Writing a lead is one of the most difficult and important aspects of news writing. The introduction of a story determines whether or not a reader will continue to read the story or abandon it entirely. One issue in intro writing is determining exactly what to put in an introduction. I found that this list of questions was an effective way to organise and manage ideas for a lead;
- What is the big picture?
- What has been done, what are the implications?
- Why and how did it happen?
- How does it affect the public?
- What is unusual or different about what has happened?
- What news values or angles did you have in mind?
- What was the most interesting thing about the story?
Answering these questions should give a writer an idea of which news values to privilege in the lead. Writers should also make sure they are being concise and not trying to prove how clever they are in writing wordy pieces. Simple, straightforward writing is the best kind of newswriting.
This site gives an overview of six simple steps to writing good leads. http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11178/171/leads.htm
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