By: Ms Sabeen Jamil
How to write the lead/ types of lead
(14th February)
Importance of lead: You have to hook readers. Compel them to read the story. Lead sells your story. Read a lot to get familiar with different types of leads and of the leads that you think are “good” Types of leads/ledes:
1)Quotation lede: you may open the story with a quote of a source in case of news story. Example #!: LAHORE: “We can revamp our film industry by learning from the experience of Hollywood,” filmmaker Sarmad Sultan Khoosat said on Friday.
He was speaking at a workshop on film making skills at the second day of FiLums, amateur film festival, at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
In case of a news feature you open with a quote of some famous or not-so-famous personality.
Example 2: express tribune: “Who listens to their parents these days?” asks Qureshi, as she recollects how times have changed since she started matchmaking almost 30 years ago.
Begum Mumtaz Qureshi has run a marriage bureau, Clifton Women Welfare Society, in Karachi since 1982, with offices in Boat Basin and Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Her daughter and sister run the business in the US, and she maintains a website — bestrishtay.com.
Example#3: a wise man once said that "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Today's Pakistanis have forgotten this message however. They expect their country to take care of them, but they are not taking care of their country.
2)Straight lead/ Summary Lead: usually follows the inverted pyramid style with the most important facts incorporated first.
Example 1: Pakistan has expressed its satisfaction with the outcome of the Foreign Secretary-level meeting with India, which was held recently on the sidelines of SAARC meeting at Thimpu.
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said he held a very constructive meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna at the Indo-Pak bilateral meeting.
Example #2 Hundreds of people under the banner of Kacchi Rabita Committee (KRC) protested in front of Chief Minister House after deadlock between the police and KRC on Saturday.
Earlier, they blocked Mauripur road protesting against the killing of a man and extortion in the area and started marching towards CM House.
Example#3: Pakistani opposition leader and former premier Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-suicide attack yesterday at an election rally in a Rawalpindi park plunging the country into turmoil less than two weeks before national elections.
3) Question lead: Open with an interesting question that relates to the main idea of the story:
Example1: WHAT is in vogue in the Pakistani industry these days? Setting up a Human Resource Department! If you have even a slightest doubt over the validity of the statement than you must start looking at the classified pages in any news paper on Sunday.
Example #2 What is the first thing that a woman buys when she is advised that she won $2,50,000 in a jingle contest?
Mrs. Jane Roe, informed by XYZ Soaps that her entry took top prize in the nationwide contest, said that she will buy a rhyming dictionary that . . .
4)Descriptive lead: Gives descriptions of how a event happened. Of places. Of things. This is where you draw a picture with words to put your reader into the scene and is very effective for longer feature stories.
Example 1: Life sparks in Uzair's* eyes as he sketches his dream house on a piece of paper. The 16-year- old boy fancies living in a small cottage built beneath the bluest of skies amid green woods by a pond of clear waters.
Which girl would he like to live with in his dream house? "I don't know," he says shyly, giggling and hiding his face behind his rough hands.
Nevertheless, the small-framed boy at Dost Drop-in Center is determined enough to predict what he will be doing ten years down the road, "I will be driving street children to detoxification centers," he says. As his face shines with the desire to prevent children from using drugs it is hard to believe that he was himself a drug-addict three years ago.
2#Mourners lined up for miles yesterday in the pouring rain to take one last look and lay flowers near the coffin of Mother Teresa, who lived among Calcutta's sick and needy for 35 years.
3#. It was a dark and stormy night.( Cliched but effective.) Sitting in the food court of a busy surburban mall, the yummy mummies were ignoring their designer prams while greedily gulping down lattes and exchanging lively banter among themselves.
5)Personal lead: It involves the use of the first person singular in the lead. Normally such a use is discouraged except for a columnist or such privileged writers.
Countless stars shone above my head as I learnt some important facts about them at the PIA Planetarium, the only such educational place of its kind in the city. I learnt the basic properties of stars, the gases that they comprise… you know, the works. The speaker then went on to talk about planets. It was all very well till I heard that Pluto was still a planet. I was about to challenge the validity of this "fact" when there was a power outage.
"You can wait till the power returns or come back tomorrow to see the complete show," I heard someone shouting in the darkness. The stars had seized to sparkle and the buzz of disappointed children and their irritated parents pervaded the atmosphere. So what was the lesson learnt at the planetarium? That Pluto is still a planet and that there are no alternative sources of electricity in case of a power outage (which is all too common in the city).
The General Manager, Planetaria, Mubashir Zaman explains why. "Our machinery is too outdated to be run on generators safely," he says talking about the PIA Planetarium -- the first ever planetarium in Pakistan.
6)'You' lead (or Direct Address lead)
The `You' lead is intended to make a personal appeal to the reader involved in a complicated situation. The second-person approach reaches out to involve the reader and capture his/her attention.
Example# (et. Muharram January 26, malir) You do not want to read this report or look at the pictures. You do not know what burnt flesh smells like and even if we described its metallic rasp and rot that hits the back of the throat, you do not want to know. The word police does not mean anything. Enforcement. Law.Blast. Bomb. Malir. Halt...
“He was riding next to me. He had short, curly hair. He didn’t look over 20.” The people who look at the skull recoil from the blackened face. It is as if the insult fell back on him.
Some people say a man on a motorcycle was following a bus of mourners for at least half an hour. “He was wearing a black helmet. If I hadn’t turned a few minutes ago I would’ve been injured too.”
Example2: Are you voting for the first time and drive through Karachi streets often? You are in trouble!
Advertisers suggest that if you meet the above-mentioned criterion you might be in a dilemma as to whom to cast your vote for. The moment you see the ballot paper, the slogans of parties you were bombarded with on the streets will flash in your mind and influence your vote. Even if you give a momentary thought to your choice, the advantage gained through the pain of placing banners, flags and signs at every nook of the city is availed by political parties.
7)Contrast lead :
Comparing situations in two sentences. Usually one mentions a humble beginning while the other a heroic triumph.
Richard Roe, who started 47 years ago as a $10-a-week janitor for Consolidated Corporation, today took office as the firm's $2,63,000-a-year chairman and chief executive officer.
A famous pianist when returned with a musical triumph in a concert a newspaper lead read: Harvey Lavan came home from Russia today with 17 pieces of luggage. They bespoke his triumph as pianist in Moscow. He had three when he went over.
Ironic or Contrast Lead: St. John's Church survived the 1868 fire that destroyed most of the city, and it weathered firebombs thrown in anger during the sixties. But it crumbled last night under the weight of snow from yesterday's freak storm.
8)Blind identification lead
If the person concerned is not well known in the community, his/her name is less important than other salient facts that identify the person. eg. "a 80-year-old woman" instead of her name.
A police inspector's son was attacked with a knife by some miscreants on Zaibunisa Road this evening.
The victim Bashir Ahmed 20, has been admitted to a private hospital and his condition is critical.
9)Gag (or funny) lead: Here is how an AP reporter wrote when a woman broke her leg trying to climb out of a locked London public toilet: LONDON -- What's a lady do when trapped in a loo?
10)Literary allusion lead Parallelling the construction of a nursery rhyme or part of a well-known literary creation can add to variety.
Mary had a little camera, and everywhere that Mary went the camera was sure to go.
11)Factual lead: Using statistics and hard facts up front can gain immediate interest and encourages the reader into the story. Example: Fifty per cent of working mothers fail to prepare healthy family meals because they ‘just don’t have the time’, according to a survey conducted by A Meal Preparation Company.
12)Anecdotal lead/narrative: you start with a story. Interesting and relevant stories. Element of drama.
On May 1, 2009, while other women labourers availed their holiday after finishing their respective chores, 35-year-old Nasim spent her day travelling from her abode in Baldia Town, Karachi, to a government hospital in Saddar Town. Naseem is being treated for a respiratory disorder that she developed while working in a garment factory last year.
The symptoms started to show two years ago, but Nasim ignored them, thinking they were normal as her other colleagues also experienced coughing fits and breathlessness whenever they were exposed to cotton dust. However, when her condition worsened and continued to last for hours even after work, she got worried and visited a doctor who told her that she had contracted a chronic form of asthma.
Nasim was diagnosed with Byssinosis (also known as brown lung disease) – an occupational lung disorder that is common among workers in the textile sector due to their excessive exposure to cotton dust. This could have been prevented had her employers provided her with a mask designed for textile workers, to stop them from contracting such pulmonary diseases. Nasim gave up her job upon her doctor’s advice. She still remembers the unjust way her employers treated her when she informed them of her decision: “They refused to sponsor my medical expenses, saying that I was lying about contracting the illness at work and that I had been sick from before I joined them.”
If the trade union had supported her and pursued her case “with more zeal,” she says, her employers could have been forced into covering her medical expenses. But as that was not the case, Nasim now has to pay for her medicine herself, spending Rs 2,000 a month, which constitutes nearly half her monthly wage.
Assignment1: Find one story each for 5ws and H. Paste it and identify the factor important there. On a separate sheet, type your analysis of each lede, telling why you think it fits the category and why you think it is a good lede or a bad one.
Assignment 2:
Find one story each for all the types of leads. On a separate sheet, type your analysis of each lede, telling why you think it fits the category and why you think it is a good lede or a bad one.
For further reading and example on types of leads
Read the full blogpost here, by Mehreen Kasana 
