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The Lead

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?

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The Lead

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  1. The Lead Review and Extension

  2. 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?

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. The Descriptive Lead • Allows the writer to become a storyteller and hint at interesting things to come.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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

  10. The direct address lead • Readers are told to do something: Imagine tile floors so shiny they glow, bright colored hallways and sunny classrooms.

  11. 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.

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