NE - Leads and Nut Grafs Lesson

Leads and Nut Grafs Lesson

Introduction

magnifying glassFocusing on the lead enables the rest of the news story to fall into place. Once a reporter has gathered all of the information, it's time to think about how to begin the story. Sometimes, the proper lead for a story is obvious. But sometimes, there are several ways to begin a story.

In writing the lead, the reporter often has to consider things such as:

    • Prominence and Proximity: Would this story impact local readers or readers on a much broader scale?
    • Timeliness: Is this something that is happening right now?
    • Consequence: Is this an event that will affect a reader's life in some way?
    • Facts: From the lead, can you identify the 5W's and 1H?

 

Consider the following hypothetical situation:

The Facts

  1. Snow and ice closed schools in your area for two days this winter.
  2. The School Board has revised the school schedule for the rest of the year.
  3. The board decided that students should make up the missed days by extending the school year by two days.

Now, let's break the facts into the 5 W's and 1 H.

  1. Who: Students
  2. What: Must make up two additional days of school
  3. When: At the end of the school year
  4. Where: My county
  5. Why: To make up two missed days of school due to snow and ice
  6. How: by attending school

When writing a lead, start with the W or H that is the most important for the reader to know about, or that will matter the most. Remember the best lead says the most in a few words (25-30). Sometimes, one of the W's or 1 H is left out of a lead, but for the reader you want to make the point of the article clear.

Here are some examples:

  1. Students in my county must make up two additional days of school, due to snow and ice. These days will be made up by adding two additional school days to the end of the school year.
  2. The county school system has requested that students make up two additional days of school due to snow and ice. These days will be made up by having students attend two days past the original school schedule.
  3. Summer plans will change for students in your school system. Snow and ice closed schools for two days which means students will have two additional school days added to the end of the school calendar.

While journalists typically use the summary lead like those above in news writing, it is not the only type of lead that journalists can use.

1. Single-Item Lead – This type of lead focuses on just one or two elements of a summary lead. For instance, when the Braves won the 1995 World Series, a single-item lead would be: The Braves are World Champions. 2. A Short Sentence Lead – This type of lead uses one word or a short phrase as a teaser for the rest of the lead. For example, 293. That’s the number of ways to make change for a dollar. 3. Analogy Lead – This is a comparison between an issue or an event that you’re writing about and something that is more familiar to the average reader. For example, The United Kingdom is considering anti-terrorism laws that make the United States’ Patriot Act look like a civil libertarian’s dream come true. 4. Scenic Lead – It begins with a description of the scene surrounding an event. For example, the wind howled through the trees; the moon shone high in the sky. The only sound to be heard was the leaves rustling in the brisk wind. Birds sheltered quietly tonight as the storm gathered. Small branches and twigs blew across the ground. The moon’s light poked through the waving branches onto the woodland floor and occasionally lit up the small debris running around. This was the scene after the last Tornado that went through Oklahoma. 5. Amazing Fact Lead – This lead begins with an amazing fact that gains the reader’s interest. For example, A TI-83 calculator has six times more processing power than the computer that landed Apollo 11 on the moon. 6. Opposite Lead – cites first one point of view or observation and then follows with the opposite view. For example, People who played action-based video and computer games made decisions 25% faster than others without sacrificing accuracy, according to a study from the University of Rochester. A new study released in the United Kingdom, states that this is false.

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