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Writing News Leads

Writing News Leads. Joe Pappalardo. Attract readers Other articles are competition New info first. Lead = Beginning. Who What Where When Why – “to make up for time” (reason) How – “by a vote” (the way it was done/happened). One Story 6 leads. Direct/Hard News L ead

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Writing News Leads

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  1. Writing News Leads Joe Pappalardo

  2. Attract readers • Other articles are competition • New info first Lead = Beginning

  3. Who • What • Where • When • Why – “to make up for time” (reason) • How – “by a vote” (the way it was done/happened) One Story 6 leads

  4. Direct/Hard News Lead • Answers same ?’s as before. • What will happen next? • Can also begin with • Subordinate clauses • Infinitive – “to look…” • Present participle – “Rejecting…” • Gerund – “Flying planes has always been…” News Summary Lead

  5. More ways to begin leads • Temporal clause – “after months of...” • Conditional clause – “if…then…” statement • Concessive clause – “though/although…” • Cite the source News Summary Lead

  6. Don’t need to answer all seven questions in one sentence. • Pick most important one. • Only need a few sentences. • People like shorter sentences/paragraphs. Feature Fact

  7. May take up to three sentences/paragraphs. • Gradually introduces info and answers questions. The Modified News Lead

  8. Starts out with attention grabber (“anecdotal lead”) • First paragraph is soft, indirect • Second paragraph is “nut graph” • Answers actual questions like who & what. • Keeps readers hooked Nut Graph / Focus Graph

  9. Followed by nut graph and feature fact • Used with social, economical, political, environmental, etc. • Brings issue to personal level • Brief descriptive sketch or story • Longer than nut graph – paragraphs • Followed by narrative/story and inverted pyramid • Vignette may reappear later in story • Example – Chad Johnson’s article in city newspaper The Vignette Lead

  10. Descriptive/background lead • Setting, details leading up to, dialogue • Delayed answer to questions or feature fact • Direct address • Uses “you”/”your” • Body of story is 3rd person • Informal • Direct Quotation: Short quote– long one will bore readers • Question: Used if it is the essence of the story • Only 1-2 in school newspaper • Compare/Contrast: time, culture, size • Novelty/Oddity: rare event attracts attention Other Choices for Leads

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