What is Leads?

The opening of a news story - usually the first paragraph - is termed "the lead."The lead is the most important part of any newspaper story, because the reader usually decides whether to continue reading based on the lead. As a writer, we have to persuade the reader to stick with us. As a result, newspaper writers naturally struggle with their leads.

An 18-year-old  Mariappan high school student was killed late Wednesday when his  bicycle  struck a telephone pole near  Vannarpettai Tirunelveli.

First, what are the Five Ws in this story?

Who: Mariappan.

What: Killed in a single-vehicle accident.

When: 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Where: Intersection of Highway 16 and Highway 2A.

Why: bicycle struck telephone pole.

How: bicycle went out of control.

In the suggested recast lead, the writer has chosen to name five of the six key points, but in more general fashion that allows for economy of words. How, and the remaining details, will be filled in later.

Once the writer has decided the most important information to put in the lead, presented it as a complete sentence, lead-writing guidelines in mind.

Keep it tight - use no more than about 30 words.

Avoid distractions - strive to write a coherent lead that contains no capital letters other than the first one, no numerals, no commas and no formal titles

Set the right tone - the tone of the lead should be appropriate for the event being reported on.

Don't bury the lead - don't make readers wallow through insignificant facts to get the point of the story.

Highlight differences - find the fact, that makes the story different.

Speak clearly - jargon, acronyms, foreign phrases, abstract concepts, general and vague language all make it hard to understand what a story is about. Say what you mean and say it clearly and directly.

Use active words - describe the action. Where possible use the active voice.

Be visual - help the reader "see" what's happening.

Beware double-decker leads - don't repeat the first paragraph in the second.

Avoid clichés - don't let something go terribly wrong..

Summary

- Journalists call the opening of a news story "the lead."

- The lead is the most important part of any newspaper story, because it is based on the lead that most readers decide whether to continue reading.

- The lead must accurately summarize the facts of the story.

- The lead must be interesting enough to command and keep the reader's attention.

- The modern preference is to keep leads short.

- Economical use of words will benefit any news lead.

- A telling detail that sets a story apart from the others belongs in the lead.

- Lead writers should speak clearly and use the active voice.

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Story structure-The Inverted Pyramid style /wire service style

The Inverted Pyramid News Story
The inverted pyramid is a favored form for news stories.  This type of news writing form places the main point at the top of the story with the rest of the information in descending order of importance. Inverted Pyramid stories provide a format to convey information in a quick and efficient way.

The Inverted Pyramid news story has become the basic form of

newspaper writing. It is also common in many other kinds of publication, including Web pages.. It  begins with the climax and records all additional information in order of declining importance.This is commonly known as the "Inverted Pyramid" story structure, because the order of precedence of facts can be illustrated as an upside-down pyramid. 

The Five Ws and the H, obviously, should be found in the first few paragraphs of such a story.

The style of writing is also known as the "wire service style," because it was early wire services - used for  transmitted accounts of breaking news from remote locations .

Advantages of Inverted Pyramid format

- It provided a format to convey information in a quick and efficient way.

- It served as an aid to readers who wanted to use the newspaper as an index of the day's news - that is, by scanning the lead sentence, readers could determine if

they wanted to learn more or skip to something they found more relevant.

It allowed, at least on the face of it, a format for providing a dispassionate and unbiased account of events.

- It permitted different publications that might assign differing importance to a given story to conveniently edit any story to a length that suited its priorities.

The inverted pyramid news story has certain limitations. For example, it can sometimes be more confusing than a chronological account of an event - it's the reporter's job to ensure it makes sense. In addition, it is most certainly more difficult to write a clear Inverted Pyramid story than it is to write a chronological story.

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Hard News and Soft News, The working definition for "the news,News Judgment

Hard News and Soft News

There are two kinds of news - "hard news" and "soft news."

Hard news stories are accounts of events that have just happened or are about to happen. For example, crimes, fires, meetings, court testimony, speeches, protest rallies, acts of war, traffic accidents and elections are all typical topics of hard news stories. Hard news stories that have developed overnight or on the same day are often referred to by journalists as "breaking news."

Hard news stories emphasize facts, not opinion or analysis.. Hard news is an account of what's happened (why it happened, who was affected.

Soft news, on the other hand, doesn't depend nearly as much on the time element. Soft news places less emphasis on the facts - define soft news as news that entertains as it informs, with more emphasis on human interest, novelty and colourful writing and less of facts and events that have just happened.Soft news has less immediacy than hard news. Writers of soft news often aim for the reader's emotions, not his or her intellect.

The Five Ws

The working definition for "the news," - the most basic building blocks of any news story.

These are everywhere called the Five Ws (sometimes modified to the Five Ws and the H) Really, the Five Ws are the questions any reader or listener wants answered when he or she reads or hears any story - whether it is neighbourhood gossip, a fairy tale, a play by Shakespeare or a good joke. The difference between telling a joke, say, and writing a news story is just that we instinctively identify the Five Ws in a joke, while we have to take the time to identify them in a news story.

So the starting point for writing any news story is understanding that the reader needs to know:

WHAT ... happened?
WHO ...	did it happen to, or who made it happen?
WHEN ...	did it happen?
WHERE	... did it happen?
WHY ...	did it happen?
HOW ...	did it happen?

News Judgment

News judgment is that quality of thinking that journalists use to determine the relative merits of one story over another. News judgment helps reporters sort out how where a story fits into the other

News judgment is very important because a lot of time and energy is spent in the news business filling a limited space with a virtually unlimited amount of news.

Even a large metropolitan daily newspaper can have very limited room for certain categories of news also the same in broadcasting.

Finally, the reporter needs to decide which facts are placed in a prominent position in the story, and which facts go farther down.

- News judgment is that quality of thinking that journalists use to determine the relative merits of one story over another.

- News judgment is very important because a lot of time and energy is spent in the news business filling a limited space with a virtually unlimited amount of news.

- A reporter needs to decide which facts are placed in a prominent position in the story, and which facts go farther down.

- Good "news judgment" is valued in the culture of the newsroom.

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News and characteristics

Defining  : What is News?

Summary

- News is information that affects our lives.

It  define as "newsworthy."

- The more of these elements in a story, the bigger the story will be.

- A dozen elements that qualify as news are as follows: Timeliness, Consequences, Proximity, Conflict, Mayhem, Celebrity, Novelty, Humour, Trends, Sex, Inspiration/Human Interest, Helpfulness.

Characteristics of news

1)      Timeliness

2)      Consequences

3)      Proximity

4)      Conflict

5)      Celebrity

6)      Novelty

7)      Humour

8)      Trends

9)      Inspiration/Human Interest

10)  Helpfulness

Let's look at each quality:

Timeliness - if it's new, it's news. Iit has a profound impact on a lot of people's lives each year. Timeliness is the most important determining factor in deciding if a story is news.

Consequences - if it has an impact, it's news. If nuclear war breaks out, it will have an impact on the lives of people all over the world. No news organization that is doing its job will fail to report a story that the editor believes will have an impact on its readers.

Proximity - if it's close to home, it's more likely to be news The closer it is to home, the more likely it is to arouse interest and be defined as news. If it happens in your community, it belongs on the front page of your newspaper.

Conflict - where there's conflict, there's news. This is partly because where there's conflict, there's more likely to be an impact on our lives. But it's also because conflict is dramatic, and exciting, and even entertaining. Newsworthy that journalists sometimes succumb to the temptation of trying to generate conflict among the people they're writing about to make a better story.

Violence - violence is news. There's a nasty and cynical expression in the news business, "If it bleeds, it leads" Alas, there is more than a little truth to this, and this tendency by the news media may have a harmful impact on our perception of our society and the quality of our lives. Be that as it may, car accidents, drive-by shootings and schoolyard bullying all meet the criteria of news.

Celebrity - someone is prominent, what they do is more likely to be news. This is unhappy news to many people, but we all know it's reality. If a street person assaults someone, it's not news. If an entertainer, a sports star or a prominent politician does the same thing, it is news. The more prominent the person, the bigger the news.

Novelty - if something's bizarre, it may be news.

Humour - if it'sfunny enough it's news. Most everyone enjoys a chuckle, so if an event or development has a funny aspect, that may interest journalists.

Trends - a trend is developing, it's news. Trends are important. They can have an impact on our lives. Knowing about them can help us make wise lifestyle or business decisions.

Inspiration - uplifting stories are news. If a story shows someone's perseverance, grit, courage or decency in the face of adversity, it can be news.

Helpfulness - if it helps you, it's news. Maybe. Need instruction on an easy way to have a flatter tummy, build a birdhouse, get a university degree while living in jail, raise happy, well-balanced children while holding down three jobs? These are all legitimate topics for news stories.

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