The document discusses different types of leads used in news writing, including the summary lead, narrative lead, contrast lead, staccato lead, direct address lead, question lead, quotation lead, expression lead, prediction lead, first person lead, cause-and-effect lead, and surprise lead. It provides examples and guidelines for writing each type of lead to engage readers and introduce the key details of a news story in the opening paragraphs.

1. NEWS WRITING 1) FOCUS 2) THEME 3) LEAD

2. News Story LEAD BODY END

3. THE LEAD The first two or three paragraphs that introduce the story and tell in a nutshell what it is all about is called the Lead.

4. Two methods of writing the lead:- 1) The Six Great Teachers method 2) The SVO method. Rudyard Kipling 5 W’s – Who, What, When, Where, Why and H-how Subject, Verb, Object.

5. Consider the following lead: (New Delhi, Aug. 24), Avjit Verma Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the defense personnel to give a fitting reply to Pakistan in the event of a war.

7. Who – PM What – asked the Defense Personnel to give a fitting reply to Pakistan. When – Aug 24 Where – New Delhi Why – in the event of a war How – ???

8. Subject – PM Verb – asked Object – the Defense Personnel

9. Exercise Consider following information and tell which TAX would form the LEAD. Union budgets has three major proposals for agricultural tax , corporate tax and personal income tax .

10. Type of Leads Summary Leads: Summary Lead is the one which gives gist of the story in the first few lines and is best suited for news-breaking stories. EG: President Pratibha Patil had to abandon a helicopter after smoke billowed from its air conditioning vents just before it was to take off from Kerala’s Kollam District on Wednesday morning.

11. Narrative Lead : It draws readers into the middle of an action, from where it is difficult to escape. Normally, it is written in two or three paragraphs, called the lead block, telling the major point of the story. EG: Taking college education beyond classrooms and textbooks, Delhi University is planning a four-year course that will focus on innovation and hands-on learning through industry-based projects. The proposed degree programme in mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT) will be interdisciplinary as well.

12.  Use of relatively unknown names are permitted.  In personality, travel and hi-tech features.  Build it around observation: what, as a reporter, you see, hear, smell, taste or touch while working on the story.

13. Contrast Lead

14. Example: Handsome, youthful, sparkling-eyed, bushy-haired, broad-shouldered and muscular was he 20 years ago. But today age has withered him, his bald head shining in the sun, his pair of eyes without luster, his shoulders still broad but drooping, and his muscles no more Herculean. He is a pale shadow of his former self, Mohammed Ali the boxer.

16. Staccato Lead: It is a short burst of phrases that catch instant attention. It creates the mood for the story by dangling the key elements.

18. The Staccato Lead is commonly used in television and magazine reporting. After the burst of phrases, comes the news.

19. Direct Address Lead : It establishes a writer-reader relationship with the second person singular, ‘You’. Can be used even for hard news: EG:-You won’t have to wait long to find the future of Nuclear Deal.

21. Quotation Lead : It begins with an apt quote upon which the story is built. EG:-“The police can never be trusted,” said the rape victim who was gang- raped by half-a-dozen policemen in a police station.  The purpose of a quotation is to carry conviction, but an inappropriate Quotation Lead can spoil the story.

22. Expression Lead: It begins with well-known expressions like, ‘As you sow, so you reap,’ adages, maxims, epigrams, proverbs or aphorisms. The success of this venture, again depends on the aptness. EG: Honesty is the best policy.

23. Prediction Lead: It has its uses in stories dealing with the future. EG: The world will come to an end in AD 2020, forecasts the famous astrologer, Bejandaruwala.

24. First Person Lead: It goes well with a first person story. EG: I set out to the Antarctica with my expedition team…

25. Cause-and-effect Lead: EG- Too much reading produces fatigue; and fatigue dulls your intellectual sensitivity.

26. If we don’t catch up with the West in hi-tech, other Asian countries will, and eventually we will be outpaced in the global market.

27. Surprise Lead : It calls for craftsmanship. Professional know only too well how to cash in on curiosity and suspense. EG:- To keep Gandhi ji poor, we have to spend a fortune, remarked Sarojini Naidu.