Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing, 5th Edition

CHAPTER 8

Writing Compelling Leads

CONTENTS

Introduction

The Five Ws and H Rule

The “Right” Emotion

Types of Leads

Updating the Lead

KEY WORDS
Delayed Lead	Negative Lead	Shotgun Lead
Five Ws and H Rule	Nonnews Lead	Soft Lead
Hard Lead	Question Lead	Updating Leads
Lead	Trivia Lead

INTRODUCTION

The lead, which is the opening sentence of a news story, is the most crucial element of any report. In a matter of seconds, the viewer (or, in radio, the listener) makes a decision whether to listen to the story actively or to merely “tune out” until something more interesting comes along. Even worse, the audience may simply move to another station with a more compelling story.

However, this vital part of the story, which passes ...