Breaking the Monotony: Summary versus
Feature Lead
Usually, journalistic writing often
uses the summary lead (5 Ws - what, who, when, who, where, why) in writing the Lead
of the news story. This type "leads" the reader into the story right away. But there should also be variety to avoid being too “straight”
or being too “hard” in writing the Lead. To break this predictability but still using the 5 Ws, we can
also use the Feature Lead which brings some imagination and life to the story.
For example, these are the
initial information about the news:
What – Hurricane Ike
When – Tuesday
Where – U.S and Mexico
So, the summary lead may
be written this way:
“Hurricane Ike hit the U.S. and Mexico
on Tuesday killing thousands.”
But
using the feature lead, CBS News wrote:
“Hurricane Ike moved into the warm
waters of the Gulf and took aim at the U.S. and Mexican coasts Tuesday after
bringing down aging buildings in Havana and tearing through western Cuba's
tobacco country.” (September 9, 2008)
Another
example, the information are as follows:
Who – Two American Astronauts
When – July 20, 1969
Where - landed on the moon
A
summary lead may be written, thus:
“Two
American astronauts landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.”
But
the New York Times, using the Feature lead, wrote:
“Men have landed and walked on the
moon.
Two Americans, astronauts of Apollo
11, steered their fragile four-legged lunar module safely and smoothly to the
historic landing yesterday at 4:17:40 P.M., Eastern daylight time.” (New
York Times, July 21, 1969)
