The term lead (also spelled as ‘lede’) refers to the first paragraph (or first two paragraphs, in the case of an extended lead) of a journalistic story. In the case of a broadcast newscast, the term can be used to refer to either the first story of the newscast (opening segment) or to the way the individual broadcast story begins.
Leads carry the critical responsibilities of drawing in audiences' attention and interest while informing them of the key elements of a story, and effectively ‘leading’ audiences into the rest of an article. Both of these goals are equally important.
Leads are also particularly instrumental in giving news consumers a brief glimpse into the story before they have to commit fully to reading it, listening to it, or watching it. Put another way, a lead should make your audiences either want to continue reading beyond the first paragraph or to feel sufficiently informed that they’ll have the gist of the story even if they move on before reaching the conclusion.
The ‘typical’ news lead aims to first and foremost inform news audiences. It does this by including the most essential information about the story right at the beginning, namely by addressing the so-called “5 W’s and H” of a story. These are the essential questions journalists must answer about any topic: “Who? What? When? Where? Why?” And, of course, “How?”
For example, a journalist might make clear in the first paragraph of a story that Candidate X (who) won an election (what) in Amherst (where) last night (when) because 67 percent of voters cast their ballots for them (why).
This kind of lead—also called a summary lead—is highly descriptive and is a hallmark of so-called “hard news” stories written in a “straight news” style. Audiences will often encounter these in breaking news coverage or in stories written by newswire services.
News leads are typically short and get to the point of an article quickly so as not to lose their readers' attention. They are thus rarely longer than two to three sentences in length. Because of this short length, it is sometimes impossible to answer all 5 W’s and H in a single lead paragraph—especially if the lead is crafted to draw the reader in.
When that is the case, journalists generally provide the second-most important information, or answer the critical questions they could not address in the lead, in the nut graf (also spelled “nut graph” or “nutgraph”) of an article. The nut graf is usually the second paragraph of an article—or the paragraph immediately after a lead.
The responsibility of a nut graph is to contextualize the most important facts of an article and provide readers with a clear understanding of that article’s angle. (The angle is the lens through the journalist approaches the central issue or topic examined in the story. For example, when a journalist decides to write a story about a new city zoning law, they could focus on the potential impact of the change on the ‘character’ of a neighborhood in that city or the individuals who stand to gain or lose most from the change.) The nut graf tells the reader why the story is important and timely. It helps to explain where the story is coming from, where it is going, and what is at stake.
This traditional news combination of a strong lead and a clear nut graf right at the beginning of a news story follows the inverted pyramid style of newswriting. Under that style, journalists organize news stories so that they begin with the most essential or important information at the top, and continue on through successively less important facts and context.
The aforementioned approach—which packs information quickly at the very beginning of a story with a no-nonsense writing style—reflects just one kind introduction to a journalistic story. There are several other kinds of leads, especially in stories produced by non-traditional news outlets; longer, in-depth (long-form) stories; and in certain genres of journalism (e.g., Arts & Culture journalism).
One particularly common alternative is the anecdotal lead. This is a type of lead in which a journalist begins a story with an anecdote—or illustrative story—to depict a scene or event that guides readers into the larger article. For example, while covering that same local election, a reporter writing an anecdotal lead might choose to describe the moment the candidate learned they had won the election—for example, while on the phone with their partner in a room full of red, white, and blue balloons waiting to be dropped dramatically onto the heads of their celebrating supporters. A similar variant involves starting the story with a powerful quote or a startling statement.
In an analysis lead, a journalist synthesizes and analyzes important information in a more contextual introduction to a story. This type of lead helps put current events into perspective for audiences. Using the same local election story as an example, a reporter writing an analysis lead might choose to begin the story with a focus on what legislation this particular candidate seeks to enact and how their election has the potential to change the city and impact its citizens in the coming years.
With a blind lead, the journalist sets a scene or tells a story without immediately making clear the Who or What of a story in order to build tension, establish a tone, or pique audience interest. In the aforementioned example, the story might begin with details about the supporters' sense of euphoria and surprise before going on to introduce the winning candidate.
There are several more types of leads, though. Notably, different types of leads pair better with different topics—and different tones (e.g., serious, humorous, melancholic, and so on.). After you have reported all the necessary information to write a story, consider what type of lead might be the best fit for it.
No matter what type of lead you choose to begin your story, you must inform readers and interest them in your larger story. As journalist Chip Scanlan put it: “An effective lead makes a promise to the reader or viewer: I have something important, something interesting, to tell you. A good lead beckons and invites. It informs, attracts, and entices.”
Your lead is your strongest opportunity to engage readers with your journalism because, unfortunately, readers often do not read past a lead that does not interest them. And, if they stop reading then, they miss out on all of the information you reported.
Thus, when deciding how to start your story, take stock of what its strongest element is. This may be a strong anecdote that gives a face to your story and establishes a connection with the audience. Or, it might be an eye-popping statistic that shocks the audience and makes them want to read on.
For example, consider this story where journalists from ProPublica and NPR found that people living in different states could receive drastically different worker’s compensation benefits for the same injuries.
Using data from different states, the journalists were able to assign a maximum dollar amount to a number of different body parts. There is a fair bit of data behind that story, and it is easy to imagine a lead that simply points to the disparity.
However, these journalists had a different idea. They chose to lead with the story of two men who lived very close to each other and were similar in many ways. It is not until the third paragraph that the data kicks in: Despite their big similarities, their potential payout differed by $700,000. We don’t see any more numbers for another five paragraphs after that, when the prices of arms and toes are compared across a few different states.
What ProPublica does well here is to suck the reader in with a story about two similar people who went on two very different paths. The strength of those anecdotes outweighed any other potential opener.
In contrast, consider this story from The Guardian. In this case, the strongest element in their story is the observation that almost 100,000 children refugees who arrived in Europe came without their parents.
This is a staggering figure, and the large number is likely to shock the audience, making it worthy of inclusion in the lead.
From there, the story goes on to highlight other interesting bits of data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. While this story is also a prime candidate for a strong, compelling anecdote, it is quite possible that the journalist was unable to speak to a child before their deadline. Thus, the statistic was likely the strongest element the journalist had to work with—and so they led with it.
Ultimately, it is crucial that you think strategically about your lead and its goals. Use that short space as an opportunity to draw in readers, and avoid things that could distract or turn away audiences, such as clichéd language, rambling sentences, irrelevant or unimportant information, or direct questions. The best leads are succinct and introduce audiences either to new information, a captivating incident, or a striking statistic. And, a successful lead will linger in the minds of readers long after they have read the words behind it.
The most common type of journalism lead—the summary lead—addresses the classic ‘5 W’s and H’ of journalism: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? It is often paired with a nut graf, which contextualizes the most important facts of an article and provides readers with a clear understanding of that article’s angle.
There are other ledes beyond the summary lead. These include, the anecdotal lead, the analysis lead, and the blind lead. Different types of ledes pair better with certain topics and the desired tone of writing.
Regardless of which lede you choose, the goal is to quickly inform the reader and interest them in your larger story. Readers who are not engaged by a lede will often not read beyond it.