Parts of a News Story 1. Headline – tells what the story is about 2. Byline – shows who wrote the story 3. Lead – tells tells the most most import important ant facts facts (5 W’s & 1H) 4. Body – contains more information and details 5. Ending – gives something to think about
Parts of a News Story 1. Headline
Train accident forces evacuation
Parts of a News Story 1. Headline 2. Byline
Train accident forces evacuation Abeer Abee r Yusuf Yusuf
Parts of a News Story 1. Headline 2. Byline 3. Lead
Train accident forces evacuation By Scott Freed
A freight train carrying dangerous chemicals collided with a semi-trailer semi-trailer in southwestern Manitoba on Thursday, sending a towering plume of toxic black smoke into the air and forcing the evacuation of more than 100 area residents.
Parts of a News Story 1. Headline 2. Byline 3. Lead 4. Body
Fifteen of 20 derailed cars at an uncontrolled crossing along CN Rail’s mail line were ablaze, including cars carrying benzene and plastic pellets. At At least one of the derailed d erailed cars was carrying hexane, although that car was not on fire, said CN spokesperson Jim Feeny. Emergency Emergency measures officials decided it was too dangerous to send in firefighters to try to douse the flames, said Edward Ed ward Geirsbrecht, the reeve of Norfolk municipality. municipality. “At this point they’re just jus t letting it burn,”he said. “The way it looks it could take a couple of days.”
An area five to eight kilometres wide was being evacuated, although Manitoba RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Steve Saunders indicated the region was sparsely populated. “The number of people that will be b e evacuated will be determined by the th e weather,” weather,” said sai d Giesbrecht. “Right now it (the wind) is blowing in a direction where there is not a high hi gh population so it’ i t’ss OK. Among the evacuees were 60 members of the Pine Creek Hutterite Hutt erite colony who live two kilometres from the crash site. Colony manager Lawrence Lawrence Maendel was at the t he crash site shortly after the accident
Parts of a News Story 1. Headline 2. Byline 3. Lead 4. Body
…
5. Ending
“This is a dangerous toxin – it could get you any time,” Roy said. “One of the guys came tearing down the road. He said a ball of flame was going over his house.”
Lede, lead or Intro Look up , The most important structural element of a story is the or or "intro" (in the UK) — the the story's first, or leading, sentence. Char Ch arnl nley ey (1 (196 966) 6) st stat ated ed th that at "an effective lead is a "brief, sharp statement of the sto tor ry's essential facts ts" "" . The lede/lead is usually the first sentence, or in some cases the first two sentences, and is ideally 20-25 words in length. A lead lead is shor short, t, conc concis ise, e, and and shou should ld make make an impr impres essi sion on on a reader as he or she browses through articles. The lead sentence is usually between 25 to 30 words long.
What lead does????????
A good lead catches the reader’s attention, making them want to read on. It also makes the writer want to
Lead by Lead
The mission of the news lead is to communicate essential news strongly, unmistakably, or alluringly signal readers to significant news that lies in ensuing paragraphs. – Dist istils ils from rom a “mass of fact facts, s, figu figure ress and and qu quot otat atio ions ns the the sing single le cohe cohere rent nt stat statem emen entt that … bes best expr expres esse sess the mean meaniing of the story”. story”. – Pres Presen entt that that stat statem emen entt in a po powe werf rful ul,, evoc evocat ativ ivee way. way. Notes on editing the lead
The lead propels the story. The lead should highlight the salient sali ent and most newsworthy point of the story It should seek out the point that makes the story special
Laws for writing Leads……… The top-loadin top-loading g principl principle e applies especially to ledes, but the unreadability of long sentences constrains its size.
This makes writing a lede an optimization problem, in which the goal is to articulate the most encompassing and interesting statement that a writer can make in one sentence, given the material with which he or she has to work.
While a says the lede should answer most or all of the 5 Ws, few ledes can
Different Types of Leads Summary Lead Question / Interrogative Lead Set-up Lead Talking Lead Snapshot Lead Identification Lead Anecdotal or Narrative Lead
Snap Shot Lead :Create a picture of the setting or a character in the
Leads …. Leads…… Set-up Lead :-
Summary Lead :-Answers to the six questions (wh (who, what, when when,, wher where, e, why why, and and how) are are provid provided ed in the first first senten sentence ce of the the story. story. The The summ summar ary y lead lead is mos most often ften foun found d when when the the news news story story is writte written n as an invert inverted ed pyrami pyramid. d.
reader’s
mind. Anecdotal or Narrative Lead :they may be grounded in a quotation; or they may ask a question, tease, or be mysterious. mysterious. These more creative leads are most appropriate for
In this structure, all of the important information is presented immediately, with support or elaboration following.
Talking Lead :Start with a line or two of
may y focus focus Question or Interro rrogative leads :- ma more mor e on answering answering one of the the six questions questions.. :- When the most impor ta tant element of the stor y is a person, the lead may emph emphas asiz ize e his his or her her iden identit tity y. These are lab labeled immediate identification (“Laura
Lead >>>>> What is this story about and why is it important? Comm Common on prob proble lems ms in lead leadss…… •
Cluttered. More than one idea dea.
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Flabby. It says, "I don't know what this story is about."
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Dull Dull.. Ho-h Ho-hum. um. No tension. No ene energy that drives the writing writing forward. forward.
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Mechanical. No human voice, no "music." Just anot anothe herr burg burger er and and frie fries. s.
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Closed. A private conversat sation between those who speak the same ame jargo argon. n. It says ays, "Stay Stay away. Yo Youu don don't know know enou enough gh to read ead this this.."
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Writitte tenn in jour journa nale lese se or bure bureaaucra ucrattese. ese. Predictable. Wr Clichés. No surprises, no unexpected words of phrases that are unexpected and that delight us as they they capt captur uree and and clar clarififyy a news news even event. t.
How to attract through your leads? Qualities of Effective Leads Focus. Make a specific promise to the reader, and then deliver. Context. Involve the reader. Show clear, immediate significance. Answer the question, "Why should I read this story?" Form. Implies a design, a plan, a structure, a pattern that will help the reader understand the meaning. Information. Whets the readers appetite, promises delivery. Voice. A Voice. A human voice talking to the reader. Provides the "music" to support the meaning of what is being read. Surprise. The promise of something new.
Edit Editin ing g Lea Lead-d----- Test Test -1
TEST - 1 The story is heading somewhere. There are strong factual vehicles and strong verbs to take it there. The path is not cluttered with obstacles – obstacles – grammar, structure, habit, opinion…, stray information. The lead makes sense as a unit and as a part of a whole.
Editing Lead---- Test -2 TEST - 2 Weigh the elements within the lead against each other. Are they weighty, of essence, essence , coherent, unique, and compelling? Weigh the lead against the next paragraph. Is it subject to elaboration, correlation or development? Weigh the lead against the story. Is it related to the body, part of a whole, and essential to the whole? Confirm that the lead foreshadows the other key elements. Is the lead a team player, passing the ball to the other team members who may score the goal? The lead must make a promise. Does it make a promise that will be kept by other ot her paragraphs?
Remember The lead needs support – statements, quotes or more detail to explain what happened, how and why the problem or action occurred, reactions reactions to the event.
