Methods for Writing News Leads

Lead characteristics:

1. Capture and highlight the main point
2. Use direct, precise wording
3. Emphasize content, results, current state, significance, or distinctive traits
4. Keep the lead short — shorter — shorter still.

Lead methods and examples: create surprise — suspense

Method: Hold back the key fact, build curiosity, and "force" the reader to continue.

Example: "At the national finance and trade conference, a story circulated: workers at Shanghai Garments Import & Export's bedding team 'revived' two mandarin ducks and saved a large sum of foreign exchange." Why "revive" mandarin ducks?

Contrast: dampen then lift

Method: Vary tone toward the subject — dampen then lift, or lift then dampen — peaks and valleys that keep readers engaged.

Example: AP, March 28, 1979, on China's Renqiu oilfield: "On the surface here, fuel is so scarce farmers dig up corn roots for heat and cooking. Yet 3,200 meters underground, geologists found large oil and gas reserves."

Feint and grab

Method: Step back first, then seize the point — a lead that lands with punch.

Example: "Hours before President Ronald Reagan told the nation 'America is heading toward economic recovery,' his son Prescott Reagan was here collecting unemployment with jobless workers."

The two lines contradict — readers infer: if even the president's son is on unemployment, who believes recovery has started?

Description: animate the static

Method: Event news written statically often feels dry; dynamic treatment makes the lead vivid and pulls readers in.

Example: "A Chinese army unit arrived in Brussels. Soldiers in tight armor marched first, then the band and cavalry — most striking of all, their physique."

Personification

Method: Personify the lead and subject for warmth and immediacy.

Example: "For the first time in Chinese press history, a different voice rang out: 'Hi, good afternoon!' Today Hangzhou Daily officially launched the country's first afternoon edition."

Numeric contrast

Method: Numbers feel dry but persuade. Put the key figures in the lead to answer readers' questions and make the story stick.

Example: "If you lined up every document the UN printed in New York and Geneva last year, end to end, the chain would stretch 270,000 kilometers."

Sketch outline

Method: Open with a quick portrait of who and where among the five W's — readers feel present.

Example: "In a blink he has fought on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for 27 springs. Black hair turned frost-white from the Qilian range; wrinkles carved by wind and sand. That was the impression senior geologist Hu Xiannong left at a minority regions' science workers' forum."

Background hook

Method: Weave in background skillfully and the lead gains depth and color.

Example: "In exile in Yongzhou, Tang writer Liu Zongji wrote the classic 'The Snake Catcher,' making 'Yongzhou's wilds produce strange serpents' famous. A millennium later, snake catchers' descendants in Yongzhou are riding a snake-farming boom — snake farms in every township are big news in the countryside."

Classical quote

Method: Used sparingly, a line of classical poetry deepens mood and polish.

Example: "'Hidden in the inner chamber, unknown to the world' — Wuling's scenery has lifted its veil and deeply draws travelers from home and abroad."

Close-up sequence

Method: Borrow from film — a chain of close-ups that lock attention.

Example: "One September morning, the long-distance bus from Zhongxiang to Wuhan was about to leave. Ke Hongyun, a farm youth admitted to Peking University, boarded happily. A middle-aged woman rushed up and pressed a cotton coat into his hands. Passengers assumed she was his mother — but she was his teacher."

Small to large

Method: Start small, grow outward — credible and resonant.

Example: "One powerful jump by a 20-year-old Chinese woman warned world track that six hundred million Chinese will not stay also-rans forever."

Create surprise · Contrast · Lead methods and examples · Classical quote · Small-to-large · Numeric contrast · Lead characteristics · Sketch outline · Close-up · Feint-and-grab · Animate static · Suspense · Personification · Background hook · Description · Small to large