11 Chapter 8: Leads
Writing Leads
Once a reporter has conducted their interviews, it is time to write. Where to begin?
The lead.
The lead or lede is pronounced LEED and is the first paragraph of any news or feature story.
Consider the lead your first-date outfit. It’s designed to grab the reader’s attention and give a good first impression of your story. If you do not have a good lead, you will lose the reader.
Writing a news or feature lead is often a path into writing the entire news story. Not all journalists start with the lead, but most do. For new writers, beginning with the lead will help you develop an outline of the entire story.
There is a tried-and-true process for lead writing. To begin, a reporter needs to have interview transcriptions, research and documents ready. Many journalists review their notes before they begin to write and highlight any information that feels crucial to include in the story.
With their notes nearby, a reporter can create an opening paragraph that puts their best information forward. A handy way to organize those thoughts is by writing out the classic five Ws and an H.
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
- How
In a 2015 paper titled “News Writing for Print,” Ricky Telg and Lisa Lundy explain these letters. They write that the five Ws and H also can be the questions that a news story should answer, such as:
- Who said or did something?
- What was said or done? What happened?
- When was it said or done? When did it happen?
- Where was it said or done? Where did it happen?
- Why was it said or done? Why did it happen?
- How was it said or done? How did it happen? How does this affect me?”
Telg and Lundy also write that “what” and “who” are most often used in leads.
Let’s go through an example of creating a lead using this process. Below is fictional information added to the five Ws and H form.
- Who: College president
- What: Received an award
- When: Yesterday
- Where: On campus
- Why: The president opted not to take a salary for an entire year while working to help get the college back to financial solvency.
- How: The local chamber of commerce found out about the lack of a paycheck and presented the college president with a plaque and breakfast honoring the sacrifice.
Now that the information is in the format, a journalist can look at what could go in the lead. Rank the information from most newsworthy (1) to least newsworthy (6). This is a judgement call for the reporter based on the factors of newsworthiness in Chapter 4.
In this example, the most interesting information is not the “when” or “where.” The “what” is not the most interesting, either, as awards are common. The “why” in this example is newsworthy. The college president declined a paycheck because the college was struggling financially. That should be the lead.
Not all of the five Ws and H can fit in a lead. Unlike papers written in an English class, the lead needs to be short. One sentence is recommended. Two is the most you would use.
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