UNIT 2.5:

WRITING HEADLINE &

LEAD
1. HEADLINE
The headline is the line on top of the story that identifies the main idea of the story so the
reader can decide whether to access the full story.
Rules for writing newspaper headlines
a. Use present simple tense for past events
The present tense is quick and current, and helps emphasize the action happening, rather
than its completion.
Examples:
1. Parliament confirms new stray dog policy
2. Lion escapes zoo
If we want to demonstrate the result of an action, or that something was completed, we
can use perfect tenses, and for changing events, the present continuous may be used.
However, these tenses are often shown by using participles alone.
b. Leave out auxiliary verbs
With perfect, progressive and passive structures, auxiliary verbs are not necessary. This
makes some headlines appear to be in the past tense, when actually the headlines use past
participles, or particles, not the past simple. Similarly, changing events are represented by
the present participle on its own.
Examples:
1. New policy decided by Parliament (New policy has been decided by Parliament)
2. Lion escapes zoo – ten killed (ten people have been killed / were killed)
3. Four stranded in sudden flood (four people have been stranded / were stranded)
4. Temperatures rising as climate changes (temperatures are rising)


c. Use infinitives for future events

Using the infinitive, a future time is not always necessary to demonstrate the future tense
in headlines.
Examples:
1. Parliament to decide new policy tomorrow
2. President to visit France for further talks
d. Use the present progress tense
The present progress tense is used mostly to give the meaning of something that is
developing.
Examples:
-

Rail chaos getting worse….

e. Leave out articles (a, an, the)
Examples:
1. Prime Minister hikes Alps for charity (The Prime Minister hiked the Alps)
2. Man releases rabid dog in park (A man released a rabid dog in a park)
f. Leave out “to be”
Examples:
1. Residents unhappy about new road (residents are unhappy)
2. Family of murder victim satisfied with court decision (family of murder victim is
satisfied.)
g. Leave out “to say”
Examples:
1. Mr Jones: “They’re not taking my house!”
2. Bush on Iraqi invasion: “This aggression will not stand.”


Reported speech is usually represented by a colon, or a hyphen, with the subject
introduced with ‘on…’. This includes leaving out other verbs such as comment, tell,

argue, announce, shout – unless the act of speaking needs emphasising, for instance to
demonstrate a promise or official policy.
Example:
Warlord decrees “Peace by Spring.”
h. Replace conjunctions with punctuation
Examples:
1.

Police arrest serial killer – close case on abductions

2.

Fire in bakery: hundreds dead

As with reporting speech, commas, colons, semi-colons, hyphens and so on can replace
all conjunctions, or some joining verbs, to join clauses. Commas may also be used to join
nouns (more common in American English).
Example:
- Man kills 5, self
i.

Use figures for numbers
Examples:
1. 9 dead in glue catastrophe
2. 7 days to Christmas – shoppers go mad
(English Lessons Brighten, 2013; Rich, 2015)
2. LEAD
The lead (opening paragraph) is the first paragraph of a news story, and is below the
headline. It is the most important part of a news story because it is the concise summary
of the news story and attracts readers’ interest in the body of the story. It gives readers the

most important information in a clear, concise and interesting manner. It answers at least
two of the 5Ws and H question: who, what, when, where, why and how. It is generally
said that if a news report provides answers to these six questions, then it is a perfect news
item.


 Who said or did something?
 What was said or done? What happened?
 When was it said or done? When did it happen?
 Where was it said or done? Where did it happen?
 Why was it said or done? Why did it happen?
 How was it said or done? How did it happen? How does this affect me?
Example:
Five Anyville 4-H members and a volunteer were injured Sunday night when
their van slid out of control on icy roads in eastern Kentucky.
This summary lead contains who (five Anyville 4-H members and one volunteer), what
(were injured when their van slid out of control), when (Sunday night), where (eastern
Kentucky), and how (icy roads), and it is 25 words.
To gain the reader’s attention you should begin the lead with the most interesting or most
important element of the five Ws and H. Others are added later in the story. The aspect
used most often in the lead is the what and the who, if it is someone important. What
happened is usually what most people want to read about first.
Suppose you hear a news like this. A boy is kidnapped while coming back from the
school. Naturally the first question that arises in your mind will be when it had happened
and where? Then you are keen to know what the full story of the incident was . Then you
ask the question, why has it happened? Also you want to know about the kidnappers .
Who were they? And finally the news becomes complete only when you get from the
news how the kidnapping happened. Unless a news item satisfies all these six questions
of the reader or listener, the news is incomplete.
However, journalism is an art, not a science, so another writer might try to emphasize

another W which means it is placed first in the opening sentence:
Examples:


WHO: An 18-year-old St. Albert high school student was killed late Wednesday when his
car struck a telephone pole west of Edmonton.
WHAT: A single-vehicle crash west of Edmonton took the life of an 18-year-old high
school student late Wednesday.
WHEN: At 10:30 p.m. Wednesday an 18-year-old St. Albert high school student lost his
life in a single-vehicle accident.
WHERE: The intersection of Highway 16 and Highway 2A west of Edmonton was the
scene of a fatal one-car crash Wednesday night.
WHY: A car crashed into a telephone pole late Wednesday, resulting in the death of the
vehicle’s lone occupant, an 18-year-old student from St. Albert.
We can see more clearly when we try each of these approaches why the Who lead, in this
case, works best.
(Hicks et al., 2016; McKane, 2013; Rich, 2015; University of Florida, 2015)
 TYPES OF LEAD
There are two main types of leads: hard-news leads — which are also often called
summary leads or direct leads — mustachieve two goals to succeed:
1) They must accurately summarize the most important facts in the story.
2) They must be interesting enough that the reader wants to continue reading.
If a hard-news lead fails to summarize the facts contained in the story, the reader will not
have a clear understanding of what is being reported and may not continue reading. If the
facts are not accurately summarized, the writer will have misled the reader about the
contents of the story. Because reporters work in a competitive environment, the
temptation is great for them to exaggerate aspects of their stories to make them seem
more newsworthy.
The best way to achieve Goal No.1, obviously, is for a hard news lead to provide the
reader with as many as possible of the Five Ws. After all, the Five Ws are always the key

questions the reader of any news story needs to have answered.


Normally however, it’s not wise to try to include all five Ws - so the first task faced by
the writer of effective newspaper leads is to try to select which of the Five Ws belongs in
the lead, and which can be placed a little lower in the story. In other words, the writer
must determine what is the most important information he wishes to convey in the story.
If you try to stuff too many of the answers to these basic questions into your lead, it will
be awkward and difficult to understand, and the reader may give up.
Soft-news leads are often referred to as “feature leads” or “delayed leads.” These terms
both give important clues about the fundamental problems faced by writers of soft-news
leads. First, soft-news leads are generally found a top “feature stories” - that is, stories
that in the terminology of the trade are a little longer, more reflective, use more colourful
language, or perhaps probe a little deeper. They are stories that, at least in theory, give
more scope to a writer’s creativity.
In attempting to begin such a story - which may aim for the heart rather than the head the writer ought not to hammer the reader with the most important facts. Indeed, with the
approach typical of soft-news leads, the writer goes nowhere near the Five Ws in the
opening of the story. Instead, she can take a little time to set the tone, paint the scene,
introduce the reader to the atmosphere that surrounds the story - hence the notion of a
delayed lead.
The writer of soft news is allowed to tease the reader at the start of the story, and to use a
more traditional storytelling structure of beginning, build-up, climax and conclusion.
(Hicks et al., 2016; McKane, 2013; Rich, 2015)
 LEAD CHECKLIST
1. Don’t make the lead too complicated. Don’t load it down with too many names,
figures or details.
2. Always count the words: aim for between 20 and 25, preferably in one flowing
sentence.



3. Make sure it tells us the most important thing in the story.
4. If you had only those 25 words for the whole story, make sure your reader has been
told something interesting.
5. Don’t start with a subsidiary clause: go for the action point first, in case the train
leaves before you can finish the sentence.
6. The first 10 words are most important; make sure the grab your reader.
7. Mention a person by name only if your average reader knows who s/he is.
8. Don’t emphasis the negative: tell us something that did happen, not something that
didn’t.
9. Never begin with time or place: the WHO? And the WHAT HAPPENED? Are far
more important than the WHERE? and WHEN?
10. Always double-check names and numbers. Check spelling, style and grammar. Put
everything in order.
11. Don’t begin a news story with a direct quote. You rarely see this in news stories,
although it can work in a feature. If the actual news point is something someone said,
it will be far easier to grasp in reported speech.
12. Don’t begin with a question if the question is answered in the story.
13. Don’t use a form of verb to be in the lead, if you can avoid it. Use active rather than
passive verbs: not ‘A shop was burgled last night…’ but ‘Burglars smashed into a
shop…’
14. Remember to use listen-to-me words: not ‘Bloxwich Council is reviewing its policy
on providing affordable housing for asylum seekers following…’ but ‘homeless
asylum seekers will get priority…’ (‘homeless’ and ‘asylum seekers’ are both more
attention-grabbing than ‘Bloxwich Council’ and ‘reviewing’).
(McKane, 2013)


PRACTICAL EXERCISES
Exercise 1: Writing Newspaper Headlines


Read the newspaper stories below and then write a headline for each story. Try
to write each one in about five words.
1. Last night Chelsea football club beat Bristol City 3-2 in an exciting game. Johns
scored a hat-trick for Chelsea.
Headline: _______________________________________________________
2. Three children were walking across a field in Bedminster when they discovered a
hole. At the bottom of the hole was a chest filled with gold and silver. The children
ran and told the police about their discovery.
Headline: _______________________________________________________
3. Yesterday there was a very bad storm at sea. The fishing vessel Saucy Sal began to
sink. The captain of the vessel sent out a distress signal. A lifeboat put out to sea and
rescued the fishermen just in time.
Headline: _______________________________________________________

4. Two days ago a kitten called Rhubarb, belonging to Mrs Daniels, climbed a tree. It
got stuck at the top and could not get down. A large crowd gathered. They could not
help the cat. In the end they sent for the fire brigade. The firemen put a ladder up the
tree and brought the frightened cat down.
Headline: _______________________________________________________
5. In Bristol yesterday Mrs Brown’s brother from Australia visited her at her home in
Washington Street. Mrs Brown’s brother, Mr Thomas Brown, went to Australia forty
years ago and has not returned until now. This is the first time that Mrs Brown has
seen her brother since they were children.
Headline: _______________________________________________________
Exercise 2: Analyzing Leads


Analyze the following leads from The New York Times to understand how
journalists use who, what, where, when, why and how to in building their
leads. Not all elements may be present in every lead.

Example: Several dozen people were injured on Saturday in a crash involving two
San Francisco light-rail trains at the West Portal Station, the authorities
said.
Who?
What?

Several dozen people
were injured … in a crash involving two San Francisco
light-rail trains
Where? at the West Portal Station
When? on Saturday
Why?
not apparent
How?
not apparent
A. Federal transportation safety officials are investigating an incident involving a United
Airlines flight on its way from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles that was forced to land
in Denver on Tuesday because of turbulence. (July 22, 2010)
Who?.....................................................................................................
What? ...................................................................................................
Where? ...................................................................................................
When? ...................................................................................................
Why? ...................................................................................................
How? ...................................................................................................
B. Fears that a fire had erupted inside the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday led several
hundred visitors to flee its crown, observation deck, pedestal and base, officials said.
(July 21, 2010)
Who? (The grammatical subject of the sentence – even if it’s not a person)
What? ...................................................................................................
Where? ...................................................................................................

When? ...................................................................................................
Why? ...................................................................................................
How? ...................................................................................................
C. The Chicago City Council on Friday approved what city officials say is the strictest
handgun ordinance in the United States. (July 3, 2010)
Who? ...................................................................................................
What? ...................................................................................................


Where? ...................................................................................................
When? ...................................................................................................
Why? ...................................................................................................
How? ...................................................................................................
Exercise 3: Evaluating Good and Bad Leads
Critically evaluate the following leads. Select the best leads and explain why they are
effective. In addition, point out the flaws in the remaining leads. As you evaluate the
leads, look for lessons—"do's and don'ts"—that you can apply to your own work.
1. A Baptist minister was convicted of drunken driving Tuesday and sentenced to
30 days in jail after a jury saw a police video of his failed sobriety test.
2. Police Chief Barry Kopperud is concerned about juvenile crime in the city.
3. During a press conference in her office at 8 a.m. today, Mayor Sabrina Datolli
spoke about the city's need for more parks.
4. With no debate, the City Council passed an ordinance Thursday to help fight
crime by installing more street lights in three neighborhoods.
5. Loans become popular way for students to conquer costs of college.
6. The campus is home to a variety of stray and wild animals.
7. Four years ago AIDS victim Edwin Jimenez, 22, learned he had only six months
to live.
8. Do not cross off Dec. 1 in your countdown toward Christmas. Instead, make
plans to attend World AIDS Day on the Campus Green.

9. A panel of seven local journalism professionals discussed important media
issues, including the role of the press, at the university Tuesday.
10. The week of Homecoming will be filled with numerous activities and freebies
for students.
11. The right to bear arms may soon be taken away from anyone who steps onto
public school grounds in the city.
12. A teen-age driver lost control of her car Tuesday night, paralyzing herself and
killing a passenger. A 16-year-old riding in the back seat walked away only
scratched and bruised.


13. Around 3 p.m. Friday a bank on Hillcrest Avenue was the scene of a daring
daylight robbery and shooting.
14. Courses taught online offer an alternative to the traditional college classroom
learning experience.
15. One year ago an accrediting agency criticized the college for using too many
adjuncts (parttime faculty members). Since then, the college has reduced its
number of adjuncts from 769 to 749.
16. Fred's restaurant at 1550 W. Colonial Drive was the location of a burglary
Monday afternoon.
17. A 15-year-old boy slipped off the trunk of a moving car. His head hit asphalt and
left a stain of blood on the spot. The boy was dead.
18. Spray-painted pitch forks and crowns are appearing on walls throughout the city.
The symbols are trademarks of the Crips, a Los Angeles-based gang with
members across the nation.
Exercise 4: Writing leads

1. Based on the following set of facts, write a Lead for a Crime Story
Who?
What?

Where?
When?
Why?
How?

Two men
robbed a jewelry story
Royal Gems, at 55 West 47th Street, in the heart of Manhattan’s diamond
district
Saturday, March 13
No information
The men carried pistols, police said, adding that the men bound three
employees and a customer and stole gems and money. The police also said
that no one was injured in the holdup.

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5. Write a lead for the following story. As always, correct errors in spelling,
grammar, and punctuation if necessary.
John X. Hughes was suspended from Green Hills College for plagiarism today.
According to Hughes, “All I was doing was using the Internet. Everyone uses it. It wasn’t
right that they just happened to pick me. It just isn’t fair and I am suing for 600,000
dollars because of what this has done to me.” But according to Dean Houston, AThe

college’s Judicial Board made the decision after fully considering all aspects of the case.
It was also a decision without bias. “The college’s Judicial Board was established in 1959
to handle problems of academic honesty. Attorney Janet Fillmore, who represents
Hughes, stated, “We just don’t think John Hughes did anything wrong by using
information from the Internet. And we don’t feel that he was properly informed of the
Judicial Board’s definition of plagiarism before he was accused of doing something
wrong.” But Professor Jason Kellerman, the person who reported Hughes to the Judicial
Board, stated, “John Hughes was not suspended for using the Internet. Hughes was
suspended for taking information from the Internet and then submitting it to a class as his
own work.”
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