Monday, May 17, 2010

Examples of Summary Leads


For your first news story, you should use a summary lead (sometimes spelled as "summary ledes"). Here are some examples of strong summary news leads.

British Police Arrest Nine on Terror Charge (from the Washington Post) - Use of "active" voice and attribution in lead

F.D.A. Widens Safety Reviews on New Drugs (from New York Times) - use of active voice in lead; contextualizes relevance of news development (the "so what" factor)

Health and Wellness Holds Free HIV Testing on Campus (from the Daily Evergreen) - Use of new statistic to lead story; localized angle on national problem; contextualization of story