A good lead for any news report contains up to six pieces of crucial information in usually one or two sentences. Assuming all the information has been acquired, the lead should answer six questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? The lead then directs to the ultimate question of So What?
The relevance of the story is developed in the lead, and often determines how it is written. There are many approaches to a lead.
Certain stories, like a new development require a hard lead opposed to a soft lead for a light story.
It is important to think about the target audience you are addressing when writing a lead. One good way to emphasize the importance for the reader is using a “you” lead.
Overall, the purpose of a lead is to grab the reader’s attention with the facts and a summary of the story, and draw them to read into the details and importance of the entire story.
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