Writing the NewsWriting a News Story

Lead•The beginning of a news story•Conveys the main idea in a few words to

several paragraphs

Direct News Leads•What you see in the daily newspaper•Not used as often in a school publications•Also called 5W’s and H leads because

they answer most or all of the main questions

Example of 5W’s and H lead• Choir members mixed business and pleasure at a

recent national contest in New Orleans April 14-18 where the choirs reached first place all around. (Rampage, John Marshall High School, San Antonio, Texas)

• Who: choir members• What: mixed business with pleasure• Where: in New Orleans• When: April 14 to 18• Why: a national contest• How: by winning first place

Example of 5 W’s and H lead• Positive feedback from last year’s “Choices for Youth”

program has allowed Overland’s Human Relations Committee, Youth Advisory Board and IMPACT Team to bring back the program again the week of May 2-6. (Overland Scout, Overland High School, Aurora, CO)

• Who: Human Relations Committee, Youth Advisory Board and IMPACT Team

• What: bring back program• Where: Overland• When: May 2 to 6• Why: Positive feedback• How: “Choices for Youth” program

Prioritizing Information•Direct news lead puts the most important

information at the top of the story.•(See UIL ppt.)

Summary Leads•A direct news lead that begins with a

paragraph summarizing the story•The second paragraph presents specific

details, such as names, ages, dates and locations

•School papers use summary leads for news stories because they work well for hard news stories that are not published immediately.

Example of Summary Lead•One teen died and three others were

injured in an accident in Adams County over the weekend.

•Travis J. Vapp, 17, died at 12:20 a.m. Sunday when the car he was driving went off a dead end at the T-intersection of Highway 14 and the KICS Road….

Example of Summary Lead•Bodiless heads are not usually the

mainstream definition of beautiful art, but for one TFHS class, they have become both a creative outlet and a teaching tool.

•Art teacher Shelly Christensen’s Studio Art class has recently been learning about sculpture and the human body through the molding of heads and torsos. (Brulin News, Twin Falls High School, Twin Falls, Idaho)

Direct News Leads Assignment• Identify the 5 Ws and H in each other the following

leads:1. The only incumbent up for re-election on the Board of

Education won her bid Tuesday as three new members joined the board. (Hastings [Nebraska] Tribune)

2. The Knowledge Master Senior and Junior teams met on April 18 in the Teacher’s Library. (Buffalo Chip, Chappell High School, Chappell, Nebr.)

3. In their first competition of the year, the mock trial team took first place at the seventh annual San Joaquin County Mock Trial competition. (Scholar and Athlete, Tracy Joint Union High School, Tracy, Calif.)

Direct News Leads Assignment•Write a direct news lead for the following:

Who: members of the student councilWhat: will eat banana splitsWhere: at their meeting in Room 202When: last meeting of the year, 7:30 p.m.Why: treat from officers for the hard work the council has doneHow: each person will assemble his or her treat from ingredients provided by the officers

Direct News Leads Assignment•Write a direct news lead for the following:

Who: student athletesWhat: will receive rehabilitation through personal programs prescribed by Dr. Andrew Tucker, school doctor and fully licensed trainerWhere: training room outside south gymWhen: every day after schoolWhy: injured in practice or a gameHow: lift weights, ride exercise bike, exercise routine

Indirect Leads• Leads that set a scene or introduces a character

before letting the reader know the topic of the story.▫Delayed lead – nut graf is placed after the first

anecdote or main point Nut graf – a paragraph in a lead that tells exactly

what the story is about▫Feature lead – Usually an anecdote or description

that draws the reader into the scene before revealing the topic

▫Storytelling lead – another label for feature leads that begin by telling a story

Indirect Leads•They tell stories and create images that

help the reader visualize the story.•Some indirect leads appear on news

stories, and some lead into feature stories.

Several paragraphs to one sentence•WASHINGTON (AP) – There’s a way to

tell people about your missing pet beyond tacking signs on telephone poles.

The U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection service has made its new Animal Care site on the World Wide Web available to people who want to advertise missing or found cats and dogs.

Another example•DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Once upon a

time, in toy factories far, far away, “Star Wars” toys were churned out by the thousands. And now, a millennium – well, 20 years, anyway – later, the search for “Star Wars” collectibles continues with aficionados vying for A-Wing Fighters, Yoda shampoo bottles and R2D2 action figures.

Same subject, different example•The much-touted February release of the “Star

Wars” movie trilogy back to the big screen complete with new footage, has helped launch ‘90s versions of the toys that also are becoming collectors’ items, some as soon as they leave the shelves.Collectors, in the hopes that the Collectibility Force will be with them, are joining the hobby-avocation that is worldwide in its scope. (Omaha World Herald, Omaha, NE, Oct. 1996)

Example of Short Indirect Lead•Can it.

The recycling program at Westside, headed by instructor Harley Hardison, has been successful this year. (Lance, Westside High School, Omaha, Nebr.)

Examples of all three…•A story about a speakers appearance at a

school might take either a direct or an indirect lead. The speech might be a timely news event if the story appeared very soon after the event. In that case a direct news lead would be appropriate. For a school newspaper, the indirect lead might be more appropriate. Readers would want to know what the speaker said more than they would need to know the day and place of an appearance that happened sometime in the past.

Examples of all three…• Direct News Lead:

▫Pulitzer Prize Winner N. Scott Momaday was the first national speaker for the Artist Lecture Series, which began Friday in Perkins Auditorium.

• Indirect News Lead:▫“Your lives will never be the same after hearing the

story,” N. Scott Momaday said as he began one of several stories he would share in the next hour.

▫Professor of English at the University of Arizona in Tucson and a Pulitzer Prize winner, Momaday was the speaker at the first Artist Lecture Series event, which began Friday morning in Perkins Auditorium.

Examples of all three…• Longer Indirect Lead:

▫ “A boy chased his seven sisters pretending to be a bear. Suddenly he was a bear. Terrified, the girls ran. They came upon a tree stump. The stump spoke and bade them to climb upon it. The girls did so, and immediately the stump began to rise in the air. The girls, just beyond the bear’s reach, were saved. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper.”A middle-aged Native American man shares this story and others that were passed down to him as a child.Friday morning in Perkins Auditorium, author N. Scott Momaday read from his work and talked about his prose and poetry.