Leads and Story Basics

Week 1

Topics for Today

Whats news
Discuss broadcast news topics
Basic story structure
Leads
Leads
More leads
Return to story structure
2

The inverted pyramid

Reports of its death have been greatly
exaggerated.
Most important to least important
Newspaper readers spend 15 to 25
minutes per day reading the paper
Online subscribers spend even less

The inverted pyramid

Readers can find the key information
first
Editors can trim less important
information if necessary
Began in the Civil War (or before)?
Forces writers to rank the importance of
the information (Key to good leads too)
4

The inverted pyramid

Lead comes first
Supporting paragraphs in descending
order of importance
Multiple editions of a newspaper or
newscast with story running different
lengths

Negatives: It doesnt encourage people

to read the entire story
5

Leads
Clear, simple statement
First paragraph -- occasionally two
paragraphs
Key news values
So what? or Who cares?

Leads - basic questions

Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
7

Lead basics
Ask these questions
A few other things as appropriate
Word limit?
25 is good
Depends on the story
May be two sentences, if necessary

Remember, what do you want to know?

8

Leads
Telling someone a story when theyre
trying to catch a bus
Just the facts . . . .
Avoid editorializing
Keep your opinions out

Double check spelling, address, key facts

Avoid too many numbers in the lead
9

A fire in Bryan caused $45,000 in

damages to a two-bedroom home in the
2300 block of 28th Street. Fire officials
said the fire was started by a lighted
cigarette on a sofa. Firefighters arrived
at the house at 3:30 a.m. to find it on
fire. They had the blaze under control in
five minutes. The homeowner, Kathy
Mahoney, was awakened by the smoke
and flames. She suffered minor burns
on her hands and feet.
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Alternate leads
Which item is most important?
What if:
Mahoney is the mayor of Bryan?
Mahoney is a convicted arsonist?

Have there been may fires caused by

smoking this year?

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Types of leads
You lead
Tells readers why they should care

Immediate-identification lead
Who is one of the most important
facts
Delayed-identification leads
Who is one of the least important facts
12

Types of leads
Summary lead
Sums up what happened
Most common lead type

Multiple-element lead
Laundry list of topics
Use sparingly

13

Novelty Leads
Some stories are best written with an
unusual lead

14

A Santa Ana woman was charged with

attempted murder yesterday. She was being
held in the Orange County jail after being unable
to post $250,000 bond. Police said the woman,
June Carter, 71, doused her husband, who was
confined to a wheelchair and had cancer, with
rubbing alcohol and set him on fire. Police said
she was angry because he ate her chocolate
Easter bunny. She called paramedics six hours
after the attack on her husband. Paul Carter, 62,
was taken to the University of California Irvine
Burn center with third-degree burns, police said.

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Story organization
A good lead makes the rest of the story
easy to write
Following the lead, introduce any
additional important information
Explain the so what if possible
Elaborate on the information in the lead

16

Story structure
Develop the ideas in the same order
they are introduced
Generally, use one paragraph per idea
[Yes, you can have one-sentence
paragraphs]

17

Multiple-element stories
A multi-element lead frequently means a
multiple-element story
Board meetings, council meetings
Options
More than one story
A summary box (nice graphic element)

Multi-element story -- same format as

regular story.
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