house with the intention to steal his most valuable and prized positions.
3.The Statement or Quotation Lead: Statement or quotation lead clutches the attention by stating the words said by a person, usually presented in quotation marks. It helps in understanding what exactly the speaker wanted to convey.
EXAMPLE: “I’d like to jail parents themselves who are so lax their kids are boosting the crime rate!” This statement came from Juvenile Court Judge Warren Jones, in releasing a report on the rapid rise in juvenile crime rate in this city.
4.The Descriptive Lead: Descriptive lead focuses on describing a person, place, or event in vivid detail. They aim on taping into the five senses of the readers, in order to paint a life like picture. Descriptive lead is used in both traditional and feature news stories.
EXAMPLE: Thousands dressed in scarlet and grey T–shirts eagerly shuffled into the football stadium as the university fight song blared.
5.The Summary Lead: Summary lead aims at providing the readers with the major facts about the article in a compacted form. This usually includes what? why? where? when? who? and how of a story.This helps in saving time and efforts of the reader.
EXAMPLE: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress yesterday that U.S. economic growth appeared to be slowing, heading off for the moment any need to raise interest rates. Wall Street responded with a cheer, sending stocks and bonds soaring.
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6.Contrast Lead: The contrast lead grabs attention of the audience by presenting extreme ends relating to a situation – tragedy with comedy, past with present, age with youth, beauty with ugly.
EXAMPLE–Less than 3 years ago, two college friends decided to build a website to exchange their favourite videos. Today Your Tube is owned by Google and gets over 25 million unique visitors to the site each month.
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7.Anecdotal Lead: The anecdotal lead uses a short but fitting story to excite the audience. The anecdote presented must help in enhancing the understanding of the article, and it must explain the relevance and connection to that point in the first few sentences.
EXAMPLE: Sharon Jackson was sitting at the table reading an old magazine when the phone rang. It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments.”
8.Question lead: Question lead seizes the attention by asking the readers apposite query, which ignites curiosity in them, they feel obligated to find answers in the forthcoming text. The question asked in rhetorical which cannot be answered by a “yes” or “no”.
EXAMPLE: “What’s increasing faster than the price of gasoline? Apparently, the cost of court lobbyists.”
References
2. For importance– https://training.npr.org/2016/10/12/leads–are–hard–heres–how–to–write–a–good–one/
3. Video for understanding–https://youtu.be/3utuYnDlG1g
–Ananya Goel
Department of Journalism
LSR, Batch of 2022
12 Responses
The article is short and crisp .
One good thing about this article is that the writer has given examples for the types
The article is very specific and examples are very helpful. However, I feel that the writer could have added a separate heading to explain the basic principles of writing a lead or some tips regarding how to write a lead.
To read more about writing leads, you can go through these links:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/writing_leads.html
https://www.clearvoice.com/blog/the-dos-donts-of-writing-a-good-lead-according-to-dear-megan/
https://online.pointpark.edu/public-relations-and-advertising/how-to-write-a-lead/
The article is great! But, for a 25 marks question, I believe, the content isn't sufficient. And so, a bit elaboration under the heading 'Importance' could've been done. Also, another heading regarding how to write a good lead could've been added as well.
Ananya! It is crisp and to the point article with some well knit examples.
Though I personally feel things can be added to describe more about the significance of lead , their reach and their style
Overall the article is a crisp summation .
Malak Tariq
Article is good! Bt the writer could have added about structure of the lead as well. Like, . If a statement is the most important aspect of a story, the reporter should paraphrase it in his lead. And individuals referred to in leads should have their full names and titles included. The lead of the news story is followed by the body or the rest of the story. The body should follow the lead logically. Although news stories should cover the event thoroughly, a reporter should not get carried away with details.
Hope it help!
Arya Krishnan
Fist year
Department of Journalism,LSR
Hey!
The article is well researched and provides considerable information related to leads and their importance.
I would like to suggest that the addition of tips to write good leads would have made it more comprehensive.
Here's the link for it-https://online.pointpark.edu/public-relations-and-advertising/how-to-write-a-lead/
Hope it helps!
Thank You
– Deepika Saini
– LSR
The article is crisp and to the point and I appreciate it very much
But it may not be enough for 20-25 marks. I'd suggest using examples from the recent news articles in the Indian media to give a better understanding
-Agrima Gulati
Ananya, This article is very good and well researched. However, the writer could have included a brief of how to write a good lead and the tips to do this as well.
More can be read on:
http://www.angelfire.com/nd/nirmaldasan/journalismonline/tol.html
https://online.pointpark.edu/public-relations-and-advertising/how-to-write-a-lead/
https://www.coursera.org/lecture/journalism/types-of-leads-5wAyj
I read this article and find it interesting. I just wanted to add about how can you write a good lead for this:
https://online.pointpark.edu/public-relations-and-advertising/how-to-write-a-lead/
And apart from this I would like to add :
A news report should tell its story in the fewest possible sentences. This is because both readers (for time considerations) and publishers (for space considerations) prefer shorter stories. As with leads, paragraphs in the body of the story should be kept short. Short paragraphs look better on a newspaper page and are easier to read than long ones.
Komal Singh
Department of journalism
I read this article and find it interesting. I just wanted to add about how can you write a good lead for this: https://online.pointpark.edu/public-relations-and-advertising/how-to-write-a-lead/
And apart from this I would like to add :
A news report should tell its story in the fewest possible sentences. This is because both readers (for time considerations) and publishers (for space considerations) prefer shorter stories. As with leads, paragraphs in the body of the story should be kept short. Short paragraphs look better on a newspaper page and are easier to read than long ones.
The article is to the point and well written in terms of short and crsip answer but if we talk about leads further things could have been added like there are various other types of leads like quotaion, personal, gag etc. and how the lead have emerged to play a very imp role in getting readers attention in a changing world.
Further-http://www.angelfire.com/nd/nirmaldasan/journalismonline/tol.html
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/isaacs/client_edit/Mencher.html
The article is to the point and well written in terms of short and crsip answer but if we talk about leads further things could have been added like there are various other types of leads like quotaion, personal, gag etc. and how the lead have emerged to play a very imp role in getting readers attention in a changing world.
Further-http://www.angelfire.com/nd/nirmaldasan/journalismonline/tol.html
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/isaacs/client_edit/Mencher.html