PROJECT

DATE CLIENT2008 MS. RIDAL

LeadsSteps to a powerful story

The Inverted Pyramid

•The most important facts are reported first.

•Other important facts follow.

•The least important facts go toward the end and can be cut/deleted.

History of the inverted pyramid

The idea for the inverted pyramid was rumored to have come from Civil

War times when news was transmitted via wire and Morse code.

At any moment the wire could be cut, so the most necessary and

important details had to be delivered first. Thus, the inverted pyramid

format was born.

Future of the inverted pyramid

What are the benefits to using this format?

What are its disadvantages?

Should print newspapers, with space restrictions, continue to use this format?

The Internet has unlimited publishing space. With more stories appearing online, is the inverted pyramid format still a necessity? Why or why not?

Basic Types of Leads

Summary news lead

Blind lead

Description/delayed lead

Little person, big picture

Summary Lead

It answers the five Ws and one H. The story is presented using the inverted pyramid form where the most important data are in the first and second paragraph. This is used in straight news.

Summary Lead Example

In one of their bloodiest raids into Lebanon in years, Israeli warplanes killed dozens of Muslim guerrillas with rockets and machine-gun fire Thursday as they pounded a training camp of the pro-Aranian party of God.

Who: Muslim guerrillas and Israeli fighters

What: Planes attack

Where: a training camp

When: Thursday

Why: They are at war

How: Rocket attack

ExamplesWilliam ''Billy'' Ammons, 20, pleaded guilty Friday in Broward Circuit Court to third-degree murder and aggravated battery in connection with the death of one homeless man and the brutal beatings of two others.

Median home prices in Miami-Dade and Broward counties last month fell below $300,000 for the first time since 2004.

The Blind LeadThis is similar to a summary lead. The subject, organization, or concept is identified in the first sentence/paragraph but is not actually named until the second or third paragraph.

Use a blind lead when the action is more important than the “who” of the story.

Example

Miami’s city clerk received approval Tuesday for purchase of a new $225,000 computer for City Hall. Donna Williams said the computer will be used for all city budgeting and financial planning.

The Delayed LeadThis type of lead usually sets a scene or evokes a mood with an incident, anecdote or example. The writer may foreshadow events to come or create a sense of foreboding or anticipated surprise. Essential information is temporarily withheld.

It is important to include the theme statement, the nut graph (5Ws) somewhere high in the story, usually within the first four paragraphs.

The Delayed LeadThe delayed lead can be short, perhaps two sentences, or it can be longer, up to four paragraphs. The delayed lead still must fulfill the two roles of the lead: It must capture the essence of the story and do it in a way that encourages the reader to continue.

The lead sentence is usually followed by the nut graph (essential gist of the story).

Like the summary lead, it leads the reader straight to the heart of the story. Good leads are like good titles: They shine a flashlight down into the story.

Example Last summer, students aged 7-13 spent on average seven hours a week playing video games in shopping arcades or on home computers. But this fall, those same students may spend twice that much time playing video games that teach math and physics. It's part of a new free online education program for grades K-12. The interactive teaching games, available at no cost to school systems nationwide, are designed to make learning fun. (nut graph paragraph)

Little Person, Big PictureThese leads use individuals and their personal stories to illustrate a larger issue or problem.

Issues that would lend themselves to this type of lead include immigration, low-incoming housing, rising gas prices and their effects, change in school hours – any issue that affects large numbers of people.

Can you think of any other issues?

Example Janet Laitis leaned on a chain-link fence in her front yard, dragged on a cigarette, and pointed to the houses on her block that lenders have seized in just the past two weeks. "There. There. There," said Laitis, 70, pointing across the street, down the street and then to the modest ranch house next door. "This neighborhood is deteriorating before my eyes." Within a square mile of Laitis's Dearborn Heights house in this bedroom community outside Detroit, more than half the 96 houses on the market are foreclosed properties. The situation is not uncommon in pockets of the industrial Midwest, where a record number of people are missing their mortgage payments and losing their homes. While lax lending policies have been blamed for the unfolding home-mortgage crisis across the country, the distress in the Midwest has been exacerbated by fundamental problems with the economy.

PROJECT

DATE CLIENTDUE X/XX/XXXX FOR YOUR LEARNING

HomeworkA nightly task

Homework

Find at least 5 stories with summary leads.

Find at least 2 stories with blind leads.

Find at least 3 stories with delayed leads.

Find at least 2 stories with “little person, big picture” leads.

• Write a summary for every story you cut out.

• Find 4 summary news leads. Cut out each lead and paste it to your paper. Write the headline on the page. Detail the who, what, where, when, why, and how for each lead.

• Find 2 blind leads. Cut out each lead and paste it to your paper. Write the headline on the page. Detail the who (and the “blind” portion), what, where, when, why, and how for each lead.

• Find 1 delayed lead and nut graph. Cut out the lead and nut graph and paste them to your paper. Write the headline on the page. Explain why you think this is a delayed lead.

• Find 1 “little person, big picture” lead. Cut out the lead and nut graph and paste them to your paper. Write the headline on the page. Explain why you think this is a “little person, big picture” lead.

Classwork