Writing the lead

• Types of news stories

  • Spot stories
  • Anticipated stories
• Lead


  The introduction to a news story that answers the key questions and arouses the reader's interest
• Functions of the lead

  • Tells the story in capsule form
  • Answers the key questions the reader would ask
• Kinds of leads


  • Conventional/summary lead
  • Grammatical beginning lead
  • Novelty lead
• Conventional/summary lead


  Answers the 5 W's (who, what, where, when, why) and/or how
• Grammatical beginning lead


  Introduced by a grammatical form like a phrase or clause to emphasize a feature
• Types of grammatical beginning leads

  • Prepositional phrase
  • Infinitive phrase
  • Participial phrase
  • Gerundial phrase
  • Clause
• Novelty lead


  Written in a way to attract attention or carry out a specific purpose
• EVERY NEWS STORY begins with an introduction called the lead.
• kinds of lead
• The lead is the first sentence of your news story.