Types of Leads in a News Story (Journalism)

Types of Leads in a News Story (Journalism)

Lead can be defined as the paragraph which we see in the starting of a news story. A well written lead tells about the news story in a few words and the reader gets the idea of it. The lead must be accurate, short and crisp and it should make people continue read the news story. It shall include 5Ws and 1 H. The 5Ws are Who, When, Why, Where and How and H is How (Not necessarily all). A good journalist should know how to make a great lead to attract people to read their news stories. It should not be too long and should be kept in simple words, people should not get confused and it also must be honestly and accurately written. It is written in usually 20 - 35 words and not in more than 40 words.



5 types of Leads are:

a) Descriptive Lead
- Written in an inverted pyramid format or news format.
- It basically starts the article by giving description about the person, place or even in detail.

b) Quotation Lead
- Includes a quote or multiple quotes in the article from various sources

c) Question Lead
- This type of lead asks a question to the readers in provocative (offending) manner.
- It is a engaging and easy to write lead and hooks the readers from beginning to the end of the news story.
- Example: What if there were no more local parks for children to play in?

d) Personal Lead
- It involves the use of the first person singular in the lead.
- Example of first person singular is "I" and "We"

e) Blind Identification Lead
- If the person concerned is not well known in the community, his or her name is less important than the other salient features that identify the person.
- Example: An 80 year old woman, Savitri is being admitted to the hospital on her seven month pregnancy. 

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