The Lead

Review and Extension

Five W’s and an H

Who? Who is the story about?

What? What happened or is going to happen? What event or occurrence is the story about?

When? When did the event or occurrence take place, or where will it take place?

Why? Why did the event or occurrence take place? What circumstances led up to it?

How? How did it happen? What makes this story newsworthy?

The Central Point

• News stories are written in a journalistic style so that readers and listeners may quickly absorb the most important information.

• The central point is the most important piece of information the writer wants to get across to the reader.

• It’s the information that will have the most impact, or emotional punch, on the reader.

The Summary Lead

• The first paragraph of a news story. It summarizes the story in a clear, factual beginning paragraph. A summary lead answers who, what, when, where, why and how and establishes what the story is about.

• Most recognized element of journalistic writing.• Gives readers the most important information

immediately.• The first sentence is the most important

information in the story.

The Descriptive Lead

• Allows the writer to become a storyteller and hint at interesting things to come.

The Descriptive Lead

Example: Few things about Elizabeth Taylor are subtle except, perhaps, the place where she lives. Nestled into the hillside of ultra-ritzy Bel Air, Taylor’s massive California-style ranch house has sweeping views of Los Angeles, feels as secluded as an island, but is just yards from neighbors and ten minutes from the heart of Beverly Hills.

Same story, with a summary lead

• Movie star Elizabeth Taylor, who has spent three years at home recuperating from hip operations, a heart condition and an eighth failed marriage, is reinventing herself as a business woman.

The Question Lead

• Readers are asked a direct question

Example: What would you do if you won an internship at USA TODAY? College student Robert Davis is asking himself that question this morning.

The Quotation Lead

• “I’m lucky to be alive,” said Marie Johnson as she surveyed the rubble of the home in which she survived a tornado

The direct address lead

• Readers are told to do something:

Imagine tile floors so shiny they glow, bright colored hallways and sunny classrooms.

The surprise lead

• The writer supplies a twist:

Residents of Reston, Va., were used to cats prowling their suburban neighborhood in the night, until a sixty pound bobcat appeard.

Inverted Pyramid Style

How to write a news story

My Six Servants

I keep six honest serving men They taught me all I knew

Their names are WHAT and WHY and WHEN

And HOW and WHERE and WHO.

Rudyard Kipling

The Lead: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How

GUELPH (CP) -- Joseph Castiglione of Hamilton was fined $250 yesterday after pleading guilty to five charges of turning off heat to tenants in two apartment buildings in nearby Fergus.               HOW Castiglione was charged under the Land- lord and Tenant Act after five tenants who received eviction notices mailed on Jan. 14 complained that electricity and heat had been cut off in their apartments on Feb. 6.

NORMAL WRITING STYLE: BUILD TO A CLIMAX

THE INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE OF NEWS WRITING

Activities:• Five W Identification:

Clip the lead or first two or three paragraphs/sentences from a front page news story. Following the procedure used in the "Joseph Castiglione" story above, identify the 5Ws+H in the story.

• Headline Swap: Clip an interesting news story. Clip off the headline and swap headlines with a classmate. File the rest of the story in your Portfolio. Write a news story based on the headline you have received from your classmate. When completed paste the actual story and headline above your work.

Fairy Tale Assignment:• Nursery Rhyme:

Write your favourite nursery rhyme as a news story, i.e. Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks, Snow White, Cinderella, Humpty Dumpty, etc. Use the inverted pyramid and 5Ws style of news writing. Identify the Ws used in your lead.  

Bad Fall Injures ChildrenIt was reported by a reliable source last night that Jack and Jill Jones both fell down a slippery hill. The twelve year old twins were sent by their mother to get a bucket of water. In returning, Jack fell down, hit his head on a rock and received a slight concussion. Jill apparently tripped over Jack, and in falling down, received a skinned knee. The two were taken to county hospital. Jill was treated and released. Jack remains in satisfactory condition and will probably be released tomorrow.