The Lead

1
The Lead

• Direct (news) or delayed (profiles, features).
• Leads either tell the most important part of the
  story, or hint at important or intriguing
  contents to come.
• Think of leads as bait for the reader.
• They determine whether the reader stays with the
  story.

2
Direct Leads

• Decide the most important part of the story.
  What? Who?
• It helps to ask, What is different about the
  story?
• Use concise and specific language think
  visual.
• Use strong, active verbs.

3
Direct Leads (2)

• Attribution can wait, sometimes.
• Avoid long subsidiary clauses or titles.
• Banish jargon and legalese.
• Use a direct structure S-V-O. Subject, verb and
  object.
• Time element usually goes after verb.

4
Delayed Leads

• Used on features and profiles, not on
  fast-breaking events or developing stories.
• Used for familiar events and issues.
• They set a scene or evoke a mood with incident,
  anecdote or example.
• They must still be tied to the main theme or news
  of the story.

5
The Lead -- Summing Up

• Find the essential element of the story.
• Decide whether direct or delayed is better.
• Use the S-V-O construction.
• Use specific nouns and colorful verbs.
• Be concise.
• Be accurate and truthful. Make it read.

6
Good Direct Lead

• Four men convicted of murdering a German
  family of four in a frenzied knife attack were
  executed yesterday despite pleas for clemency
  from the victims relatives.
  (SCMP 27-9-00)
• S-V-O. Time Element. What was different? Concrete
  and specific language.

7
Good Direct Lead

• A LaSalle College physics teacher and a lab
  technician tipped off students about questions to
  appear in an a-level exam this year, a court
  heard yesterday.
• (SCMP 26-9-00)
• S-V-O. Attribution.

8
Good Direct Lead

• Jewelry tycoon Tse Sui-luens
  rags-to-riches story entered its darkest chapter
  yesterday when a High Court judge declared the
  self-made company chairman bankrupt. (HK
  iMail 26-9-00)
• S-V-O. Time element. Imagery.

9
Good Delayed Lead

• The mysterious power of television actor
  Adam Cheng Siu-chau seems to be at work again.
  (HK iMail 19-9-00)
• Hints at story evokes a mood. Goes to theme of
  story.

10
Reworking Leads

• The sexual revolution has bypassed Hong Kong,
  according to a survey showing many men are still
  looking for passive, good-looking women and women
  want a man with a big bank balance. (SCMP
  27-9-00)
• Good approach, but what about this

11
Reworking Leads

• The sexual revolution has bypassed Hong
  Kong.
• Many men are still looking for passive,
  good-looking women and women want a man with a
  big bank balance, a new survey says.

12
Reworking Leads

• Apprentice jockey Philip Cheng Cheung-tat
  died at the Prince of Wales Hospital last night,
  72 hours after suffering massive injuries in a
  race fall at Sha Tin racecourse.
• (HK iMail 27-9-00)
• Does the job, but what about this

13
Reworking Leads

• After clinging to life for three days, an
  apprentice jockey whose horse fell and rolled
  over him during a race at Sha Tin died last
  night.
• Visual introductory phrase okay in this
  instance trims details unneeded

14
Reworking Leads

• The head of the hospital authority yesterday
  backed the body that hears complaints from
  patients after it came under fire from doctors
  planning to boycott hearings. (SCMP,
  16-9-00)
• Contains jargon time element before verb.

15
Reworking Leads

• The Hospital Authority chief voiced support
  yesterday for the agency that hears patient
  complaints after doctors accused it of playing
  God and said they will boycott its upcoming
  hearings.
• Eliminates jargon adds specific God charge
  puts time element after verb.

16
Reworking Leads

• Director of Home Affairs Shelley Lee Lai-kuen
  has blamed pressure from the Kowloon-Canton
  Railway Corporation for violent scenes yesterday
  morning after police seized control of an
  industrial building in Tsuen Wan. (HK iMail
  27-9-00)
• Long unclear heavy at the otuset.

17
Reworking Leads

• The Home Affairs director blamed
  Kowloon-Canton railway officials for provoking
  property owners to violence yesterday when
  police siezed a building slated for demolition in
  Tsuen Wan.
• Clarity -- property owners, demolition. Lean at
  outset. And 27 words versus 33.

18
Reworking Leads

• There was a rush to buy pre-sales flats at
  two developments yesterday despite recent drops
  in the stock market and rising oil prices.
• There was is almost always avoidable.

19
Reworking Leads

• The pre-sales action for flats at two
  developments was feverish yesterday despite the
  slumping stock market and rising oil prices.
• Stronger, quicker.

20
Reworking leads

• There should be more frequent checks on
  civil service housing benefits to prevent the
  possibility of abuse, a legislator-elect
  recommended yesterday. (SCMP 26-9-00)
• There should also can almost always be
  avoided.

21
Reworking Leads

• A legislator-elect said yesterday that more
  frequent auditing of civil service housing
  benefits yesterday will prevent abuse.
• Simple, direct, concise.

22
Same Story, Different Leads

• The deputy head of Inland Revenue was
  arrested and appeared in court with her husband
  yesterday over allegations she swindled the
  Government out of more than 330,000 in housing
  allowances.
• (SCMP, 26-9-00)
• Tight, terse and telegraphic.

23
Same Story, Different Leads

• Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue
  Agnes Sin Law Yuk-lin and her husband appeared in
  the Eastern Magistracy yesterday to face charges
  that they deceived the government into paying
  them more than 335,000 in housing allowances in
  the 1980s. (HK iMail 26-9-00)
• Heavy at outset 8 words longer.

24
A Lead Contest

• Which one is better?
• The Airport Authoritys acting chief executive
  was axed yesterday to make way for new blood
  after he failed to win an internal struggle to
  retain his position.
• (HK iMail, 26-9-oo)

25
A Lead Contest

• The Airport Authority has appointed a
  businessman with no airport management experience
  as its next chief executive officer. He will
  replace Bill Lam Chung-lun, who was seconded from
  the Government by Chief Secretary for
  Administration Anson Chan Fang On-Sang in January
  1998.
• (SCMP 26-9-OO)

26
And the winner is

• A lead that gives the most important point, or
  hints at it in an intriguing way.
• A lead that is concrete, specific, concise,
  active and visual.
• A lead that is accurate, honest and readable.
• A lead that takes you into the story.