News Story How to Write a News Lead

THE NEWS LEAD The lead of a news story focusses on the following: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and HOW The lead usually contains 5 of the above 6 in descending order of importance.

Focusing on the lead -- and its 5 Ws and an H -- enables the rest of the news story to fall into place.

Once a reporter has finished interviewing and gathering information, it's time to think about how to begin the story. Seems easy, right?

Sometimes, the proper lead for a story is obvious. But sometimes, there are several satisfactory ways to begin a story, and the reporter's task is more difficult. Consider the following hypothetical situation.

The Facts Hurricane Sandy closed Hopatcong High School for fourteen days this fall. The Hopatcong School Board has issued a revised schedule for the rest of the year. Instead of extending the school year, the board decided that students must make up the missed days during spring break, 2013.

“Who” is the who? In writing the lead, the reporter must decide which "who" is this story's most important "who" -- students or the board of education? One way to decide is by checking out some of the qualities that make some stories more "newsworthy" than others (these are not necessarily in order of importance).

Newsworthy Qualities 1) Prominence: How well-known are the people involved in the story? If the people involved are well-known to local readers, or are well known on a national level, readers will be more interested in the news.

Think about how things celebrities do are often big news, but if you or your neighbors did the same thing, it probably wouldn't be news at all. That's prominence at work.

2.) Proximity: Location, location, location. If the event is happening close by, it will impact local readers more than if it is happening across town, or across the world. Watch a local newscast when a tragedy or disaster strikes. Chances are they'll mention if any local people were killed or injured. That's proximity.

3.)Timeliness: If something is happening NOW, it has more impact than something that happened yesterday or last week. No one wants to read old news, so start off with the newest development to keep readers interested.

4.) Oddity/Uniqueness: Think Weekly World News and Ripley's Believe it or Not. If something is unusual, the oddity alone can make it newsworthy, because people want to know why it has happened.

5.) Consequence: An event or decision with consequence is one that will affect readers' lives in some way. The bigger the impact, the more readers will want to know about it.

6.) Human interest: Human-interest stories appeal to reader's emotions. They may make a reader happy, nostalgic, sad, angry or sympathetic.

Thus, in deciding the lead… and order of important facts, the writer considers the fact’s newsworthy quality: Prominence: Proximity: Timeliness: Oddity/Uniqueness: Consequence: Human interest.

Let’s go back to THE FACTS Hurricane Sandy closed Hopatcong High School for fourteen days this fall. The Hopatcong School Board has issued a revised schedule for the rest of the year. Instead of extending the school year, the board decided that students must make up the missed days during spring break, 2013.

When writing this story for the Arrow: In the above hypothetical example, "students" make the best "who" because of proximity and consequence (and because they are your primary reading audience.)

Putting it Together Once the facts are squared away, break them down into the 5 W's and an H.

Lead Prep Who: Students What: Must make up five additional days of school When: During time originally scheduled for Spring Break Where: At Hopatcong High School Why: To make up fourteen missed days of school due to Hurricane Sandy How: by attending school

Once the facts are broken down, the lead practically writes itself!

A helpful hint: 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. Then, the other elements follow in a logical order.

One more helpful hint: The best lead is the one that says the most in a few words (25-30), yet makes its points clearly and doesn't confuse the reader.

One Last Note Sometimes, one of the W's/H is left out of a lead. This can be a good way to develop the rest of the story-especially if the why or how is long and complex-but those details MUST be in the story somewhere!

Once the lead is created: The story is written in the form of an inverted pyramid. Take a look at the handout. Why do you think the news story is written in this format?

Now Let’s Write the lead: Partner work: Create your lead, dealing with the facts in descending order of importance.

Let’s Write the Lead Who: Students What: Must make up five additional days of school When: During time originally scheduled for Spring Break Where: At Hopatcong High School Why: To make up fourteen missed days of school due to Hurricane Sandy How: by attending school

Who: Students What: Must make up five additional days of school When: During time originally scheduled for Spring Break Where: At Hopatcong High School Why: To make up fourteen missed days of school due to Hurricane Sandy How: by attending school Students at Hopatcong High School will lose five vacation days this spring due to the Board’s decision concerning days lost to Hurricane Sandy. [“How” is left for development of the story.]

Who would you interview?

Who: The Board What: added 4 snow days into the calendar When: this year Where: At Hopatcong High School Why: To allow for emergency days…especially after last year’s emergency How: